Newari Food - Yomari

Yomari is derived from two words Yo and mari, where “yo” means “which you like” and “mari” means “bread”. So literally it means bread which you like. Yomari is a rice dumpling with confection of rice-flour dough shaped like fig and filled with “brown cane sugar” or "Chaku" in Newari and “sesame seeds” or "Hammo" in Newari, which is then steamed in a vessel called Potasi. The dough is often stuffed with other fillings like lentil paste, “milk solids” or "Khuwa" Nepali language, and spices as well.

This delicacy is the chief and important item on the menu during the post-harvest celebration of Yomari Punhi, which falls every year in the full moon day of December. There is a reason behind the dish being prepared during winter season as it contains Chaku which is believed to provide heat to our body. Yomari is the main item on the children’s second-year birthday. Traditionally, on this day, a two-yomari garland is made for the birthday child and they wear it to show that they are two old years now.

My son’s birthday is coming soon and I will make sure to put a right recipe that we used in my next post. For now enjoy a quick recipe that I found over the internet.

Ingredients :

• Rice flour
• Hot water
• Sweets
• Sesame seed
• Molasses
• Khuwa or Milk Solids (Nepalese Dairy product, which looks like Ricotta Cheese)

Method:

• Mix rice flour with hot water and make dough. Cover the dough with a warm and wet cloth and rest it for 10-15 minutes.
• Apply some oil on your both hands and shape the dough like as shown in picture but make sure that it is hollow.
• Fill it with mixture of sweets, molasses mixed with Sesame seed, khuwa, or whatever you like, then close the opening.
• Steam it for 20 min.
• Now it is ready to serve. Enjoy!

How Lord Ganesh Got An Elephant Head?

There are 330,000,000 Gods and Goddesses in Hindu religion. Amongst all of the Gods, Lord Ganesh is respected and devoted as the first God to be praised. Ganesh is son of the Lord Shiva, the destroyer and God of all Gods. Ganesh is the elephant-headed God of good fortune and success, fond of all the finer things in life. Every God has their own day and people pray and worship them according to their days. Tuesday is Ganesh's day, a good day to start a journey. Represented with his multiple arms, each hand holding a different object, he is one of the most popular Hindu figures.

Ganesh's head was beheaded by the Lord of Death at birth but Parvati, his mother, wild with grief, called on the other Gods to supplant it with that of an elephant. It is believed that she ordered her followers to bring the head of whatever living thing that they find in their way. The first living thing they found was an elephant wandering around so they cut his head off and brought back to Parvati and then it was joined to Ganesh's beheaded body.

Well that is how Ganesh got the elephant head and whenever you see a God with elephant head, remember to pray for success and whenever you start any good thing do remember and worship him before you do anything.

Newari Food - Alu Tama Bori And Its Recipe

I have been getting a lot of emails from my regular readers for the new and delicious Newari recipe. Amongst all of those requests, most popular has always been for the recipe of Alu Tama (Bamboo shoot soup). So today I managed to gather some good old and simple recipe of Alu Tama Bori. Though this is a modified version of the traditional alu tama soup, it surely will give a different taste to you. I will post the original and traditional recipe in coming future posts, so don't forget to visit the recipe section often.

So here goes today's recipe for Alu Tama Bori.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 medium potato (Alu)
• 1 cup bamboo shoot (Tama)
• 1/2 cup black-eyed peas (Bori)
• 2 pieces tomatoes (Golveda)
• 1 medium onion (Pyaj)
• 1 teaspoon salt (Nun)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (Besar)
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder (Jeera)
  
• 1 piece ginger root (Aduwa)
• 1 green chilies (Hariyo Khursani)
• 50g Sunflower oil (You can use any cooking oil)
  

Preparation:

1. First of all, Soak black-eyed peas in water overnight.Wash and cut bamboo shoots in slices or cubes, whichever shape you like.
2. Heat a large sauce pan and then put oil and let it heat for a while.
3. Add chopped onion and green chili and fry it till the onion turns brown.
4. Add finely chopped ginger, turmeric powder,cumin powder, and chopped tomato.
5. Add some water so that that it doesn't stick on the pan.
6. Add black-eyed peas and then fry around 5 minutes.
7. Add the chopped potato and fry another 5 minutes put 1/2 cup water and simmer it.
8. Now add bamboo shoots and 1 cup water and cover it. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Finally garnish it with cilantro and chopped tomato.
10. Now the delicious and hot hot Alu Tama Bori soup is ready to serve. Serve it hot!

Message To Leaders Of Nepal

Right as of now, a lot of political issues have been going on in my beloved country Nepal. Nothing is stable and due to disagreements and regular rivalry attacks between our political parties, our country is going backwards in terms of development and our country is going into a devastation and chaos mode. There is no bright future anymore, only false hope and never fulfilling promises. Our new constitution hasn't been written and the due date is 28th of May 2010, which is just a month from today's date. Many political leaders have announced that the constitution couldn’t be written on that day as there are a lot of issues going on with political parties. I don't want to mention the names of the political parties as I don't think any of them are worth taking names for as all of them seem to be working for their own profit rather than thinking of millions of people who are hoping for a change and the political leaders don't understand that they are the hope for the people.

Today, there is a fight going on between each other (political parties) and they don't understand that we are on the same team, have same hope, same mission, same aim, and same purpose "To Build a New Nepal." When will people understand about our common goal and work as a same team? May be that day there will be no more a place called Nepal… Let's hope that day won't come in our lives. Let's give the leaders a chance to think about it and if they don't think they can lead us, it would be better to let others lead the way. Just think that there is a lot to be done and a better nation to build, a Greater New Nepal.

The Greatest Festival Of Nepal

There are a lot of festivals in Nepal celebrated amongst the Nepali people. Amongst all Dashain is considered as one of the most important and greatest festival of Nepal where all the family members gather together to celebrate this auspicious occasion. The festival is celebrated from the first day Ghatasthapana to the 15th day Tika. The festival is started by sowing maize and barley seeds in a jar filled with soil which is brought from the river mostly containing sand and cow dung for germination of the auspicious Jamara (barley shoots). On the 15th day, the eldest person of the family member puts Tika to all the family members with the blessings of long life and peaceful and prosperous life. This year's (2009) Dashain is going to be started from September 19th, 2009. I will be trying to update the festivals activities throughout these 15 days onwards.

Happy Dashain 2009 To all the Nepali Around The World!

Indrajatra 2009

I hadn't done much in this year's Indra Jatra 2009 but I will soon cover some post about it. I will be posting more in this same post once I get the photos and videos taken by my friend. So till them this post is due review.

To be continued...

Water Restoration

Water is one of the most essential element of living things. Life without water is hard to imagine. But sometimes the most essential part of our lives can turn into disaster as there is a saying, "Everything too much is bad!" Just imagine that you left for work and you left the tap in your kitchen and when you return and open your front door, you see your house is flooded with water. What would you do? It will take hours and may be days to clean up all the water out of the house.

Well what you can do is call Water Restoration 911 and they will come at your service in 30 minutes in most areas within the United States. They are open 24 hour, 7 day emergency service with national reach. They come fully equipped fleet and are good with extraction, drying, and dehumidifying flood, water, sewage, and mold, They have over 12 years successful experience and also have been recommended by Insurance.

I believe this would be the best option if you have:

• Water Damage
• Water Restoration
• Wet Basement Or Water In Basement
• Basement Leak Or A Broken Pipe
• Carpet Drying
• Fire Water Removal
  

Visit the official website to learn more on getting quick access to their services.

My Dream Vacation

Since childhood I have often travel to a lot of places but not across the country. I would love to go out in a family vacation and for that Knott's Berry Farm would be a perfect option. I heard it was once a working berry farm and not it is 160 acres of world class rides, unique family shows, and one of a kind attractions. Now with Trusted Tours & Attractions you can easily get Knotts berry farm tickets and travel to Knotts stress-free in a deluxe motor-coach provided by Southern California Gray Line Transportation for free.

Recently one of my buddies, Sam, has taken me into this poker game and I am kind of addicted to it. I only play online poker for now but I am looking forward to play it for real. And whenever I remember of cards and gambling, I remember of Las Vegas tours. My dream has been to visit there for a vacation and have the time of my life playing and enjoying there. I have seen a lot of clips about the place in Las Vegas, mostly in the movies. Those dazzling flashy lights and beautiful nights and the game of cards are just the main attraction of Las Vegas. I with to be someday in Las Vegas enjoying the time of my life and making memorable moments of my vacation there.

If you are my regular reader you must have been noticing my passion about USA and my reviews regarding the vacation there. Somehow I find USA as my dreamland and wish someday to go there and have a perfect vacation. Trusted Tours & Attractions would be the perfect choice to have arranged vacation via them as they have a lot of offers with them. You can also use as their online travel guides for our planning a tour. They have been coming out with a lot of opportunities and rewards for their valued customers. The most attractive offer for now would be their newsletter. Yes, now with every newsletter sign-up with them, you get the chance to win a $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificate. I think if you want to get that $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificate, you ought to sign-up now as this offer ends August 31st, 2008.

Promising To Write Up Again

There has been a lot of changes in Kathmandu and mostly Nepal over this year. I haven't been able to cover all the news but I will try to make it up in the coming days. I don't want to write any political topics in this blog and this is the reason why I didn't mentioned any political changes that occurred in our country no matter how big changes it is. I am just writing this post to clear up things to my fellow readers so that they won't get confused that this blog is strictly dedicated to the Travel and Business blog and will not content any political posts or issues in it. :)

I also have missed a lot of events and festival to review but I will make it up in further days to my fellow readers. I have a lot of requests coming on regarding the Nepali and Newari recipes. I think putting some recipes won't hurt. I will go through the traditional recipes and research a little and post it in coming days. This post is basically my promise to my readers that I will continue to write up as much as I can according to the interest of my readers.

You comment and I will follow! :)

Gorkha

Gorkha, the ancient capital of the principality of Gorkha that gave the feared Gurkha soldiers their name and from which King Prithivi Narayan Shah set out to unify all of Nepal, is approximately half way between Pokhara and Kathmandu. Trekkers walking between the two towns on the more southerly route can pass through Gorkha or it can be reached foot from the Pokhara-Kathmandu highway. The airstrip called Gorkha is actually a considerable walking distance from the town.

The best way to reach Gorkha from the road is to catch an early, morning bus from Pokhara and disembark at Khaireni, a little way before the half way stop at Mugling.The bus from Kathmandu arrives at Khaireni rather late in the day-after its Mid-journey halt at Mugling.If you set out on the trail heading north and keep asking directions, by nightfall you should be in this pleasant and relatively unspoilt town. There is not much to see the historic town itself. To visit the old palace of king Prithivi Narayan Shah, the unifier of Nepal, you have to climb for about 40 minutes to the top of the ridges where the palace is situated. The temple of Gorakhnath with its legendary cave and that of Kali are also there are and you have a fine view of surroundings including the Annapurna and Himalchuli range.

Three centuries ago, when Nepal consisted of many small kingdoms in the hills, the palaces were always constructed on hill tops. After you visit there, you will realize the difficulties the ruler of such a small kingdom faced when setting out to defeat the Malla Kings of the fertile Kathmandu valley and start the unification of a country more than 100 times its size.

Yeti - The Abominable Snowman

No description of Nepal can be complete without mention of the famous yeti the abominable snowman. This mysterious like creature lives high in the remotest regions of the Himalayas and has been talked and written about feared by hill people, searched by westerners, "seen" by countless people but never photographed. Footprints in the snow are the only trace the shy yeti likes to live but these are often thought to be normal size human prints that have grown as the sun melted the snow around them. Similarly, the yeti scalps on Solukhumbo region, in particular the one at the Psangboche Monastery, have all turned out to be a fake. Despite the scientific reluctance to accept the yeti's existence everyone would like to believe in it. What do you think?

Personalize Yourself With Stylish New Frames

I just remember one old saying, "You should make your weakest point the strongest." Well you might be wondering why I brought up this saying, it’s just another thing I remember. In my childhood days I often remember kids teasing the other kids who wore spectacles by giving them names as four eyes. Even though I never had to wear any I just thought it was unfair to those kids. I just kept thinking what if there was a way to stylize those spectacles and use it as cools. It was possible. Well now with zennioptical.com it is even more possible. They have a huge selection of frames, with single vision lens, sun sensor also called photochromic lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens, and progressive lens. And the main attractive part or say the secret of Zenni’s is their love process. With the middlemen cut and virtually no advertising budget, you get it as cheap as you can find anywhere else. So now you can get your stylish prescription glasses online with an ease and have that burden off of wearing those old styled glasses and get yourself stylized with Zenni’s Optical Prescription Glasses online.

Gift That Would Last Lifelong

Whenever any occasion arrives, Nepali people have the habit of sending gifts to their loved ones. Well not only in Nepal but internationally this habit of presenting gifts does exist. It is no surprise that people with lots of riches present expensive gifts while middle-class people have their own ways of presenting gifts with emotional values.

Gifts are meant to be presented in order to show you care so that the receiver might remember you every time you see the gift. If I were to present a gift, I would like it to become life lasting. So I just thought what gift would last lifelong, it must be the ornaments, but the ornaments are just old fashioned so I searched it on the net and came across vialuxe.com for their jaquet droz watches.

Below is some history about Jaquet Droz Watch:
The creator of this beautiful watch is Pierre Jaquet Droz (1721-1790). He has created all sorts of watches, clocks, and automatons in his time, which are universally recognized for their elegance and finesse. Pierre Jaquet Droz made the phenomenally complex mechanisms and movements ever and Jaquet Droz watch was one of his masterpieces. He was able to manage a lot of qualified and finest craftsmen on the market with expertise in clocks, chimes, mechanical engineering, enamel working, and gem-setting. He has opened three manufactories in La Chaux-de-Fonds (1738), London (1774), and Geneva (1784), which latter became the first ever established inside the walls of the city. Since then Pierre Jaquet Droz began to specialize in the production and export of timekeepers endowed with grand complications.

Vialuxe.com is an official website where we can find a lot of varieties of Jaquet Droz watches listed. We can also find valuable and expensive jewels attached displayed on the website. As I said before, “The more riches you have the more valuable gifts you get!”

Ghode Jatra 2008

According to legend, the ancient people of Kathmandu Valley had defeated an evil demon and they buried in on the site at Tudikhel show grounds. Then there a custom was created and it is said that unless the ground is trampled on by the horses every year, the demon will rise again. It is believed that once the devil arises again it will wreak a terrible vengeances on the people again as it had done once. So, each year the Ghode Jatra festival is organized by Nepalese Army. Ghoda means horse and Jatra means festival in Nepali language. Lots of demonstration of horse riding along with some stunts like motorcycle stunts, cultural performances, gymnastic displays, and other programs by Nepalese Army can been seen on this day at Tudikhel, Kathmandu.

Usually the King of Nepal is invited as the special chief guest but since the changes in our nation has occurred, the head of the nation has been invited as the special chief guest. Last year our prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, attended the festival. This year too he was invited but he didn't attend the festival owing to some personal problems of his own. There is no entrance fee for this festival and anyone can view it on the big showground in the center of the valley. Some national television have the live telecasting of the festival as well.

Pahan Chahre

I haven’t written anything about culture for some time now. I have been discouraged and out focused by Google by the decreasing popularity and ranking in their system. Financially every blogger need some help to sustain their lifestyle. I am a professional blogger and I depend on my blogs to pay my bills but rules of Google really hurts my rankings and as of result I am broke. But again I have some values and some respect towards my readers so I am once more making an effort to get my readers what they want. More information regarding Nepal and more information about traveling and tours around the world. But please bear with me if you see any posts non-related to travel and tours as they are my business posts and I need them to survive and continue writing my blogs.

Pahan Chahre

Today is April 04, 2008, and according to our Newari calendar, today is Pahan Chahre. Yet another festival which has values and traditions. Pahan Chahre often is considered and named as Pasa Chahre and the festival can be observed happening around Kathmandu only. Pahan means guest in Newari language and Pasa means a friend and Chahre is festival. So if you combine together the meaning would be festival for friends or guests.

The festival is mainly organized in every homes and friends and families are invited to each other’s house to celebrate the feast. As on every occasion, a God is worshipped and this time it is Mahadev in the form of Pisach also called lukumahadyo. Throughout the year this God, Mahadev, remains under the ground and is often sealed and only this day will it be opened and worshipped. This festival is often known as Pisach Chaturdasi. Different types of bands can be heard throughout the valley and different Gods will be worshiped throughout this week. I will have the detailed review of the day later. It is just 5:48 AM and I am just too excited to see what happens next…

Maha Astami 2007

The eighth day of Bada Dashain is called the Maha Asthami. The night of this day is also called as “Kaal Ratri,” the dark night. Hundreds of goats, sheep, and buffaloes are sacrificed at the mother goddess temples on that night. The sacrifice continues till dawn.

Maha Astami has great importance in Newari culture. In the evening the Newars usually have a feast called “Khuchi Bhoya” – Kuchi means 2 manas and Bhoya means feast.

We had lost someone in the family so we couldn't celebrate any of the festivals in Bada Dashain this year. Well may be next year we will. My dad is in his older age now and I think soon he will need hair restoration but well old age surely bring back his memories of all those Dashain and I love hearing about them each year.

Happy Khuchi Bhoya to all the Newari People!

Fulpati 2007

After Ghatasthapana, Fulpati is celebrated as one of the major days of dashain. Fulpati lies on the seventh day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin or Asoj and this year year it lied on 18th of October, 2007. On this day, the Fulpati or the jamara for Royal families is carried on foot by the six attendants from the Magar community, a tribe known for their valour during war, from their ancestral Royal Gorkha palace to Rani Pokhari, Kathmandu, and in the evening they are taken to Royal Palace at Hanuman Dhoka along with a huge parade. This is a ritual that symbolises the conquest of the Kathmandu valley more than two centuries ago by the king's ancestor Prithvi Narayan Shah. The Fulpati, an offering of flowers and fruit, is blessed at the temple first. It is then taken to the palace to bring luck and long life to the royal family.

However, from this year, the tradition or the two-century old tradition is broken down and the holy offering went to the residence of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. From this year, the Prime Minister has taken over the king's social and religious roles after the fall of the royal government last year, as he is believed to be ruling the nation and not the king.

Ghatasthapana 2007

Ghatasthapana is the celebrated as the first day of the greatest festival of Nepal, Bada Dashain. The “Navaratri Parba” or the night nights festival of Bada Dashain also commences on the same day. The day lies on the first day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin or Asoj. This year it lied on 12th of October, 2007.

On the day of Ghatasthapana, all Nepalese worship Diyo (an oil-fed lamp), Kalas (auspicious jar), and Lord Ganesh, and the most of the people sow maize and barley seeds in a jar filled with soil which is brought from the river mostly containing sand and cow dung for germination of the auspicious Jamara (barley shoots). From today, prayers are offered to goddess Mahakali, Mahalaxmi and Mahasaraswati at the Dasain Ghar, and to all the Durga Bhawani goddess around the city, marking the beginning of the Navaratri. There are so many of shrines called Shaktipith where devotees will visit and offer their homage this dashain. Some of the main shrines are Naxal Bhagawati, Shobha Bhagawati, Maitidevi, Guheswori, Bhadrakali, Kalikasthan, Sankata, Mahankalsthan, Naradevi, Bijayeswori, Indrayani, Dakshinkali, Chamunda, etc.

A lot will be happening from today for the next 15 days. Each day has its own importance and values. I will try to review the each day and try to find out the main happening thing each day and importance of the day from hereforth. For now, it is Ghatasthapana, the first day of the greatest festival that happens on the Bada Dashain.

Dashain Festival 2007 Ends From Today

One of the greatest festivals in Nepal, Bada Dashain, will end today. I haven't been around to cover up the story behind the each day of those 15 days of Dashain but I will soon write about my experience with all the stories behind the most important festival that happens once a year and celebrated for whole 15 days. All the schools, colleges, and government offices remain closed for these 15 days.

Today is the last day and with it all the festivals spirit ending and people will now turn back to their work and daily lives. I am sure most of the people even going abroad have come back for this great festival and they have been with their families and enjoying their precious moment together.

I hope Goddess Durga will give me blessing and may be sooner I will be in those billionaire's list. Well I know I am asking but I love visiting Lindemann and Family page in wikipedia and viewing the billionaire list. So I am just praying hard to the Goddess Durga.

Happy Dashain to all of the Nepali people around the world!

Balaju Park (Bais Dhara Balaju)

Few decades ago, Balaju was not as beautiful as it is right now. It used to be just a village and not it has turned into a beautiful park, and there is quite dense population these days. You can get a tempo, microbus, bus, or even a taxi if you want a fast traveling with little more fare from National Theatre, Jamal. Well even if you like walking, within an hour, you will reach the destination as it is situated close to the outskirts of the northern side of Kathmandu. The industrial district around Balaju is the most important in the valley but it does not affect the quiet surroundings of the park in any way.

After you reach to the Balaju area, you will need to pay some cheap entrance fee to get inside the beautiful park. Lots of beautiful bamboos, trees, and varieties of flowers, ponds with fishes, and the twenty-two gushing waterspouts can be found inside the Balaju Park. The twenty-two gushing waterspouts also gave the park its name as “Bais dhara Balaju.” There is also a modern swimming pool where you can enjoy swimming in the sumer and a smaller image of the sleeping Vishnu at Budhanilkantha.

In front of the sleeping Vishnu a small, typically Nepalese, temple is flanked by a row of Hindu images including elephant-headed Ganesh, Buddha protected by the hood of a serpent and Bhagwati. A stupa-like structure shelters a many-armed goddess, unusual in a Buddhist stupa, and an image of Harihar – half Vishnu and half Shiva. The hands on one side hold trishul, a symbol of Shiva (weapon), while on the other side the hands hold chakra (weapon) and sankha, the sympbols of Vishnu. There is also a small phallical-shaped linga surrounded by four pillars and an image of the bullock Nandi. The site is not more than three centuries old but makes an interesting visit due to this curious juxtaposition of Hindu deities.