Earth Laughs in Flowers

Spring Through My Lens

Spring brings a new hope of  rebirth, renewal and regrowth. Everything becomes new when the spring is in the air.

Enjoy the spring through my lens:

Peach Blossom

Peach Blossom

Pear Blossom

Dandelion

Primula Blossom

Apple Blossom

Trashi Chhodzong

Below is the Peach Blossom Nail Art i did to rejoice the spring month. 

Wish You a Bright and Happy Spring!

30 DAYS FITNESS CHALLENGE REVIEW

The Challenge-  30 days Fat Burn by BeFit

I had been maintaining a healthy life style by doing routine cardio exercises, weight training and yoga. 

I wanted to up my fitness to another level and googled hard for a workout challenge and found out a 30 days fat burn challenge by Be-Fit. The 10 minutes workout comes with different workout each day for 30 days with a time table to follow.

 I started the  one month challenge and completed the complete set of workout today and the results are AMAZING!!!

Let me show you the Before and After Picture of the workout results.

#No Filter

The workout is not easy but not impossible to do. In the first few days, my body was all sore,especially the thigh and the gluts which gradually faded away after i gained endurance.

The workout is for 10 minutes which i did twice as merely 10 minutes didn't tire me out. I did my workout in the mornings with additional of 30 minutes yoga.

On the diet part, my breakfast was normal but i switched to more healthy for lunch and dinner by eating brown rice, steamed veggies and lentils.

The final result is:

• i see some definition in the abs
• i have more energy and feel stronger
• weight loss from 50.5 to 47.5 kgs
• i feel healthy and happy 

I would like to encourage anyone wanting to start this program to at least give it a try. You can download the workout freely from you tube.

My next Goal is to do the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. The workout looks much tougher and longer. Who is with me? 

MY STORY ON THE TREK TO BUMDRA

The well planned and much awaited trek finally came on the auspicious day of 22nd February with 15 of enthusiastic trekkers with determination to overcome any obstacles aka altitude  sickness!!! Since i had never trekked such high mountains my entire life, i was on self doubt whether i can even start climbing from the base of the mountain. Moreover, i was worried whether i can get up so early for the trek.

The plan was a one day trek.

The day started by getting up at around 3:30am and getting everything ready by 4am. We departed at 4:15am from Thimphu to Paro. I squeezed a quick nap worried i might doze off while walking.

We reached the base point at Sanga Choekor, Paro, a Buddhist Institute at around 6:15am and had some tea and snacks before starting the journey.

The way to Bumdra took us through steep slopes, through verdant forests and dusty trials strewn with little pebbles and rocks.

Half way across the destination, we even managed to get lost where we eventually found our way back to the main trail. This incident took me to my memory lane where once my friend and i got lost during a school trip. We had to weave through thick prickly, bushy forest with tears and fears in our minds. This time it was just half an hour into the wilderness. Relieved, we continued our trek to the destination.

Walking sticks came as a welcome relief to the tired legs to an ametuer trekker like me.

Finally, after climbing uphill for almost four and half hours we reached the destination and the scenery there was simply breathtaking.

We preceded our way to the Bumdra Temple where we lighted butter lamps and offered prayers.

According to the priest there, Khandro Yeshi Tshogyal manifested into 100,000 dakine and flew to the rock where the present temple resides. The sacred place was blessed with many more great scholars and  lamas.

The view of the temple is simply breathtaking where it is built on a steep rock. The nearby mountain reminded me Pandora from the Avatar Movie.

From the temple, we hiked another about 2km uphill mountaintop where the last vestigial vegetation gives way to winter landscapes of ice and snow and the magnificent beauty of the roof of the mountain. 

We sat down among the fluttering prayer flags and considered how far and high we have come. It all seemed like a Dream.

The Trek all in all took about 8 walking hours.

Back home i enjoyed my coffee which i had been craving for the whole day with different taste of happiness and satisfaction.

Felt so accomplished

Add caption

The Group who conquer'd a mountain

A Warm Hearty Meal for the Cold Winter

Bhathup (Flat Noodles Bouillabaisse)

Recipe

Ingredients:
1. Flour
2. Beef
3. Spinach
4. Ginger
5. Garlic
6. Chilli Powder
7. Oil/butter
9. Salt.
10. Egg
11. Coriander

Method
1. Firstly add an egg and water to the flour and knead it into a soft dough.
2. Roll the dough into a ball and flatten it using a rolling pin. Then cut it into strips and keep it aside.
3. Crush ginger and garlic in to a thick paste and keep it aside.
4. Shred the spinach and keep in aside. Then chop the coriander and keep it aside.
5. Then boil the water and add in the dough strips and salt. After 5 minutes, add in oil/butter,ginger garlic paste, precooked beef and chilli powder and let it cook for sometime.
6. Once the doughstrip in aldente, add in the spinach, adjust the
 seasoning and serve with chopped coriander on top.

Try it out and let me know how it turned out.

Feast for the Eyes

Cosmos and their Beauty

Season's greeting with these beautiful wild flowers popularly known as "I Love You"Flowers purely for visual treat.

Happy Fall peeps!

BIBIMBAP RECIPE--- The Symphony of food

Bibimbap is a korean dish made with meat, vegetables and rice.

This is the second time that i have tried making bibimbap and it tastes great. So instead of paying an ample amount of money to try the dish in a restaurant, you can follow the simple recipe part by part and enjoy.

Ingredients needed:

1.  Rice

2.  Beef (opt out beef if you are a vegetarian)

3.  Carrots

4.  Radish

5.  Shitake Mushroom

7.  Spring onion

8.  Spinach

9.  Crushed Garlic

10.Red Onion

12. Sesame Seeds

13. Soya Sauce

14. Sesame oil

15. Vinegar

16. Sugar

17. Salt to taste

18. Pepper

19. Red Chilli Flakes

20. Gojuchang Sauce(Korean Red          Chilli Paste)

 

Method:

1st Part (Preparation)

1. Boil the Rice.

2. Shred the beef and add in a teaspoon of soya sauce, sesame seed, sesame oil, salt, garlic and salt.         Let it marinate.

3. Blanch the spinach and season it with sesame oil, garlic and pinch of salt, pepper and toasted               sesame seed and the mix it properly.

4. Julienne the shitake mushroom and add in a little bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, a pinch of salt     and pepper and mix it. 

5. Julienne the radish and the mix it with a teaspoon of red chilli flakes, a teaspoon of vinegar, sugar        and mix it.

6. Julienne carrots. 

2nd Part (Cooking)

1. Pan fry the julienned carrots with a pinch of salt. Take it out after 1-2 minutes.

2. Pan fry the onions and spring onions. Take it out when tender.

3. Pan fry the marinated beef with a pinch of sugar(optional) and fry till tender.

4. Fry the shitake mushroom till tender.

5. Make a sunny side up egg and keep it aside.

3rd Part (Sauce)

1. Put 2  teaspoon of korean red chilli sauce in a small bowl and add in a table spoon of sesame oil, sugar, vinegar and toasted sesame seed. Mix it well together.

4th Part (Assembling)

1. Take a bowl and put the boiled rice in it first.

2. Arrange the meat and vegetables.

3. Add the sunny side egg on top on the dish.

4. Pour the sauce over the dish.

Mix the veggies, meat, egg and rice together and Enjoy.

Fire Noodles

Samyang's Fire Noodles

There is this youtube sensation going on with the challenge of eating a particular spicy noodles known as Fire Noodles. People were doing challenges and describing how hot the noodles are. Some had tears streaming down their cheeks like they have eaten Habanero Chilli or something. 

Being an immense noodle lover, this intrigued me and i too wanted to try it and see how hot the noodles were. I looked upon the noodles in all the supermarkets here but what an ill luck, i couldn't find any. Imported foods are hard to get by out here. Sigh! I was dying to try it out. 

But Luckily, i went on a short trip to Singapore where i was determined  i will grab a packet.

I finally came across the noodles where i bought a jumbo packet. Couldn't wait to try it out.

This is how, it looks like when cooked.

The noodles are like any other noodles that we find here and the only difference is the sauce. The packet contains 2 mini sachets one which contains the hot sauce and the garnish in another. 

The noodle preparation is simple. Firstly you need to boil the water and put the noodles in it. After the noodles are 

al dente, take it out and pour it over a colander and keep it aside. Then open the hot sauce and pour it over the noodles and mix it well together. then add the garnish.

My review on the World's spiciest noodles:

 1. It wasn't as spicy as i expected on first try -- must be due to chilli eating Bhutanese background.

 2. The noodles  were of course delicious. The sauce was somewhat sweet and spicy with perfect balance of seasoning.

 3. But on my second trial, i found the noodles slowly burning my tongue but bearable in terms of Bhutanese Standards.

I wouldn't mind to try it out again. Its simply delicious.