but it looks very similar to a chayote which is kind of like a small melon type of a
Vegetable and in fact, I'm just going to start with that immediately
Good morning, everyone. It's Mark wiens with migrationology.com
Oh thank you oh
No, thank you. It's another freezing cold morning
I'm sitting at my laptop this morning, and I am warming myself with a cup of tea
[and] we just opened the window to get that sunlight that sunlight makes all the difference and
And this is a pretty nice office today as well
I'm gonna sit here and try to get a little bit of a
picture editing done, and then after that we're gonna have breakfast and then we're gonna head start driving back to Thimpu
Now it is time for breakfast, so I'm starting off with my power tea, bhutanese butter tea
Hmm. Oh yeah, that is good. It's a salty version today and
Yeah, nice, and salty and very buttery it tastes good
Thank you, Che, che
Che Che is serving me some of the eazy and today for breakfast. We are having rice and
Omelette and this is Bhutanese white rice
which is a little bit different from the normally we've been eating bhutanese Red rice and so
Yeah, I don't think I've even eaten white rice actually since being here
And then I also just got a little bit of that
Cottage cheese fried in butter that we had last night left over from last night heated fresh. This is a good
simple and
Wonderful my kind of a breakfast oh and that that rice is really fluffy feeling
I've gotta squeeze myself a ball of rice and I'm gonna break off a piece of omelette
And eat it with that little ball of rice plus some of that eazy
Well that is so good mmM that rice. It's kind of similar to basmati rice
It's nice and fluffy and then with that that's the same eazy that we had last night
Just the chopped-up green chillies with that tree tomato. I think there are some green onions in there as well and
a little bit of cottage cheese for Flavor
Mmm. Yeah that is like the purest of all cottage cheese
..........
Oh, that is a good breakfast again
We are all packed up and ready to go and just taking a little walk around the turnip field there are some
Gigantic turnips and radishes in the field and we're going to start driving back to Thimpu
On the drive up the mountain. We just came across some yaks so we just stopped to take some photos
I'm kind of scared of getting too close though
But I think they're pretty nice. They're just hanging out Chillin
Please come in. Oh thank you very much. Oh. Yeah, we go
Establishing two kitchens, okay. One traditional kitchen and one modern kitchen. Oh wow. Traditional kitchen is not yet complete
My wife Ghelmo
And norbu
Staff. Wow very nice
So traditional kitchen is not yet
finished
okay, hopefully
Soon we complete this one and we will be using this one
We drove for about four hours
And we arrived to Wangdue and we're just stopping by for lunch at a place called
Wangdue Eco Lodge, and this is a newly opened Eco-Lodge. It's really nice a great view of where the
Rivers meet as well as the Wangdue dzong which is being rebuilt after a recent fire
But this is a really nice place and the owner is
Actually the author of a bhutanese cookbook, and he's a really nice guy
He showed us around and we're gonna have lunch here, and I'm not sure what we're gonna eat yet
Foreign language
There's a real variety of different dishes that we have this plate. We have the red rice
there are some noodles which are from the Bumthang district of Bhutan
some mushrooms these are some potatoes, and then this is a like a little a
Bit of beef with tofu, and then this is the pumpkin soup there are some side dishes as well
Oh, I like this pumpkin soup just nice pieces of pumpkin
Mmm. [oh]
That is good. The natural taste of the pumpkin and then it has a little bit of a
Kind of a Smoky flavor almost like it almost tastes like bacon
I will start with adding some of the eazy to my rice
This is made with fresh chilies, and it looks like there's some cheese in here as well. Okay. That's some of that
ohooo that looks delicious. This is a beautiful looking version of Ema datshi
Which is chilies and cheese, and there's also a spinach in here. That's a nice
nice addition
Oh that looks beautiful. Okay. We call it ahh senchu beka
Senchu beka
That's it
but it looks very similar to a chayote which is kind of like a small melon type of a
Vegetable, okay, let me add some of this to my rice
Ohhhh looks delicious, and in fact. I'm just gonna start with that immediately
it's very similar to a winter melon with a thick cheese sauce but it's not too rich, but just good flavor and
creamy as well
I Like the addition of spinach in there the spinach has a little bit of a bitter taste
Which is really good and then?
Yeah, it actually complements the chilies and the cheese really nicely okay
And I also really want to try some of this beef minced beef with tofu
I don't think that's a that's a bhutanese dish I have not tried yet
Oh that is marvelous that tastes like yeah like minced beef
I'm not sure if I taste the tofu very lightly and then it has kind of a brown beef gravy flavor to it
but like a
Really good flavor. Maybe a little bit of ginger as well Jang Bury and
They look very similar to udon, and I think they are spiced with I'm not sure what and then some green onions.
Oh you can taste the garlic
On that yeah, that's almost identical to Japanese udon
but very
tastes very fresh and very handmade, and then I love that just that
Kind of like, like a glaze of garlic and szechuan pepper call that gives it some good flavor
Okay, let me try this potato. It looks like a barbecue sauce potato
oh
Wow
Mmm. That is really good. It's kind of crispy on the outside
Red Mm-Hmm. That does taste kind of like a
Tangy Barbecue sauce it's like a an entire potato french fry
coated in barbecue sauce and
I love the potatoes because they have that that silky texture to them instead of being dry and starchy
just finished with lunch that was an incredibly good meal and
Really good quality food as well everything prepared
homestyle, I'm now gonna have dessert and this is I believe a fried banana and
Maybe drizzled in a little bit of honey
Oh that is hot mmm that is freshly fried
It's crispy and then the banana is really almost like custardy on the inside
Thank you
and also the owner he's
Really cool guy. He's working on a second edition of his bhutanese food cookbook and so he's he's also
He's actually I think we share many of the same
interests for traveling and eating and so we connected with him well and also Che che
Treated us for lunch so big thank you to a Che Che a really cool place. We are now heading
I think we have about three more hours to drive to get back to Thimphu now
We just passed through the pass and just a quick roadside stop to buy some local apples and also
We saw some walnuts, so I will never miss an opportunity to buy some walnuts
This one Ying?
And then what else Ying? Ya this one is 200 this one is 150
We're about an hour away from Thimphu City now, so that was a good stop. I'm gonna be eating some walnuts tonight
That was the highlight of my time so far in Bhutan I really enjoyed staying in the farmhouse is really
Really great way to experience bhutanese culture when staying at the farm stays and living with a local family
the cold Ying and I are not used to the cold so it was a bit freezing cold for us, but still really [good] and
That was yeah
Extremely, enjoyable. I want to say a big thank you to Che Che who went with us for the entire trip
She's really cool so big thank you to her and also to Tenzin our driver
Really nice guy as well, and we had a great trip tomorrow
We're going to head off to Paro and see you tomorrow