India, a fun place to be!!!!

I always thought of India as a cool place. I really want to go there when I am in College or even after that. Just sometime in my life. There is a lot cool cool places like Andaman Islands, Living Root Bridge, Indian Ghost Town of Bhangarh and Chadar The Frozen River Trek, I want to go there because they all look very interesting and fun to go to. In East India, a popular dish is fish and rice. I don’t really like fish, but rice is one of my favorite foods. The thing I think is most cool about food in North India is it is reflected off valleys. Would you like to go to India some day?

Indian Food!

Before we get into the blog, one fact about me is that I hate Indian food. Well wait a minute hate is a strong word, let me just say I very dislike Indian food. SO, let's get straight into the blog.

You are probably wondering why I chose to do my blog on Indian food. I choose this because, it is very different from American food and it seems interesting to learn about. I have noticed that Indian food has a very strong smell. This is probably because of all the different spices they use. Spice as you know also affects the taste, and I really don't like spicy things so that makes a big impact on weather I like the food or not. All of the spices come from the trading between India, Europe and Asia. One food I do like that is Indian is their desserts they make. My favorite dessert is Gulab Jamun. Gulab Jamun is a dessert that looks like a doughnut and you get to dip it in syrup. That is probably the only Indian food I would eat again.

Do you like Indian food? If you do what is your favorite thing to eat that is Indian food. If you don't like Indian food, tell me why?

Curry is BAE

Curry. Most people think India... or you could think about the awesome, three-point making king, Stephen Curry. Unfortunately, that's not what we're going to talk about. Sorry Steph, I'd love to talk about you, but this is about CURRY, the food. First of all, what is curry? Curry is a very common dish that originates from India. There are many different kinds of curry. For example, some of the many are Chicken curry or Panang Curry. I thought curry was just one type! The dish also has a lot of spices. I mean, India is practically the spice country. Curry isn't just in India, it's all over Southern Asia! In fact, you can find it in almost all of Asia and across the world. Countries like Thailand and Japan are also known for their curry. Some of the spices used in the food are turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek and more. I'm sure you've heard of at least a couple of the spices mentioned because some of them are really common. So many different cool spices for just one dish! If you've eaten describe it! What do you think about this interesting food? Do you think you'd like it?

Pessimistic Tour Guide

Hello.

I am your tour guide to India, (although I'd prefer showing you to China because I have more knowledge about it). So um, let's just do that painful packing and get our phones so we can take all the selfies we want.

You know what's the first stop? It's Agra, because if you haven't gazed upon the Taj Mahal yet, that just might be the place for you to visit. 22,000 people and 17 years creates a satisfying end product; a massive grand marble structure looming before you accompanied by the trimmed trees and clear pool that is sure to impress you (or not). If the Taj Mahal isn't enough for you, let's go eat some food with a taste of history. Spicy curry in Agra was flavored by the Indian-Islamic Mughal Empire, which had stretched along India through 16th to 18th century. The curry is made with dried fruits, nuts, and spices, so if you have a peanut allergy, I don't suggest sampling it. If you want a desert, throw in some fruits, grains, maybe even lentils, and you get some halwa. If your taste buds differ from that, maybe use semolia and ghee, and top it with some nuts.....right, if you have a peanut allergy, that really seems to be restricting you from food in India. But, unfortunately, that is all for now in Agra, because we still have many amazing places to go, even if you don’t like long car rides. So we’re off to New Delhi.

What’s so special about New Delhi? They have the Jantar Mantar, with 13 astronomy instruments. Wouldn’t you like to see astronomy instruments and science stuff? (Awkward silence) It’s more of a historical observatory, but it looks pretty cool! Now, there’s always the food aspect of every place, right? So let’s look at some famous dishes featured. There’s paranthas, which take shape and looks of a tortilla filled up with some stuffing of choice. Butter chicken also sounds like a good decision when you’re ordering, made on accident when some cooks tossed in sauce consisting of butter, tomato, and chicken juices with chicken pieces. If you don’t want chicken then why don’t you try some kebabs, with grilled chunks of meat seasoned with Indian spices. If you want something different and try some soup, there’s Nihari a soup with meat served along with rotis. If you’ve seen a lot of chinese foods, you might know this type of dumpling (as I said I would rather do China) similar to momos. These dumplings have a variety of stuffings, so to those vegetarians out there you can get vegetarian momos. However, that’s enough talk about New Delhi.  

Let’s go to Bangalore, it should be fairly exciting. The place we’re featuring here is Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. We can translate Lal Bagh to The Red Garden. The Red Garden has 240 acres of scenic views, showcasing about 1,000 species of plants and trees over 100 years old. However, 100 years is nothing compared to the ancient rocks dating back to 3,000 million years ago. The biggest feature of The Red Garden is the Glass House, probably the most well known artistic structure in the garden. It was originally going to be based on the model of the Crystal Palace in London. However, the Crystal Palace burnt down after setting fire on accident, so the Crystal Palace in India wasn’t going to happen. Now the model of the Crystal Palace is the Glass House. So, I present to you, the Crystal Palace of India.

Enough about places. Let’s discuss about a festivity. You might want see one of the most important festival in India, Diwali festival, festival of the lights. You can imagine why it would be called festivals of the lights. There’s all sorts of light, clay lamps, strings of electric lights, bonfires, and maybe you’ll even see some fireworks. Other than that, people worship Lakshmi, and let him in by opening doors and windows, then lighting lamps almost as if it was a welcome sign. However, interestingly, in different areas of India Hindus interpret this day differently. North India celebrates the story of King Rama return after he defeated Ravana. South India thinks of this day as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. Lastly, western India believes Lord Vishnu sent King Bali to rule the nether on the day of the diwali festival, but all have something in common. They all feature the good overcoming the evil.

Well, sadly, your tour to India is over. Thanks for the money though, bye. What did you enjoy the most about the tour?

The Holi festival = AWESOME

Ever want to throw paint and water and all over people. Well you can for the Holi festival. It is a two day festival that takes place in India and, Nepal. First off I just need to say that this is the most awesome thing that has ever happened to the history of the world. Second this is a huge holiday/culture for people in this region or country. It also seems like this huge awesome thing that people in the community that everyone is a part of and every one loves it. Third one year I want to go there on the day and just have some fun and, just go crazy and have fun. What do you think about  this amazingly fun festival.

Nepalese Food

Nepal is a place of many amazing and different things from in the United States, but in particular the food is different. In Nepal the foods tend to have plenty of spices, lentils, rice (other grains are often used instead of rice), lean meats, and many more foods are used in the traditional diet. This diet is healthier than many other areas in South Asia. Also let's be honest the food in Nepal is way healthier than in the United states home to a double quarter pounder hamburger. In addition to this Nepalese food has heavy influences from India because of the use of a high amount of spices.

Although Nepal has many different dishes, there are a few that are more common than others. One main cuisine that is commonly known is Dal Bhat. This dish consists of lentils, rice (oftenly exchanged for roti a type of bread, of just another grain), along with a side of something more heavy. To learn more about food from Nepal click here.

If I were to go to South Asia to see the different foods I am not sure of where I would go. So which country in South Asia would you go to see and taste the food?

Dashain Festival in Nepal!

Nepal has many celebrations but the longest celebration is Dashain. It is the most important festival in Nepal and usually happens in late September to mid October after the end of monsoon season. If you were wondering monsoon season is a season where weather is hot and wet at times. Anyway, Dashain is where the people of Nepal celebrate “A Day of Victory Over Demon”. It is celebrated for 15 days and people return from all over the world to celebrate this festival. The most important days of this festival are the first, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth.  Next, This festival is interesting to me because so many people come to celebrate this. Also it lasts for 15 DAYS! That’s a long celebration! One question I have about this is do they rest at night and celebrate all day, celebrate at night and rest during the day, or just celebrate constantly for 15 days. I mean I don’t think they would do the last one but what do I know? They could if they wanted to. This is my post about the Dashain celebration in Nepal. My question to finish up is if you could would you come to this festival and why?