August 16, 2003 - Trek Info: Mike Frame arrived in Nepal as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the early 60's until he hit upon the idea of beginning a restaurant in the mid 80's, and found Nepali partners to collaborate with

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Nepal: Peace Corps Nepal : The Peace Corps in Nepal: August 16, 2003 - Trek Info: Mike Frame arrived in Nepal as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the early 60's until he hit upon the idea of beginning a restaurant in the mid 80's, and found Nepali partners to collaborate with

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 10:56 am: Edit Post

Mike Frame arrived in Nepal as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the early 60's until he hit upon the idea of beginning a restaurant in the mid 80's, and found Nepali partners to collaborate with



Mike Frame arrived in Nepal as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the early 60's until he hit upon the idea of beginning a restaurant in the mid 80's, and found Nepali partners to collaborate with

MORE THAN APPLE PIE
By Manjushree Thapa (Published on June 29th 2002)

As the fare in many Thamel restaurant attests, many fearless chefs try cooking western food in Nepal, only to produce insipid grub that makes westerners feel misanthropic, and sends Nepalis scurrying home of dal-bhat-tarkari. How to cook a pancake that isn't rubbery? How to make a soup that actually has taste? How to make an apple pie that is more than just a heap of spiced apples? Such mysteries have baffled many local chefs.

Now, to demystify the art of western cooking in Nepal, Mike Frame (the Mike in Mike's Breakfast) has written Mike's Breakfast: Cooking in Nepal and then Some, parting with trade secrets that have made his restaurant the favorite hang-out of all time for Kathmandu's jet-setting classes. The loyal fan base of Mike's Breakfast includes long-term expats discussing the elusive long-term visa, showy young professionals flashing mobile phones, foreign-returned Nepalis agonizing over culture clashes, INGO and NGO working hosting business lunches, mountain climbers tucking into chicken sizzlers, and stray cosmopolitan souls who have slowly lose their bearings if they cannot eat western food that tastes the way western food is supposed to taste.The food that makes them flock to Mike's Breakfast can now be cooked at home.

Yet Mike's Breakfast will appeal even to those who have no interest in cooking, because Frame writes like a seasoned writer not just about his recipes, but about his forty-year-long experience in Nepal. He arrived in Nepal as a teacher in the Peace Corps in the early 60's and came back for a variety of jobs in the agriculture sector until he hit upon the idea of beginning a restaurant in the mid 80's, and found Devesh Shrestha, Dilip Baniya and other Nepali partners to collaborate with.

Mike's Breakfast is by turns hilarious, informative, irreverent and contemplative. Frame writes of having to drink much tongba in order to get the spent grains of millet muffins. He mourns the replacement of Nepali majors such as the maund and dharni and saer and pau by other more standardized measurements. Any one who wonders how to obtain fresh lard or tongue or cream in Kathmandu can find out by reading this book. The author also shares his experience in growing a kitchen garden, in smearing the kitchen with cow dung, and on buying such tricky items as local cheese, flours, vegetables and fruit. He lists recipes local buffalo, wild boar, pig, goat and chicken dishes as well as recipes for Swedish meatballs and pork ribs. And those who feel that pie is among the best contributions that they US has made to Nepal can learn much from the recipes for apple, pears, peach, apricot, raspberry, rhubarb, and strawberry, mince meat, sour cream raisin, meringue, chocolate and pumpkin pie. Throughout the book Frame provides the suggestions for what to do when the basic ingredients for these dishes cannot be found, or when the quality of these ingredients varies wildly form shop to shop.

One of the best chapters in the book though, is dedicated to that all Nepali staple, rice. Now Nepalis get very finicky about the rice, and obviously, Frame has listened to too much conflicting advise about how to cook rice perfectly. His recommendations spoof the Nepali obsession for perfect rice: "rinse the rice or don't rinse the rice in cold or lukewarm water...cover pot or donot cover pot..stir pot continually, intermittently, at critical times, when you remember, only once, or not at all. Stir either vigorously, lazily or making very little disturbance...The rice may be like porridge, sticking, breaking into individual particles, al dante, or hard and may or may not have a hard or scorched layer on the bottom, but it will be delicious!".

The fact is that it is very hard to go wrong with rice. Another excellent chapter is on a famine in the village of Kathare, in north west Dhankuta district, where Frame served two years in a Peace Corps as one crop after another produces low yields, villagers begin to stop selling grains, to kill their chickens, to buy controlled-price rations from government stores. The bi-weekly market starts to dwindle. Schools close because teachers cannot buy grains. Villagers begin to pawn their jewelry in order to buy grains to get them through the lean winter season.

Whether contemplative, as in this chapter, or witty, as in much of the book, Frames writing is rooted in his experience without being about himself. This is what makes Mike's Breakfast such a good read. Here is a book that Nepalis expatriates, and visitors to Nepal alike can enjoy, and also learn from.

Back to Mike's cookbook page



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Story Source: Trek Info

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Nepal; Cooking; Business; Restaurants; Writing - Nepal

PCOL7219
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By Bhuwan Thapaliya (cache4.mos.com.np - 202.52.251.144) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 9:12 am: Edit Post

Peace Is Not Dead Yet, It Is Only In Coma


Dream on, dream on, and dream on!
Blessed is the man, who perceive his
Dreams, before he accepts the reality
But dont keep on dreaming forever
Wake up from your idyllic slumber
And rejuvenate the spirit of the Earth
By planting the seeds of universal love
In an arid hearts of the multifarious men
Wake up and transfer your dreams
Into thoughts, and then transform
Them into action, not only for your
Inner peace but for the re-stabilization
Of peace in the world, for peace is
Not dead yet, it is still alive, it is in coma
Like the truth eclipsed by the falsehood


Copyright 2003 Bhuwan Thapaliya

By Bhuwan Thapaliya (213.185.110.26) on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 4:24 am: Edit Post

When War

When war starts,
Life ends and death begins
Light ends and shade prevails
Joy ends and despair begins
For war is the ravenous devil
Born to gulp the balmy blood
And dethrone the humanity
Into the itinerary of disgust

When war starts,
Serenity ends and brutality begins
Affluence ends and dearth prevails
Adore ends and dissension begins
For war is the repulsive venom
Born to obliterate the soul of life
And smolder the heart of love
In the furnace of perpetual strife

When war starts,
Veracity ends and deception begins
Independence ends and anarchy prevails
Appetite ends and starvation begins
For war is the storm of covetousness
Blown by the forest of ascendancy
That deracinates the seeds of love
And barrens the womb of mother Earth

But…

When war stops,
Death ends and life begins
Shade ends and light prevails
Despair ends and joy begins
For peace is the fountain of joy
That revives the snoozing heart
And enshrouds the rhythm of life
With the fragrance of divine love

When war stops,
Brutality ends and serenity begins
Dearth ends and affluence prevails
Dissension ends and adore begins
For peace is the saccharine nectar
Born to nourish the essence of life
And make this discernible Earth
A facsimile of eternal Paradise

When war stops,
Deception ends and veracity begins
Anarchy ends and independence prevails
Starvation ends and appetite begins
For peace is the zephyr of tranquility
Blown by the forest of generosity
That swirls and glides the dark clouds
Of abhorrence, remote from its territory


Copyright 2003 Bhuwan Thapaliya http://www.authorsden.com/bhuwanthapaliya

By Bhuwan Thapaliya (213.185.110.106) on Wednesday, November 03, 2004 - 12:49 am: Edit Post

The world of joy has no place for the tears of the poor.

As I look
around the world.
I see that
the world of joy
has no place
for the tears
of the poor.

The world seems
to be running
after the tides of gold.
It has no time
to soothe the
wounded heart
of the shore.

Tormented by
the barbarity
of the money,
people are
grinding
love to dust
under its wheels.

As I look
into the eyes
of the poor.
I realise that
they are as hungry
as mine. They are
as hopeful as mine.

They are not
afraid
of the pain.
They have
accepted it
as the bridegroom
of their life.

But nothing
hurts
the most
than watching
them dance
with the death
to the song of our life.

Yet, they are waiting
for a change
waiting for
a new
tomorrow
to wash away
their pain.

But...

Who will carry
the burden of their heart?

I have my own burden.
You have your own burden.
Who will carry
the burden of our heart?

Look at the trees
they grow tall
not for themselves
but to shelter us all.
Let us learm from
them, and forget our burden
to carry the burden of their heart.

You may say its
impossible
but unless we try
to do something impossible
we will never be successful
beause we cannot achieve
the impossible
by only attempting the possible.

Let us look
into our soul
and realise that
those who serve the humanity
need not sit for the meditation.
Serving those in need is the
mother of all meditation.

Let your life be the spark
of the love that ignites
the lamp of the soul.
Let your life be the spark
of the light that ignites
the lamp of the world.

Copyright 2004 Bhuwan Thapaliya

By Myra Lautner (d157.as1.gdrp1.mi.core.com - 216.93.42.74) on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 11:17 am: Edit Post

I was in Kathmandu Thanksgiving of 1997. Far mrom America, by myself with no other American around to celebrated one of my most cherished holidays. I found Mike's Kitchen and celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving feast surrounded by 16 other Americans. It was then when I found something I searched for so long. A devotion to my country and my family. Thank you Mike for bringing Americans together for holidays only we understand and have a heart for.

Myra Lautner


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