Country Luncheon

We have planned a tradition Bhutanese lunch today around a farm close to Paro. The farm seems prosperous considering the size of the farm house. We are led into a windowless room that is decorated with water carrying skins and a hide satchel, all from yesteryear. I think this could be interesting because I know DIanne is not as adventurous as I am when it comes to food and Liz and Alan eve less than she is. However, they are all polite. Should be fun.
First on the menu is butter tea. They didn’t say what kind of butter; I immediately think Yak. The tea is strong and flavourful. For more enjoyment we add home made Rice Krispies to the tea. Its good, but you need a spoon to finish it. The food comes out all at once. Pumpkin soup, cooked radishes, steamed cabbage, pork belly, cheese chilli, (the national dish), beef with rice noodles and red rice. There was was way more food than we could eat. The most fun dish was the cheese chilli. It looked inviting and tame. Dianne got a little rice and a couple of forks full of it in her mouth before she realizes the heat that was generated by the chillies. Her eyes were watering as she pushed the rest of hers on to my plate.
Everyone did great. We tried everything and ate our fill. There was a milk tea for cooling your mouth if needed. We were all hungry after our morning hike and this was the perfect meal.Read more