Party – Napali Style

We were invited to our friends’, Om and Sarita, house for dinner. We had asked about the kind of food they ate back home in Napal and they said they would cook for us. They invited us over for what you might call the Hindu version of Thanksgiving, only they sacrifice goats and bulls, burn effigies, and party for ten days. Here is the exact Holiday if you are interested: Dusserah – ten-day festival in September-October, which recounts the tale of the Ramayana. An exiled prince, Rama, battles the evil King Ravana to save his wife. Finding it nearly impossible to defeat the King, Rama prayed for nine days (sort of like Alma and Enos, only different…) to Durga and found the strength to defeat King Ravana, thereby saving his wife and restoring peace to the land.

Elora helping Elder Sanchez crush the spices. It smelled really good.
The guts and gooey parts of a goat. Cooked. Waiting to be fried and eaten. We didn’t stay for that part…
Chris rolling out dough for momo, the Napali version of a potsticker. Which I think tastes better, because they have an awesome sauce with tomatoes, cilantro, and sesame seed paste.
Those are momos in the foreground, with Elora helping roll out the dough in the background.
Momo are steamed and have to be served very hot. Here is Sarita opening the steamer. We tried the goat (but not the innards) and preferred the momo… goat tastes kind of like how a goat smells…
Ollie enjoyed the dessert. They are little cornbread dumplings soaked in honey and served with yogurt. Apparently Americans are the only people in the world with an aversion to plain yogurt. Other cultures seem to not only eat it, but drink it, put it on sandwiches, and serve it with dessert.
Group photo! Left to right: Elder Sanchez, Om (back), Sarita, Elora, Chris, Elder Buck Bailey (back – and was the number one ranked ski jumper in the USA before his mission!), Karen, Oliver.
Why do all group photos end up looking like this? Or rather, why don’t they?

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