OK, so today we were officially on our own. No temples. No UNESCO sites. No near-death monkey encounters. I hadn’t scheduled any tours for the morning, which made the kids very happy. We did, however, have a momo cooking class later in the day, which I was personally very excited about.
We started the morning wandering around Thamel, doing a little shopping. We bought pashminas (because apparently I needed more), popped into a local Nepali grocery store, and I purchased as many variations of Nepali cookies as I could reasonably justify fitting into our luggage. For research purposes, obviously...
After that, we made our way to Garden of Dreams, which truly feels like an oasis in the middle of Kathmandu. It’s quiet, green, peaceful, and beautifully landscaped almost shockingly calm compared to the chaos just outside its gates. Built in the 1920s, it has this European-style elegance that feels slightly unexpected here. Before going in, we stopped at a French bakery nearby and bought giant croissants for about a dollar each and brought them into the garden with us.
As we sat there breaking off pieces, chipmunks started creeping closer and closer. At one point, they were basically at our feet waiting for crumbs. I felt like Cinderella making woodland friends. If birds had landed on my shoulders, I wouldn’t have been surprised. We ended up staying much longer than planned because it was just so nice to sit somewhere calm without constantly dodging motorbikes.
Eventually, we left our fairy-tale garden and headed just outside Thamel to a more local neighborhood for our momo cooking class. Normally these classes have 15–20 people, but lucky for us, it was just our family, two instructors, and one other tourist from Kamakura, Japan. Apparently we only do private experiences in Nepal. There was no slacking today. With such a small group, everyone had to participate. Even the girls rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
We learned how to mix the filling, roll the dough, and most importantly, how to pinch them properly.
I will say, everyone but me seemed to master the folding technique. Mine were… rustic (and that’s putting it nicely). But now that we’ve learned, when we make them at home, I fully plan to remind everyone how good they were at shaping them so there will be zero excuses not to help. We made chicken momo, which were absolutely delicious. That said, after trying paneer and vegetable versions earlier in the week, I might lean slightly toward those next time. I didn’t expect that, but here we are.
I will say, everyone but me seemed to master the folding technique. Mine were… rustic (and that’s putting it nicely). But now that we’ve learned, when we make them at home, I fully plan to remind everyone how good they were at shaping them so there will be zero excuses not to help. We made chicken momo, which were absolutely delicious. That said, after trying paneer and vegetable versions earlier in the week, I might lean slightly toward those next time. I didn’t expect that, but here we are.
And speaking of food, I realized in my previous post that I forgot to mention our dinners while we’ve been in the city. The first night, of course, was our food tour. But beyond that, Nepali cuisine shares a lot of similarities with North Indian food- curries, masalas, naan, rice dishes and we fully embraced it. We knew we were going to eat as much curry, masala, and naan as humanly possible while we were here.
And honestly? The food has been so good that I’m fairly certain when we get home, even our beloved local momo restaurant will not compare.
And honestly? The food has been so good that I’m fairly certain when we get home, even our beloved local momo restaurant will not compare.
Which means I may need to perfect my folding skills sooner rather than later...
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