We’re not doing much sleeping at the moment. We are headed to London for the BBC Food and Farming Awards on Wednesday night, and it’s all far too exciting. For me, anyway. Yeshi has a much more (Buddhist) “what will be will be” attitude towards it all.
But he’s not sleeping either. His family have just arrived in Lhasa for a month-long pilgrimage – their first in some decades – and mentally he’s not quite here. He’s on video calls (sometimes during the small hours), looking at pictures, and busy wiring money. He’s still making momos and cooking curry, but really he’s in Tibet with mum and dad.
In Tibet, pilgrimages are essentially circumambulations of holy places – short/long walks in a clockwise direction around sacred sites. Yeshi’s mum, who had eight surviving children and a life that these column inches could not hope to cover, is bent quite double now, but I remember her out-walking me when we went on pilgrimages together. It is said that holy places have their own power, and she is proof of the concept.
Lhasa, which translates literally as “Place of the Gods”, is home to some of Tibet’s most famous temples. Over the next month our family will visit them all. They’ve brought huge bags of food with them – butter, barley, apples, and so on – to leave as offerings, and will return home lighter and fitter. The idea is that they will also find some purification along the way, while accumulating merit and blessings.
Wish us luck on Wednesday. Of course it doesn’t matter in the end who lifts the trophy (chopping board in this case) but being a finalist in the BBC Food and Farming awards is a huge stage for the Tibetan people, and I want to see Yeshi on it!
We are open as usual this week, including Weds. Here’s a run-down of our hours:
Wednesday: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Thursday -Saturday: 12-3pm (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
Come for takeaway, to dine in (no bookings) or home delivery through Foodstuff. This week’s menu is live on the website now. Or come to fill your freezers! We stock individual portions and family-sized boxes of momos and curry, and these are available to purchase any time during opening hours.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds: 5-9.30pm
Thurs – Sat: 12-3pm 5-9.30pm
☏ 01865 499318
