Day 7

Pre Breakfast Entertainment:  Before we even got into the kitchen this morning we were visited by these traveling minstrels.  They had beautiful voices and were playing a kind of local banjo (this through the eyes of a banjo player).  Made from a single hollowed out tree, and covered with goat skin then strung and played with a bow.  They played three songs.  They come often.  Maybe they like me, or maybe they know that I over pay them by like 5x what they usually get... what to do?

Breakfast: well... you can see for your self... guacamole.

Lunch:  The awesome soup from Red Dragon and some good friends over, they all had chow mein another one of the Red Dragon's specialties.

Dinner:  Oh man, The Kitchen Magician turned a 3.3 kg gourd that I brought home from the veggie market into the best roasted squash that was ever smashed by the hands of men, and chicken and two pomegranates (but I shared with the family) and roasted squash seeds.  

Insights:   In communities where many languages are spoken, like here, sometimes different languages will be used only in specific situations.  For instance people may speak Nepali at home with their family, but Hindi in the market place, and English with their friends.  These are called language domains.  I think I have built food into my life in this way.  I have "eating domains."  Times, places, events, feelings that I associate with hunger but hunger isn't really present.  In college I had a Taco Bell domain, it went like this:  If not in bed by 1:00am then to Taco Bell go.  And a blueberry muffin domain that went like this: if going to general chemistry then two blueberry muffins eat you will.  So how to separate real hunger from these domains eh?  This seems like such a simple matter, it has been a bit... shall I say painful?... nah difficult.  Feeling hungry means almost nothing these days... it could actually mean just about anything from fatigue to fun.

Connections:  One of my favorite things about living in Kalimpong is the connection to creation that I am forced to abide in.  For instance, weather seriously affects my day, because... everyone here basically lives outside, I mean there are houses and everything but nothing like the well-sealed things in the US.  If it's cold I'm cold, if it's wet I'm wet, if the lights go out, I'm in the dark.  This Whole 30 thing has done something similar, I feel more connected to the things God made to be enjoyed and eaten, and I have been reminded that they take work.  I can only eat what happens to be growing... I love that!  In fact it has been one of my tests for discovering if I am hungry or if I have entered into an eating domain.  I ask one question.  Am I hungry enough to cook something?  If the answer is yes then rock and roll, lets munch.  If the answer is no, and a few almonds or a piece of fruit or something won't do... then it's something else masquerading  in a hunger suit.  Show thyself masquerading food domain and be dismissed!