Srey-Yuu has been begging for dumplings for a few weeks, so I decided to introduce her to momos, the Tibetan/Nepalese style of dumplings, and now she prefers them over Chinese style dumplings.
First, Mandatory River Fun 🏊♀️
You will typically see trips to the river consisting only Monkey-B and I, but on rare occasions big sister and mama join us. This day was one of those days, the whole family at the river, but Monkey-B and I were the only swimmers of the day.
I have no idea why, but Monkey-B and I both love the rush of being in the water up to our necks and shivering so much that we have to make uncontrolled shrieks just to get through it. I guess it's the endorphin rush that we are both hooked on, and luckily it's a free one.
Shampoo Time 🧴
I originally thought Srey-Yuu and the mothership were going to join us for swimming, but when they arrived I realized they had come for a good ole' shampoo and flee. Now that it's the dry season here, we occasionally run out of rainwater, and sometimes we'll just use the river for a few days in hopes that the rain will come soon and we don't have to pump from the river.
Monkey-B kept calling me to the water, so I knew I'd have to put the phone down for a bit and have some fun too. There are very few chances these days to live fully in the moment, but when I'm in the river with Monkey-B and we're both smiling and laughing, there's nowhere else in the galaxy I'd rather be.
Swimming Homies 🌊
I've mentioned in previous posts that Monkey-B and I swimming buddies for life, and I really mean that. I could honestly just swim every day with Monkey-B and post about it because it's always the highlight of the day when it happens, but I'm sure you'd all get bored when my blog devolves into a swimming e-zine.
My photos are usually three days behind real-time, but today (not when these pictures were taken) Monkey-B really upped her efforts to learn how to swim without flotation devices. On this day she was toolin' around using her lifejacket as a kickboard because she's already got the arm technique down.
We're focused on the breast stroke at the moment, the style that would be more appropriately named "frog stroke." She hasn't got the rhythm down yet, and even though she can proper herself forward quite well with her frog kicks, when she pulls in her legs, she travels in reverse and loses about 95% of the distance covered. She's on the verge of having her swimming breakthrough, I can sense it, and I want to be there to see the look on her face when she achieves this feat, because these are the moments in life that I reflect on the most.
Giggles & Free Wood Yo' 🪵
No trip to the river is complete without finding some remnants from upstream illegal logging. We are among the first residents on this river, so we have first dibs on lost timbers and planks that float by. I would dare to say someone could a living from just sitting at the river all day and snagging planks as they float by.
I managed to catch Srey-Yuu smiling in this shot, an emotion she rarely shares with the camera, so mark that down as a dad-win.
Monkey-B was busy being goofy too, but I asked to try on a pensive face for a moment and stare at something across the river. I got the above shot, she looks deep in thought, but is actually just using every muscle in her body not to smile.
Hammock Hut & Not Hammock Hut 🛖
While in the river, I decided to take a shot of the hammock that that still stands and one of the site of the hammock that fell into the river.
On the righthand side of this shot are the two trees that used to stop the old hut from falling into the river. Well, when I heard trees fall in the night near the houe, I knew right away it was the two hammock hut trees, and sure enough I found the last parts of the hut that I was scared to take down on such an unstable slope. Apparently my instincts were correct, it was about to fall, and I wouldn't have wanted to be on the roof when it launched into the river with some g-force.
Move Over Jiaozi, Hello Momos 🥟
After a good swim, I decided to make the dumplings that Srey-Yuu has been begging for. My wife normally makes "khiev bonlae," the Khmer version of the Chinese jiaozi, but on this day I decided to introduce Nepalese/Tibetan dumplings to the kids, the legendary momos, also found in northern parts of India too. Note that the Tibetan flag is illegal in Cambodia, but their dumplings are not.
I had previously used what was left of a roti dough ball to make about 14 momos, and this is when Srey-Yuu mentioned that she preferred them to the ones mama makes, uh-oh! I told her to keep her mouth shut, but she wouldn't stop touting the awesomeness of momos. Perhaps next week I will recipe-ify my momos in post form for you all to enjoy and learn more about, and now that Monkey-B is my supreme momo wrapper, I'll have her help me.
Just look at how proud she is of her creations, not bad at all for a first time momo creator. I made a soy sauce dip to enjoy them with, but next time I will take the extra step and make some momo achar, the pickle that is often served with them in Sikkim, the place I met ate momos for the first time.
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