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Kingdom of Happiness, the Bhutan Travel Cookbook

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Kingdom of Happiness, the Bhutan Travel Cookbook Proposal Contents From the Kingdom of Happiness The Bhutan Travel Cookbook Book Concept . 3 Table of Contents. 5 Sample Chapters . 6 1. Tshechu Festival: Masked Dancers Invoke Ancient Gods . 6 2. Blessings from the Horse’s Head Monastery . 24 Target Market for the Book . 44 Marketing the Book . 46 Comparative Titles . 47 Lama D and Sri Jana 2 Book Concept From the Kingdom of Happiness, A Bhutan Travel Cookbook Join me for an adventure into the soul of Bhutan, a window into the original Shangri-La, a series of true stories about how I found balance and spirituality. My adventures include falling in love with a Lama, being forced out of my home in the US, and moving to Bhutan to find the ancient Eastern mind largely unaltered by time. This is a multi-sensory travel guide with stunning images and descriptions that share intimate first-hand experience of Bhutan's cultural traditions, breathtaking landscapes, and authentic food flavors. A different sort of travel guide, the book follows the footprints of saints whose raw, sublime energy still lingers in the mountain caves, where Monks and Lamas enact battles of prehistoric gods between good and evil. Where Bhutanese red rice and mountain spices lend nourishing flavor to every meal. This book won’t compete with the usual tiny-print travel guides. Instead it’s an easy-to-read resource of beauty and cultural insight to treasure. Weaving stories with photos and recipes, I’d like to share how unique synchronicities led to falling in love with a Lama via Facebook Messenger, to finally meeting up with him, and serendipitously discovering it is possible to find love on the opposite side of the world. I discover the Eastern mind As I relaxed and slid deeper in my new Bhutanese life, I sensed a refreshing difference between our Western way of thinking and the Eastern mind. Describe it superficially as Western linear logic, isolated parts, and impatience vs. Eastern cyclical introspection and holistic wisdom. However our present-day cultural reality is wondrously more complex. My goal in this book: East - West fusion I wish to bridge the unspoken chasm between East and West by moving beyond words. I'd like to do it with stories, photographs and food, a multi-media window into the Eastern mind, allowing readers to step into a new version of themselves, refreshed with a different perspective. A travel book with recipes. I’d like people to see it as a must-have guide to meditate on Bhutan, A tasting with all the senses, a non-verbal journey through food, photos, stories, and ritual, the book captures all the senses in a transmission that bypasses the thinking mind, using stories, photos, and flavors. Bhutan, guardian of Tibetan Buddhism As the legacy of ancient Tibet fades, the world looks to the once-isolated kingdom of Bhutan, where roots of Vajrayana Buddhism are still strong. A window into another time, this tiny kingdom between India and China, has 70% forested landscape, the most oxygen-rich, air on the planet, and is the only carbon-negative country in the world. Bhutan’s Fourth King surprised the world in 1972, announcing his new government philosophy, Gross National Happiness, as an alternative to Gross National Product. His forward-thinking policy of high-quality low-volume tourism, protects Bhutan’s pristine landscapes, fostering sustainable economic growth. 3 The world is curious about Bhutan. The Kingdom has become a haven for celebrities seeking calm, an original destination for culture enthusiasts, an immaculate place for trekkers and those seeking untouched landscapes on their bucket list. How did this tiny Buddhist country captivate and challenge the world? Perhaps the West has something to learn from Bhutan. When I married Lama Dungtsho and moved to Bhutan, I discovered new roots of personal strength and safety. My journey has been a gradual discovery of self-acceptance and peace. This book is an exploration to find the source of our personal strength. How can humanity build a sense of unity in the face of economic power, ignorance, and selfishness that we all face? My marriage to Lama Dungtsho is alive and happy. Yes, but thanks only to my husband’s placid Buddhist equanimity and patience. Who knows? Maybe we were linked long ago. It’s no joke when people say all 800,000 inhabitants of Bhutan are relatives. Maybe that’s why we both had to show our family trees to the High Court to get a Foreign Marriage Certificate! Well, we’re definitely not close relatives. My skin is too white, and I laugh too much. This book has no comparable titles. I find a few Bhutan travel books, even fewer cookbooks. No one has put it together with photos, flavors, and stories, for an authentic view from the inside. Perhaps the biggest roadblock to cultural understanding is that we Westerners observe but cannot see. We hold fast to our cell phones and zoom lenses, appreciating colorful costumes and endearing traditions from a safe distance, without having to risk totally jumping in. We come for a brief visit, pay our money and walk away unscathed. This book will bridge that chasm, by inviting people to step into intimate scenes of real honesty and integrity. I bring to the table decades of experience in food and cookbook writing. Bhutan’s dishes may seem tediously plain on the surface, yet the flavors are vibrant and nourishing with simplicity and honesty. I’d like to breathe life into Bhutanese cuisine for Westerners. I'm a natural foods fanatic. I can do this. After writing two successful cookbooks, my website JanesHealthyKitchen.com recently won the prestigious CV Magazine award for the “Most Innovative Healthy Food and Lifestyle Blog in North America”. Accompanied by eye-popping photographs, I’m living proof that it is possible to introduce easy, exotic recipes that will be new flavors for Westerners. My Bhutanese family is excited about helping me test recipes. Although I have photography in my blood and my father was an accomplished photographer- traveler with the rare ability to communicate the beauty of deep cultural roots from distant times, I will hire and direct a professional photographer to travel Bhutan with us for this book. “Asian Cuisine” has recently been declared one of the top food trends. The book’s target market includes people of all ages curious about Asian recipes, travel, healthy foods, clean lifestyles, and all those who embrace foods free of processed, industrial ingredients. This book will be a unique resource for visitors to Bhutan, especially those who come with our company, White Tiger Bhutan Tours. Please help me bring this nourishing book to the world. 4 Contents From the Kingdom of Happiness, The Bhutan Travel Cookbook 1. Introduction: Stepping into the Original Shangri-La 2. An Inner Odyssey Comes to Life o Forced Out of Home in USA, we take a Risk o Arrival in Paro, Riverside Picnic, Matrimonial Suite o But You Can’t Get a Foreign Marriage Certificate in Bhutan o Speaking Dzongkha in the High Court o Radical Simplicity - New Married Life in the Kingdom of Happiness 3. Tshechu: Colorful Masked Dancers Invoke Ancient Gods o Paro Tchechu, Thimphu Tshechu, Jambay Lhakhang Drup, Punakha Drubchen 4. Blessings from the Horse’s Head Monastery 5. Family Puja on the Farm, a Buddhist Annual Blessing 6. Foods of Bhutan Then and Now - A Bhutanese Kitchen o Falling in Love with Red Rice o More Chili Peppers, please o Making Butter and Cheese on the Family Farm o Bhutan Drives out the British and Adopts their Food 7. Buddhist Names that Predict Your Life Path 8. Padmasambhava Prophecies 9. The Wheel of Life: Reincarnation and the Six Realms 10. Mysteries and Miracles: Folk Legends that Just Might be True o Divine Madman, Druk Dragons, Origin of the Takin, Yeti Abominal Snowmen 11. Camping and Stone Bath in the River o Vertical Stairway and the 3-Headed Statue 12. Culture Shock: The 21st Century Arrives in Bhutan o Creating an English School in the Mountains 13. Discovering Equanimity of the Asian Mind o Patient, Kind, Secretive, Enchanting 14. Powerful Temples and Dzongs to Visit o Meditation Caves of Padmasambhava o Taktsang Monastery: Tiger’s Nest is Real o Punakha Dzong, Masterpiece of Architecture, Repository of Sacred Relics 15. Visiting Bhutan - Don’t Miss These Places: o Hiking and Altitude Guidelines o Practical Issues: Tourist Visa, Money, What to Pack, What to Leave o Landscapes, Regions, Cultures, Pristine Forests, Clear Rivers 16. The Beloved Royal Family: Five Kings and a Sixth in the Making o Jigme Namgye recites the Kangyur 100 times and a Lineage is Born o Why Does the King Wear a Raven Crown? 17. A Buddhist Sense of Balance and Sustainability o Zhabdrung Rinpoche: 17th century Visionary of Modern Policy o Protection of Nature: Animals, Birds, Plants, Insects o Carbon Negative and Organic: Conservation in Government 18. Index of 50 Recipes 5 Sample Chapters, From the Kingdom of Happiness 1. Tshechu Festivals: Masked Dancers Invoke Ancient Gods There are secrets in the land. And deep memories in flesh and blood. Not sure where to begin my story. Before I can tell you about the festival dancers, we have to go back to the 8th century to meet the famous Guru Rinpoche. Even his name conjures a link between Indian “Guru” and Tibetan “Rinpoche” traditions. Yes, he was both. Padmasambhava traveled far and wide, meditating in countless caves throughout Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. The man was a game-changer, a brilliant renegade wizard who came to Tibet and oversaw the translation of thousands of sacred texts from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
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