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From the Kingdom of Happiness the Bhutan Travel Cookbook Book Proposal from Lama D. and Srijana From the Kingdom of Happiness The Bhutan Travel Cookbook Lama D. and Srijana / Jane Barthelemy FiveSeasonsMedicine.com [email protected] Paro, Bhutan, 975-1796-7830 Proposal Contents Book Concept . 3 Table of Contents. 5 Sample Chapters . 6 • Tshechu: Masked Dancers Invoke Ancient Gods . 6 • Blessings from the Horse’s Head Monastery . 21 • Family Puja on the Farm, an Annual Blessing . 33 Target Market for the Book . 82 Marketing the Book . 84 Comparative Titles . 85 About Srijana . 87 Lama D. and Srijana / Jane Barthelemy 2 Book Concept From the Kingdom of Happiness, A Bhutan Travel Cookbook From the Kingdom of Happiness is 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: a fusion of East and West 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 altogether with photos, flavors, and stories, for an authentic inside vieW. 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 and sustain the beauty of deep cultural roots from distant times, I will hire and direct a professional photographer to travel Bhutan for this book. “Asian Cuisine” has recently been declared one of the top food trends for 2019. 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 Table of Contents: From the Kingdom of Happiness 1. Introduction: I Step into the Original Shangri-La 2. An Inner Odyssey Comes to Life o Forced Out of my Home in USA, I take a Risk o I Arrive in Paro, Riverside Picnic, Matrimonial Suite o But You Can’t Get a Foreign Marriage Certificate in Bhutan o I Speak in Dzongkha to the Bhutan High Court o Radical Simplicity - My 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 I Learn to Make Butter and Cheese on the Family Farm o Bhutan Drives Out the British but Adopts Their Food 7. Buddhist Names that Predict Your Life Path 8. Camping and Evening Stone Bath in the River o Vertical Stairway and the 3-Headed Statue that Terrifies Me 9. Culture Shock: The 21st Century Arrives in Bhutan o Creating an English School in the Mountains 10. I Discover Perfect Equanimity of the Asian Mind o Patient, Kind, Secretive, Enchanting 11. Powerful Temples and Dzongs to Visit o Padmasambhava Meditation Caves o Taktsang Monastery: Tiger’s Nest is Real o Punakha Dzong, Masterpiece of Architecture, Storage of Sacred Relics 12. Visiting Bhutan - Don’t Miss These Places: o Hiking - Altitude challenges at 8000 – 10,000 feet o What to Pack, What to Leave o Practical Issues: Tourist Visa, Banking, Money Conversion o Landscapes, Regions, Cultures, Pristine Rivers 13. The Beloved Royal Family: Five Kings and a Sixth in the Making, o Why Does the King Wear a Raven Crown? 14. A Buddhist Sense of Balance and Sustainability o Vision and Intelligence in Modern Policy o Protection of Nature: Animals, Birds, Plants, Insects o Carbon Negative and Organic: Conservation in Government 15. Mysteries and Miracles: Folk Legends that Just Might be True o Divine Madman, Druk Dragons, Origin of the Takin, Yeti Abominal Snowmen 16. Index of 50 Recipes 17. Index of Buddhist Mantras 5 Sample Chapters, From the Kingdom of Happiness 1. Tshechu: Masked Dancers Invoke Ancient Gods There are secrets in the land. And deep memories exist in flesh and blood. Not sure where to begin my story. Before I can tell you about the Tshechu 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.
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