Last year chaat editor Dave Jenkins spent three weeks in Nepal. Inspired by the dishes he’d sampled, he discovered the perfect cookbook by nepalese author Hind Vaidya. Little did he know that less than a year later they’d be eating at the very same table!

Come marvel at Mount Everest’s craggy salute. Fierce, famous and 8848 metres high, it growls from every picture, pamphlet, brochure or booklet on the country, daring trekkers to come forth and conquer. It’s the most iconic landmark in Nepal, yet I only got to see it once in three weeks. For about ve minutes.

Nepal was hazier than usual last spring. March is usually a great time to visit; the tourist flux from October to February has mellowed, but it’s not uncomfortably close to monsoon season. Rain had been thin on the ground, though. And dust was thick in the air. The only mountains on view were the ones in front of your face. Not that it bothered me or Liz, my long su ering partner in time. If anything, it made our chance peek even more enchanting.