"I'm sorry, it can not be done!"

I have to recap a pretty funny scene on the trip when we were in Dingboche. As I mentioned on my previous entry, we were going to try to deep fry bite-sized Snickers bars as a surprise to Laurie and the rest of the team. I thought I had an agreement with the cooks that we would try to fry these suckers when I made my last entry, however I apparently wasn't talking to the head cook at the time.

We were confronted by a man (the real head cook) who simply refused to believe that we could fry anything other than potatoes. "It can not be done!" he told us (over and over). "The batter will never hold and you'll just make a mess in my kitchen!"

Pulling out every ounce of negotiation skills I have (which was tough since I had no idea if this would actually work), the head cook was finally convinced to try just one. We coated it with flour and water and dropped it in. The cook sat in the back shaking his head at first, but slowly started to inch his way to the pot for a closer look. The look on his face when we pulled out the sealed, golden brown chocolate nugget after 3-4 minutes was priceless. It was like he had witnessed a miracle. Needless to say, we later dropped the whole bag in and had enough to feed the team and the whole kitchen staff. I'm telling you, these guys in the kitchen were shocked. I can only imagine their reaction if they strolled through any carnival-town, USA.

I'm convinced that, if I pass through Dingboche in 10 years, this place will be frying everything under the sun. Tourists and locals will flock from afar to experience the "one of a kind" deep fried Snickers bars. This humble little tea house will tranform into an ostentatious, gold-plated, Vegas-style hotel with search lights and valet parking (for your yak).

-Adam