Every Sunday at 5:00PM you will find our family at Ghenet, eating our favorite: veggie combo for three, sometimes with a salad, sometimes with doro wat. Sometimes we have the most amazing cafe latte in the world afterwards, and if we haven't stuffed ourselves to the gills (which is rare), we order a tiramisu to share. Yum, um, um.
We've been eating at Ghenet every since we started down this Ethiopian adoption road, I even had a baby shower there. The first week we were home with the children we went, stumbling in with our sweaty, jet lagged, overwhelmed selves. I said, almost embarrassed, "Do you have any injera for two hungry Ethiopians?". And thus the folks at Ghenet became our Ethiopian family, here at home. They welcomed Daniel and Lily with open arms, offering to help find babysitters, translate, offering advice on hair and discipline. Since that first week we have come (almost) every Sunday.
At first Daniel would shyly answer the waitresses and cook in Ahmaric. After a few weeks, we all noticed that he didn't seem to understand. Now they are trying to teach him his country's language (with very limited success, sadly. He's more interested in learning the games on their i-phones.) Lily walks around the restaurant like she owns it. She asks for and receives private tours of the kitchen, has long "conversations" with the dishwasher. I'm sure the other patrons are extremely amused by her dance moves and gymnastics in the dining room.
Every week we fill ourselves up with injera, wat, Ethiopian beer, coffee and a little taste of home. Then they pack up a big bag of leftovers that sustain us for the coming week.
Here are a couple things I've learned about Ethiopian leftovers (should you be so lucky to have some in your house.)
1. Native Ethiopians (like my son) will eat leftovers the traditional way- all mixed up into a mash and heated (one serving is piping hot in about a minute in the microwave). He gobbles up a big bowl every day after school.
2. Injera can be dried into chips. Just leave it out in the sun (as they do in Africa), or dry it till crispy in a warm oven.
3. Injera pizza! I take a triangle of injera, sprinkle it with berbere (Ethiopian spice mix- hot!), and some cheese and fry it in a pan with butter. YUM!
4. If you are just re-heating injera on its own, wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave for just 10-15 seconds. It will get rubbery very quickly, so be careful.
5. Ethiopian leftovers freeze pretty well.
We've been eating at Ghenet every since we started down this Ethiopian adoption road, I even had a baby shower there. The first week we were home with the children we went, stumbling in with our sweaty, jet lagged, overwhelmed selves. I said, almost embarrassed, "Do you have any injera for two hungry Ethiopians?". And thus the folks at Ghenet became our Ethiopian family, here at home. They welcomed Daniel and Lily with open arms, offering to help find babysitters, translate, offering advice on hair and discipline. Since that first week we have come (almost) every Sunday.
At first Daniel would shyly answer the waitresses and cook in Ahmaric. After a few weeks, we all noticed that he didn't seem to understand. Now they are trying to teach him his country's language (with very limited success, sadly. He's more interested in learning the games on their i-phones.) Lily walks around the restaurant like she owns it. She asks for and receives private tours of the kitchen, has long "conversations" with the dishwasher. I'm sure the other patrons are extremely amused by her dance moves and gymnastics in the dining room.
Every week we fill ourselves up with injera, wat, Ethiopian beer, coffee and a little taste of home. Then they pack up a big bag of leftovers that sustain us for the coming week.
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| Traditional food: everythingis served on one big platter |
Here are a couple things I've learned about Ethiopian leftovers (should you be so lucky to have some in your house.)
1. Native Ethiopians (like my son) will eat leftovers the traditional way- all mixed up into a mash and heated (one serving is piping hot in about a minute in the microwave). He gobbles up a big bowl every day after school.
2. Injera can be dried into chips. Just leave it out in the sun (as they do in Africa), or dry it till crispy in a warm oven.
3. Injera pizza! I take a triangle of injera, sprinkle it with berbere (Ethiopian spice mix- hot!), and some cheese and fry it in a pan with butter. YUM!
4. If you are just re-heating injera on its own, wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave for just 10-15 seconds. It will get rubbery very quickly, so be careful.
5. Ethiopian leftovers freeze pretty well.
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| Baby Lily shows off her Ethiopian finest at Ghenet for New Year |
Thank you! I had Ethiopian a few weeks ago and had no idea if the leftovers, which looked "interesting" mixed all together, would be any good. If it is put in a container on top of the injera can that be in the micro with the other stuff? BTW the chickpea stuff is my new favorite.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that you have this extended family! :)
yup- just microwave the stews on top of the injera. :) Becky
ReplyDelete