This weekend we treated ourselves to Ethiopian food at Aster's. Some friends have been surprised when I say that Jackson and Olivia love Ethiopian food. Although I don't cook this cuisine at home often (I think I've made it a grand total of one time -- that needs to change!), the ingredients are quite familiar to my kids...lentils, potatoes, greens, bread. They both love lentils. And of course they love a chance to eat an entire meal with their fingers! So when I asked Jackson if he wanted to go eat Ethiopian food, his response was, "Heck yeah I do!"
While we waited for our meals to arrive, our server thoughtfully brought out little dishes of alicha miser (mild lentils), potatoes, and injera (the spongy bread used to scoop up the food) for the kids, so they didn't have to wait.
Soon the rest of our food arrived. We ordered two vegetarian samplers, and everything arrived on a giant platter. What a feast! The sampler included fasolia wat (mixed veggies in a cinnamon sauce), gomen (collard greens), alicha miser (mild lentils), keyi miser (spicy lentils, my favorite), atakelt wat (cabbage, green beans and carrots in turmeric sauce), potatoes, and timatim fitfit (spicy mixture of mashed injera bread, jalapenos and onions).
Another view of the spread, from Jackson's viewpoint.
After eating our fill, we were off to Cabela's so Tony could pick up some camping gear. Jackson and Olivia were more interested in the boats.
Playing camping...hopefully we'll do some of the real thing this fall.
The aquarium is a welcome change from the rest of the store because it features live fish rather than taxidermied woodland creatures.
Tony has so much love for giant catfish.
Then we made one more stop at the health food store to pick up a few staples. I also treated myself to some snacks: cranberry kombucha and Hail Merry macaroons...
...honeycrisp apples a.k.a. the best apples...
...and pistachios. Wonderful pistachios, indeed.
Hope you had a good weekend!
Jackson and Olivia are so lucky. I didn't taste Ethiopian food till my 20's.
ReplyDeleteI had those Pistachios recently and couldn't handle the salt. Did the amount of salt on those bother you at all?
Yep, they're spoiled -- I didn't try Ethiopian food til my 20's, either! I like salty snacks so the pistachios are a treat for me. They make an unsalted version too, though.
ReplyDeleteI tried Ethiopian food for the first time when I visited America and a Ethiopian eatery in San Fran was one of the first places I ate it, i loved it. I have cooked Ethiopian food at home, from Celia Brooks cookbook, but am on the look out for a veggie Ethiopian cook book so I can try out more dishes at home.
ReplyDeleteShaheen, check out Cake Maker To The Stars', Kittee Burns' "Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food" zine/cookbook and keep an eye out for her upcoming cookbook cookbook!
DeleteI have to agree with everyone else here; what is it about your 20's that makes Ethiopian food available to you? I've more than made up for the previous drought.
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