Taste of Ethiopia

Whenever one of my two sisters or I have a birthday, we get together to do something. The birthday girl chooses the activity. We've done all kinds of things, from quilting to hearing the Messiah at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Since I had a birthday this month it was my turn to plan something. I heard about an Ethiopian restaurant in Lancaster and decided I want to try that after Christmas is behind us. We met there this evening and it was truly a unique experience.

Leroy and I both ate from this platter. The bottom was covered with a thin layer of Injera, which is a spongy bread. Rolls of Injera circled the platter with piles of food in the middle. The meat (upper right) was lamb. Bottom center is lentils; the yellow stuff is cabbage. I don't know what the other things are.

 

The food was eaten without utensils. We tore a piece of Injera from one of the rolls and used it to scoop up a bit from one of the piles in the middle. It was good but quite different; spicy but not hot peppers. It was more than we could eat so we brought the excess home in a box.

We topped off the meal with little cups of Ethiopian coffee brewed in this pot with a flame beneath it.

 

The water boiled up into the coffee grounds on top and then came back down into the pot, leaving the grounds in the top. The paintings on the wall and the African music they had playing gives the place an Ethiopian atmosphere. We only had to go to Lancaster for a taste of Ethiopia. This was one I won't soon forget.