Ethiopian Cuisine

Mood: relaxed
Stage notes: finishing up the last touches before house church tonight.

Last night I was invited to an Ethiopian restaurant with some friends here. The group included three Ethiopians, three Americans, and a German. The first difference one notices when eating an Ethiopian meal is that no silverware is used. Everyone shares a communal plate, and a bowl of water is available to rinse your fingers. If you wish, you can use a flat piece of ''bread'' to help you gather food. The grain that this is composed of can only grow in Ethiopia, and forms a dark, spongy crepe-like food. The coffee made here is the first that I have ever enjoyed. The involved process of brewing it starts with a pot and burner being arranged on a bed of long scented grasses. The coffee beans are roasted over a tiny charcoal stove, the rich smell blending with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony. The lady who is conducting the ceremony washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away. When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground with a long handled mortar. The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot known as a 'jebena', which has a round bottom with a straw lid.