Ethiopia Restaraunt

Today we went and met Scott and Courtney Himes (www.scotthimes.com/) at Abyssinia Restaurant (www.abyssiniarestaurant.com/) for lunch. I (Aaron) met Scott at a prayer meeting in Indy (http://www.coraprayer.com/). They adopted their son Noah back in June from Ethiopia. I have eaten Ethiopian food once before while in Nairobi, Kenya, but this was Shelli's first experience. Isabel and Sydney came along as well to experience the unique food and the great company.



We ate traditional Ethiopian food (see pic on right; this is similar to what we ate but i forgot to take a pic before we ate it all) that is served "family style" on a large plate covered with Injera. Injera is a large spongy pancake-like bread made from teff (an ethiopian grain). It has an almost shammy like consistancy but a very sour bread taste. On top of the Injera are placed various meats, vegetables, and beans. Everyone eats with their hands by tearing off a piece of the injera and scooping up some of the meat or veggies. We ordered a variety of tibbs (meats) and wett (stews) that I (Shelli) found delicious. My favorite was the lamb tibbs. I was expecting an Indian influence but of the 5 or so dishes we
shared, all had their own flavor marked by various
spices. Bland, it is not, but likewise not extremely spicy or overwhelming.

This was actually our plate on the right after we ate most of the food. The brown circle on the white plate is the injera.

Often times, the meal is served on a stand like this one at the restaraunt, but we ate at a regular table covered in beautiful white embroidered table clothes and chair covers (you can see in the background on left).

Sydney and Isabel both tried most of the food. Syd loved it all (one of the beef dishes was a bit
spicy and she made a funny face) and Isabel
enjoyed most of it.

We also had a yummy pastry

for dessert that Sydney especially enjoyed! I think she ate 3 of them. I don't know what it was called but it was layered pastry and cream filling. It looked like a tiramasu but tasted like a cream horn.

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We had a lot of fun today and are looking forward to visiting again soon.