Culinary Adventure

Probably the most interesting thing that I did this weekend was visit this new Ethiopian restaurant in town called Addis Ababa. If you like spicy (in an Indian, as opposed to, say, Mexican way), I think you will enjoy this dining establishment, named for Ethiopia's capital (Who ever said being a four-time State Geography Bee contender was good for nothing?). It can be a little pricey (at least for collegians), but a good strategy to get around that is to go with friends and order several dishes between you, particularly their combo platters. The food is quite filling, so you may not need as many dishes as you think. Or maybe that's just because of the liberal, continual supply of the traditional Ethiopian pancake-bread, injera. This tastes and feels like a sourdough pancake--pretty delicious, in my opinion. But maybe I'm just a sucker for new tastes. Example: at the dining hall where I am getting meals this summer (sponsored by the KU Chemical Engineering Department!), they have all kinds of juices, teas, sodas, coffees, etc. So I decided to combine OJ and iced tea in equal proportions, just for fun. Result: tasty, and rather original in flavor. Like an Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade), but with more citrus.

Back to subject: I ate from the vegetarian combo platter and from a dish of beef in spicy watt sauce. The combo platter is a particularly excellent way for culinary explorers like myself to satisfy their urge to taste everything on the menu; it provides samples of all of the vegetable dishes for ~$13 for one person, or ~$45 for four people, although I think we shared that one among six. (There is also a meat platter.) This includes lentils, cabbage, carrots, green beans, collard greens... and more injera. Particular favorites of mine would be lentils and cabbage.

The dining experience also provides entertainment since you don't so much get silverware as you do get a bunch of injera. You scoop up portions of the other dishes with the injera and consume in bites. So that's interesting.

Coming next week: I take the REU students from out of town to Ruchi, local Indian restaurant and source of much mango lassi.