We walked into the casual atmosphere with excitement. The simple restaurant was decorated with many traditional African pictures and artifacts, complete with an African music video to serenade us. :) We were welcomed by Mulu, the owner. This Ethiopian woman was incredibly warm and kind. She was excited to find that this would be our first introduction to Ethiopian cuisine, and she carefully guided us through the menu, explaining the different food choices.
We ordered Doro Wot, Yebeg Alitcha, Yemiser Wot, Gomen (which, being translated is seasoned lamb and chicken with vegetables). :) Just about every traditional Ethiopian meal is served on a giant pancake-like bread, called injera. All of the rest of the food is piled on top of the injera. You also do not generally use utensils (although you can ask for them); rather, you use small pieces of injera to pick up your serving. We were beyond excited to find out that authentic injera is actually gluten free!! Yay for Dave! Our meal looked like this:
Our meal was an experience which we wanted to thoroughly enjoy. Mulu was very conversational with us, and was enjoying the opportunity to ask all of our questions about Ethiopia! She shared with us about their history, their food, their culture and her personal experience of coming to America. She was amazingly hospitable!
Toward the end of our meal, we felt at liberty to mention that we were actually planning on visiting Ethiopia sometime in the near future. This opened the door wide to share about our adoption. We were a bit hesitant to talk about it at first--People can respond in a variety of ways when they hear that you have adopted a child from their home country. Some may feel ashamed, thinking that their country was unable to care for its own. Others may be angry, thinking that we have robbed the child of his identity, forcing him to become American. Yet others are able to see adoption for what it is--one family taking a child in, who would otherwise have no family. In no way would we ever want to communicate to our new friend that we thought her home country is inferior or incapable. We were not sure what her view of international adoption would be. You see, all of that is not really what adoption is about--one country seeming more superior than another country. That’s not it at all. Adoption is all about a child, who is in need of a loving family.
Thankfully, our hostess respond with grace and excitement about our adoption. We continued on to explain that we are striving to learn much about Ethiopian culture and food, so that we can teach these things to our future son. We told her that we would like to bring him to her restaurant too! We also learned that there are many other families who frequent her restaurant who have also adopted from Ethiopia. It was a sweet point of conversation. We look forward to growing our friendship with her. :)
Following our meal, we enjoyed Ethiopian coffee--which Mulu had roasted and ground by hand that day! It was very good, although different from regular coffee as it did have cloves and other spices mixed into it. Overall, we greatly enjoyed our Ethiopian meal, our introduction into Ethiopian culture. We look forward to many more trips to Alem Ethiopian Village (restaurant), most of which will include our own son.
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