Wordless Wednesday | Ethiopian Food & An Interview

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - I'm writing this before breakfast. I can't decide what to have. All the usual suspects sound kind of dull - oatmeal, yogurt, toast etc. What I really want this morning is Ethiopian food.

2 - We really need to learn how to make it for ourselves. It's not always easy to find Ethiopian restaurants in your travels.

3 - Want more words on your Wednesday? Hop on over to Operation Awesome to read an author interview with me. I talk about writing, living on a sailboat, and Ethiopian food.


What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Murder at the Marina - a lighthearted & humorous cozy sailing mystery - available in ebook and paperback format at:

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Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com 

Flashback Friday | Cruising In Ethiopia

Today is Michael d’Agostino’s Flashback Friday. The idea is to republish an old post of yours that maybe didn't get enough attention, or that you're really proud of, or you think is still relevant etc. We started this blog three years ago and have lots more followers now then we did back then (thank you all!) so many folks may not have seen some of our earlier blog posts. 

I originally wrote this post when we were living in New Zealand and had just gone out for Ethiopian food. We love Ethiopian food! While we try to keep from eating out too often, we do make an exception for checking out local Ethiopian restaurants when we travel.

We're currently cruising in the Bahamas and thoughts of doro wat keep dancing through my head, but I'm guessing we won't find an Ethiopian restaurant on any of the islands here.

{This post was originally published in April 2014. You can find the original post here.}

****

We've eaten Ethiopian food in a few cities around the world including Oslo, Rome, Ann Arbor, Portland, The Hague, London, Toronto and Washington D.C. Once, we even walked 3-1/2 miles in a torrential downpour in Athens in search of an Ethiopian restaurant the guidebook promised us. Unfortunately, it had closed down so we had gyros instead, but that will give you a sense of our love of Ethiopian food.

We can now add Auckland to our list having now eaten at Cafe Abyssinia in Mt. Roskill. Mt. Roskill is a really interesting part of Auckland and one we hadn't been to before. Not only can you get Ethiopian food there, but you can also stock up on your favorite kind of taro, whether it be from Tonga, Samoa or Fiji.

The Fijian consulate is also nearby. It is conveniently located within a jewelry store so you can sort out your visa issues and buy something sparkly at the same time. Handy!

It was well worth the effort to head down to Mt. Roskill as Cafe Abyssinia is hands down the best Ethiopian restaurant in New Zealand. Well it is actually the only Ethiopian restaurant in New Zealand that we know of, but it was pretty darn tasty! But, if you want to go to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in the world, head over to Jarra's in the Hawthorne district of Portland. Order the doro wat and the miser wat, one with A and one with B (it will make sense when you see the menu). Also, get a glass of Widmer Hefeweizen beer and tell Mr. Jarra we sent you. If you haven't had Ethiopian food before, it is delicious. You use your hand (right one only please) to scoop up delicious stew like concoctions with injera (Ethiopian bread).

So while we were enjoying our meal at Cafe Abyssinia, I started wondering in my head: "I wonder what it would be like to cruise in Ethiopia? Wouldn't it be great to step off of your boat and eat Ethiopian food right in the heart of the motherland?"

Okay, stop and rewind. What is wrong with this sentence - "I wonder what it would be like to cruise in Ethiopia?" Here is what's wrong - Ethiopia is LANDLOCKED. That's right, LANDLOCKED. You cannot cruise right up to the local Addis Ababa marina and get some doro wat to go. Yes, I am American. You can tell from my ignorance of world geography.

And although I have a passport, in which John Kerry (the current US Secretary of State) kindly requests immigration officers around the world (in three languages no less) to "permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection", clearly I am not qualified to use said passport due to my woeful lack of geographical knowledge. Immigration officers around the world shake their heads every time they see American tourists making their way towards them clutching their blue passports in their hands. They think to themselves, "Do we really have to let them in?" But then, they read Secretary Kerry's politely worded request and consider all of the tourist dollars we might spend and they reluctantly let us in. Well into most countries anyway.

I also have an Irish passport which I try to use to enter foreign countries whenever possible. I find this works much more smoothly. Immigration officers smile and greet you with open arms when you're clutching an Irish passport in your hands. The think to themselves, "The Irish are here! Yeah! Maybe they have some Guinness in their backpack to share with us!" They never even bother to look at an Irish passport to see if the Minister of Foreign Affairs is kindly requesting entry for the passport holder. They're just happy to see the Irish and let them straight in.

So realizing that embracing a cruising lifestyle requires not only learning about sailing but also about geography, I've done some quick research on the best way to cruise near to Ethiopia. From there, hopefully, we can hitchhike or something from the port to Addis Ababa. I thought I would share my planned route with you in case you too want to go cruising not in, but nearby Ethiopia.

The first step is to look at the handy map of Ethiopia they have hanging up in Cafe Abyssinia. You can see clearly that Ethiopia is LANDLOCKED. Our best bet is to try to sail up to Eritrea, Djibouti or Somalia and then make our way inland to Ethiopia.

So taking each potential landfall in turn, let's see what we can find out:

1.  Djibouti

I read on one website that "Djibouti is popular among sailors of all levels." This website is targeted at captains of super yachts, so I wonder if that is a polite way of saying the riff-raff of the sailing world also hang out in Djibouti? (I think we would be considered riff-raff.) The website does mention that Djibouti is a convenient refueling stop between the Persian Gulf and the Seychelles, Maldives and India. So it looks like we can get diesel there, but it doesn't mention anything about Ethiopian food. After doing some more research, I find out that the Port of Djibouti is the main port for imports and exports to and from Ethiopia. So, if we can't get to Addis Ababa ourselves, perhaps we can crack open one of the containers in the port and find the ingredients to make our own meal.

2.  Eritrea  

According to Noonsite, there are two ports in Eritrea at either end of the country - Massawa and Assab. The daysailing sounds quite pleasant with countless anchorages and offshore islands to explore. (You're not supposed to sail at night as there is a serious lack of navigation aids.) There is also a guy named Mike in Massawa who can help you out with laundry and provisioning. Maybe Mike can also help get us to Addis Ababa to get ourselves some Ethiopian food?

3.  Somalia 

Since Noonsite was so informative about Eritrea, I checked out their section on Somalia. Here is what they said: "Sailing to Somalia is considered far too hazardous in the present circumstances and anyone intending to sail anywhere near Somalia should obtain the latest information on the internal situation before venturing anywhere near a Somali port. Only major ports should be approached and only in serious emergencies." Hmm, I'm not sure that looking for some Ethiopian food constitutes a serious emergency, so I think we'll stick to making our landfall in Djibouti or Eritrea.

But something is niggling away at me about this plan. I can't quite put my finger on it...oh yeah, that's it - pirates! And not the Johnny Depp kind of pirates either. These are the mean kind of pirates who brandish some serious firepower and which even big freighter ships are wary of. They've given the place a bad name. The Gulf of Aden is even known as Pirate Alley. 

So I am now rethinking our plan about sailing near Ethiopia in search of Ethiopian food. Unless I can persuade Harry Potter to lend us his invisibility cloak so that we can sneak through the Gulf of Aden without being spotted by the pirates, I think we'll have to stick to having Ethiopian food in places like Auckland and Portland.

Have you ever had Ethiopian food? Did you like it? If not, would you ever want to try it? Do you know of any Ethiopian restaurants in the Bahamas?

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T Is For Tunisia & Time Travel

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we’ll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with “A is for Adventurous” and ending with “Z is for Zinc”. We've got a theme for every letter sorted except for Y. If you have any ideas for the letter Y, please leave a comment or email

T is for Tunisia. It also stands for Time Travel - and that's what this post is about. A little travel back in time to when Scott and I did a very cheesy Saharan Safari in Tunisia. 

Back when we lived in Scotland, one of the ways we traveled cheaply was to scour the internet for last minute package holiday deals. It was a great way for us to get flights, hotels and some of our meals at a lower price then if we bought everything separately. Usually, we used the hotel as a base for our do-it-yourself explorations and skipped any of the excursions that the tour companies offer. But because we were only in Tunisia for a week and we wanted to see as much of the country as we could, we signed up for one of the popular whirlwind two day Saharan Safari tours. We didn't get to see anything in-depth, but we were able to take in some amazing scenery and hit a few of the highlights as we traveled via bus and train.

El Djem 

El Djem is one of the best conserved Roman amphitheaters in the world. Built around 238, it could hold 35,000 people eager to see gladiator matches and chariot races. One of our slightly bizarre Christmas traditions is to watch Monty Python's Life of Brian, so it was pretty neat to see where some of the scenes were filmed. We also eat curry on Christmas - perhaps not your typical Christmas meal.

Matmata {May The Force Be With You}

Are you a Star Wars geek? Then maybe you've been to Tunisia already to see the old Star Wars sets. We traveled to Matmata, which was the set for Luke Skywalker's home on the desert planet Tatooine. Remember when Luke was living with his aunt and uncle and they tried to dissuade him from going off with Obi Wan Kenobi to learn the way of the Force? This is the very place where it took place! I'm glad I had a chance to see it before the desert swallowed it up. 

Train Ride

In addition to riding on camels, we also got to ride on the old Lezar Rouge train taking in some amazing sights including the Metlaoui train station. Talk about photo ops!

Camel Ride {Cheesy, But Cool}

The highlight of the trip has to be riding camels in the desert. Definitely cheesy, but definitely cool. Such a strange sensation to ride a camel - their gait is seems really wonky. I'm actually not sure how I managed to keep my balance! They pushed us to rent these silly outfits to wear on the camel ride. Scott and I resisted - they didn't look all that clean and smelled a bit funky. So while we didn't quite blend in with our fellow tourists, we all had smiles from ear to ear riding on our camels.

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Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

More Life In Coeur D'Alene Lately

We've been in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for a while now, so I thought it was time for another installment of "Life in Coeur d'Alene Lately" - see here for the original post. 

Scott has been doing more sailing on other people's boats. He has been racing pretty much every weekend out on Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho. 25 races in six weeks isn't too shabby. I'm not too sure how many races they've won, but I know he has been very happy to be back out on the water. Scott also got the opportunity to tag along while a new racing buddy of his checked out a boat that he was thinking of buying. As we're starting to look for our next sailboat, it has been great experience for Scott to watch someone else go through the boat buying thought process. (If you don't have a boat and you want to get out on the water, check out this post with some thoughts from Scott on how to sail on other people's boats.)

We love Ethiopian food. This isn't your ordinary love. This is the real deal - we really, really, really love Ethiopian food. I think you get the idea. And guess what? One of my sisters-in-law loves Ethiopian food too! She took us to Queen of Sheba in Spokane, Washington the other night for dinner. It was delicious! I was so excited about the fact that there is an Ethiopian restaurant in this neck of the woods. When the food came, we all just started snarfing it down so fast that I forgot to take a picture until after a fair bit had been devoured. So the picture above isn't really the best. But it does give you an idea of what the food is like. You eat with your hand (right one only please!), scooping up the stewed lentils, vegies and meat with injera bread from a communal dish. If you haven't tried Ethiopian before, you had better get yourself down to your local restaurant pronto and order some doro wat and miser wat. Once you do, you'll be hooked. (If you want to read more about our love for Ethiopian food or if you want to sail to Ethiopia one day - check out this post.)

We've been going out for drives lately. We have the worst maps ever, so usually we just end up driving around back roads without a clue where we'll end up. Not knowing where you're going is often the best way to explore an area. You never know what you'll end up seeing. Like these two llamas standing by the side of the road. They were really focused on something over in the distance. The goats, chickens, cats and other critters came over to check us out, but the llamas ignored us completely. Maybe they're camera shy. Or maybe they're just rude.

Do you know what this is a picture of? If you do, you probably grew up in North Dakota or Minnesota - the land of the hotdish. Hotdish is a type of casserole which usually has some sort of starch, meat, frozen or canned vegies and canned soup.* Being married to someone from North Dakota, I've heard about hotdish, but I've never actually seen one before. That is until the other night, when we had a tater tot casserole. Yes, that's right - tater tots. If you're not American and you don't know what tater tots are, they are these weird little tubular hashbrown concoctions that you got served at the school cafeteria. If you're American and you don't know what tater tots are, then you've led a very sheltered life. If you've never had them before, run out and get some. They're delicious. Grease, sodium and potatoes generally are. 

It was thanks to a friend of another one of my sisters-in-law, that I got to experience hotdish culture the other night. She very kindly brought over a couple of casseroles for the family. She's from Minnesota - they're nice folks out there. In addition to the tater tots, she also brought us a chicken curry hotdish topped with toasted Rice Krispies. Yes, you read that right - Rice Krispies. Not sure that it is a traditional topping which is served with curry in India, but, surprisingly, it works.

Well, that's more of life lately in Coeur d'Alene. What's been happening where you are? Have you had anything interesting for dinner lately?

*Note: Scott will claim that the term "hotdish" only refers to a particular type of casserole his mom made with ground beef and elbow macaroni. Other folks use the term more generally. 

Cruising in Ethiopia

We've eaten Ethiopian food in a few cities around the world including Oslo, Rome, Ann Arbor, Portland, The Hague, London, Toronto and Washington D.C. Once, we even walked 3-1/2 miles in a torrential downpour in Athens in search of an Ethiopian restaurant the guidebook promised us. Unfortunately, it had closed down so we had gyros instead, but that will give you a sense of our love of Ethiopian food.

We can now add Auckland to our list having now eaten at Cafe Abyssinia in Mt. Roskill. Mt. Roskill is a really interesting part of Auckland and one we hadn't been to before. Not only can you get Ethiopian food there, but you can also stock up on your favorite kind of taro, whether it be from Tonga, Samoa or Fiji.

The Fijian consulate is also nearby. It is conveniently located within a jewelry store so you can sort out your visa issues and buy something sparkly at the same time. Handy!

It was well worth the effort to head down to Mt. Roskill as Cafe Abyssinia is hands down the best Ethiopian restaurant in New Zealand. Well it is actually the only Ethiopian restaurant in New Zealand that we know of, but it was pretty darn tasty! But, if you want to go to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in the world, head over to Jarra's in the Hawthorne district of Portland. Order the doro wat and the miser wat, one with A and one with B (it will make sense when you see the menu). Also, get a glass of Widmer Hefeweizen beer and tell Mr. Jarra we sent you. If you haven't had Ethiopian food before, it is delicious. You use your hand (right one only please) to scoop up delicious stew like concoctions with injera (Ethiopian bread). 

So while we were enjoying our meal at Cafe Abyssinia, I started wondering in my head: "I wonder what it would be like to cruise in Ethiopia? Wouldn't it be great to step off of your boat and eat Ethiopian food right in the heart of the motherland?"

Okay, stop and rewind. What is wrong with this sentence - "I wonder what it would be like to cruise in Ethiopia?" Here is what's wrong - Ethiopia is LANDLOCKED. That's right, LANDLOCKED. You cannot cruise right up to the local Addis Ababa marina and get some doro wat to go. Yes, I am American. You can tell from my ignorance of world geography. 

And although I have a passport, in which John Kerry (the current US Secretary of State) kindly requests immigration officers around the world (in three languages no less) to "permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection", clearly I am not qualified to use said passport due to my woeful lack of geographical knowledge. Immigration officers around the world shake their heads every time they see American tourists making their way towards them clutching their blue passports in their hands. They think to themselves, "Do we really have to let them in?" But then, they read Secretary Kerry's politely worded request and consider all of the tourist dollars we might spend and they reluctantly let us in. Well into most countries anyway. 

I also have an Irish passport which I try to use to enter foreign countries whenever possible. I find this works much more smoothly. Immigration officers smile and greet you with open arms when you're clutching an Irish passport in your hands. The think to themselves, "The Irish are here! Yeah! Maybe they have some Guinness in their backpack to share with us!" They never even bother to look at an Irish passport to see if the Minister of Foreign Affairs is kindly requesting entry for the passport holder. They're just happy to see the Irish and let them straight in.

So realizing that embracing a cruising lifestyle requires not only learning about sailing but also about geography, I've done some quick research on the best way to cruise near to Ethiopia. From there, hopefully, we can hitchhike or something from the port to Addis Ababa. I thought I would share my planned route with you in case you too want to go cruising not in, but nearby Ethiopia. 

The first step is to look at the handy map of Ethiopia they have hanging up in Cafe Abyssinia. You can see clearly that Ethiopia is LANDLOCKED. Our best bet is to try to sail up to Eritrea, Djibouti or Somalia and then make our way inland to Ethiopia.

So taking each potential landfall in turn, let's see what we can find out:

1.  Djibouti - I read on one website that "Djibouti is popular among sailors of all levels." This website is targeted at captains of super yachts, so I wonder if that is a polite way of saying the riff-raff of the sailing world also hang out in Djibouti? (I think we would be considered riff-raff.) The website does mention that Djibouti is a convenient refueling stop between the Persian Gulf and the Seychelles, Maldives and India. So it looks like we can get diesel there, but it doesn't mention anything about Ethiopian food. After doing some more research, I find out that the Port of Djibouti is the main port for imports and exports to and from Ethiopia. So, if we can't get to Addis Ababa ourselves, perhaps we can crack open one of the containers in the port and find the ingredients to make our own meal.

2.  Eritrea - According to Noonsite, there are two ports in Eritrea at either end of the country - Massawa and Assab. The daysailing sounds quite pleasant with countless anchorages and offshore islands to explore. (You're not supposed to sail at night as there is a serious lack of navigation aids.) There is also a guy named Mike in Massawa who can help you out with laundry and provisioning. Maybe Mike can also help get us to Addis Ababa to get ourselves some Ethiopian food?

3.  Somalia - Since Noonsite was so informative about Eritrea, I checked out their section on Somalia. Here is what they said: "Sailing to Somalia is considered far too hazardous in the present circumstances and anyone intending to sail anywhere near Somalia should obtain the latest information on the internal situation before venturing anywhere near a Somali port. Only major ports should be approached and only in serious emergencies." Hmm, I'm not sure that looking for some Ethiopian food constitutes a serious emergency, so I think we'll stick to making our landfall in Djibouti or Eritrea.

But something is niggling away at me about this plan. I can't quite put my finger on it...oh yeah, that's it - pirates! And not the Johnny Depp kind of pirates either. These are the mean kind of pirates who brandish some serious firepower and which even big freighter ships are wary of. They've given the place a bad name. The Gulf of Aden is even known as Pirate Alley. 

So I am now rethinking our plan about sailing near Ethiopia in search of Ethiopian food. Unless I can persuade Harry Potter to lend us his invisibility cloak so that we can sneak through the Gulf of Aden without being spotted by the pirates, I think we'll have to stick to having Ethiopian food in places like Auckland and Portland.

Lunch took place Friday, 11 April 2014

Can't Get Enough of Those Cans

It's time for some more cooking with can recipes! As part of my preparation to live on a boat full-time, I've been experimenting with cooking with cans. You never know when you'll next find a supermarket out on the big blue sea so it is important to be able to conjure up meals out of what you have in your food storage. 

My first experiment was Taco Soup and I then went on to make Corn Chowder. My next experiment has been focused on ways to make protein-rich dishes for those days when Scott isn't able to score a fish from the sea for supper. As we don't have refrigeration on our boat, we won't be able to store meat (unless it comes out of cans) so I've been looking at some vegetarian recipes. Vegetarian is also much cheaper and, as we'll be cruising on a budget, cheap is good.

I actually was a vegetarian for a few years. I decided to become one in high school. Not because of any deeply rooted ethical reasons related to animal cruelty, but, because in a moment of teenage rebellion, I thought it might annoy my mother. She tricked me by being really supportive and looking up vegetarian recipes to make for me. Teenage rebellion 0, supportive mom 1.

During my vegetarian phase, I was a really picky eater and didn't actually like vegetables or lentils or tofu or all of that stuff that vegetarians were supposed to eat. So I basically subsisted on cheese and chocolate. I ate shrimp occasionally when I went out to eat and that was about it. (I was a vegetarian back in the dark ages when restaurants didn't exactly cater for them. It's much easier now for vegies.) Not exactly the healthiest diet. I've since expanded the range of foods I'll eat. However, avocados and beetroot are still on the no-eat list which is a problem in New Zealand as the Kiwis love nothing more than sticking them in absolutely everything they eat.

My vegetarian experiment came to an end when I was living in Senegal for a summer during college with a Wolof family. One day the father asked me if I wanted to go sheep shopping with him. I said yes. Who wouldn't? We went out to the local sheep market, looked at a lot of sheep and brought two home with us. My Wolof was non-existent and my French was pretty limited, so I thought we were bringing them home as pets. It is a good thing I didn't get too attached to them because a couple of weeks later some guy with a very big knife came by the house and the sheep were, well, no more.

It turns out the sheep were really intended to celebrate Tabaski which is one of the most important Muslim holidays in Senegal. Tabaski is the Senegalese term for Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which celebrates Abraham's devotion to God. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, he said yes. Fortunately, God was so impressed with Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son that he spared his son's life and a ram was sacrificed instead. As a result, on Tabaski, sheep are sacrificed throughout Senegal in remembrance of Abraham's devotion.

As a guest in the house, I got a great view up close and center when the sheep were sacrificed. Wow. That's all I can say - wow. And as a guest, I also got offered one of the first lamb kebabs hot off the grill. Despite being a vegetarian, it was one of those occasions where I really couldn't say no. It would have been terribly impolite. So I ate it. And it was DELICIOUS. My vegetarian days quickly came to an end.

Because we don't have a refrigerator on our boat or a grill, the opportunities for lamb kebabs will be limited so I've tried out the following recipe for red beans and rice. You certainly won't be fooled into thinking it is a lamb kebab, but it didn't taste too bad and the beans will give us much needed protein while out on the sea.

Red Beans & Rice

• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon oil (I used canola)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 420 gram can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 400 gram can of Mexican style tomatoes
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 Continental chicken stock concentrate

Chop up the onion and the garlic and sauté in the oil until soft. Add in the chili powder and red chili flakes and sauté for 30 seconds (to wake everything up as Rachel Ray would say). Chuck in the kidney beans, tomatoes, rice, water and chicken stock concentrate. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so until the rice is done. Stir occasionally to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Here is what it looks like when you're finished. Serves four easily. No lamb required.

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