An Evening in Ethopia

I am fortunate enough to have friends with connections. My lovely friend Cyndi received some Ethiopian bread from a friend of a friend. It's good to know where your food comes from huh? Anyway, this bread is called Injera. It's a yeast-risen flat bread with a unique, slightly spongy texture. It is traditionally made out of teff flour and is traditionally eaten in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen. This bread sparked an Ethiopian feast.

Injera bread has a spongy, somewhat elastic texture. I wouldn't describe injera bread as all too flavorful. It's simply a vehicle for the main dish.

The first dish Cyndi conjured up is called Ethiopian Cabbage. It contained potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onion, cumin, tumeric, salt, and pepper. It was thick, hearty and spicy. Perfect for eating with injera.

The second dish was Yemiser W'et or Spicy Ethiopian Lentil Stew. It contained red lentils, onion, tomato, garlic, cumin, paprika, and some other spices we don't own. This dish was extremely flavorful and fiery.

Thanks for the wonderful meal Cyndi!

California Here I Come

Over Spring Break I was able to take a trip to California to visit my brother and sister-in-law. (Yes, I realize that happened 4 weeks ago. Better late than never, eh?) They moved out west this past summer and I promised to visit them in their new home over Spring Break. Plus I love them and wanted to spend some quality bonding time with them. I flew into the John Wayne airport on Monday afternoon.

Legit John Wayne.

One of our first stops in California was a cozy quaint local tea cafe. I got stawberry kiwi iced tea with pineapple Choobees. Choobees are flavored cubed Coconut Jelly. Basically, they sit at the bottom of the cup and you try really hard to suck them up through the giant straw. They are like little chewy squares of fruitbursts. I'm not sure what the nutritional benefits are, but they make tea more entertaining.

We spent one afternoon browsing the local consignment shops in downtown San Clemente.

Downtown San Clemente at dusk

Beach! Of course we wandered around the beach for a couple hours. The ocean is massive, blue, and beautiful. Sadly, we did not build a sand castle or surf.

Before our hiking expidition, we fueled up with crepes at a charming little cafe called La Galette Creperie. I ordered the berry crepe filled with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. It was full of berries and delicious. Just the sort of breakfast most hikers would eat before setting out on a mountain voyage. Then we went hiking! If you drive 10 minutes outside San Clemente the scenery vastly changes and it feels as though you've left the city altogether. The terrain was fairly mountainous and full of fun wildlife.

We also spent an afternoon grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is literally one of my favorite things in the world to do. Food shopping is extra awesome in different new locations. My sister-in-law and I went to Trader Joe's, Costco, Albertson's, the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base commissary and the local farmer's market. We shopped for 4 hours. It was glorious. And exhausting.

Local fare.

While shopping around, we stepped into a restaurant called the The Cellar to do a cheese tasting. I can't remember which cheeses we actually sampled, but they were mighty tasty. I'd just like to comment here that my sister-in-law is awesome. She encourages food love and food photography.

I had a lovely time with my brother and sister-in-law in California. I wish I could've stayed longer. Although...they have offered to allow me to stay in their home after I graduate college and become a hobo.

Chocolate Revel Bars

My parents recently took a trip to Hawaii. Keep in mind while they were in Hawaii, I was toiling diligently over midterms in the rather dreary mid-continental state of Kansas. No, I was not wildly jealous. I definitely would not rather have been exploring mountainous terrain or whale-watching than cramming my brain with daunting calculus formulas. Anyway, for the occasion, my parents bought a new camera. A Canon EOS digital rebel XSI. I was also very jealous of this beautiful machine. Evidently, it's been a jealous period for me lately...

Unfortunately, I am not able to afford a trip to Hawaii or a new camera at this time in my life. However, I am able to take advantage of my parents' new toy while I'm home. I broke out the fancy picture-taker for some less-fancy baking. My little brother needed a dessert for his upcoming basketball banquet, so I volunteered myself for the task. Enter the Touch Ipod I received for Christmas. These gadgets have about a million applications people can download for entertainment, business, health, travel weather, and a variety of other reasons. I tend to gravitate towards food applications. Specifically, the allrecipes.com application caught my eye. A person can search for recipes by ingredient, time allotted or type of meal needed. I went straight for the chocolate desserts. The Chocolate Revel Bars recipe I used can also be found here.

Shiny Red Mixer

Butter and brown sugar. Goodness.

Goodness creamed.

Can-o-sweetened-condensed-milk

pre-baking pan-o-awesome

Baked chocolate.

So I may have used a roasting pan instead of a 9 x 13" by accident. I just got more dense chewy chocolate squares. I win.

This recipe was scrumptious. The bars were chewy, fudgy, dense and chocolaty. They hold their structure well, are simple to assemble and don't require extravagant ingredients. Plus my Mom told me they were a hit at the banquet...

Chana Masala

Lately, I've been trying to eat more sophisticated food in an effort to make myself feel slightly more cultured. Fortunately for myself this task isn't hard, considering many nights I chow down a bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner. While I do love a heaping bowl of crunchy slightly sweet carbohydrates, girl cannot survive on Honey Nut Cheerios alone.

Tonight I threw together a pot of Chana Masala following the recipe found on Smitten Kitchen. I adore the simplicity of chopping everything up and tossing all the ingredients into a big pot. This uncomplicated process yields impossibly devine results. Also, I am falling in love with Indian food.

Chana Masala, or chole masala, is a popular vegetable dish in Indian cuisine. Main ingredients include chickpeas, tomatoes, and onion. In addition, similar to many Indian dishes, this creation is loaded with spices that add a lovely depth of flavor to the final product. I served the dish over cooked lentils and topped with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Next on the menu is red kidney bean curry! I need to figure out how to make my own Naan soon...

Kolaches

My last semester at K-State has officially commenced. Classes have begun and I'm bracing myself for the coursework to start rolling my way. My class of greatest concern this semster is Calculus. I have not been nor will ever be a mathmatician of any sorts. Other classes I'm enrolled in include Microbiology, Agricultural Business Communications, Human Resource Management and Family Relations and Gender Rolls. The final class I'm enrolled in this semester is more of a project than a course - I am working for a local grocery store to develop a kolache formula for their new bakery. I'm excited for a new baking challenge, but, I have never seen, eaten or baked a kolache in my life. Should be an interesting project...

Wikipedia told me that kolaches (also spelled kolace, kolach, or kolacky) are a type of pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits (including poppy seed, raspberry, and apricot) to cheeses inside a bread roll. They were originally only a sweet dessert from Central Europe (specifically the Czech Republic), but they have become popular in parts of the United States.

This kolache recipe came from my Grandmother. I filled them with raspberry filling. My only qualm with this recipe is that the dough contains a box of instant vanilla pudding. I cannot bring myself to believe that authentic kolaches from Czech call for instant pudding.

Fortunately, both of my parents have consumed kolaches in their childhoods, so I was able to pull from their expertise to compensate for my lack of knowledge. They informed me that these kolaches were delicious and very similar to the treats they grew up eating.

I am still hunting for the ideal kolache formula. It could be a long road to kolachedom.