"Learn about a new country and then try its cuisine" ... that's another tick on our Summer Fun Passport list! We chose Ethiopia. Partly because it would give us an excuse to look at that part of Africa and also because we have a quite a few Ethiopian restaurants with good reviews that we've wanted to try and thought it would add to the whole experience. I was a bit worried though. I know the cuisine is very yummy but its presentation is also very unique from what Spud has tried before. It was going to put his "risk taking" skills to test ...
But first, we found all kinds of facts about the country here. Like, what its flag looks like. We learned that it has twice the population of Canada and yet it is far smaller. The capital is Addis Ababa and has about twice the people our city does. The country is landlocked, has a tradition of carving churches out of rocky ground and has suffered great war and famine over the years. We saw some stunning National Geographic photos of the nation here. And awed at this gorgeous fox, the rarest in the world.
Next, we chose the top rated Ethiopian restaurant in our city. If you are ever in Vancouver check out Fassil. So good! It's been years since Hubs and I had Ethiopian food so we needed a refresher on how to eat it. When presented with a large platter of food placed on top of injera, a bread which tastes a bit like a strong sourdough with a unique spongy texture, Spud looked intrigued. We each held a roll of injera in our left hand tearing off pieces with our right hand to scoop up bite size portions of the food. No utensils! Totally fun. And really tasty. Spud surprised us both with his foodie prowess; he tried everything except the greens (no surprise there) and the one dish we declared spicy. He actually gobbled up most of the lamb himself. A definite thumbs up from the whole family.
Here's our full Summer Fun Passport List for 2013 and our passport we made to keep track of everything we accomplish this summer!