I (still) love Ethiopian food

Fasolia be Karot

Testing for Kittee's Ethiopian cookbook is still going strong at our house. Although I have to admit to a moment or two of Ethiopian food fatigue, we still love all the dishes we've been making. If you've eaten Ethiopian food, you've no doubt noticed that much of it is really spicy, but not all. A platter of food usually includes mild foods and salad to balance out the heat of the highly spiced dishes. The Fasolia be Karot, or green beans with carrot that you see in the photo above, was rich with garlic, ginger and onions, but mild and sweet in taste. We both loved the flavor of the tender green beans and carrots.

Ye'dubba Kai Wot

The roasted butternut squash in a spicy red sauce was spectacular — very spicy and delicious. It was wonderful wrapped up in bites of tangy injera.

Shehan Ful

The Shehan Ful, or mashed seasoned fava beans, is a breakfast food. Topped with tomato, onion and jalapeno, it's a fine way to get the morning started — or the afternoon. I enjoyed it spread on crackers for lunch, though that's not the traditional way to eat it.

You've seen pancakes like these many times on this blog and others. Chickpea flour flatbreads are popular in many countries (Italy, Spain, France, India ... to name a few) and I love them. The Ethiopian version you see here is filled with chopped tomato, onion, parsley and peas. Hot off the griddle they are thick, fluffy and delicious, but after a night in the fridge, they tend to compress a bit. I rejuvenated mine with a very thin coat of Niter Kibbeh and a short visit in the microwave. Still delicious!

Awaze is a pleasantly hot barbecue or dipping sauce, and it's hard not to put it on everything.

Not all the food in Kittee's book is traditional. There are a few renegade recipes like the burgers you see above that make use of leftover Ethiopian dishes partnered with old friends like tofu.

I was happy to use some of the leftover butternut squash and another vegetable dish to mix up the burgers when I couldn't stand the thought of eating the originals one more time. The burgers were wonderful, and reminded me of a terrific little tofu burger I used to buy ages ago — only these were better. The texture and the taste were very appealing. I ate them straight up — both hot, and cold the next day.

University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

We do other things besides eat around here. For example, we belong to a walking group that explores various locations around Seattle every Sunday morning. For about two hours, we walk different areas of town. Seattle is filled with great places to hike right in the city, and we've been to places we never knew existed, thanks to our very talented and knowledgeable leader. She not only knows the best places to explore, she can identify the plants and birds, and also is somewhat of a history buff, so she gives us background info on what we're seeing. And she doesn't get lost.

Yes, it was blooming. University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

Here are a few photos from a recent walk in the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It's still hard for me to believe a few plants are in bloom in November.

A sassafras leaf in fall color. University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

We've been incredibly lucky so far in that it hasn't been raining on our walks. On the day the photos were taken, it was actually sunny. This past Sunday, we watched the salmon running in Carkeek Park, and hiked the trails in the chilly gloom — but no rain! Do you have great natural areas to hike where you live?