Magical World #27: So much to celebrate - let's eat some Ethiopian food

When it rains, it pours

We've been having a lot to celebrate lately:

• First there were birthdays (mine on August 21st, husband on August 30th)
• then our wedding anniversary (we got married on my 27th birthday, 4 years ago, so now you know how old I am)
• also new jobs (husband started on August 1st, my first day at work was on August 21. So for those paying attention, yes, yet again, on my birthday)
• and then a bunch of new certificates (my husband is well on his way to become a licensed IT professional, and now has a bunch of Microsoft server diploma's)
• and as icing on the cake, today I passed my driving exam, just a few days of processing and I'll be having my drivers license and will be free to get out on the road by myself.

That's a lot, right?

What's for dinner, darling?

After I came home from passing for the driving exam, we had some friends visiting for the afternoon. They left and we were thinking what to do for dinner, and decided to go out. Because I was rather tired, I think the exam thing stressed me out a bit more than I wanted. And also, time to celebrate!

I didn't want to go anywhere fancy. I was just rather hungry, and didn't want to change, and didn't think I'd be in for a whole lot of conversation as I'd done my share of talking in the afternoon. So we went to a place we know, one of my favourites.

Dinner conversation

And then when we sat down at our table, my husband asked me - what will you be doing when we get home? Isn't it time you write a Steemit blog? So I asked him - is it that you wanted to play the Xbox? Because usually after get home we'd maybe be couch potatoes and watch a movie. If he wants me to write a blog it's probably because he wants to continue playing Assassins Creed (his current game). And I was right, of course.

So at that, I thought writing a blog would be nice for tonight. And as I was in one of my favourite little restaurants, celebrating to have passed my drivers exam and sooo many other good things this last month - I decided that would be more than enough material to write about. We ordered food and drinks, and I took some pictures of the place for this blog. Then within minutes the drinks came, within another few minutes they served the food. Which was absolutely perfect, as I was hungry.

View inside the restaurant, from where I was sitting

For blogging purpose, I even got up from my chair ;), and took a pic from the place's entrance. 'De smaak van Afrika', located at the Goudsesingel in Rotterdam, Netherlands

View from my chair, turned backwards

I love the colours and decorations of the place. There is so much to look around at

Decoration on the wall opposite of where I was sitting

The bar

Even the bathrooms are in style

Childhood memories

When I was around 8 or 9 years old, my family and I were living in Kenya. The pictures I have of that time are terrible - I look like a little walking skeleton, very skinny with dark circles below my eyes. It took a long time for the doctors to find out I was carrying ameba, a nasty parasite that causes intestinal illness. I don't know what exactly caused what, but due to that parasite I had no appetite at all, my health went down the drain and I had all kind of infections all the time, including ear infections and streptococcus, real annoying stuff. At some point I was taking so many pills and antibiotics per day, I remember it was like having a handful of them with every meal.

My parents were worried of course, and they did everything they could to have me eat. Which I hardly did. With one exception. When we would visit the Ethopian restaurant, I would eat and eat and eat. And eat.

Doesn't really make any sense right? Was it that the parasite had changed my taste (I just looked it up online, they mention it could)? Or was it just that my mom was a really bad cook? I have no clue why. But only when we would go to that place (over there it was in some mud hut, really no classy place at all, but well the food was amazing) I would eat more than my fill. So, we went there a lot. And Ethiopian food has always been special to me, ever after. You can imagine my content when after moving to Rotterdam, we found this 'De smaak van Afrika' place just 10 minutes biking from our home. And then finding out it is so lovely decorated and has amazing food for a great price.

Ethiopian food

If you've never tried it, you really have to. Ethiopian food is my favourite of all of Africa. The tastes are so rich and the staple food - enjera - makes for such a great way to enjoy your dinner!!

For drinks (which arrived within minutes) we had ginger mint tea

For everyone new to Ethiopian cuisine, they have a few pages of introduction at the beginning of the menu. This is on how to eat the enjera and dishes

Some more enjera facts

Then they brought in the food, real fast. We ordered two vegetarian meal combinations, and asked them to serve it in one plate. Eating from a shared, large plate is the tradition in Ethiopia. The plate will have a few layers of enjera on it, then on top of that the dishes, and to eat you tear a piece of the enjera with your right hand, wrap it around some veggies and take the bite.

The menu info pages, confirming that you're really all supposed to eat from the same plate, and with your hands.

And the a real life demonstration: husband getting ready for a first taste. We had lentils, spinach, cabbage, okra and pumpkin dishes. For veggie dishes, they are awesome for the depth and variety of taste.

De smaak van Afrika

The restaurants name is 'The taste of Africa'. For me, that's perfect. It's a reminder of my own very favourite food, from my own time in Africa. But I think this place is really great to go and have a meal, for anyone, with or without Africa experience. The atmosphere is warm, the people are very friendly. Orders don't always get through 100%. Like today, we asked for the teff enjera then we received the usual wheat one (which is only usual here, in Ethiopia they all eat the teff version). And also, not unimportant, the prices are really great. We had two ginger/mint teas, two vegetarian dinners, and ordered extra spinach and okra dishes to the side. Our bill was only 33 euro's - which is a really good price for really great food.

Besides that, we had much better conversation than I expected from how tired I was. Made some great new plans on developing a training based on what we learned in India, for at work. We enjoyed the food, enjoyed our time, and now the husband is happily playing his Xbox game and I get to write this little blog, something which always makes me happy.

Hope you enjoyed too, that you have a lot to celebrate these days also. And if you do, go visit an Ethiopian restaurant!

After eating Ethiopian food, Ethiopian style, you'll really have to wash your hands. A goodbye pic of the lovely art hanging on the bathroom wall

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Magical World Series

This is post #27 in the Magical World Series. With these posts, I hope to add a little happiness and light-heartedness to your day. There is magic in every little corner of the world. And if we share it with each other, it does really brighten up the place!

Some earlier posts in this series:

• After a long time, it has been raining again
• A tour through the largest port of Europe
• The natural wonders of the Caves of Hotton

All content is created by me, and Steemit original.
Smartphone camera: Samsung Galaxy S8.