In puzzling over my berbere dilemma, I remembered all the red peppers that my husband had grown in our garden and picked just before the frost. After googling hot peppers, we identified ours as Anaheims, haberneros, and some incredibly potent Tabasco peppers. The Tabascos are almost hot enough to make pepper spray, according to the Scofield scale. One nibble off a Tabasco sent my 12 year old Ethiopian daughter into a coughing fit and caused my 5 year old (tricked into a nibble by an older sibling) to burst out wailing.

After soothing my poor 5 year old with a glass of milk and an invalid's pillow on the... more

For a few weeks now I've been sadly watching our berbere run out. Before our older girls came home, I'd sprinkle a tablespoon or so at most in a recipe. These days our girls use it 1/4 of a cup at a time, so it's running out a lot quicker than before. Awhile back Amazon.com sold berbere for $8 a pound, but when I clicked that link, it was no longer available. I've been hunting around hoping to find a good price, but all I could find was berbere that costs $10-$15 per pound. After paying a dollar or two a pound in Ethiopia, my frugal self was balking big-time.

Finally last week as we shook the dregs out of our berbere canister, I conceded defeat and bought some online at the cheapest... more

Here's a nice vegetarian dish that is affordable and easy to make. You can make it with either yellow or green split peas. I ate something like this at the Queen of Sheba restaurant in Portland, and made my own variation of it at home. Then when our girls came home from Ethiopia, they made yet another variation.

Atar Alecha: Spicy split peas

Ingredients

1 onion, pureed in food processor 2 garlic cloves, finely minced or mashed through a garlic press (And just in case you are in the market for a garlic press, I love my Zyliss!)... more

According to a recent story in the New York Times, relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea are deteriorating. In 1993 Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia after a bloody conflict. However, the two sides are recently accused each other of trying to start another war. Tens of thousands of troops are massed both in Ethiopia and in Eritrea, poised for conflict.

The treaty that ended the war included a new border drawn by the United Nations. In November the new border will go into effect. Ethiopia... more

Today a friend of mine asked me for my shiro recipe. I blogged a friend's recipe awhile back. It is quite good, but my girls have taught me a bit more streamlined version that I thought some other people might be interested in trying. With the help of my food processor, I can whip this recipe out in 15 minutes. It also reheats well in the microwave for those of you trying to keep comfort food handy for newly arrived kids.

Shiro

2 medium onions 1 tomato 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup shiro powder water (1-1/2 to 2 cups) lots of berbere

Start by pureeing the onions... more

Here are some news highlights from Ethiopia this week. I've included a summary of each piece. You can click on the title of each story to go read the full story. As always, links are only good for a few weeks, unless you subscribe to the news service.

~~~~~~~ Eritrea: Border Row Threatens Terrorism War

A border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is escalating again. The two countries went to war in May 1998, when Eritrea attempted to occupy the contested border town of Badme, a move that Ethiopia interpreted as aggression.... more

We have about a dozen pumpkins all turning a lovely shade of orange in the garden right now. I've made pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pie filling. But we still have a ton of pumpkins. So when my 12 year old mentioned an Ethiopian recipe for pumpkin stew, I was all attention. She didn't know exactly how it was made, and so I worked from her general instructions rather than from exact amounts. But the recipe turned out to be really delicious, and she told me it tasted right. So I thought you might enjoy hearing what I did.

Pumpkin Wat

--Start by chopping up part of a pumpkin,... more

Since this is a blog about adopting from Ethiopia, I rarely mention the adoption situations in other countries. However, right now there is something happening in Guatemala that makes me feel sad and that I believe anyone involved in adoption should care about. For awhile I have heard that adoption from Guatemala has slowed due in part to questions about the ethics of some adoptions. I have heard of many families who have opted to adopt from Ethiopia instead of Guatemala just because of these types of questions.

Currently UNICEF is putting pressure on Guatemala (via financial incentives) to implement the Hague... more

I've served both spaghetti and salad a few times since the girls got home, but they did not seem especially happy with either time. I didn't make a big deal about it (see my food policy), but I wondered how I could tweak the recipes to be a little more familiar to the girls.

As it turns out, the girls clued me in on both issues. The other day we were out shopping and our girls spotted a bag of tiny key limes. "Like Ethiopia!" they exclaimed. They went on to explain that in Ethiopia, along with often eating the limes whole, dipped in salt or sugar, they also made a kind of salad that is drizzled... more

One of the things that people really like to be able to do from Ethiopia is to e-mail family and friends and tell them how things are going in-country. However, the vast majority of Addis has only dial-up. This can make even a short note from Addis take a ridiculously long time to send. And if you are trying to send pictures, you'll most likely really be frustrated.

However, there are a few tricks that make internet use a little less painful in Ethiopia. First of all, before you go to Ethiopia, set up a Yahoo email account for whomever is traveling. Other travelers to Ethiopia have reported that yahoo had been the most reliable email.

Make sure that you know your password,... more