enat

we are home visiting family in Georigia, which is dreamy. last night pete and I took advantage of having grandparents around and went on a real, actual date.  I think I can count the times on 1 hand that we have left both girls somewhere...it's a little tough for me.  I like to have them with me always.  however, I do realize that it is good for a marriage for the mom and dad to go off alone and blah blah blah.  spare me the marriage health alerts.
anyhoo.  the evening included:  my very FIRST ever trip to ikea.  that's right people.  and it was everything I had ever imagined...right down to the $1 cinnamon roll.  I could have stayed in the children's department for 3 hours and dreamed up fun ideas for organizing and new bunk beds.  wow. I loved it.
then we stopped at lenox mall to visit the only 2 stores I care about: anthropologie and urban outfitters.  I only ever want to smell anthropologie...that is really all I can afford to do in there. 
THEN...another first...we went and tried ethiopian food!
the name of the restaurant that we chose was enat ethiopian restaurant.  "enat" means mother in amharic...which is the official language of ethiopia.
the location of this place was a little questionable.  sort of sandwiched in between adult video stores and run down buildings.  but...it had rave reviews and we decided to go for it.  and boy, am I glad the XXX nudey girl movie signs didn't scare us away.  it was delicious and incredible dining experience. 

the waitress was this beautiful ethiopian woman.  the restaurant smelled like yummy spices and was decorated with ethiopian art and baskets and paintings.  I sort of knew a little bit about the food from my best friend natalie.  she lived in ethiopia for a summer.  I knew that we would eat with our hands...and I'd seen pictures of her doing so.  I was sort of excited about that part.

pete ordered kei wott which is a spicy beef stew, and I ordered doro alicha which is curried chicken.  it is served on injera which is a yeast risen flat bread...that is very spongey.  they give you little rolls of injera and that is what you use to shovel the food into your mouth. 

we seriously enjoyed it to the last ethiopian-y bite. and it made us feel even more excited about our child that is to come.  it made us wonder all the more what he/she will be like.  we talked about taking him/her to eat ethiopian food and how we need to learn so much more about ethiopian culture and history. 
I can't even wait to become an "enat" again.