Once I knew others were happy but I thought I could not have what they had. Now I have such a different life, I am amazed. I did a lot of work on the road here, but the payoffs of that work are tenfold.

Tonight, Saturday, February 13
6:30-8:30
The Fabulous Heftones (Brian and I) sing at the newly expanded/renovated
Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in East Lansing.

This is truly our home venue in a million ways. We became a better act because of our regular 2-hour performances here.

We were in the What’s On section of the Lansing State Journal this week (page 3, with a photo). There is an online version of that article (with a photo of our friend Frog, who is mentioned later in the same column).

But today, on a day when we are again booked as the “Most Romantic Act in Lansing,” I feel like it is Thanksgiving even more than Valentine’s day.

I wrote a post January 31, 2009 that sums it all up, gratitude for my new life. It’s a short column (for me). Please consider taking the time to read it. I think good news doesn’t usually make it to the masses, and I’m all for spreading the good stuff when I can.

We hope you will come and join us in celebrating Altu’s new space (Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine, East Lansing, Michigan).

This photo was taken several weeks ago, it’s even more lovely now! For those waiting to see my paint job, notice the basketweave is completed on the right wall but not at the back, yet.

Saturday (January 23/ tomorrow)

Special events from
NOON until 4pm.

• Free Smoothie Samples
• Free Food Samples
• Live Music!!!
• Local songwriters to make you smile!!!

Noon-1 will be Art Cameron. This witty, thoughtful poet will engage you and make you smile!

1-2 Measured Dose (Ben Dilday and Dave Bond) will soothe you with harmonies, playing familiar oldies and a good selection of originals.

2-3 Mike Ross, a local poet and musician, will share words and excellent instrumentals with you. He wrote most of the music you will hear. Mike is a nationally-recognized harmonica player, but plays many other instruments as well.

3-4 Beloved Ben Hassenger (also of Mystic Shake and Blue Jello) will keep you humming, singing along, and laughing. Again, Ben writes a lot of his own music. His meanings are often sentimental or serious, but the way he delivers them will bring a smile.

—

If you can not make the daytime festivities, consider dinner.

6:30-8:30
Scarlet Runner Stringband

You can order a smoothie with your dinner (or for dessert… fruit is common for dessert in Ethiopia).

I will be there for dinner, myself. I will be teaching in Charlotte during the day.

You just MUST see the new space. It is magnificent. It’s hard to believe she started with three tables-for-two and a take out.

Please, bring yourself and a crowd of friends! It will be a fun and fabulous time.

Incredible Music Tonight!

My friends Jen Sygit and Sam Corbin will be playing music at Altu’s restaurant (East Lansing) tonight, from 6:30 to 8:30. Great music, great talent, amazing harmonies. Both musicians write great originals, and they will play some of those and some music written by others. I will be there.

Many of my friends, knitters and musicians alike, will be attending a Contra Dance in downtown Lansing tonight. If you fall into this group, please consider coming to Altu’s before you head downtown. It will make a fully satisfying night… artforms including music, dance, spectacular cooking, and perhaps knitting. (I’m not sure why, but lots of contra dancers also knit.)

You Must Check Out the Addition!

If you read here often, you will know that my friend Altu’s restaurant has expanded recently. Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine (EatAtAltus.com) in East Lansing, Michigan is a place where everything is literally made from scratch. The quality is superb, the kitchen is spotless, the flavors in the food are deep… sometimes subtle, sometimes spicy, always good.

There is now a real raised stage with lighting, and plenty of space for several large groups at once. No more worries about seating, my friends! It’s beautiful now… more mellow, more unique, more relaxing.

Open House Next Week: Sat. Jan. 23, 11am – 4 pm

Altu will be having a celebration next Saturday from 11-4 to celebrate the new space. There will be music during that time, and then again in the evening from 6:30-8:30 from Scarlet Runner String Band. If you must miss today, consider making it next week. I will miss the daytime festivities but will be there for dinner, next week. (A woman must work, and I have a class scheduled Jan 23 during the afternoon.)

So, What is the Food Like?

If you have never had Ethiopian food before, it consists of different types of thick stews, either veggie or meat, mild or spicy. Even meat eaters go for veggie food here, it is so flavorful.

In Ethiopia, they present the food in family style… on a platter, with spongy, sproingy sourdough Ethiopian bread(often called Injera) under it all. You pull off a piece of the bread (it’s like a thick crepe in form) and use it to pick up your food with your fingers, like a small taco. Ethiopians get so good at this, their fingers never get messy. I’ve been practicing for years but I’m not there yet.

In Ethiopia, the Injera is made of a gluten-free  grain called Teff. Here, because our altitude is different, Altu adds some wheat all-purpose flour to the bread. However, one can order their dinner on a bed of rice instead of on bread. I have friends who do not tolerate wheat at all (celiac or wheat-sensitive, both), and they do well at Altu’s eating meals this way. There is no wheat in any other food in the restaurant.

We did start our New Year’s Eve with a potluck and a Contra Dance downtown. However, I really wanted to be home for midnight, just quiet, the two of us.

We had drinks with which to toast the new year:

Not Exactly Times Square

For some reason, I am fascinated with watching the ball drop at Times Square. I don’t enjoy television, but if we are home on New Year’s Eve I will turn it on long enough to see the ball drop. (Often I don’t turn it on again for another year, but I digress.)

However, this year none of our three TVs can receive any signal at all. Brian decided he would make a ball drop for me:

You get extra points if that photo makes you chuckle because you understand just how geeky that move was. Clue: It did not bounce much at all. More like “clunk.”

We started the year by dancing together without music, in my office; and organic hot chocolate with nutmeg. Now I’m starting the first day with a blog post. I think I’m on a good start.

Other Thoughts

A resolution? Kindness. I wish to remember an intent to be kind always. Boundaries can exist side by side with this intent.

I am a passionate woman with a few too many words. I sometimes blurt out things, and sometimes I inadvertently hurt someone. It happens by accident.

I’m not into “snarky” for entertainment, after growing up in a society where we fought with words rather than fists. I know how much a clever statement can do damage to relationship. And I believe that relationship is the most important thing about being alive.

There are things I said decades ago which I can never take back, and that makes me ache after all those years. I wish to live without creating any more of those regrets.

But this is not a resolution for New Year’s Eve, or for merely one year. It started in my mind and in my heart, before today… and I hope it never ends. I’m imperfect, but a goal is a help.

I appreciate each one of you, everyone who reads this whether you comment or not. Thank you for being a part of my life.

In our family, we celebrate Christmas/Yule. My holiday parties (those where I attend, having been invited by someone) start tomorrow and go through at least December 20.

I guess it’s good to be forced to get out of the house during dark days. It is also good to celebrate our relationships, and this seems to be how society does it, around me.

I read on Susan (GT)’s Art and Words blog, a pondering of what she wants to do for holidays, now that her daughter is not in her house. Her daughter would typically ask for specific holiday items/trimmings, but this year is different.

Susan says:

…The question is what do I want? The answer, I’m not sure.

What cookies do I really love to bake? What do I want to light up with lights? How many decorations do I really want to get out and set up?

What do you love to do for the holidays around your home? Share your favorite and maybe we can inspire each other to bring light as well as lightness to this dark time of year.

I was inspired to comment. Maybe you will have opinions, too. I wrote:

• I like peace and quiet, and days alone at home with my beloved Brian. I like not fussing.
• Cookies are too much work, for me. I don’t enjoy them enough to do that kind of work.
• Apple/Cranberry Crumble is easy once the apples are cut up, and there is no crust to fuss with. I make it when I am inclined to make it, not when someone decides I must bake.
• I like making soup in the crock pot which does not need watching.
• I like the strings of Christmas lights which we leave up on the windows all year, and plug in from November-March while the sun is so absent.
• I like as many one-on-one meetups with friends, over tea either at a locally owned cafe’ or at my house, as I can pull off.
• I like going on a walk with Brian after we eat our simple Christmas meal together, alone.
• I like having what we call “Thanks-Christmas” with my family, in late October, and having that be less schedule-crunching when everyone else is inviting me somewhere.
• I like “less is more” for holidays. If our tree goes, up, it’s because Brian decides to put it up. Last year we had our (1940’s silver tinsel) tree but no decorations upon it. It still bounced light around the house and made it festive.
• I think holidays are about celebrating relationship. About telling those I love that I love them, one more time.

I don’t need trappings or “traditions” to do that. I need ease, and peace, and time with people, as much as I can one at a time.

My life is so good now! Thanksgiving always brings home how real that good is. And today I turn 51.

I’m grateful, I look good these days, better than I did in college. Mom has always looked much younger than her calendar age, and I got good genes in that department!

The gray hair (which I do not cover up) is beautiful, if you ask me… I earned every one the hard way. Each is a badge of courage and learning.

Here is a photo of me performing as Eudora (at New Aladdin’s Restaurant). The photo was taken this spring. This is what 50 looks like, at least on me.

I wish I had some photos of me in college. I gained about 35 pounds in just over a year. I was a very unhappy person and food comforted me. But if you could see the photos of me at 20, you would understand how delightful it is for me to feel well and lovely at this time in my life.

No, I’m not old yet. However, many of us yearn for youth and I am not one of those people.

I shared this one last year, but it is the only photo I seem to have of myself as a young person which is in digital form. I believe it was taken on my 18th birthday (before my large weight gain).

I was just a kid. I liked “costuming” even back then, can you tell?

I am here to tell you, though, that I would not go back for any amount of money. Youth, for me, was a time of turmoil and angst. Thank goodness I was born an optimist, so I did not notice how much upset I had and how little I laughed. I thought things were pretty good, and that got me through.

Please Join Me for Birthday Dinner/Fun

Anybody out there who is in driving distance… come on down to Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine on Michigan Avenue in East Lansing tonight. Jen Sygit and Drew Howard/Cap’n Midnite are playing, and I’m just inviting others to go to dinner there when I’m going to dinner there. The music is from 6:30-8:30.

It’s not a party, per se… I have too much stuff so I emphatically ask that no gifts come with you. It’s a gathering and a celebration. Life is good, let’s eat well and laugh, and sing, and listen to significantly incredible musicians sing/play for us!!!

For some reason I have never shared my recipe for pumpkin pie here with you. I seem to have more and more people in my life with food sensitivities for a zillion reasons, every day. Now that we’re on Thanksgiving week in the US, I think it’s time to share.

I realize that some folks find holiday special foods so appealing that they will cheat and eat them rather than choose health. Fortunately, I was diagnosed in the spring and knew I’d want pumpkin pie by November, so I started right away experimenting with how to make it in a totally new way. It took 6 full months to get something I liked.

I made a few pies at first (years ago) that were substandard in different ways. I made one batch I could not eat at all. I think I have it nailed well at this point.

I’ve been making these now for probably at least 6 years, and I think the filling is quite excellent. Folks who can eat other standard pies will eat this and not realize it’s “special.”

There are two things that may impact a food-sensitive person’s ability to make this. One is that I use soy milk (the unsweetened, unflavored one with ingredients only soy and water). If you can not use soy milk, try almond or oat milk.

I personally want to experiment next with powdered goat milk, reconstituted and subbed for the soy. I do well with that product in baking, and it’s a good protein boost. Cooked powdered milk does not have any residual “powdered” flavor at all. In fact, it’s in a lot of processed foods.

I’m having trouble with crust. For a long time I would buy spelt crust in the health food store’s freezer section. However, spelt is a relative of wheat. This means it is not gluten free, and since I am more and more wheat sensitive, I want to avoid it.

If you know a good crust recipe that works for you, by all means use it. Please!

I have only made two crusts ever… and the first was inedible and impossible to cut, even with a knife! Last night I made an ugly duckling one that tasted fine and had a good texture, but anything tried and true is surely better than my second experiment.

However, I will share with you my “Alpha Version” of the crust I used last night. It turned out flavorful and flaky but nearly impossible to roll or thin out in the pan properly. I’d rather share something with you than leave you crust-less.

(If your only issue is gluten, this crust recipe looks promising. With my allergies, it does not work… so I’ve not tested it.)

For the record, I’m including brand names of products. In allergy cooking, the brand name truly can impact the final product. Sub as you must, but understand that cooking times and texture may be affected.

LynnH’s No-Nothin’ Pumpkin Pie
No Egg, Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Tree Nut, Potato, Yeast, or Corn

2 Unbaked Pie Crusts in 9″ pans
2 sm cans or 1 lg can (total 3-1/2c) Pumpkin (Libby’s has less water in it than generic, cooks faster) NOT Pie Mix
1-1/3 c Boiling Water
1/2 c Bob’s Red Mill Flaxseed Meal
2 c Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1-3/4 c Soy Milk (check ingredients, no sweeteners. I use Westsoy Organic Unsweetened)
If you can tolerate cow’s milk or goat milk, these should substitute well, or try Oat Milk or Almond. I have not tried these options but what I know about baking says they should work, with different baking times.)

(Use any or all of the following spices. I like all of them together, but leave out or use less as sensitivities/preferences require.)
1-1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Allspice
1/2 Tsp Ginger Powder

Preheat oven to 375F.

If you are making your own crusts, make them now (see my recipe below if you have no recipe of your own). If you purchased frozen crusts, pull them out and separate them before they melt together and don’t want to let go.

Boil water. Measure into medium-sized bowl/heatproof container. Slowly whisk in flaxseed meal (I use a wire whisk). Make sure it’s well mixed, cover and leave to thicken.

In large bowl, place pumpkin and spices. Add milk and blend thoroughly with whisk.

Return to flaxseed mixture. Add brown sugar and whip until thoroughly mixed. Add this mixture to the pumpkin mixture and carefully combine until blended completely.

Fill unbaked pie crusts with filling. Do not overfill, as the pumpkin mixture needs to boil in the oven. If there is left over filling, place in a greased ovenproof glass/pyrex pan and bake with pies.

Bake. Depending on the moisture content of your ingredients, it will take no less than 50 minutes and easily an hour or more. Watch the pies, and when the very center of the pie filling is boiling consistently, it is done. Do not be too eager, it’s better if you let the center truly cook through.

My pie pans are glass/pyrex. You may find your baking times will be different than mine if your pans are a different material.

If you take a clean wet butter knife and insert in the center of the pie, it should mostly come out clean. Not as clean as a standard pumpkin pie, though… just not with what looks like pudding attached to the knife.

LET THE PIE COOL. This pie will manage significantly better if you serve it cold. Refrigerating will make it cut perfectly. Barely warm works, too, but it really does need to “set up.”

Experimental 2nd-Try Gluten-Free Piecrust

This is imperfect crust to say the least, it’s the first one I made that really tastes good. It does not handle well, though, and was frustrating to get in the pan in a thin layer.

1 c Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat flour (buckwheat is not related to wheat and has no gluten)
1/2 c Bob’s Red Mill Teff Flour (If you can not find, try substituting Brown Rice Flour)
1/2 c butter (dairy product), or stick margarine (can substitute lard or shortening, but they are not healthy by any stretch)
Salt if you wish
Appx 4-6 Tbsp Very Cold Water (different flour brands will need different amounts

Mix flours and optional salt in large bowl. Place cold butter/margarine in bowl and mix in with pastry blender, wire whisk or cut in with two butter knives. Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Try to keep the mixture as cold as possible, you do not want to melt the butter.

Sprinkle in about 3 Tbsp of water in and mix gently with a fork. Keep adding water until it feels like the dough will stick to itself but is not all the way to sticky.

Handle the dough as little as possible, keep hands cool as much as you can. Separate the dough into two portions, one for each 9″ pie crust (mine are glass/pyrex).

Here is where you play it by ear, my friends. Supposedly you can “press” the crust into the pan. I had a lot of trouble making this work.

One crust stuck to my warm hands and came apart, I patched it. The other I could not push down enough and it was very thick in the middle. Again, less handling is better so I was afraid to push it around too much. You want those little crumblets to sort of stack themselves on top of one another like Greek fillo (sp) dough, which makes it flaky.

I think if you used just a little more water than I did, perhaps you could roll it out between layers of parchment paper? It’s just a guess, but what I did was imperfect, as I did it.

In the end I had crust under the pie and on the sides but none for decorative edgings. It tasted great, though one was really thick in the center. I’m going to keep trying, but I wanted to post this pie recipe (the filling is time-tested) for those who feel deprived entering into this week’s holiday baking.

Final Notes For New Food-Sensitive Bakers

The Flax meal and flours may need to be purchased from a health food or healthy grocery such as Whole Foods. Worth it.

If you can not find ingredients locally and have time, you can order online from Bob’s Red Mill for the Teff and Flax meal. Their buckwheat flour is very different (coarser) than Arrowhead Mills, though, and not recommended for this crust.

If you can find Hodgson Mills Buckwheat it will probably sub for Arrowhead well, and some food co-ops have buckwheat flour that will work. You want it more powdery than sandy in texture, more like all-purpose flour to the touch.

My late friend Betsy taught me about root vegetables and how full of minerals they were. As a vegetarian, she found them an important part of her overall food plan.

She had a cookbook full of eastern-european recipes, many of which included parsnips, rutabagas, turnips and the like. I was fascinated.

Now I’m hooked. My favorite root (except perhaps the onion which is in another category) is sweet potato. I also adore parsnips, and I like rutabaga when cut in very small pieces (a la steak fries) and roasted in a hot oven for a very long time.

The other day we made a batch of veggies which I purchased at the Allen Street market and the East Lansing Food Co-Op. I’m still learning which varieties need to be cut larger or smaller, but these turned out quite well. The batch I’m speaking of is in the photo above. We had sweet potatoes, yellow carrots, parsnips, blue potatoes, fingerling white potatoes and onion.

The general formula is this:

Roasted Root Veggies (A formula, not a recipe.)

Preheat Oven to 400F.

Peel veggies if you wish (we peel carrots and parsnips but not potatoes). Cut into chunks that are appropriate. Sweet potatoes need to be biggest, carrots in the middle, rutabaga very thin. If you use fingerling potatoes they may not need cutting at all.

I always include at least a half of an onion, it makes everything else taste great. Sometimes they almost melt but they flavor everything.

After chopping, drizzle olive oil on a jelly roll sheet cake pan. Put veggies on the pan and drizzle more oil on it, as well as salt and fresh rosemary if you have any. Toss until all the veggies are coated with oil. Parsnips need oil or they dry out in the oven, so pay special attention to those if you have any.

Place sheet with veggies in the oven, making sure the veggies are spread evenly throughout the pan. Every 15 minutes, take them out and toss them more.

Somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes, they will probably be done. Use a fork to test for a softer center. Carrots and parsnips usually do not get all the way to soft, and they still taste good.

Remove from oven. Cool a little, and eat still warm. YUM.

The open market on Allen Street has closed for the season (sigh). We have had frost a few nights around here, and occasionally they say we might see some flakes of snow, though I’ve not seen any yet.

However, I picked these tomatoes green (two were actually slightly yellow-green) in early October. Two ripened faster than the others. I was apparently too skeptical, so they actually got over-ripe and I had to toss them out. Rats.

But here they are this week (actually, that last semi-ripe one is red now). I have a handful ready to put into perhaps a pasta dinner this week. How lovely!

I think it’s ironic that I have more ripe tomatoes in November than I got all season when they were on the vine. What an odd summer it was!

I will have a full and wonderful day on Saturday, Halloween. I teach 2 classes at Rae’s… Maxi ZigBagZ and First-Time Toe-Up Socks. And then?

Brian and I are singing at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine from 6:30-8:30pm. I expect to have a lovely time.

The place is friendly and warm, it’s family oriented so you can bring kids if you like. The food is incredible… I ate Ethiopian for 3 weeks when I went to Africa, at everyone’s home and good restaurants.

You didn’t ask me… but Altu cooks better. She’s an artist with food. She loves food and her customers, and it shows in her product.

Please consider joining us. If you are not in town, you can listen to our music on our Fabulous Heftones website. We have a lot of music there, for free, in MP3 or OGG formats.

Whatever you do, have a pleasant, safe and happy October 31. Don’t eat too much corn syrup!!!

I had a good weekend, I hope you did as well. Brian and I (The Fabulous Heftones) sang at Altu’s on Saturday night, which was pleasant as always. Thanks to friends, fans and family who came out for the show!

Sock Class!

Sunday I taught a “Sock in a Day” class. Really it is more “structure of a sock” in a day, what folks actually come out of the class with is a very small footie with a rolled top finish. They learn toe, heel, gusset, and tricks for binding off and finishing a toe-up sock.

I’m showing Peggy’s sock from today. The yarn is Panda Silk DK, a beautiful yarn indeed.

Thanks to Marilyn and Peggy for driving over an hour to come to my class! We had a great time and they enjoyed lunch on the East Side so they got the flavor of our wonderful neighborhood as well as a class.

Gratitude for Rest

It looks like I’m heading into a typically frenzied LynnH week. I’m happy I had a day and a half of quiet rest at home on Friday/Saturday morning.

It’s wonderful to have enough time to rest a whole day… and then for part of a second day, do things like laundry and the like. That just felt like luxury, after having eight weekends in a row with travel or a performance involved.

Rested, refreshed, rejuvenated! I’m ready for a new week. I hope you feel the same.

No Wheat, Please

I keep finding new friends who (like me) can not eat wheat successfully, for any number of reasons. This makes me more inspired to post the recipes I’ve evolved over my years of doing without wheat, corn, and many-many-many other ingredients.

Thursday night for dinner we ate fresh mustard greens, sauteed with onion and protein-embellished with particularly smooth and creamy chickpeas. It was tasty but we did not make any rice, pasta, or quinoa to go with it as we might typically do.

So it was time for a warm treat straight out of the oven. I don’t like frosting (and powdered sugar typically contains cornstarch, which is no good for me). Instead, I topped the warm cake with freshly whipped cream (brown sugar, not white) and a few tiny chocolate chips on it.

Recipe History

This recipe evolved from a WWII ration-era cake recipe from King Arthur Flour company. Unfortunately, their flour is wheat and I can’t use it. (If you can, their website has many recipes.)

Their no-egg recipe was a good place to start, anyway. I’ve evolved it over the years to make things stick together better, without using wheat. I also removed a few ingredients I can’t have, changed a measurement or two, just basically tweaked it until it felt “just right,” as Goldilocks would say.

An internet/knitting friend told me about this recipe in 2002. I’ve been refining it ever since. There are many ways to make it work, but this is the one I use most often.

Buckwheat is this Wheat-Free Baker’s Friend

I use a lot of buckwheat in my baking, which is not at all related to wheat regardless of the name. It has no gluten, so it’s perfect for celiac persons as well as wheat-sensitive folks like me.

The brand of buckwheat flour makes a difference, as they are all milled to different textures, from sand-coarse to fine powder. I usually use Arrowhead Mills, which has a close texture to all-purpose wheat flour and is excellent for substituting in “ordinary” recipes.

Here’s my recipe:

Warm-the-Heart No-Wheat Chocolate Cake

1-1/2 cup Arrowhead Mills buckwheat flour (could sub Hodgson mills, not Bob’s which is too coarse… need powdery texture instead)

1 cup brown sugar (can sub white, brown is stickier… good in wheat-free baking)

1/4 cup baking cocoa powder, unsweetened (not drink mix)

1 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp unbuffered vitamin c crystals,
-OR-
1-1/2 tsp baking powder (many contain cornstarch)

OPTIONAL: 2 Tbsp powdered goat milk (adds protein and body to cake, no flavor, I almost always add this)

6 Tbsp oil (I used olive, use what you have)

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a 10″ deep dish glass pie plate, place all dry ingredients and blend well with fork or wire whisk. Small lumps of brown sugar will remain.

Add oil and water, mix until all dry ingredients are wet but no longer than absolutely necessary.

Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes. (If you have substituted any ingredients, the baking time may change.) Done when toothpick placed in center comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes if you can stand to wait that long. Top with whipped cream or ice cream if you can tolerate dairy, maybe Rice Dream or Soy Delicious if not (read ingredient labels carefully if you are food-sensitive). Or your own favorite topping, of course!

This cake holds together well enough to be finger food with a napkin to catch a few crumbs. Not bad for no wheat, eggs or xanthan gum!

Brian and I, as The Fabulous Heftones, will be performing at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in E. Lansing this Saturday. Performance times are 6:30 to 8:30.

The food is incredible. Altu cooks the best vegetarian food I know, and we usually prefer it to her meat dishes (which are also flavorful) though we do eat meat at times.

I must confess, though, the spicy chicken (also known as Doro Wat) brings back good memories of my time in Ethiopia. It’s something of a “national dish” and since I was the guest of honor for 5 weeks, I ate that dish a lot. Yum!

Ethiopian food is essentially presented in very thick stews. She has mild and spicy dishes, she has veggie and meat (including lamb, which is a big treat to some folks).

Traditionally, you would get the food presented on one large platter, family style. In Ethiopia, they eat the stews with their hands, by using pieces of the flat bread to pick up a bite at a time, almost like tiny tacos or something.

The traditional “bread” is like a very stretchy thick crepe with a sort of sourdough flavor. The bread is made with Teff flour, and in Michigan the altitude is such that Altu adds a little wheat flour to make the texture right.

If you prefer, you can have a personal plate rather than a shared platter. If you want steamed rice instead of bread, you can get the stew on a bed of rice. They have forks, too, for those who prefer it. I have friends who are celiac and can not have any wheat at all. They do fine at Altu’s when they order the rice instead of bread.

My mom and friend Regina are big fans of a personal plate with a bed of rice, and a dish that is a lot like beef stew with vegetables. It’s mild and is somewhat familiar for those who enjoy standard “American” foods.

Then there are the lima bean fans. I’m one, friend Cynthia is also in that crowd. Altu usually has to talk people into trying the limas the first time, because most of us have only had grainy ones with no flavoring. She uses fresh or frozen, never dry or canned, and they are smooth and creamy in texture.

The lima beans are mild (lots of flavorings including subtle garlic, onion and ginger) but not bland by any stretch. If you go to the restaurant, ask for a small taste of this delicacy. If you like any beans at all, you will be more than pleasantly surprised.

So does anyone want to join us? It’s a very family-friendly place, bring kids or friends. We would love to see you!!!

I have always loved cooked tomato dishes. As a child I did not like fresh tomatoes at all, though as an adult my tastes have changed. That is, I like fresh tomatoes when they are locally grown and recently picked. Aaaahh.

Once more, I benefited from friends’ gardens. I got a few from friend Marlene, one or two from Frances, and an incredible abundance of them from Rita, once more. Rita knows how to make sure her garden produce does not go to waste. She knows I’ll cook them all up!

Last Thursday at Rae’s late-night knit in, Rita brought so many tomatoes that I had to cut them up after dinner that same night and get them started in my crockpot. For a house with only 2 people in it, this crockpot is pretty big, it holds a 4 pound chicken.

I had so many tomatoes that I filled this crockpot to the brim. They came in three different colors: Red, orange, and yellow.

I actually have a few small green heirloom tomatoes (ripe but that’s their final color), but I did not add them. I like to put those on wraps and sandwiches where I can see their beautiful colors better. I still have a few larger red tomatoes, as well. I had more tomatoes than crockpot space, and I figured the final few fresh ones could become pica de gallo salsa or something else just as wonderful.

This chunky tomato sauce is planned for chili. It could still turn into something Italian (maybe add eggplant or other veggies). However, I have been craving chili and we have two cans of red beans ready to go. I think this may work!

PS: (Note added later) I did make chili and it was wonderful. It was just right for the first day the furnace kicked on.