OINK!

 Enough now about all the beautiful flora and fauna of the Northwest. I'm hungry :o)
As you can imagine, there are a plethora of ingredients to choose from around this big city so whipping up dishes from just about any country is a fun adventure. Here are just a few of our food adventures during our stay in Seattle.

The occasion of my nephews birthday sent us on the hunt for one of his favorite foods, flank steak. We picked up a couple of monsters for the grill.

Birthday Pie :o) 

No birthday cake for this celebration. Jake loves pie, so my sister produced these two beauties for the occasion.

Banana Cream

Happy Apple

Me with Jake and his fiance' Lauryn

The Easter Feast

The Easter Feast Bouquet

 The Easter feast crowd

 Sis, Jake, Rowan, Dusty, me and Marguerite 

On the menu.......

From Jerusalem: Chermoula eggplant with bulgur and yogurt

From the farm: Grilled Leg-o-lamb

Jake's big head with a plate full of Mediterranean deliciousness.

We made all of the traditional side dishes for the meal. YUM! 

Trying to get just one serious photo with my goofy nephews is lucky (that photo is a few above this one). They just couldn't hold back the clowning around for this photo shoot. I think this runs in our family :o)

Eritrean Food & Friends

 One of our favorite things to do when visiting the Seattle area is to have at least one meal with our friends Yoru and John. They bring delicious North African food to the table. It's spicy, so hold on to your hat.....it's gonna blow! :o)

Yoru puts huge slices of jalapeno in what looks like very non-threatening tabouleh and cauliflower/potato stir fry. YUM!

Suwa or Tella 

Traditional Eritrean/Ethiopian alcoholic beverage made for the holy days observance

John makes this home made beer type beverage used to welcome guests during the holy days. It is fermented from mostly barley but wheat, maize, sorghum, and teff are utilized depending on the region one comes from. It has a sour, sweet and bitter taste and will kick your ass if you aren't careful. We shared one glass with John after our dinner.

Cheers!

Traditional Eritrean Coffee

Always a highlight when coming to visit Yoru and John is a cup of their delicious coffee. 

The living room of their house has a special place where the coffee is made, with traditional implements brought here from Africa. Sharing coffee with friends is part of the tradition.

To begin, Yoru roasts the green coffee beans on the stove. The smell that fills the house when this is done is irresistible! It makes your mouth water as you wait for the rest of the magic to happen.

The freshly roasted coffee beans

The beans are ground and put into a traditional coffee brewing vessel and cooked over a single burner.

Sugar is added to the small cups before the coffee is poured. The coffee is very similar to Turkish coffee - strong, smooth and sweet.

The pouring of the coffee

The coffee is served with dates, peanuts, almonds and of course some American chocolate covered pretzels.


Uh Oh.........

It must be the Suwa! :o)