Sunday, April 20, 2008

Just Call Me Betty Crocker!

My culinary skills have improved by leaps and bounds since moving to Ethiopia. Perhaps it is directly related to the fact that I can no longer place a call to Panda Forest for take-out or swing by Applebee’s on the way home from work for that fabulous convenience aptly coined “curbside service”! I actually have to COOK and the old adage “practice makes perfect” seems to hold a grain of truth.

I now can whip up a pretty mean hummus using ingredients that don’t even appear on hummus recipes in the States and my Cabbage Peanut Butter stir-fry is quite delectable. What I am most proud of, however, are my baking accomplishments. On a previous blog post, I described the “Dutch oven” concept. I now have this down to a science and seem to do a better job of baking via this method than with the nice, new Kenmore oven that I had in the States. I mean, seriously, look at this Zucchini bread. It is picture perfect…nicely browned, moist, and totally YUMMY!

Now you may wonder where the zucchini came from as it is not something that is locally grown. Well…I’ve become very resourceful and more than willing to make the most of every opportunity. The Country Director for World Learning called to say that he would be passing through my town on his way from Addis to Bahar Dar. At the end of the call he casually said, “well, let me know if there is anything that you need.” That is the only opening I needed. I placed my order for a ½ kilo of zucchini and ½ kilo of cucumbers and laughed while saying, “I bet you won’t make that offer again!”. Two days later the order arrived at my doorstep via Land Cruiser…curbside service Ethiopian style.