Cookies by Simply Sweet

Last Friday made two years since I met my two middle daughters, Mita and Enu. April 16, 2008 was the day our family was made complete. Last year I gave all the girls little gifts to represent family and Ethiopia. We also went to Chuck E. Cheese and had some fun.

This year the girls wanted to be more low-key, so no special celebration, just some awesome sugar cookies and an extra hug. It is tough having pre-teens. They don’t want a big deal made of anything, unless they want to make a big deal about it!

At Elle's Classroom.

Elle, being only five, does still like “Big Deals” thankfully! I went to her  classroom and talked about Ethiopia with her four and five year old friends. The kids enjoyed holding the wood carvings, and playing with the scarves. I shared with them the following books: E is for Ethiopia and Phillip and the Ethiopian.  Elle also bragged about riding a camel in Ethiopia and showed pictures of her on our camel ride.

They also enjoyed the cookies I brought. I ordered two dozen sugar cookies from a new local baker, Simply Sweet, I learned about a couple weeks ago. The cookies were fabulous and I will be ordering again!

So even without a big celebration, I did treasure our two year anniversary no matter how quiet it was and I am very proud of our family!

Photo Credits:  Mandy W. 2010

(I received no compensation for any of the products I mentioned, I just really liked them!)

September 11th will always be a day Americans will remember for a terrorist attack on US soil. My dear friend has blogged  about one of 9/11′s victims today.

While we as a family recognize the seriousness of this date, we also have started celebrating September 11th as the Ethiopian New Year.  Enkutatash is celebrated as the new year for Ethiopia.  If you want to get all smart on the subject check this out.

Since Hubby has a crazy work week we celebrated last Wednesday with Ethiopian food cooked by ME, believe it or not! I made Doro Wat (spicy chicken) and red lentils with fresh injera (bread) that I picked up in Columbus for the occasion.

Today the girls took some Ethiopian activities and some Ethiopian sweet bread to share with their classmates.

Doro Wat in the pot cooking.

Look at me cooking!

Mita and Elle at our Ethiopian table setting (no utensils!)

Enu with our Ethiopian Saba doll we bought the girls.

Meg with the Saba book.

Hubby with a full mouth!

The kids loved the dinner and ate and ate and ate!  I love having an Ethiopian-American family.  The heritage and culture of Ethiopia are amazing to experience and I encourage all of you to try some Ethiopian food sometime!  Remember if you want it to not burn off your mouth order “alecha” not “wat”!

By request, here are links to the Ethiopian recipes I  used the other night.  If you try it, let me know how it turned out!  Some of the spices have to be bought in a specialty store, or Amazon!  Doro Wat ,  Mesir Wat (red lentils).

We just spent the weekend in Virginia at an Ethiopian Heritage and Culture camp.  We had a wonderful time dancing, eating, playing and learning all about Ethiopia.   I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking for me.

Going to the traditional dinner/dance.

Meg looking lovely!

Mita tasting some authentic Ethiopian coffee.

Elle had her hair braided.

Enu making smores.

We had a great time!