Solitude

I have a friend, we will just call his name David, who is constantly reminding me to be teachable. Don't get me wrong it's a good thing to be reminded to be teachable and I thank God for men like David who are in my life and do not hesitate to challenge me.


So today, this post is in honor of David.


10 Things I Have Learned,
Alone

10. I enjoy silence for short periods of time, but am comforted by the sound of life, activity and energy.
9. My family has become so much a part of my life that I have a difficult time having a direction and acting on it when they are not around.
8. The human body is made to sleep for 6-8 hours at a time with no jarring breaks in the middle of it and when the body is allowed to get that kind of sleep it functions much better.
7. 'Coffee Time' with my wife every morning is extremely important to me and I value her prayers, her feedback and her interruptions when I am reading. :)
6. The Rocket Bakery, a few blocks away, is a great place to have a cup of coffee, eat a day old Danish and watch people laugh, love and argue.
5. I do not enjoy cooking for one person, but love the hustle and bustle of preparing a meal for 6!
4. It takes about 2 weeks and a good cleaning for the weird kid smells to leave a bedroom and I am beginning to miss it.
3. I have been disciplining myself to go to bed at 12 instead of 3, and have learned that the sun comes up well before 6am.
2. I have learned how to take a digital picture from a video camera, how to manage a blog, how to operate a Mac, and how I know nothing about contruction.

1. I have learned that I am a family man. Whether it be a gift or a curse, I love our growing family and honestly have a hard time operating without them. Many people have told me that they are always challeneged and amazed at our faith in pursuing kids - now I know that it has more to do with the way God has built me than it does with faith or courage. I have learned that I have many areas I need to grow in in order to parent my children in a God honoring, life preparing, joy filled way. I have learned that I am not obeying God in diligently teaching my
children the truths of Scripture and that I rely too much on others to do it for me. I have learned that a gentle word turns away wrath and that I need to exercise that more with my wife and children. I have learned that my Mom thinks I can walk on water and that my Dad thinks I have the faith of Abraham and the stength of Samson.

I have learned a lot in the past two weeks and I still have a week to go.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Ethiopian coffee ceremony is one of the most enjoyable event you can attend at an Ethiopian Restaurant. The coffee is taken through its full life cycle of preparation in front of you in a ceremonial manner. Coffee is called 'Bunna' (boo-na) by the Ethiopians.

The ceremony starts with the woman, first bringing out the washed coffee beans and roasting them in a coffee roasting pan on small open fire/coal furnace. The pan is similar to an old fashioned popcorn roasting pan and it has a very long handle to keep the hand away from the heat. At this time most of your senses are being involved in the ceremony, the woman will be shaking the roasting pan back and forth so the beans won't burn (this sounds like shaking coins in a tin can), the coffee beans start to pop (sounds like popcorn) and the most memorable is the preparer takes the roasted coffee and walks it around the room so the smell of freshly roasted coffee fills the air ...

The roasted coffee is then put in a small household tool called 'Mukecha' (moo-ke-ch-a) for the grinding. Most restaurants at this time incorporate modern coffee grinders into the process, this is to save time and it does not take much from the ceremony. For those interested mukecha is a heavy wooden bowl where the coffee beans are put and another tool called 'zenezena' which is a wooden/metal stick used to crush the beans in a rhythmic up & down manner (pistil and mortar).

The crushed fresh roasted coffee powder then is put in a traditional pot made out of clay called 'jebena' (J-be-na) with water and boiled in the small open fire/coal furnace. Again the boiling coffee aroma fills the room, once boiled the coffee is served in small cups called 'cini' (si-ni) which are very small chinese cups.

As you sip your first cup of coffee, you've gone through the full process of watching seeing the coffee beans being washed, roasted, grinded, boiled & now the culmination you're drinking them. By now the process is finished at most restaurants, but traditionally Ethiopians stick around to get at least a second serving of coffee and sometimes a third.

The second and third serving are important enough that each serving has a name, first serving is called "Abol"; second serving is "Huletegna"(second) and third serving is "Bereka". The coffee is not grinded for the second and third serving, a portion of coffee powder is left on purpose for these two ceremonies.

I took the above article from Ethiopian Restaurant's site.

Ethiopian Food - Injera

As Jennifer and I have been reading, the culture of food is very different from the US. The following is a staple in Ethiopia.

The sauce shown on the injera in this photo is called shiro. It is suppose to be very yummy!!

Injera dough must ferment for several days to produce a good quality Injera. (It seems to be very similar to a sourdough-type batter.)

The entire prep process can be read about here. It looks like we have a lot to learn about good food! When I get a moment I will tell you about the Coffee Ceremony that is celebrated in Ethiopia and I am thinking about adopting it here =)