Unfortunately, after all the lovely change-election winds had blown, the kids forgot to vote; wandering off instead to a "happening" or some damn thing, and Richard Nixon landslid into a second term despite his felonious manipulations, 5 o'clock shadow, and tin ear for being a human.
I was pretty disappointed, and utterly convinced the Republic would never survive; so me and the little woman packed up our bell bottoms and styling jel, and headed off to Africa; where, eschewing common comforts, toilet paper, primal beef cuts; and regular bathing we led a life on the open road.
We'd been out nearly a year when we reached Ethiopia, that ancient, mountainous country in the Horn of Africa still ruled at the time by the oppressive monarch, Haile Selassie whose public relations efforts obscured those of his human rights.
But after Selassie was overthrown in 1974, thousands of Ethiopians were given political asylum in the US.
And what's the near universal act of all emigrants? Making restaurants serving the food of the motherland. God bless America and pass the injera!
Picking though the maze of Ethiopian restaurants in Seattle has always been a bit confusing, which is why we were so happy to find Fana's.
Natives of the now independent northern neighbor Eritrea, the Asress family arrived in Seattle a decade ago. Asress Araia, the patriarch, was an Ethiopian Airline pilot (now retired); his wife Fana Estifanos, (women don't take their husbands name in Eritrea) who cooks, was a flight attendant. Their grown children, Sabrina, and Vahid help out in the restaurant which is located in bottom of a new apartment complex on Rainier Avenue at Courtland Place.
Eritrea has Italian colonial history, and Fana cooks the cuisine with Italian sensibilities, and flavors. There's a pasta (penne) with tomato-ey sauce; and a pizziti. We loved the sauteing of the thin-sliced beef or chicken in the Kilewa/Nech Tibs rather than the usual stewed meat that can make Ethiopian dishes seem all the same.
Please try my favorite: the ginfilfil, torn injera marinated in the spicy berbere chili paste with flavorful abnd tender Ethiopian beef jerky and served with buttery cracked wheat.
There's the traditional Doro Wat, the saucy, spicy chicken with boiled eggs and a homemade cheese reminiscent of Mexican cotija.
There's foule, those long-cooked beans with peppers and eggs that are the staple of northern Africa and the Arab peninsula.
Fana cooks a burger and a burrito, and a Philly cheese steak, but we haven't tried 'em, so involved have we gotten with such as the Zesty Spinach Chicken with rice; or Fana's chicken wings, that we hear literally fly out the door.
The family are members of the universalist Bahai Faith; it's a gentle,inclusive,19th century Persian religion and a sweet spiritual grounding for restaurant service, let me tell you!
Comments