Mmm, Eritrean Food…

Our Wednesday Whine & Dine crew (and guest) embarked on another culinary expedition last night. Destination: New Eritrea at Irving and 10th. Five stars! We savored Sambusas (fried “envelopes”, one stuffed with chicken and another with veggies) for starters; and Zebhi Dorho (chicken drumsticks), Gored Gorad (rare tenderloin [still unsure about whether “rare” meant not-fully-cooked or endangered; couldn’t tell with all the sauce, hopefully the former]), Hamil (collard greens), and Okra as entrees. We ate “family style”, so everyone had a taste of everything. The entrees were served on one huge round stainless steel plate lined with Injera (spongy sour bread). We each also received our own basket of Injera, which we tore off and used to grab the food on the main plate with our right hands. A burst of rich flavor in every bite! In fact, the smell and feel of spices permeated the entire place, in a good way. The décor was pleasant as well, with animal wood carvings lining the ledges, bead and walnut shell curtains flanking the doorway, and beautiful painted small goat pelts on the wall and under our glass-top table. We went home exuding the essence of the food we ate -- similar to the smoky bar feel from my younger years (pre-indoor smoking ban era), but much yummier.



A bit about Eritrea (courtesy of BBC News country profile)…
“A former Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to establish it as an autonomous entity federated with Ethiopia as a compromise between Ethiopian claims for sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. However, 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, decided to annex it, triggering a 32-year armed struggle… In 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, Eritreans voted almost unanimously for independence, leaving Ethiopia landlocked.”
• Population: 4.4 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Asmara
• Area: 117,400 sq km (45,300 sq miles)
• Major languages: Tigrinya, Tigre, Arabic, English
• Major religions: Islam, Christianity

Pascagoula, MS

This first entry is dedicated to the residents and volunteer workers in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and elsewhere along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Tho’ we probably won’t hear much in the news from there until the 2nd anniversary in August, recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina continue in earnest. We spent the last week in the deep South with 10 others from our church, helping to rebuild three homes as part of the 100 Homes in 100 Days project, initiated by Annie Card, a professional photographer and Red Cross volunteer from New Hampshire who co-founded Operation TLC and Mississippi Home Again (and an incredibly inspiring woman).

We were shocked to learn that the forceful waves that hit the Pascagoula coast in the early morning hours of August 29, 2005, actually carried away beachfront homes into the ocean, many with their occupants inside with no escape. Our group fell silent as Annie showed us slabs of foundation, swept clean by the torrential storm and rushing ocean waters almost 2 years ago.



Other memorable moments: delicious meals at David’s kitchen (mmm, pork roast…); yelling “Shut the Doow!” with everyone else to keep the flies out; our site supervisor Joe patiently doing damage control on my dismal caulking job; buying detergent and dryer sheets for a quarter each from Shirley (whose name was embroidered on her work shirt) at Mayfair Laundromat; grinning at staring customers at Seaman’s Cove restaurant; the entire team lining up in a row to lay laminate flooring; meeting other volunteers from NE, TN, and KY; hot fudge sundaes at Sonic and Edd’s; and my Sweetie offering most of his belongings to a homeless volunteer. I hope that we were able to encourage others and remind the locals that God has not forgotten them.

Thank you, Annie, for your selflessness; David from church and Americorps, for hooking us up with Operation TLC; David from Central Church of Christ, for housing and feeding us; and Joe (and bros.) from Indiana, for your wisdom and for working harder than ever in your retirement to help others.