Our Newest Christmas Tradition

We started a new Christmas tradition this year. Every year we go to West Tennessee to visit my extended family. Since we don't have an Ethiopian restaraunt here in town, we decided that we're going to eat at the one in Nashville on our yearly Christmas trip. Gabriella went back & forth on whether or not she wanted to go this year. You could tell she wanted to be excited about it but that she had mixed feelings. We didn't push it, and told her it was up to her. When we were a little ways out of Nashville, she decided she wanted to go for it. Gabriella loved showing her brothers "the ropes" of eating food from her homeland. It was so cute. The workers gave her lots of extra attention & tried to get her to talk to them in Amharic, but she wouldn't :-( (we're hoping she will want to next time). She helped us with our ordering & suggested what we each would like the most. She wanted the Doro Wat, and she chowed it down very quickly! Afterwards, she said "Ooo, I want it out of my stomach!". It was adorable--I guess her little belly wasn't used to it anymore. She pulled through & managed to keep it down. Then, wanted the leftovers the next day! We are so excited that she is finally coming around to feeling "ok" with eating Ethiopian food. We truly want her heritage to continue to be an important part of her life. Now, I'm ready to try my hand at the yummy Ethiopian recipes that I've been collecting! We'll have to stop by for more Injera when we go to Nashville to welcome her friend home! She's already eaten all the injera we brought home with us! Yippee!