Holy goodness gracious, did we find something amazing last night! If you read my last blog, you heard about how much we (I think mostly me...) were missing dessert. Leaky cakes and medicine-like ice cream just don't make the cut, in my book.
So last night, Kendra and I went out for dinner. On the way home, we met Dundee and Ready at a bakery where they supposedly have good cake. We tried it, and of course were not pleased. But it was okay, because right next to the bakery was a supermarket. We decided to take a look inside, and what did we find? Betty Crocker cookie mix! WOAH! We were so pumped. We bought two packages: Chocolate, and Peanut Butter. It was so super American, 100%. All in English and everything. I just can't even believe it! I mean, we've found things like Pringles ("Mr. Potato Crisps") or Apple Jacks ("Apple Rings") that are basically the same, but these packages of cookie mix were legit American. It was like being in Jewel. Or Target. Absolutely wonderful.
A short side story: As we started walking home with our super exciting purchases, Kendra got a little chilly. When she said something about being cold Ready so nicely offerred, "Shall I give you my trousers?" Kendra and I died laughing, of course. Ready asked what was wrong and pointed to his sweater, asking if it was "trousers". We told him no, trousers are pants. He also referred to the crosswalk on the street as a "zebra", because it's white stripes on a black street. "Come on, we're going to use the zebra." Funny guy, funny guy.
Anyways, we got home with our fantastic Betty Crocker. When Desta opened the gate, there were six or seven other guys there, hanging out (nothing unusual, Dundee's a pretty popular man, it's like a party house). I whipped out our cookies and told them just how excited they should be that we were going to make them American cookies. None of them had seen these before, and they were pretty curious..."You're going to make them now? Tonight?!" Yeah fools, tonight! We're baking these things up asap!
So we head to the "kitchen". Kitchens are a little different in Ethiopia, as you might expect. But after some searching, we located what we needed. We had to eyeball the measurements, because not only are they in tablespoons and cups (which they don't use here), but there aren't any measuring tools at our house anyways. No worries, we've made cookies plenty of times so eyeballing worked just fantastically. Right away, Amare got super into helping us make the dough. He was all about it. We made peanut butter first. When the dough was finished, we began feeding it to the Ethiopians. In Ethiopia, they do something called "goosha" (I am spelling phonetically here, I'm sure it's wrong!), which is feeding one another. They love to do it to Kendra and I, feeding us really spicy food with the excuse that "you have to eat it, it's our culture!" So we took a spoonful of cookie dough and went around to each Ethiopian and fed them. At first, they all looked at us like we were crazy. None of them had ever eaten cookie dough before, and even though Kendra and I were popping it in our mouths nonstop, they were pretty unsure about the whole thing. After we shoved it in their mouths, though, they were pleasantly surprised. Especially Amare's brother, Amen, who kept coming back for more. That kid ate so much cookie dough!
After introducing them to the wonders of cookie dough, we baked the rest. We don't have an actual oven at our house, so Amare went to his house and brought us something that was essentially a round portable oven. He said, "this will bake anything you want". It worked for us! They all loved the peanut butter cookies.
Since those cookies were gone in about five minutes, they asked if we could make the other batch, too. We took out the chocolate ones and Amare said, "Okay, I will make these ones all by myself! Like, just Amare will make these." Really, this guy was so excited about baking these cookies. He even made up a song about the cookies he was baking. And sang it, repeatedly. I have a video, and it's fantastic. He did a good job with them, he was proud of himself. We had them try the dough again, and this time they were a lot more excited about it. Obviously, they loved the chocolate cookies just as much!
I haven't had so much sugar in weeks! It was amazing. By the time we were done eating, Kendra and I were exhausted. A funny little story to end with - remember how I told you that Ready was amazed a few days ago that I wore contacts? Because he had "only seen that kind of thing in movies"? Well, as we were going to bed, Kendra told him he could watch me take them out. His reaction was priceless. He said, "Wow, really?! Right now??" I did it, and he watched in awe. At the end, he was literally speachless. Pretty amazing things, those contacts!
So last night, Kendra and I went out for dinner. On the way home, we met Dundee and Ready at a bakery where they supposedly have good cake. We tried it, and of course were not pleased. But it was okay, because right next to the bakery was a supermarket. We decided to take a look inside, and what did we find? Betty Crocker cookie mix! WOAH! We were so pumped. We bought two packages: Chocolate, and Peanut Butter. It was so super American, 100%. All in English and everything. I just can't even believe it! I mean, we've found things like Pringles ("Mr. Potato Crisps") or Apple Jacks ("Apple Rings") that are basically the same, but these packages of cookie mix were legit American. It was like being in Jewel. Or Target. Absolutely wonderful.
A short side story: As we started walking home with our super exciting purchases, Kendra got a little chilly. When she said something about being cold Ready so nicely offerred, "Shall I give you my trousers?" Kendra and I died laughing, of course. Ready asked what was wrong and pointed to his sweater, asking if it was "trousers". We told him no, trousers are pants. He also referred to the crosswalk on the street as a "zebra", because it's white stripes on a black street. "Come on, we're going to use the zebra." Funny guy, funny guy.
Anyways, we got home with our fantastic Betty Crocker. When Desta opened the gate, there were six or seven other guys there, hanging out (nothing unusual, Dundee's a pretty popular man, it's like a party house). I whipped out our cookies and told them just how excited they should be that we were going to make them American cookies. None of them had seen these before, and they were pretty curious..."You're going to make them now? Tonight?!" Yeah fools, tonight! We're baking these things up asap!
So we head to the "kitchen". Kitchens are a little different in Ethiopia, as you might expect. But after some searching, we located what we needed. We had to eyeball the measurements, because not only are they in tablespoons and cups (which they don't use here), but there aren't any measuring tools at our house anyways. No worries, we've made cookies plenty of times so eyeballing worked just fantastically. Right away, Amare got super into helping us make the dough. He was all about it. We made peanut butter first. When the dough was finished, we began feeding it to the Ethiopians. In Ethiopia, they do something called "goosha" (I am spelling phonetically here, I'm sure it's wrong!), which is feeding one another. They love to do it to Kendra and I, feeding us really spicy food with the excuse that "you have to eat it, it's our culture!" So we took a spoonful of cookie dough and went around to each Ethiopian and fed them. At first, they all looked at us like we were crazy. None of them had ever eaten cookie dough before, and even though Kendra and I were popping it in our mouths nonstop, they were pretty unsure about the whole thing. After we shoved it in their mouths, though, they were pleasantly surprised. Especially Amare's brother, Amen, who kept coming back for more. That kid ate so much cookie dough!
After introducing them to the wonders of cookie dough, we baked the rest. We don't have an actual oven at our house, so Amare went to his house and brought us something that was essentially a round portable oven. He said, "this will bake anything you want". It worked for us! They all loved the peanut butter cookies.
Since those cookies were gone in about five minutes, they asked if we could make the other batch, too. We took out the chocolate ones and Amare said, "Okay, I will make these ones all by myself! Like, just Amare will make these." Really, this guy was so excited about baking these cookies. He even made up a song about the cookies he was baking. And sang it, repeatedly. I have a video, and it's fantastic. He did a good job with them, he was proud of himself. We had them try the dough again, and this time they were a lot more excited about it. Obviously, they loved the chocolate cookies just as much!
I haven't had so much sugar in weeks! It was amazing. By the time we were done eating, Kendra and I were exhausted. A funny little story to end with - remember how I told you that Ready was amazed a few days ago that I wore contacts? Because he had "only seen that kind of thing in movies"? Well, as we were going to bed, Kendra told him he could watch me take them out. His reaction was priceless. He said, "Wow, really?! Right now??" I did it, and he watched in awe. At the end, he was literally speachless. Pretty amazing things, those contacts!
What an amazing find! You are probably the only 2 in Ethiopia using Betty. Something new for the Ethiopian friends. Fun!
ReplyDeleteDeanna I LOVE reading about your adventures! Your writing is so descriptive and fun! I still give you credit for going there (I couldn't live so primatively!). You see the good in everything...great positive attitude!
ReplyDelete