BOOK CLUB

Friday was Book Club. We read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It is a great book and I think we all enjoyed it. Plus I am absolutely loving my Kindle-- what an amazing invention. I am looking for book recommendations that I can download to read this summer-- let me know your favorites, plus think of older books as well, because you can find lots of classics etc for free.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!!

Two of my favorite kids, who guilted me in to planning this at the last minute.

We collected over 40 bags of garbage and recyclables.


Earth Day signs all over school.





My second annual Earth Day cleanup at school was a raging success, despite the fact that the rizzo copy machine was broken until this afternoon and so permissions didn't go out until end of today.
A great group of well over 50 kids, 12 adults and two awesome co-chaperones!! Thanks Steph and Shariel-- you guys rock!!!!

Pennies for Ethiopia Reads

As I've posted before, my school is collecting pennies for Ethiopia Reads. So I created a bulletin board by the gymnasium to show which class has raised the most money so far, the kids seem to like it, and can't keep their hands off of it-- I have had to fix it several times.

They have truly been amazing-- our little school has already collected over $375-- which equates to 375 books for the children in Ethiopia. One teacher stopped me and said even though her class didn't bring in anything for the canned food drive, she can't get them to stop bringing in money for this project.

GO GOODWIN SCHOOL!!!!

Visit with Marianne

This past week, I got to go to Atlanta to visit a friend and while I was there, I got to do dinner with Marianne. You met Marianne several posts ago, she was a volunteer at AHOPE last summer. She has been a great help to me this year, as I have been planning my trip.

Exciting news is that she has accepted a job as a fourth grade teacher at an international school in the United Arab Emirates, which is where she had a layover on the way home from Ethiopia. She is even taking her September week long school break to travel back to Addis Ababa. It was great to get to meet her, ask her a million more questions and see her pictures. THANKS MARIANNE, sorry we were late for dinner!!!

Oh and no friends, no need to think I will end up somewhere in the middle east next year-- my layover is in Amsterdam.

Packing Tips??

I have started packing for my trip. I went to KLM's website to see how big my checked bags could be-- and want to figure out how many donations I can take. I am wondering what must have travel/packing tips you have for me. My friend Wendy came up with some unique suggestions I didn't think of and I went to dinner with Cindy, who spent two years in Ethiopia as a Peace Corp volunteer and she suggested rubber boots, hence the new pair from Target pictured above.

Please comment on what you think is important to remember to bring or something you couldn't travel without. Oh and a thank you to Shannan and Jen Fortney for adding themselves as followers.

Thank you for your kind donations!!!

I want to thank some recent donors:

Sue Mitra
Jill Hayes White
Cindy Mosca

Demera Restaurant

Thursday, we ventured out to another Ethiopian restaurant in the Edgewater neighborhood. A couple of adventurous friends joined me for another delicious meal. This time, we also added some meat options-- such as Dora Wot(which is chicken). I am also getting much better at eating with one hand.

Let me know if anybody else wants to try Ethiopian-- as I plan to go at least a couple more times before I leave... which is only 56 days away!!!!

Thank you's!!

Andrea and Andy Knudsen: thank you for dinner and your kind donation.
Lizzy Demmert: Thank you and thank you for finding me dry shampoo.
Dale and Christy Houmes
Shandell Johnson: Thanks so much Dell, can we go scarf shopping?
Moiree and Paul Landgren: Thanks Aunty Moiree and for the postcards!!
Jen Fortney
Sarah Ryan

DINNER PARTY!!

The dinner party was a raging success. My cooking partners were Lizzy and Ange and they were excellent. We made the following:
Yemiser Watt- red lentils simmered with onions in a spicy sauce.
Kik Alicha- split peas cooked in a mild sauce of onion, garlic and ginger.
Gomen- chopped collard greens simmered in a mild sauce of onions and fresh garlic.
Dinich Alicha- potato cubes, carrots and cabbage cooked in a mild sauce of onions,garlic, ginger and spices.
Ethiopian Tomato Salad

Then since we couldn't find any desserts, the ladies whipped up an amazing Baklava-- really tasty, which we had with fresh ground Ethiopian coffee.

It was a very fun evening-- and everyone commented on how delicious everything tasted, and I couldn't believe how close the taste and appearance was to our last restaurant dinner!!!!! Good job ladies, I'll cook with you any day, and thanks to the boys for being great sports and adventurous diners!!!!

Kukulu Ethiopian Market on Broadway

In order to prepare for my evening's Ethiopian dinner party, I needed to make a stop at the Kukulu Market on Broadway in Edgewater. First of all, how cool is it that we live in a city where we have access to so many ethnic goodies. Kukulu is owned and operated by Mr. Retta, who is originally from Ethiopia. He stocks injera, spices and coffee as well as your usual convenience store options.

But the best part of this trip??

Well, of course as I am struggling to get across which ingredients I need and why I need them, he inquires if my friend cooking with me is Ethiopian. I say no, but that I am spending the summer there. Which of course leads to why.... And to be honest, I feel a little strange telling people who are from Ethiopia, that I'm going there to volunteer, it just seems so American and I always wonder what they will think.. well here was Mr. Retta's response.

"That is so wonderful, it is so wonderful when people want to go help my country. Thank you, I hope you will come back before you leave."

And then he wanted me to be sure to tell everyone in Ethiopia that apparently Chicago is hosting the 2009 Ethiopian Soccer Festival. Who knew.. it's at the end of June.