angorapatty

Hi Melissa,

I lived in Ethiopia for two years and can verify that you do use your hand (right hand only!) for eating. Part of the ceremony of the meal is having the server come by with a pitcher of water, soap, and a basin for you to wash your hand before and after the meal. The injera is made of teff, a special grain grown in Ethiopia. It can be an acquired taste, as it can be a little sour tasting. I'm glad you enjoyed your Ethiopian meal. I've been told that the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia is in DC.

Sounds like a great trip was had by all.

Patty

travelgirl2

I found your description of Ethiopian cuisine interesting. We've only eaten at Zed's, in Georgetown. I was surprised that I didn't care for the bread at all (I've never met a bread I didn't like!), so I'm glad to hear that it is an acquired taste. The rest of the meal was pretty good.

Melissa5

angorapatty, thanks for sharing your knowledge about Ethiopian food. That's interesting about how the grain called teff is used to make the injera. I love the slightly sour taste, which reminds me of a cross between sourdough bread and oatmeal pancakes, sort of. Delicious. Do left-handed people also eat with their right hand, to follow the "tradition"?

travelgirl2: I love a variety of grains...whole wheat, oatmeal, brown rice, wild rice, pasta made from semolina, and I love injera. It is possible that the injera would taste a little different from one restaurant to another, in my opinion. Our group of 6 people of different ages all loved the injera at Etete.

Melissa5

TRANSPORTATION:

We were in DC for 6 days so we each bought a Metro Rail Short Trip Pass for one week, for $22 each. It took us everywhere we wanted to go. You get them from the machines at the Metro.

We also walked a lot!

I thought we would take the Circulator, which is a cheap bus, but my husband was never patient enough to figure out where we could catch one. We actually never saw one. Maybe they weren't running in September? I even asked in the Smithsonian Castle info center, but the sweet elderly woman who helped me seemed clueless about the Circulator. So if the Metro couldn't get us there, we walked.

We took a Super Shuttle for the 5 of us from DC back to the Dulles airport.

As everyone knows the Regan airport is actually closer to DC. But we flew into and out of the Dulles airport because that was the only way to get a nonstop flight for a good price from San Diego to an airport near DC.

We flew San Diego to Dulles nonstop on US Air because they had a good deal for that journey. In fact, I'm pretty sure we found this flight by clicking on the Fodors link for booking flights.

We flew home on Jet Blue from Dulles to San Diego nonstop, also a good price, booking directly on Jet Blue's web-site. Jet Blue is more comfortable than US Air.

Metro Adventures:

We enjoyed taking the Metro in DC, as San Diego has no efficient public transportation. The Metro is a wonderful system. It is also a place where you may have an adventure or two. We had an adventure which involved getting temporarily separated.

I have no sense of direction, so to me the Metro was like a mystery maze with very tall escalators. :-? Fortunately my husband and my youngest daughter, who have a superb sense of direction, were able to argue (mostly amiably)> about which way to go and which train to take. The only transportation we needed in DC was the Metro, and our feet (very tired feet).

If your accommodations are within an easy walk of a Metro stop, then you are all set for a convenient trip, plus you will have a glimpse of the people of DC while you ride.

I was worried about getting claustrophobic on the Metro, but I was fine. It feels like a big enough space so that wasn't a problem.

As long as you were taking the Metro to places where tourists go at night, the Metro felt safe to us even at night, though we were always back in our hotel by 11:00 pm.

We had one scary moment on the Metro, which could happen anywhere. My husband and daughter were arguing about which train to take. My husband said, here's our train, and he got on, thinking we would follow. The doors close pretty quick so the train whisked him away before we knew what we were doing!

So for the first time my daughters and I were alone in the Metro station. We decided my husband was lost since we had the map! (But since my husband and daughters had cell phones we found each other later.)

However into the Metro station walks this really crazy angry man. He was pretty scary...he was either on drugs or crazy or both. He was having a fit and stomping around and yelling, getting really worked up. He didn't seem to be mad at anybody in particular. We tried to ignore him.

Then I panicked and started hurrying through the crowd away from the angry man. I thought my daughters were following me but they went the opposite way!

I realized I had gotten on the Metro train on my own, and the scary man had followed me! Plus I realized I didn't have my cell phone and had lost my daughters!

But luckily my daughters were smarter than me. They calmly got on the same Metro train but in a different door. Meanwhile I didn't know where my daughters were, so I frantically wracked my brain and got out at the right stop (didn't have the map of course, but massive amounts of trip planning had apparently imprinted some info in my brain! I guess the angry man got bored with me as I lived to tell this tail.

My daughters were together, I knew, and one of them had the map!

If I sound paranoid it is because in my home town a couple months ago, an angry stranger walked into an upscale cafe and ended up shooting a total stranger with no motive. I think he was found to be mentally unstable. So that story unsettled me.

But otherwise, I found the Metro was convenient, and not as scary as I had feared. (I've never been a city girl and have always lived in small towns or suburbs, and had never been on a subway before.)

Melissa5

Wish List:

Next time we visit DC, I want a tour of the American Indian museum, which looked enticing when we popped into there for lunch only. I hear it is more meaningful if you use one of their guided tours.

Next time I want more Ethiopian food and more time to explore historic U Street area and eat a chili dog at Ben's Chili Bowl on U St.

Next time I will return when the American History Museum re-opens.

Next time I will try to figure out how I can use my gallery pass when the House of Rep and Senate are in Session. Next time I would like to hear the Supreme Court as well.

Next time I will stay at the same guest house, Embassy Circle Guest House, or else I would consider trying their "sister" Guest House, called Woodley Park Guest House, which is near the zoo and also convenient to a Metro stop.

Next time I would like to try several Ethiopian restaurants, include one recommended by a local which has Ethiopian music and dancing on weekends.

Next time I will write poetry near the Roosevelt Memorial, and I will seek out other contemplative spots in DC.

DC is a wonderful city with a great variety of experiences just waiting for you.

Keith

Thanks, Melissa5. I'm going to Washington next week, and just printed off your report to read.

I haven't had a chance to look at what you have said about the Ethiopian restaurants yet, but just wanted to comment: While I like many of the dishes, I don't like the sour taste of the injura (sp?) bread.

Keith

Melissa5

Keith, I hope you find my trip report helpful, and have a memorable trip. I love printing out trip reports too, then I use my highlighter to mark my favorite parts or helpful info.

Fortunately for my family, we all loved the injera bread which comes with the Ethiopian food. If you don't happen to like the slightly sour bread, that could be a problem since there's no utensils to eat the food with! (At least there wasn't anybody at Etete using utensils and I didn't see any.) I wonder if you would be frowned upon if you brought a plastic fork in your pocket, or even asked for a fork? Is that a no-no?

We didn't need a fork as we loved the bread and were able to use that to scoop up food...

Thanks for posting your comment.

angorapatty

Hi Melissa,

Everyone eats with their right hand. In Ethiopian culture, the left hand is considered unclean. I have been in restaurants where no one looked at you strangely if you asked for a fork In certain areas, the injera is made of sorghum (I think I spelled that wrong!)

If you have a chance to see some Ethiopian folk dancing, do it. They have amazing dances from each ethnic group that are really fascinating to watch. It is hard to sit still.

Take care,

Patty

Melissa5

angorapatty: You mean I could have asked for a fork? That would have been neater, but in a way would have spoiled some of the fun.

My daughters have informed me of various reasons why it is better to eat with your right hand only. Quite an interesting discussion.

Keith

I thought there was only one reason the left hand was avoided and the thought wasn't very apetizing.

Keith

wanderluster

Wow, great information! Great trip!
Will definitely bookmark for future reference.
Once all the kids do the DC school trip we hope to return again as a family.
Thanks for sharing!

Melissa5

wanderluster, thanks for your comments. DC definitely makes a great family trip. There is so much to see that they won't see it all on their school trips either.

gopsally

Melissa, you make me proud to live in DC!

I'm glad you liked Etete, it's one of my favorite restaurants here. Dukem is also good, especially in nice weather because it has a patio. However, Etete is cheaper and open late, so it's my go-to Ethiopian fix.

Melissa5

gopsally: You live in a great city! What are your favorite dishes at Etete? Do you know what makes the sauces so good, and how they make all the veggies and meat taste so good? We "guessed" when we ordered, and it all turned out delicious. Happy dining!

gopsally

Melissa, I usually get the vegetarian platter at Etete -- so good! I have a friend here who is Ethiopian, and whenever a neighbor, friend, or family goes back to the homeland, they always bring back giant jugs of Ethiopian spices to parse out to everyone. Lucky for me, I have gotten in on this!

Melissa5

gopsally: Lucky you! What are these mystery Ethiopian spices? We ordered the vegetarian platter in addition to some meats, since we had a group of 6 people. I was impressed at how the spices make ordinary veggies like potatoes and greens and others taste so special. What are the pureed-style veggies that come on the vegetarian platter at Etete, which seem similar to lentils? They are almost like a dip which can be dipped up with the injera...they remind me of pureed lentils. Loved them, so well flavored. Okay you're making me hungry!

Melissa5

Luckily there are plenty of trip reports to read. When you find one that you enjoy, give the author a reply, so that it won't sink away so quickly and others can enjoy it too.

I'm not talking about me...I'm talking about the fact that I am finding many good trip reports which sank away with only a few comments and I think they are interesting and worth reading. Somebody keeps bouncing up the question about Where are the Trip Reports, but there are plenty of trip reports.

Thank you to everyone who posted trip reports on Washington DC, which really helped me plan our trip!

mlgb

Melissa, if you can't wait for more Ethiopian food, did you know that there is a "Little Ethiopia" in Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue?

Here's an old article with some history:

http://www.laweekly.com/eat+drink/di...x-avenue/6845/

All of your details are a great help, thanks for the report.

Melissa5

mlgb: Thanks for the link to the article! I'll have to do some research about little Ethiopia in L.A...sounds like a tasty excuse for a weekend getaway!