Yummy Ethiopian Food

Last night I braved the long haul to San Jose for a meal of Ethiopian food with some friends.

We hit Zeni, a restaurant I've been told is the best Ethiopian food you can get in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I believe the claims.

One of my friends has some history in Ethiopia and did the ordering for us. I didn't catch the names of the dishes, but they were pretty recognizable fare. What we got were essentially stews - beef, lamb, and some vegetarian fare - with spices and such served on a platter lined with a spongy, sour flatbread. The meal comes with rolls of more of that flatbread that you use to soak up chunks of the stew.

It's unreal now delicious it is.

The flatbread's sour tang goes really well with the dishes. I especially loved some brownish vegetarian... um... goop (for lack of knowing the proper name) that just kicked my arse. The lamb was awesome as well. We had a form of beef tartar that was okay, but against the other dishes, it stood out the least.

I have to say I liked the Ethiopian beer as well. Wish I remembered any of the names. Alas.

I can't recommend Zeni highly enough. Two tips:

1. Go early. This place fills up.
2. Bank on being there a while. Service moves largely at its own pace.

And other things

Aside from the service I attended Saturday, it was a pretty full weekend.

I got the news about Scalia's death in the late afternoon on Saturday.

I'm not going to pretend I wasn't happy to hear that bastard is gone. I'll be interested to see who gets past the obstructionist Congress to get confirmed for the next Supreme Court post.

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I finished "Cibola Burn", book four of "The Expanse" by James S.A. Corey on Sunday. Holy shit that series is awesome. I'm going to probably hold off on the next book - "Nemesis Games" - until it hits paperback. I've got the next Mistborn novel, "The Bands of Mourning", and the Will Wight novel, "Of Dawn and Darkness" to burn through as a change of pace.

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Looks like we get rain again tomorrow. That's going to be nice. I have to admit, the early Spring here in California is freaking me out a little.

Farewell to Janet

On Saturday, I went with my friend Erik to the service for his mother, Janet.

The week prior, Janet had succumbed to a long fight against cancer. She detailed her struggle in her blog.

No memorial service is an easy thing to attend, but the family did a brilliant job with this. It gave a truly wonderful testimonial to a funny, sassy, smart, complex lady. One who will be sorely missed.