Chocolate Bark

I made four kinds of chocolate bark to give as gifts this holiday season: dark, milk, and white chocolate, respectively, with cashews, apricots and dried cherries, and orange dark chocolate with pecans and dried cranberries. Let the sugar rush begin..

Ethiopian

Meskerem in Adams Morgan, Washington D.C. is the real deal, serving authentic Ethiopian food that transports you to the Horn of Africa. Traditional Ethiopian food is an assortment of stewed meats, vegetables and legumes seasoned with spices. "Wat" or "wot" means stewed, central to Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking. Meals are served with injera, a sourdough flatbread made from fermented teff flour (see in photo below.) Injera has the consistency of a pancake and is often used to dip into sauces, as Ethiopians traditionally eat with their hands.

Clockwise: kik alichta, yellow split peas; shurro wat, seasoned milled chick peas simmered in hot and spicy berbere sauce; yellow curry with potatoes; in center: yedoro watt, a drumstick and thigh cooked to tenderness in a hot and thick berbere sauce, served in Ethiopian style with hard boiled egg; yebeg kay watt, stewed lamb meat seasoned with traditional Ethiopian spices.

Washed down with Ethiopian wine (tej honey wine serves as a sweet contrast to the spicy sauces) this meal is a feast for celebration.