It’s the time of the year when I start to hear owls in my neighborhood when I walk to work in the morning. And today, after I left the office at night it was warm and dry, not even all that cloudy, when all of a sudden lightning struck. The thunder was simultaneous and I could have sworn I smelled smoke. Rain immediately began to pour and started flooding the outdoor Metro platforms, and as I walked home the water had started to form conduits down the sidewalks. I had to jump over the curbsides when I crossed the street to avoid getting my shoes wet. I made lamb kitfo, which I don’t think really exists. Kitfo is an Ethiopian preparation which combines raw ground beef, warm kibbeh (Ethiopian clarified butter), and a spice called mitmita. But I didn’t have mitmita and I don’t trust myself to prepare raw beef, and in any event, I had some lamb I wanted to cook (or rather, it was mutton, not lamb). So I looked up that mitmita contains African birds-eye peppers, cardamom, and cloves. I ground those spices together and used them to stir-fry the meat in kibbeh, adding some dried mint and thyme. It ended up with the strong aroma of cardamom, which I find soothing.
(Photo: Potomac Overlook Park in Arlington, Virginia.)
365 Days of Food 