Saturday, October 3, 2009

Ethiopia, Egypt, and China

This is actually my Friday post that I'm writing Saturday morning because after all our traveling fun yesterday, I fell to sleep reading the seventh Harry Potter book to Parker. No, we didn't actually travel to Ethiopia, Egypt, or China yesterday. We did borrow my dad's car and the entire family (Rob took off from work) drove two hours east to Indy. I checked out the Indianapolis Vegetarian Society website on our drive to find a new place to eat. Usually, Indy is not our destination but a stop on a much longer trip to the DC area or North Carolina so we have a favorite Indian place near the interstate to stop for a quick bite before heading back on the road, but we felt like trying something different. We adore Ethiopian food, but rarely make it and have no Ethiopian restaurants in our town so Abyssinia caught my attention. I also thought Ethiopian would tie into our homeschool study of Ancient History. We were the only people in the place since we arrived at 11am, opening time, but the friendly service was a little slow, okay, very slow. The food made up for the service and we all decided it was the best Ethiopian we've eaten outside of Adam's Morgan in NW DC. Parker was especially enamored with the food and requested that Abyssinia be a stop when we are in the area next.
"Vegetarian TA3" (collards, red lentils, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, yellow lentils, carrots & green beans and injera) from

Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant (317-299-0608)

5352 W. 38th St. Indianapolis, IN 46254


After lunch, we arrived at our intended destination, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to check out the Tutankhamun exhibition. We met up with several other families from our weekly homeschooling group to experience King Tut and the rest of the fun at the museum. As I mentioned, we are studying Ancient History with this group of children so King Tut was a great tie in for this year. I learned as much as the kids did from the exhibition and it inspired us all to learn more, but I would say that Parker (9 years old) probably enjoyed the King Tut portion more than Dema (5 years old), but I think it is great they both were there to experience it. Josie fell asleep in a carrier during King Tut, but she thoroughly enjoyed the hands on exhibits in the rest of the museum.The Rube Goldberg Ball Machine kept all three kids enthralled for quite a while. Nothing is as fun as physics.

Dema loves fish so being able to "join" them from underneath the aquarium was a fun experience.Rob and Josie squeezing in together to check out the fish.The Take Me There Egypt exhibit was a favorite with all three children. Here is Parker tossing a fake orange onto the table in the Egyptian market. We enjoyed answering the questions about what herbs were helpful for what ailments (ginger is good for the heart), looking at what foods we regularly eat which can grow in Egypt (olives, figs, wheat, almonds, dates, mangoes, etc.), pretending to drive a tok-tok (pronounced "took took", I believe, and it is like a small three-wheeled taxi), and trying on Egyptian clothes. We ended up playing with our friends until the museum closed and we realized we were starving. We decided to try out another locally-owned restaurant from the Indianapolis Vegetarian Society website, but this time we went for Chinese. Sesame had a few more vegetarian options than most Chinese restaurants and the service was decent (the waitress caught on to the vegan thing quickly and was able to help us order some items which aren't listed on the menu), but I would say the food was so so. It was a little saltier than I like, even for restaurant food. Buddha's Delight, Mock Chicken Cashew, Mock Duck, and Kung Pao Tofu (the best by far) from

Sesame (317-228-1688)

1413 W. 86th St. Indianapolis, IN 46260


There were few vegetables and pretty much bean curd (tofu or tofu-like) was the main ingredient in most of the dishes. Not terrible, but not great. Maybe two and half stars out of five.

It was a full day of fun!

6 comments:

Lisa -- Cravin' Veggies said...

We saw the King Tut exhibition two years ago when it was at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It was incredible, wasn't it?? I love the ornate inlaid designs on the little chairs and boxes. I was amazed at all the different items they found in the tombs, and the items that were enshrouded in the mummies.

Very cool, indeed.

Lindsay I-F said...

yum now i am so wanting Ethiopian food some yummy yesmir wot

Jacqueline said...

Abyssinia is the bomb! Can't wait for my next trip into Indie . . . yum.

Stef said...

The next time you are in Indy, check out the 3 sisters cafe:http://www.essen.com/US/DetailPage2.asp?RefNo=3172575556&Nav=scannedmenu&.

We were there all of last week and weekend, got back yesterday, late. I do love my hometown sometimes, the Children's Museum is fantastic, Ollie loves it, and the arts garden in Broadripple: http://www.indplsartcenter.org/. Wish we would have know you were there!

VeganLinda said...

Lisa, Yes, very cool! I am so glad we were able to check it out.

Lindsay, I could eat Ehiopian all the time, but I need to learn to cook it at home.

Jacqueline, We can't wait to go back!

Stef, I thought of you while we were in Indy, but I didn't realize you guys were there too! We don't get there often enough. If we get enough done during the week, we are heading up to Chicago this weekend. Will you guys be home?

Stef said...

We'll be here!