Zigni

I can always depend on Great Lakes Airlines to give my day an unexpected lift (or downdraft) and make me pause long enough to actually consider reading that safety card in the seat pocket in front of me. Flying to Tucson yesterday, there were fuzzy dice hanging in the plane's cockpit. Where's the camera when you need it?!

Landing in the southwest was a revelation-- 75 degrees out and the desert in riotous bloom after recent rains. Going for a run at twilight, I passed through fragrant clouds of orange blossom, jasmine, and lilac.

And then there was dinner...

My relationship with zigni goes back to living in Italy for a season in the small town of Calci, outside Pisa. Italian food, while wonderful, was wearing on my palate-- too much monotony. Then two things happened on the same day: An Indian tourist shared with me a spoonful of her mother's homemade mango chutney and an Eritrean friend came over and made zigni-- a spicy lamb dish from the Horn of Africa. My memory of those tastes hasn't dulled a bit with the passage of time.

So last night, I headed off in Half and Half (the branch's white hybrid) to Zemam's. I walk in the door and there's that poster ubiquitous to Ethiopian restaurants worldwide and zigni's on the menu! I ordered an iced tea (sweet with cloves and ginger) and waited with baited breath.

Heaven on a plate of injera!