It just keeps coming

So I have been here probably the better part of 120 days. Something happened to me tonight which I think ranks with my most classic Ethiopian moments. There is a traditional restaurant close to Deker called Select. When I first arrived in Addis, I neeeded to test the waters with their cuisine so went to Select a few times. Once when I was there I came home and made a BLOG post about how I had used a spoon instead of scooping my food with injera. I mentioned in that post that I hoped not to get caught using a utensil or I would be banned from the establishment. My 26-year-old (G-d he's cute, ya fig?) says to me in a comment to that post "would they really ban you Dad?". So for the past few months there has been a buzz of activity in the restaurant and it just re-opened this week with a new face and it's now habesha ... traditional food/music. Ferenge is curious so I check it out for dinner ... ready? I ask for a menu. They say "We don't have one, we server habesha food only". I say "Ok, so instead of giving me a menu, how about some food?". The server's response, "what kind of food?". Is that not why one has a menu? Another server rescues the original from silly ferenge, and says "Ok". Now I am stuck; I do not know whether I have ordered anything or not. I sit and chuckle loudly many times over what just happened, hoping something will go down which will allow me to actually believe food will be forthcoming. So amidst the giggling (ferenge is so silly), finally something starts its way out of the kitchen, and ferenge hopes it may be a sign that nourishment will arrive. Sweet ... it's a napkin holder with a whole 2 half napkins; what a cornucopia of cleaning apparati! Not long after food arrives and ferenge is pleased. It was very nice and I put the hot orange powder on everything. Then the next hurdle is getting the bill. I ask the "bill request recipient" for the check, and he summons the "bill request message deliverer to the cash" who takes the shortest route (a straight line) and dispatches the request to the person who is officially sanctioned by the establishment to carry out such an important role. Bill is prepared, passed back down the chain of command, and arrives at ferenge-a-table. It was 60 birr which was outrageous for what I ate but, considering the 79 pairs of hands that touched the bill, I know there are a lot of mouths to be fed. I was still chuckling about these events as I wrote this post ... and as I have said so many times during those aforementioned 120 days, "Welcome to Africa" ... While in the restaurant, I was the only customer there; there must have been 10 people running around doing who knows what, but everyone was SO BUSY! I asked my server (actually one chosen from my team of servers) if the meat I just ate was lamb? "Yes" was the answer. I then asked it it was beef, and yes, during the seconds between my first and second question, the meat had mutated into cow. "Yes" again was the answer. I did not want to push my luck, but I was sure if I asked if it was donkey, the answer would as well have been affirmative.