Birthday: Bowling and Cooking

Hello friends,

Gosh, what a birthday I had. I spent part of the day in the morning reflecting back on the one year of my life. I had lots of things to be thankful for to God. So morning time was spent in thanksgiving.

My friends showed up at 5pm at my place to pick me up. We went to Radisson SAS hotel, where we played bowling. We were ten in all and 8 people played. BR could not play since he had a bad back, and DA could not play as well since she was like, really embarrassed! We played one game and it took about 1 1/2 hours to finish. It wasn't really about the game, but more about the time we spent together. It was just so funny. ES was one person who literally threw the bowling ball as if he was playing baseball or something. He provided us with enough laughs. It was just an awesome time hanging out together. At the end of it, JH, JE and DD were the top three! I was fourth!

Right after bowling, we all went to Spinneys, the local supermarket. In there, the group of 9 now, split up into three groups, and were running all over getting the stuff they needed to cook dinner. I got the chicken, Italian dressing and mashed potatoes. It was a fun time in there, since we all were running around, double checking with one another as to who got what! "Who got the Soya sauce?" "Where is the tahina?? Where is the borghul?" "Did someone get the drinks?" "Do we take fresh milk or packet? Should it low fat or regular?" "What dip should I get?" "What is tahina, by the way?" We almost ended up spending so much time in there.

As fast as we could, we all came over to my place. I had cleaned it up the night before and it was very clean. It was clean so to give everyone the chance to mess it up. DA, JE and I got into the kitchen. DA started to prepare the Arabic salad, which included fatoush, tabouleh and hummus. She also made the cheesecake! JE started to prepare the green beans casserole. I started to leave out the snacks the drinks. The guys were in the lounge, where they played several hand games and card games. From time to time, we would have people come in and out of the kitchen!

I got the chicken ready, dipped it in Italian dressing, coated it with potatoes flakes and fried them. I also made the mashed potatoes, and JE had the brilliant idea of putting in spring onions and shredded cheese on top it. The salad was ready, Arabic bread ready, beans ready, mashed potatoes ready, and my chickens were the last. Soon, we were all eating the dinner. They enjoyed it a lot. I was a little scared my chicken would be undercooked, but it turned out to be great.

Then the cheesecake was brought out, and DD got out another cake: a chocolate mud cake, which was my surprise birthday cake. I cut the cake, they all sang out loud, and pictures were taken.

All in all, it was a great time for all of us, because we spent time with one another in such an amazing way. I think, for me, my 28th birthday has come to the number one position now. So number two and three are my 15th birthday and 20th birthday!

I am in the process of getting the pictures together. I believe the bowling ones should be hilarious!

Take care you all, and to everyone of you who sms-ed me, emailed me, or left a comment here, thank you for your wishes! I sure wish I could have you join me!

Mansur