Oooooooooooh look at me, I’m all blissed out.
I got home from work today to find one of my husbands friends at work, as we tend to be segregated at home when there are guests, I ran upstairs to change, pray and breathe. As I planned for dinner with one more in mind, my husband announces more of his friends are coming. In the meantime, my good friend calls and tells me a wonderful recipe for keema muttar (mince and pea curry) that takes 15 minutes and is foolproof.
So whilst trying to practice Arabic with Little Lady and keep Gorgeous out of the bin (his new favourite place, toy, source of food when we aren’t looking – yuck) I decided to try to cook at the same time.
An hour later I am still cooking and the keema muttar doesn’t taste as good as my usual curry does. So I give up and decide to serve it as it is. I get a call from my better half saying his friends are here and one of them has relatives coming down to London from the seaside to visit him and will meet him at our house (what? – does this happen to other people too?) as there will be ladies too can they sit with me? I think at this point better half hears something dangerous in my voice and offers to go and pick up some takeout for dinner. I decline (I can’t remember why, something to do with sudden, foolish, false pride possibly).
So I throw together a salad and put some kebabs on the grill (I always make these in batches of three and freeze two lots for later) and the doorbell goes and guests start turning up. I do love having guests and as soon as they turned up I stopped feeling put-upon, but did feel as if I was being scrutinized a bit (I should have let Gorgeous bite one of them). I asked them to stay for dinner and they excused themselves saying they had to get home as it was getting late.
I dished up for the guys that were left and sat down for a minute; it was sometime around then that my brain fell out of my head and behind the sofa somewhere, and of course when you don’t think too much, you feel happy. So the kitchen is a mess, the house is a tip, my husband is tip-toeing around and its all gone eerily quiet. I’m taking my dinner and one of my fave books, the Exorcist and finding a quiet corner to fill my empty head with nonsense.
I got home from work today to find one of my husbands friends at work, as we tend to be segregated at home when there are guests, I ran upstairs to change, pray and breathe. As I planned for dinner with one more in mind, my husband announces more of his friends are coming. In the meantime, my good friend calls and tells me a wonderful recipe for keema muttar (mince and pea curry) that takes 15 minutes and is foolproof.
So whilst trying to practice Arabic with Little Lady and keep Gorgeous out of the bin (his new favourite place, toy, source of food when we aren’t looking – yuck) I decided to try to cook at the same time.
An hour later I am still cooking and the keema muttar doesn’t taste as good as my usual curry does. So I give up and decide to serve it as it is. I get a call from my better half saying his friends are here and one of them has relatives coming down to London from the seaside to visit him and will meet him at our house (what? – does this happen to other people too?) as there will be ladies too can they sit with me? I think at this point better half hears something dangerous in my voice and offers to go and pick up some takeout for dinner. I decline (I can’t remember why, something to do with sudden, foolish, false pride possibly).
So I throw together a salad and put some kebabs on the grill (I always make these in batches of three and freeze two lots for later) and the doorbell goes and guests start turning up. I do love having guests and as soon as they turned up I stopped feeling put-upon, but did feel as if I was being scrutinized a bit (I should have let Gorgeous bite one of them). I asked them to stay for dinner and they excused themselves saying they had to get home as it was getting late.
I dished up for the guys that were left and sat down for a minute; it was sometime around then that my brain fell out of my head and behind the sofa somewhere, and of course when you don’t think too much, you feel happy. So the kitchen is a mess, the house is a tip, my husband is tip-toeing around and its all gone eerily quiet. I’m taking my dinner and one of my fave books, the Exorcist and finding a quiet corner to fill my empty head with nonsense.
"(I should have let Gorgeous bite one of them)"
ReplyDeleteROFLMAO. The A stands for Al-Amirah hijab hehe.
Oh sister may Allah grant you sabr. Inshallah their baraka will start to fellow in your house! Go away from the weekend to recharge those batteries!
ReplyDeleteSalaams Sis:
ReplyDeletePoor Mama. Well, I'm sure your guests were impressed dear! Do give the recipe for the curry, please!
Read what some Saudi women experience with guests:
http://delhi4cats.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/married-to-a-saudi-be-flexible/
Assalam-alaikam love;y Sisters,
ReplyDeleteiMulsimah:
Of course I thought thats what you meant.
Big Sis:
Darling trust you to say something good.
Sister Saffiyah:
I think I'll put up my fave recipe soon with pics inshallah - chapli kebabs.
I read the post in the link - wow, I thought our lot were bad - I suppose its a Muslim thing to value hospitality wherever you go - but I think its down to the guest not to cause hardship.
Asalaamu Alaikum
ReplyDeleteMy hubby has no friends and he has no relatives here so this never happens to me. Although in a way I'm grateful its also kind of sad.
Asalam waliykum sis, i totally understand where you are coming from. My husband often does this to me as well. Its awful... its usually when i have made enough for two people and then his friends pop over, or he says they are coming by.
ReplyDeleteI get so stressed and worked up... but i manage to pull something together. I find a salad usually helps make the dish look fuller :D so i always make one or two salads :D
And i always try and keep lots of nik nacks, biscuits, nuts etc to put down with some tea. If i can hide them away from Zawji. When i need them they are always gone... i have to laugh at it
You can always make a lot more, and then freeze the left-overs if no guests appear at your door :) It also saves you cooking on days when you don't feel like it, or for when you're busy.
ReplyDelete