Iftar & Birthday Party

This weekend was a bit of a busy one for me.  Not much in the way of posting or reading, so I have a lot of catching up to do.  Let's start with my Friday night, which was fun as well as educating.  Rana invited me, Garrett and Sarah to her younger daughter's birthday party.  Rana decided to make it one big party to celebrate Masa's birthday and Ramadan, and she was going to have it at the Railroad Park Friday night.  It's traditional for families to celebrate during Ramadan by breaking the fast together at family dinner parties, and if I'm not mistaken the meal is called iftar.  We were very honored by the invitaton and looking forward to it all week.  Sarah and I arrived at the Railroad Park around 5:30, just in time to catch a ride on the train with the rest of the kids in the party.  Since the fast couldn't be broken until sunset the kids played in the park and the adults waited patiently until sunset.  No food, no water from sunrise til sunset.  The "no food" I think I could handle, but it's the "no water" part that would make me crazy.  But all the Muslim adults appeared just as cool calm and collected as can be.  Our hosts were gracious enough to offer non-Muslims soda and water, but I just felt bad about drinking in front of them and declined.  Just as the sun was about to set I saw a couple of men carrying huge trays of food and walking towards the direction of the party pavilion.  A few of the moms from the party started gathering up the children and then Rana's husband called everyone over to eat.  As I walked up to the pavilion I saw Rana's father-in-law passing out dates and there was a line of people waiting for water.  I saw a lot of refreshed smiles on faces.  A few minutes later the food was ready.  It was all amazingly delicious; fresh tossed salad with a mint vinagrette dressing, baba ganoush, kibbeh, sfiha (meat pies) and chicken with bulghar wheat.  All of it was very tasty & filling.  Then there was dessert, besides birthday cake, cupcakes and chocolate cake, they had knafeh.  Knafeh is a phyllo dough pasty cooked over a white cheese filling and topped with pastashios, and it's all covered in a very light syrup.  Lots of YUM YUM that night.  With full tummys it was time for the kids to continue playing and the adults to sit back, drink some tea & coffee and relax.  As Rana said, "It's time for the hubbly bubbly.", or hookahs.  I've never seen so many hookahs in all my life; little ones, big ones, fancy ones, plain ones.  The adults gathered in little groups and puffed the night away.  I'm not smoker, and I dislike being in a smokey atmosphere, but the smoke emitted by the hookahs was very light and sweetly aromatic.  I even took a puff.  Garrett partook of it more than I, but we both enjoyed the social atmosphere it fostered, since we're not very socially talkative people it forces you to be in a small circle of people and talk while you're passing the hookah.  The evening just flew by and we knew it was time to leave when Sarah lost the energy to run around after her newfound friends.  We were reintroduced to some old expeinces (Garrett and I have always loved middle eastern cuisine) and we had some new experiences (hookahs), and overall, I'd have to say it was a most enjoyable evening.