Hello hello beloved readers! Writing to you is the now 24 year old Swair. I don’t feel different at all… not one bit.

Anyways, so here’s the low-down on what happened on the 12th…

First, the costume: I was a black & white business-cat lol (supposedly)..Here’s the whole costume in pieces:

I went to the salon, got a manicure/pedicure, had the fake nails put on and painted red…

Did my hair and went home… Took a short shower, put on the cat make-up.. including honey-colored lenses, exaggerated eye-lashes, whiskers & nose… yes this me:

and got dressed up: top, skirt, ears, tail, black ribbon collar, lots of pearls and heels..

In short, the party can be summed up in five words: “Dancing, dancing, dancing, eating & gossiping.” It was tons of fun and I loved all my girlies in costumes!

I loved the 1920’s flapper, the 70’s hippy, the goth, the cowgirl, the chinese girl, the angel, the pajama girl, the gypsy, the pirate, the fairy, the karate girl, Lara Croft, the street fighter, Morticia from The Addam’s Family, Clark Kent (plus semi-hidden Superman t-shirt), the high school girl, the indian girl, the soldier and the traditional kuwaiti guy in dishdasha & shmaq…

At the end of the party: all of what was left of the cake was this… a7la shay ina I used my Facebook picture on the cake lol

I had fun! Thank you all my girlies for coming and making it a fun bash! Here’s to more birthdays for all of us and more parties and “Happy Happy Joy Joy”ness!

So it’s official, I make the best 3arayes EVER! :p

Here’s the recipe and some pics to help you out (u can click on them to get a bigger & better look)… I had to make a big batch, one for the house and another for an aunt’s house… What I needed was:

* Fresh Lebanese bread (I needed around two bags- maybe more)
* Two packets of ground meat (leave it over-night so the ice melts)
* 2 big onions
* 4 big tomatoes
* 2 green peppers
* 1 big spoon of mixed spices (I used the Bahraini kind reserved for meat)
* 1 big spoon of salt
* 1 big spoon Sumaq
* 1 small spoon black pepper
* 4 big spoons dibs el ruman (Pomegranate Syrup- I think?)
* 4 big spoons Olive oil

Then start getting the party started… Get a meat grinder (farama?), and start with just the meat..

While the meat is getting all soft and mushy, cut up all the veggies so they’re easier to cut up in the farama (make sure u squeeze a little of the water out of the tomatoes so the meat doesn’t get watery)..

When the meat gets soft, start by adding all the powder-y stuff first: spices, salt, pepper and sumaq…

Then add the veggies piece by piece and enjoy watching them get chopped up and mix with the meat (only if you’re as sadistic as I am :p)…

When it’s done, just pour it into a big bowl (remember, I was making a pretty big batch) then start mixing the dibs el ruman and olive oil with the meat in the bowl (I don’t know why, I just prefer NOT putting them in the farama)…

Then prepare the bread by cutting it all in halves and have a bowl of olive oil on the side with a brush…

Fill up the bread as much as u like and coat it in olive oil, back and front…

I prefer to put them all in a tray while the grill gets hot… then start placing them in the grill three by three (depending on how big ur grill is lol) and hear that meat sizzle…

I also prefer to put all the done 3arayes in a separate tray with kitchen tissues under them so it suck in all the oil…

When they get warm enough that you’re able to cut them, start cutting the halves in half, making yummy triangles…

Align them in the tray you’re using to serve the food and decorate with lemons, peppermint or parsley (since the maid didn’t tell me that we’d run out of yellow lemons and parsley, I used small greem looomieees and peppermint… still yum ;p)…

…and Taaa Daaaa…

Hani oo 3afya ;p

So you want to make some food but not wait for hours and hours, and make it look all tasty at the same time?

Make some garlic bread!

Here’s what u need and how to do it:

Have a stick of butter, a tea-spoon of garlic powder (u can also add a tea-spoon of onion powder to the mix if u want), some french bread, mozzarella cheese and pasta/pizza sauce (or ketchup), an oiled up tray and a hot oven…

Slice the french bread however u like it.. I like to slice it just the way Pizza Hut do it (and my brothers like it) lol and put them in the tray…

Melt the stick of butter and add the tea-spoon of garlic powder, mix it all up…

Use a brush to spread the melted butter/garlic mix on the underside and the top of the slices, then place them back onto the tray…

Using a table-spoon, put some pasta/pizza sauce/ketchup on the tops of the slices…

Then cover with cheese.. and this is what it’ll look like before u put it in the oven…

Put the tray in the oven, turn on the light in the oven and watch the cheese melt (i read somewhere that u can also do this in the microwave, but i haven’t personally tried to guarantee its’ success)

And TaaaDaaaaa… yumminess in a plate!

Bil 3afya ;D

I’m inviting you all to Al-Koot Toastmasters Open Day… Me and the executive committee of the club have put together a great schedule, full of games and activities!

If you remember, last time I actually posted about an Open Day, it was to advertise the Cooking Contest… that was July of last year… This time the Open Day’s on the 30th of June.. There won’t be a cooking contest, but people are going to bring home-made food anyway..

A bunch of games we have lined up:

* A classic game of Pictionary…

* Explicate! A game where I give two teams long words and they have to guess the meaning…

* Riddles.. two teams, the more correct answers, the more points the better…

* Story-Acting… volunteers try to act out a story while it’s being read.. Best act wins..

and many many more…

So you’re all welcome to come over on the 30th of June 2008, from 7:00 to 9:30, bring as many guests and companions as possible and just simply enjoy the company, the fun and the food

Here’s the address:
Office: الجمعية الكويتية للتواصل والمهارات القيادية (The Kuwaiti Society for Communication & Leadership Skills)
Street:  ق2 ش ساطع الحصري جادة 25 م 34  (Block 2, Villa 34, Avenue 25, Sate’e Al-Husari Street)
Area: Rumaithiya, Kuwait

Just ask for Swair there and i’ll help u out and show u around

I found this pretty cool tag through Organic Muslimah’s blog, I found the rules on LiyaPilly’s blog… Do it if you feel like it:

Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Sarah
2. What is your favorite food? Fruits
3. What high school did you go to? A Public School
4. What is your favorite color? All Colors
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Gerry Butler
6. Favorite drink? Orange Juice
7. Dream vacation? Italy
8. Favorite dessert? Cupcakes
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Photographer
10. What do you love most in life? Children
11. One Word to describe you. Young
12. Your flickr name. Swair