It is 530pm and I am still waiting for my guests to come in. I have prepared dinner for my newly-found friends here in UAE. My birthday is actually on the 28^th, but I will be working on a night shift on that day so it’s impossible to hold it on the actual day.

 

My preparations started about a week when I started buying stuffs for this evening’s affair. Whenever I did my grocery, I include bits and pieces for my planned dinner. I have already bought some canned goods, pastas, paper plates, spoons, forks, cups etc etc. It’s better than doing the shopping in one time when it will be heavier to carry all the plastic bags.

 

The last major shopping was last night at Carrefour. I bought the last items I needed for tonight – chicken drumsticks, rice, and drinks.

 

I started cooking this morning. I prepared the fruit salad first since I need to chill it the whole day, so that it will be cold and ready by evening.

 

I had limited casseroles so I had to really plan my cooking. I cooked the pasta for the spaghetti, and used the same casserole for the spag sauce. Remyr came in around lunch time and helped me with the chopping of vegetables. After cooking the veggie dish, we had the spaghetti for lunch. Remyr had to leave after because he needed to sleep in preparation for his night duty in the evening. He will actually be missing tonight’s event,

 

Karen came in around 3pm and helped me fry the chicken drumsticks after rolling them in a breaded mix. She left later to go to the gym, and promised to come back for dinner. Meanwhile, I cooked rice while starting to clean out the place. I brushed the living room carpet, and scrubbed the bathroom ceramics.

 

I felt the food might not be enough so I called KFC to post an order for a bucket of chicken. The delivery man came in few minutes later with the chicken, pepsi, coleslaw, fries and bread.

 

I found out from a text message that my wife is also having a party back home in the Philippines. Her officemates threw in a surprise baby shower party for her. She received lots of baby gifts, she mentioned. Wow, talk about simultaneous parties…

 

I took a quick shower after that, and started preparing myself for my night.

 

I think everything has been prepared. And now, it’s just the guests that are missing…