Sad...

Ironically, this expresses my feelings much more than any facebook group does - I've been bitching about this on twitter today: how does joining a group help the victims of the crash or their families? I understand if a group was created to raise funds - like Haiti groups - though most of the people I know would just join the group and not donate money. I understand if the purpose of joining a group is to raise awareness to a certain issue or cause - like breast cancer or women rights - or to bring attention to some man-made injustice - like objecting the war on Iraq or the siege on Gaza. But, how does a - or NINE (so far) - R.I.P. group help?

New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year Y'All ... better (very) late than never ;)

So, I spent New Year's with some of the geeks my friends in my research group at Collin's place (I appologized at the last minute to Bassam and Karen that I won't be spending New Year's with them).
It was really fun and not so crazy - which was exactly what I needed then :)

So, a picture of the girls helping Colin in the Kitchen (He didn't need much help because he is used to tossing pizzas and fries in the oven every time we go over to his place lol). I made the easiest thing EVER...Nachos with cheddar cheese on top :)
Tas on the other hand, made chicken wings. I am not usually a fan of chicken wings and would never order them at a restaurant or think about making them at home. But hers were really nice that I think I will make some very soon
Tas also made traditional Thai cookies (while I bought read-made minis cheesecakes). They were really nice and I couldn't believe that she actually bothered to cut each and every one of them in the shape of a flower!

And a group picture to end it...Moody knocked over Tas's glass twice before a proper picture was finally taken lol

P.S: I 'stole' most of these pics from Collin's facebook album

Christmas Long Weekend - Part III

Christmas long weekend - Part III: Saturday and Sunday December 26th-27th

SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!
Karen and I were looking forward to the shopping on Boxing Day experience because we had heard so much about people fighting over clothes but have never been in such situations!
We woke up shortly after 8 a.m. Karen thought that we won't have time to have coffee but me being me - as in a person whose crankiness level drops only as a result of caffeine levels in the blood rising - I made coffee. We did have to down our coffee while getting dressed. We then rushed out where a taxi - and Bassam and Yorgos - was waiting.
We first stopped by Karen's place so she can drop her stuff off. Then we went to the mall. We spent around 7 hours there and by the time we went back home I was completely shattered.
I bought some stuff that I needed like 4 tops, brown boots, brown purse, and a black scarf :).
Karen wasn't as lucky. She had her eyes on some clothes at H&M but she was disappointed that they weren't on sale. (I did send her this link of an article which reported about an H&M in New York that ripped and threw away clothes that were not sold INSTEAD OF GIVING THEM AWAY TO POOR PEOPLE!!!) Karen did buy a pretty black pair of shoes :)

On Sunday, I met Karen alone back in the mall. We did some shopping but weren't as lucky as the day before. We thought there were more people that the day before :S. Also, I forgot my debit card in one shop and didn't realize it until I had to buy a t-shirt from another shop. At first, I thought I had lost it, then we decided to go back to that other shop and thankfully the cashier had put it away.

And that is it for the Christmas long weekend - I think, it did happen almost a month ago so that's what I remember of it :)


P.S: I just remembered that I didn't end the last two post with my new signature 'Za7to'
So, to make it up to the "Anonymous" commenter, here's a triple dose:
Yalla Za7to
Za7to
Za7to
:P

Christmas Long Weekend - Part II

Christmas long weekend - Part II: Friday December 25th

The night before, Karen and I had to stay up a bit after Bassam and Yorgos left our place to prepare some things. I kneaded the dough for the Manakeesh and Karen prepared the sauce and soaked the chicken for the Tawouk. Karen used a recipe that Bassam's mom sent him. Unfortunately for Karen, she had to use Tandoori spices and the strong smell of these spices stuck on Karen's hands all night.
As for me, I made the classical mistake of mixing the yeast with very hot water. So, the next morning when I woke up I and I discovered that the dough did not rise at ALL :(
Nevertheless, we did enjoy the thick tho nice Manakeesh.


Bassam looks skeptical, but he enjoyed them (plus, where else would he find Manakeesh here?)
yum yum :)


After breakfast, we went out for a walk - and some coffee in the lovely weather :)

We then went to Bassam's place and played Picturemania twice. The first time, Karen and I played against Bassam and Yorgos and we lost 13 - 25 *shame!!!
The second time, Bassam and I played against Karen and Yorgos and we won :D (no picture for the win tho lol)

Afterwards, when we started getting hungry we went back to my place to cook.
Three hours later (mainly because Karen and I did ALL the work - with Yorgos doing the dishes) we had a very lovely meal: Chicken Tawouk, Tabbouleh, Batata 7arra (spicy potatos), and FATAYER :) p.s. these are only 1/3 of the fatayer...I made triple the quantity because Bassam had been nagging for ages for some so I made him some for him to take home later


After the HUGE meal, we danced dabkeh :)
And finally, Karen and Yorgos did the dishes


I couldn't help with the dishes because I had cut my hand (yes, I look horrible I know but I was very late after a very long day!!)

Christmas Long Weekend - Part I

So...let me try to update this thingy

Christmas long weekend - Part I: Thursday December 24th
Karen, Bassam, Bassam's flatmate Yorgos, and I went to the Cowherds for Christmas dinner. Bassam, Yorgos, and I took the bus together and were there at 7:15 p.m. Karen was supposed to join us at 7:30 but being ever-so-fashionably-late-a-la-Libanaise she arrived there at 8:30, just after the waitress came to our table and told us that she had to start serving our food since we were the last table and the kitchen needed to close (ya, restaurant kitchens close VERY early in this country and it becomes ridiculous during vacations!).
We had a lovely time

and the food was very nice
Almost near the end, I started playing with the candle that was on our table

which then improvised Bassam to take this pic

(my current facebook profile pic)

We then headed home, but we first passed by my friend Moody to borrow a mattress from him for Karen to use. She was gonna sleepover at mine. We were planning on having a Lebanese breakfast of Manakeesh and a Lebanese dinner and because there were no buses on Christmas Eve nor on Christmas Day NOR on boxing day (we were also planning to go shopping on the 26th) we thought it would make her life a lot easier - not to mention cheaper and taxi-fares-free - if she slept over at mine. The guys of course had to carry the mattress to my place:
(don't let their looks fool you, they were definitely not being tortured by carrying this thing :P LOL)