4th Annual Iftar Party: From Dusk till Dawn

Hi
This was an entry I never got around to completing/publishing:
-IMS

AA WR WB


Even a day after the Fourth Annual 2pac "Passport to Plainfield" Iftar Party, I have to say that I'm still pretty full from eating.


Alhamdullilah, I'm really blessed to have a mother that puts up with my can-you-please-cook-up-a-feast-to-make-me-look-really-cool-in-front-of-my-friends requests. May Allah give her endless happiness, success, phenomenal health, forgiveness, and mercy. Allah huma sali Allah Muhammad. Ameen.


Here's a sampling of the iftari menu:
- egg sandwiches
- friend shrimp (covered in flour and egg)
- tuna patties
- biscuits/crescent thingy filled with potatoes
- rooh afza
- chowall

The dinner menu consisted of:
- spaghetti with a desi touch/spice of course
- shepherd pie (chicken/veg)
- cabbage casserole (minced meat - i.e. keema)
- chicken korma
- nargasi kofta curry (i.e. egg in kofta shell)

The dessert menu consisted of:
- homemade pineapple cake
- Bakers Square banana cream pie (I think; but Fasih was nice enough to bring it)
- homemade kheer
- homemade galab jommin
- Imran-made chai and sundaes

As for the guests, well, this year was probably the most. Let me break it down for you in terms we can all relate to the best - racial ones:

Pakis: O. Awan, Fasih, Harris, Fahad, Taha, Hassan, Aref, Nomair, Meraj, Asim, my brothers Arabs: Eyad, Badie, A-Moose, Mumu, Aladdin, The Riyality Show.
Hydros: KR, AJ, Sikander, Irfan, Imran M., Awais, Sami, Tariq, Farooq


Wow, now that I broke it down, I have to say that I'm surprised (and delighted) to see that the Pakis came out in full force. In a Hydro-dominated Chicago, this is both very rare and very nice to see. Finally. A stepping stone for the advancement of the Chicago Muslim population...more Pakistanis.

So, excluding me & my brothers, that brings the grand total to 25. That's a lot of guys in my house just hanging out and feeding. I don't know how my mom or nani tolerated it.

Highlights for this year's iftar were as follows:
1. Prior to the group picture, I "teased" the guys by acting like I was going to take my shirt off (an involuntary bodily function of mine in group settings; for further reference, ask the "Do Me" crew about me bowling shirtless). When the guys started yelling and cheering for me to do this, though (this sounds like my IP took place in a strip club, but really it didn't...honestly), I couldn't refuse. I was the host and therefore source of entertainment. So I happily fulfilled my responsibilities. And, for a little flare, I did a little dance without my shirt as cell phone cameras through out the room were flashing to take pics (this will likely haunt me later in life). Meanwhile, a few feet away, my mom looked on and silently turned around and went about her business. We never spoke of that since. Though I think I did see her smile a type of smile that says, "Yep, this is my son, but I still love him..."

2. Fahad's loud comment to Taha of "You're not even wearing an undershirt!" Out of respect to Fahad, I'll leave out the reason for what prompted him to say it. But it was great because Taha had no comeback to that line.

3. The Riyality Show. What can you say about this guy and his lyrical flow? He had the room in pin-drop silence as we listened to his freestyle poetry Def Jam session. With Aladdin's running commentary, it was entertaining as always.

4. Aref's (a newcomer this year) and Hassan's epic Madden '07 game on the 360 (provided generously by Farooq). Aref played as the Patriots and Hassan as the Rams. With time running out, Hassan made a gutsy 2-point conversion to swing the game's momentum in his favor and for the win. But, with last second Tom Brady-like heroics, Aref was able to make two to three offensive plays with under 45 seconds to go on and WIN the game. Truly epic. It's hard to capture that type of Madden moment. If you can't appreciate a good Madden game, then you just suck as a person.

5. Late night Madden tourney. Despite having two spots on the tournament bracket, I lost (to Irfan and Awais) and the championship boiled down to Tariq and Awais (what else is new?!). Awais took it. Hooray for him.

6. "From Dusk till Dawn." This IP became a first in terms of how long people stayed. Usually, a handful of the guys will stay until ~2am or 3am, but this year we had Awais leave around 4am and then KR (also a newcomer) and AJ stay until sahoor time! When my mom came down to the kitchen to make her oatmeal, she was pretty surprised that there was still a couple guys lingering. They went back to their respective homes to pray fajr, but after fajr was complete, I totally crashed until 1pm the next day. My aunt who was there visiting with my mamou (uncle) joked around saying that I did exactly what the Arabs do: stay awake between iftar and suhoor time and then sleep away the day. It was fun, but definitely not something that I plan on making a habit of for the rest of Ramadhan.

7. Aladdin's announcement of him throwing an IP for the Bears-Packers Sunday night game. Tariq and I had just talked about the day before whether or not Aladdin was going to have another IP after last year's phenomenal IP MNF (the infamous Bears comeback victory game against Arizona). We were going to conspire against Aladdin and force him to agree to holding it (Aladdin is a phenom host, mA), but forutnately - from what I recall - Aladdin threw it out there himself.

8. The party itself. Alhamdullilah, it's great having such good friends come by and honor us with their company. It's a blessing for us and inshaAllah at the very least we hope that everyone enjoyed it and remember us and especially my mom (and Nani) their duas.

Until next year's 5 year mark inshaAllah! (And, yes, it will still be a brothers-only IP!)