One-Dish Party

I attended a one-dish party yesterday.  All of the sisters from our Islamic circle were invited.  I got all excited because I don't usually go to this kind of thing.  I had assumed that all of the sisters do these all the time and invite each other and that I was missing out because I worked (and maybe because I am one of the few who don't wear niqab).

Which is stupid really, because the lady who organised it told me they did it once a year and they sooo looked forward to it.  Also because this isn't high school and I haven't just been invited to join the group of popular girls (especially considering niqabi's haven't exactly been celebrated in this country in the last few years).

Any way, I found something nice to wear.  I learnt my lesson after the last time I got invited to a women's only do with mainly niqabi's.  When these ladies get to dress up, boy do they dress up.  As one of my dearest friends said "we supress it and supress it, we can't even get dressed up at weddings because some guy will come wandering round, so when we let go, we really let go" (she was wearing head to toe hot pink and lots of gold jewellery when she said this).

Baby (I think I'm going to call her Darling on this blog because that's what Little Lady has named her anyway) wore the flouncy new dress that Fashionista's brother-in-law bought for her.

I was exempted from cooking anything because of Darling, but felt like making something, so made aloo chaat (recipe here) and baked chicken (recipe here)

I had a really nice time and it was lovely to have such nice company.  The food was gorgeous too, although a lot of sisters had made some variation or other of chicken (note to self - the salad all disappeared  so make some type of salad next time).




















The lady of the house was kind enough to pack some to take with us, so I even had my dinner sorted.  The nicest thing though was that all of the ladies present were practising sisters - the things we talked about were fun, useful or interesting, but never dirty and definitely no backbiting, which is rare in a group of women unfortunately.  They also remembered to mention Allah (SWT):

Abu Hurayra stated that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:"No people sit in a gathering in which Allah Almighty is not mentioned and in which their Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is not blessed without it being a cause of great diminishment for them. If He likes, He will punish them, and if He likes, He will forgive them." - Tirmidhi

It was a lovely way to spend a few hours and made my day.  I think I might organise one of these soon too.  I just have to make sure the kids don't find out.  They seem to think I am at home cooking and cleaning and waiting for them to come home from school.  If they find out I am having fun, they will refuse to go to school.

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:“A person is on the religion of his companions. Therefore let every one of you carefully consider the company he keeps.” - Tirmidhi

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “A good friend and a bad friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might singe your clothes, and at the very least you will breathe in the fumes of the furnace.”  - Bukhari, Muslim