Picture of the Day: 02.12.15 - Lunch Invite, Pakistani Chinese and Octo-Baby

I got a lunch invite the day before yesterday from the a local sister.  I know her because our husband's are active at the masjid and a group of us have become friends.  Because I am at work, I miss the weekly sisters circle they all attend and have been missing seeing them.  When I got the invite I requested half the day off for today and was out of the door at midday.

I wore my outfit from Eid al Adha, the tunic below with straight black silky trousers which was simple and comfortable.  I have gotten so much wear out of this outfit and always feel smart in it.  I paired it with red bangles and solitaire earrings and pendant (not real diamonds unfortunately, but luckily I don't mind).

It was lovely to see my friends and I felt so much love and affection from them all alhamdulillah. The sister who invited us is known for her amazing cooking and went for a Chinese theme for all of her food. I have always struggled with Chinese food because most places are not halal and the veg options are sometimes limited (although a few halal Chinese places seemed to have opened up near us recently). I once went to a work lunch at a Chinese restaurant near my office and the only thing that wasn't cooked with the meat was the plain rice, so I had to have that on its own.

The Pakistani version of Chinese is something else though - a fusion of Chinese and Pakistani food that is what we call chatpatta (I explain what that is here), absolutely delicious.  The sister made a number of dishes and each one was delicious.

I have these pictures to prove I ate, but I have no idea what I ate because I spent the whole of lunch wrestling with Darling and Baby.  Darling wanted water but I knew she would spill it or Baby would spill it for her all over the cloth spread out or right in someones lap.  So we spent the whole of lunch with her crying for water, lying down and saying she wanted to sleep and then getting up and asking for my food and ignoring hers.  She lay down and pushed Baby behind me with her feet to give herself more space.  Obviously Baby gives as good as she gets and tried to climb on top of her.

Holding onto Baby is like holding onto a demented and very strong octopus.  At home we have the type of seat you tie onto a chair and we belt her in and have a tray at the front to put her food in (this one).  I probably should have taken it with me.  She spent the whole of lunch kicking both me and Darling and I spent the whole time trying to hold onto her so that she couldn't kick other people around us, which made her angry enough to howl.  I remember the days I used to eat in peace and other people's children used to act like little barbarians.

Everything we did eat was delicious and it has totally inspired me to learn some "Pakistani Chinese" dishes.  Also, next time I think I will feed the babies first and take the belted seat along with me anyway.