Parting is Bittersweet

We are going to miss you R & C! They left today. I probably didn't say a whole lot about this - if I even mentioned it - but we threw a big outdoor pool party last week for dear friends who are leaving The Sandbox - never to return. They are headed back to real life in the States. C is one of the women who comes for Tuesday Pool Day at our house - and R is someone my DH has golfed with for years. We've attended many golf tournaments together - dinners - parties... I am sad to see them leave.

The party, by the way, was a big success. I used the twenty ghutra's I had bought to make table cloths and napkins. We had the entire thing catered - and that was the smartest thing I could possibly have done to make the party the success it was. If anyone is over here - you NEED to get Tamimi to cater your next party!!! Spectacular! Just spectacular. And not at all pricey. American beef burgers on the grill, spicy links - beef [not pork], hot-dogs, chicken wings, baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, chef's salad... All sorts of appetizers. And beautiful deserts - walnut brownies, cheese-cake, some other delightful pastry chef specialities... A real "American" barbeque / picnic. What was even better was the help that came with it - someone to do the grilling, someone to serve... Another person to pour beverages. The next morning? At ten o'clock everyone came back to clean up. Wow. I will never ever host another gathering without Tamimi's help.

Last night was a steak dinner at another friend's house - with guests of honor, R & C - one final good-bye. Then today, we helped them clean out their refrigerator and pantry. The pork! Oh, C, thank you thank you thank you. Tonight, as I cry, because you are leaving and I will miss you, we'll think of you both when we have pork cutlets for dinner... I am, after all, a pork-eating vegetarian.