I like hanging out with friends. Is that rocket science? Last night, a bunch of us met up in the Rahway/Lindon area for dinner at an Applebee’s to celebrate recent birthdays. Is it me, or is there a lot of junk on the walls?
Dinner @ Applebee's
After many years since their departure for distant shores, our friends Ranjith and Priya came back to the States. Sure, they’ve been back to the U.S. since then, but it’s never quite worked out. This time around, and the stars were aligned. It’s been so long, they had a son Jai. Ranjith’s sister Reeba, and their visiting parents, also came over to visit.
Ranjith & Priya came to visit
AA 757 skids off runway on 12/29/2010
Wednesday morning in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, an American Airlines 757 slid off the runway in snowy conditions (additional info here and here.) My friend Mike (who is also my friend Doug’s older brother) had been vacationing in Wyoming for two weeks. He wasn’t on that particular AA flight, but was due to fly back to NJ Wednesday afternoon. The original Wednesday plan was that after the movie, Doug & Kathy would drive 10 mins over to Newark Airport and pick him up.
After the Wednesday accident, the Jackson Hole airport was closed down, and no AA or United flights were going in or out that day. Mike was able to make arrangements to catch another flight the next day (Thursday) to O’Hare, but ending in Philadelphia. Since I live only an hour from Philadelphia, and Mike lives 15 mins from our house, I volunteered to pick him up. I left for the Philadelphia airport around 12:30am, and dropped him home in NJ without issue. By the time I got home, it was 3:15am. What a long day!
Some weekends are lazy, some have one event to keep us busy, and others are very popular. This past Saturday was one of those busy weekends. In the early afternoon, we had a birthday party for friends’ two-year old son. Afterwards, we had our traditional Christmas party for a specific circle of good friends.
In the morning, I had to run errands, and prep my entree for dinner that night. Somehow during the initial planning process, the men were drafted to do the primary cooking, while the women were taking care of some other small items. While I do simple cooking for the family, my wife is the expert when it comes to fancy food that guests eat. My dishes are easy, simple, and every-day-type cooking. I was surprised that this was really happening.
Luckily, my wife wasn’t about to let me hang out there to dry. She helped me by picking up the necessary groceries earlier that week, and then directing me that morning in how to make tandoori chicken — skin the chicken, here’s how to make the marinade/paste, etc.
Calum's 2nd Birthday Party
After the food was prepped and in the fridge, we all got ready for both parties, and hit the road. We dropped off the food with our dinner party hosts that evening, Pradeesh and Sona, and went to the birthday party. The party was very nice, and the kids had their faces painted. It was also good to converse and hang out with friends we haven’t seen in person for a long while.
In the evening, we went to pick up some champagne and other items, and went to the dinner party. All of the men’s food came out great, but so did everyone’s. My tandoori chicken was a big hit, and was finished in about 10 minutes. Nobody could believe that this was my first time making tandoori chicken, but I explained that I had a lot of help.
My Tandoori chicken
The highlight of the dinner party was the Secret Santa Gift exchange. This year, Vijay handed over the mantle of “Christmas Santa”, and Pradeesh was now “Christmas Pappa.” All that actually entails is setting up the participants in Elfster, and ensuring that everyone gets matched up appropriately. Interestingly enough, Nums was my secret santa, and got me a classy black winter coat and a nice dressy sweater to match. I’ve been waiting to get a nice coat for work, so this was great.
Great party, and we got home around 1am. Phew, it was a long day. I didn’t take too many photos, so the ones published online are courtesy of Master Photographer Sunil.
Our friends Pradeesh and Sona invited us (and other friends & family) to their house to celebrate their son Ethan’s 3rd birthday party. A lot of the gang attended, which was nice. Do you know what else was nice? All the kids (including ours) stayed in the basement playing with each other and all the toys, and left the adults alone. It was fun. What a great way to spend a Saturday night.
Ethan's 3rd birthday party
The primary reason we had to come home in one day yesterday was so we could attend Jay & Aimee’s wedding. On Saturday morning, Nums had a church meeting to attend, so I dropped off the kids to my sister-in-law. Nums came home, got dressed up, and went to the wedding. By the time I got home, I dressed up, and went to the wedding reception. What was cool about this wedding is that it was certainly the closest in proximity in our entire lives. It took place at a Holiday Inn in the same town we live in. We literally had a 5 min drive. How amazing is that?
The wedding reception was small, intimate, and very nice. That’s all I can really say. Oh, and congratulations Jay and Aimee!
Jay & Aimee's Wedding, July 31st 2010
Egads, I’ve been so behind on uploading photos. Without much further adieu….
Joshua's graduation
Sibi & Ruby's wedding
Halloooo, Memorial Day weekend! A three day weekend to relax and unwind, and attend a wedding. Sibi and I used to go to church together for many years, from when I was in junior high school through a portion of college. In the middle of my college years, the church itself closed up, and he and I went to separate churches. In the intervening years, he’s gone on to medical school and became an anesthesiologist. Dr. Sibi John? Who would have known? We had very intermittent contact these past 10 years, so I was suprised to learn he was getting married, and I was invited. I’m not one to turn down an invitation to a party, so we were in it to win it.
On Saturday, we bathed our two rugrats, dressed ‘em up, and made our way to Long Island for Sibi & Ruby’s wedding. One of the things I dislike in life is making my way to Long Island. The place is a driver’s nightmare if you can’t stand being stuck in traffic. We hit traffic approaching the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, specifically the left-hand side going to the upper level. Noting the right lane was slowly moving (towards the lower level) and fearful of being stuck, and seeing one paramedic SUV head up on the shoulder, I said screw it, and made a bold move. I drove sideways across bridge traffic, through cars and traffic cones, and made my way into the lower level. What a good crazy decision that was, as we saw people standing and waiting on the upper level. I don’t know what happened, nor did I care. I didn’t want to get stuck on a bridge with two kids in the car.
Watching the wedding on live TV
We made the wedding, but the church was packed. We watched via live video in the adjacent fellowship hall. I didn’t mind since you had a better view, and the hall was air-conditioned. That’s a no-brainer in my book. We saw a lot of old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while too, which was nice. The wedding reception was at the fancy Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook, NY. What I found to be a funny coincidence was that two of my friends, Nehal and Meghal, who DJ’d our wedding in 2003, were providing entertainment for this wedding too. Imagine our surprise, and when I went up to them, they were surprised to see us as well.
So, to wrap up, good time for everyone. It was certainly a long day. By 10pm or so, we got the car, changed the kids in the restrooms to the pajamas, brushed their teeth, and bundled them up in the car for the long ride home. We got home after midnight, but at least there was no traffic back to NJ. Best of all, a nice new family portrait.
Ipe Family - May 2010
Every month, a circle of our close friends get together to celebrate those celebrating birthdays that month. In March, it’s just both of our kids. To celebrate, we hosted a party Saturday night for the kids, and invited some of our friends. We (really, just my wife, but shouldn’t I get credit too?) had planned a sumptuous home-cooked middle-eastern meal, but various snafus occurred this week, and there was simply no time to get all the ingredients and cook. Instead, we placed a last-minute order to our local Indian restaurant for some delicious entrees.
 Party at our house |
 Catered dinner |
 Plexy & Sheba |
 Lesh & Lily play Pictionary |
We don’t have a lot of people over very often, and always forget how much work goes into hosting a party. It’s not easy to get the house all clean and spiffy (our kids certainly don’t help), and there’s a lot to do! After some of the guests started to arrive, I drafted Vijay and Sunil to accompany me for a liquor and grocery store run. Later, I made a separate run to pick up dinner.
Apart from the leftover tasks that we had after guests started arriving, our friends helped out with some stuff, and everything else fell into place. The weather was great, the house was nicely decorated, most people could make it, and the food was delicious. Along with the great dinner party conversation and tasty food, we all played Pictionary for entertainment. I think the party broke up around 12:30am, so I think it went extremely well. Photos are posted for your amusement. We should have people over more often.
On Saturday night, we packed up the kids into the car, and drove to the Marakesh Restaurant in Parsippany to meet up with the gang to celebrate recent birthdays for Heidi and Pradeesh. Others had been here before, but it was the first time for us. Marakesh serves Moroccan cuisine, which I was a little worried about. The last time I had moroccan cuisine was at a moroccan restaurant in Rutherford NJ 7-8 years ago. It was so bad, I had sworn off the entire cuisine.
The food here at Marakesh was much better. We were situated in these large booths around teeny-tiny tables, which was a little awkward, but maybe more authentic? Well, when in Morocco…… (or at a Moroccan restaurant in Parsippany.) The highlight was the belly dancer, which they feature as the live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night. She was swell. 
Pictures are already posted online, so enjoy!
Heidi dancing with Gabby the belly dancer
