Cookie Party 2007, Chez MommaBean

My joy over last night’s excitingly sweet gathering is marred by the fact Umm Zaid didn’t get sufficient info to get there, and then had one of those mortifying Mall experiences with her friends. Shoes that didn’t fit, too much Christmas overkill when the main Eid here is Eid Al Adha, and finding an inappropriate book (really, what were those display designers thinking?). Umm Zaid, public apology for not writing down your number and following up! In front of the whole www and J blogosphere, I implore forgiveness.

Considering the party was on the first day of Eid, which was based on the convenience of our two schedules more than anything, we weren’t expecting a huge response. Au contraire (too much Galler chocolate is inspiring my long-forgotten French to reappear).

But huge it was, with about 90% invited showing up! I think it must have been the 65 (count ém, 65!) emails reply-all back and forth: Jano’s little joke to Jad about finding the place by “looking for the star”, Lina’s desire that all that is done at the party STAYS at the party (and since she didn’t come, must’ve not felt it a serious promise!) of course, Hala’s promise to do dishes because she loves it. I almost brought her my sink-full, if she loves it so much. Several said it was the curiosity peaked by the emails that made them decide to come!

We all have to admit, it is a little weird to meet your fav bloggers for the first time. We know WAY too much about one another, remember a stupid comment or post we made and hope that person forgets. Cookies are the perfect venue to smooth the waters and make everyone comfy after first greeting. Heads were bowed over that table for half an hour as discussion flowed like the frosting and snacks off the buffet table.

MommaBean, thank you for pulling off an AMAZING feat, providing a warm and welcoming home, delightfully dizzying array of cookies, frosting, decorations (oh, you should have seen the teeny-tiny sugar reindeer and snowmen cupcake toppers!), a separate room for two different ages of kid guests to decorate, and Helper Bean’s efforts in both prep and clean-up. Sorry I talked so much and helped so little – story of my life .

In addition to all of us looking and acting like kids in a candy shop, my evening highlights:

1) MommaBean’s whimsical Christmas vest, handmade by her mother. TOO cute! How can this lady stay calm, cool, collected an smiling while buzzing everywhere hanging coats, refilling frosting, directing the masses and taking care of various child-dramas?

2) Meeting Dave the American blogger’s daughter (quite stylin’, he will have some serious wardrobe expenses in a couple years, and have to get a BIG stick to drive the boys away). Dave, in person, is also just like his blog persona, but his smile just sort of makes any sarcasm sweet. So unless he is ranting about traffic, imagine him writing it all with a grin. Mr. Leader, it was also his idea to do name tags. Shu shatre, huwwa.

3) BamBam’s presence! One of those guys that is who he is on-line as he is in real life, except he must be very humble on-line, as the guy is even more talented than I imagined. And he is darling, too. He BAKED the cookies he brought, on his own; not his sister, or his mom. No fluff, our No-Angel. Now we’ll have to see if he thinks his previous assessment of who I am was correct – can you tell what sign I am now? (besides the cross, yani)

4) Salam brought Raya and Zeid, and some delicious Pioneer Woman Cooks Bread Pudding. Raya was her angelic self, and the little Bean girls and Lil Kinz had a lot of fun together. Zeid has not forgotten his vertically enhanced method of decorating cookies from last year. He frosts, UP, not over. About 5x as thick as the cookie. If he had been my kid, it would have been the first one I stole and ate in secret.

5) Meeting Manal (don’t read blog). She is teeny and looks yet a teenager, what a combo to be that cute and smart. After a year of sporadic emailing, a pleasure to meet you! Manal may help me achieve my goal of becoming a less text-heavy, image-friendly blogger in 2008. (See, I DO read Bakkouz’ posts)

6) Hayat brought both her precocious little brother and precious Mom. Both churned out the cookie decor like nobody’s business. You wouldn’t have known tho, as the young man ate everything as soon as he decorated it.

7) Sam brought a couple relatives, as well as Ziad and a healthy Bilal. It was great to see her again, and we’ll have to have a St. Valentine’s cookie party before this treasure goes back to Canada. The interesting mix of blogger-kids was a good one!
Jad brought the Adiga-gals, Jano and sis-Fatoom, to round out the quieter circle of bloggers (there have to be SOME people that listen!). Jad, as well as the other 3 guys, was sort of a test case to see if we ladies could have JUST as much fun with men in the room. AND, to see how many cookies they would really eat. Jad showed extraordinary restraint, (passed the test, as they all did) by only eating what he had decorated himself. BUT, it happened so fast, no one got photos of his artwork.

9) Mazz, in Shad’s company, showed equal restraint. He was invited not only because of Shaden, but also because he bugged me FOREVER, ALL YEAR about being invited. Ok, that may be an exaggeration. But he did make some interesting requests as far as giant cookies go, so wonderful MommaBean granted the request and more…a family of giant snowmen! Shad helped design, she’s as good expressing herself with frosting as she is with words.

10) I couldn’t find my sheep cookie cutter, so we could do Eid cookies as well, but ingenious Dave was able to turn a train engine cookie sideways and create a very realistic sheep! So realistic, you could tell it was a post-10am-Eid-morning sheep: oh the wonders of red frosting.

11) Dave also broke several (not-to-be-named) hearts by announcing the marriage of the last of his brothers. Immediate consternation ensued, followed by inquiries about the possibility of male cousins, especially if they were as cute as Dave. For those who missed my Galler update, Dave is drop-dead cute.

12) Ramblin Hal was her delightful self, wearing those BOOTS she blogged about. She has found her mobile charger, btw: that Galler girl gets calls every five minutes! She kept everyone in stitches, Hal-ifing the most normal conversations into hilarity.

OK, I know I have forgotten someone, sam7uuni as the kounouz are wrestling and I need to referee. NEXT year, since the men of the test case have proven themselves mu’addab, we may make it open invitation to all if we can find a bigger place.

http://jadmadi.net/blog/2007/12/19/mommabeans-cookies-party/

http://janmania.net/blog/?p=656

http://alhayat-life.blogspot.com/2007/12/first-things-first_19.html

http://iread.blogspot.com/2007/12/okay-happy-eid-everyone-s.htmlhttp://a-tale-of-three-beans.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-happened-at-cookie-party-stays-at.html