Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

The holiday season is no doubt the best time to reconnect with friends or welcome new friendships.  During this holiday season we definitely have a lot of friends in our list that we would like to invite to our place for a nice warm dinner.  In our list of invitees are acquaintances we’d like to get to know more. 

Last Tuesday, we invited two of my colleagues and friends at work and their families for dinner.  We have been trying to get our schedules match however the only available time was the same day I found out that they would be available.  Since I really wanted to invite them to our home, I had to grab the chance since I know that they too will soon be very busy with their own holiday celebrations.

That Tuesday morning, I had to hurry tidying up the house and had to rush to the supermarket to shop for dinner.  Luckily since I already had the menu in mind, shopping for the ingredients that I needed was a lot easier.  At 12 noon, my daughter and I had to rush back home.  As soon as I prepared Xianelle’s lunch I had to start preparing the food for dinner.  Then hubby prepared lunch for us when he came home.  When we finished lunch, he jumped into his apron and started helping me as well.  I did the chopping and other preparations while he did the actual cooking.  However, I had to give him instructions on what to do and how to do them.  As for the tasting, you could say that “two heads are better than one” as we both tasted the food and both decided what was lacking.  I have decided to prepare Chinese fried rice which I learned from my Malaysian friend, sweet and sour hammour fillet, chicken curry, fried chicken and fruit salad for dessert.  It was quite a lot considering that we lacked man power which was why it was crunch time as soon as I hit the kitchen.  Fortunately, with the help of my husband, we were able to finish on time. 

The guests arrived at around 7pm.  Dinner started immediately.  Since we don’t have a big dining table, the children had to gather around the coffee table by the living room while 5 of us adults sat at the dinner table.  As it has always been when dining with friends, talking and eating at the same time always go together.  We talked about all sorts of things, about work, family, our children and a whole lot more.  Bottom line is, it was fun and often full of humor.  Once we finished eating, the children went on to play with each other, some of them played on the Wii while us 3 moms, went ahead to our bedroom where we viewed some of our home videos.  I showed them a video of Xiane when she was still a baby and the highlight of the viewing, my video when I gave birth to Xianelle.  Later on the kids joined us in the room as they were drawn to the video being played.  We were laughing at some parts, always trying to find something humorous in the videos. 

Too bad it was time for them to leave.  As they say, “time flies when you’re having fun,” indeed it did.  At least I got to invite them to our home and that makes me very happy.
A day after we had yet another batch of visitors.  A few months ago we found out that 2 of Tian’s neighbors (who are sisters) back home are also here in Doha.  But we haven’t had the chance to invite them to our place until now.  Well there was an attempt before but it didn’t push through because we had conflicting schedules. 

Since it was a holiday, Thursday being National Day, the preparation was much easier.  In the morning I went to the supermarket all by myself while Tian and Xiane stayed home and just chilled.  After an hour I came back home.  There was more time to prepare thus I was in a more relaxed mood.  This time we prepared the same fried rice, sweet and sour (whole) hammour, sweet and spicy garlic shrimps and pancit.  We finished on time and had extra time to relax and play the Wii while waiting for our guests to arrive.

Our guests finally came, the two sisters, the husband and a friend.  The first thing they immediately noticed was the Wii.  Then we later found out that they’re very fond of the Wii and have been really keen on buying their own.  So after dinner, we let them have a go at the Wii.  They were really excited to play which was really fun to watch.  They tried every single game that we have on the Wii.  Once again, the Wii proved to be a very good investment, a good way to entertain guests at home.  Looking back, it was really a good buy.  But of course more than the entertainment value that the Wii gave was the entertaining that our little daughter did.  She was like a little hostess that night, interacting with them, even giving them a demo of the Wii Cheer.  In just one night, they grew very fond of her. 

As always, the true measure of a successful invitation is the warm welcome that the guests (hopefully) feel and the fun they have during their visit.  To hear that they love the food and that they were  satisfied is just the icing on the cake.  But definitely, the smile that you see on their faces and the feeling of “we want to come back again next time” you get from them is the best reward.  It makes you want to invite friends once again, after all we still have a few friend on our list that we'd like to invite.