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September 21 December Birthdays…Yes, we have two birthdays in our home… 17th December is Crystal’s birthday and this we celebrated on the 19th with close family (cousins). Click here for pictures of the day. This was a children’s Christmas party too but Santa had to fly off far away and did not come for it. But he did keep some surprises for the kids the night before. 30th December is mama Bena’s birthday and this was celebrated as a surprise in Winner’s Restaurant. Bena only knew that we going to have a simple dinner along with my Dad in the evening. Little did she know that I had to drop off the cake an hour before we arrived. Stage was being set by our friends, Carlos & Agnelo, who work there. We arrived as normal, looked for the table in the center because it was not crowed. Sat down, read the menu and placed our order. After dinner – SURPRISE!!! The birthday song was being played while the cake was brought out… Bena looked around wondering “someone must have their birthday today” Click here for the pictures. December 30 Christmas 2007Ho... Ho... Ho... Merry Christmas Everyone... Better later than never...
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and May this season bring you all the joy & happiness that you seek... the love and warmth that you desire... and cosy - tingling feeling that this month brings all...
We, at the ABCD Rodrigues residence, were all at home for Christmas... We attended the night vigil held at 7:15pm at the Church of St. Therese, Salmiya. This followed with a dinner at my Dad's place... Since 25th of off, we came home late... Kicked our shoes and fell off to sleep...
Crystal Birthday & House Warming PartyDear Family and Friends,
On the 19 of December, we celebrated Crystal's Birthday party and our house warming too... The party started at 9pm since everyone was getting used to the new location... The best part of it all, was that my new place being a hop, skip, jump away from my old... thus making it easy to find.
The party began with cutting the Crystal's Birthday cake... it was a Chocolate Butter Cake... that Bena and myself downloaded. Of course, we modified the topping with Cream whisked in Fruit Syrup...
Next on the event list was the traditional game of Housie (some would call it bingo)... We had the following winners in the Children Corner: Quick 5 - Brendan, Any Line - Mikita & the Full House - Jemima. The winners in the Adult Corner: Quick 5 - Debbie, 4 Corner - Felcy, Any Line - Luiza & Full House - Carmin.
While the game was being played, Bena & myself was busy warming the food (I know... I can resist this corner...) and later laid the table... Dishes placed from the Right to the left is as follow: Salad of Greens, Carrots and cheese sauce (my new creation - I'll label is later...) - Cashew nut Pulao with Crispy Onion cooked by my wife, Bena - Hommus made by my Mum - Goans speciality, Chicken Xachuti - Channa Masala - Fish Cutlets all 3 dishes by Bena - Mixed pasta with Beef strips and veggies... On to the next corner table, Cake and Trufle of Biscuits, Mix fruits, Jelly & cream... All yummy...yummy... I couldn't help it & had to take 3 helpings... Now you know the secrets to my "Cream Muscles"
The Party was fun and crossed into mid-night... We thank all who had come and had us in your prayers... Click on the album on the top to view the evening... December 17 Our new Apartment & House BlessingAtlast, we have moved to the new place... We had begun moving during the previous Eid holidays in October. With us not keeping too well and moving between 2 places, we had to keep things posponding... Furthermore, we try our best to be perfectionist, thus our place never seemed ready to have family & friends come over.
We then decided to that we had to finalize on things... Our first decision was to have the house blessing today but the Priests were quite busy. We settled to have the house blessing on Saturday, 15th of December at 12noon. We had invited Rev. Fr. Berchman Aruldoss (lovinly known as Fr. Bercky), our Salmiya Church Parish Priest to grace our occassion. Being a close friend of the children, he came over prayed and blessed our home. During this time we got to know a little more about Fr. Bercky. He is a warm shy person but has an intense devotion to St. Therese of the Child Jesus and that is brought about in this medition and prayers to the Lord. We thank you Fr. Bercky & keep you in our prayers.
Our Lunch was a mild (not spicy) food from Goa... Simple crunchy Green Salad (carrot, capicum, cucumber, lettuce, mayo), Cashew nut Pulav, Channa Masala (Fr. Bercky's Favourite), Dodi Bhaji (Pumpkin, crated coconut, dried shimps), Mutton Curry, Chicken Green Curry (Corriander), Fried Chicken Breast... Yes, yes, yes... Dessert followed with Bena famous Bread Pudding and our Carrot Cake...
Enjoy the photo album above... March 26 Happy Mother's Day in the Middle EastDated: 21st March, 2007
Yes, Mother’s Day is celebrated in the Middle East on 21st March… Unlike the Brits who celebrate Mother’s Day a week before, nor like the rest of the world, who celebrate in the month of May.
What do we do on this day? Do we have a big celebration for our mothers? Do we treat her like a queen? Do we ignore her or this day? Well, I’m not a judge of how people what to spend this day. But my thoughts are a little different. I see “Mother’s Day”, as a day that we mark on our calendar as a special day to show our affection to our mothers. Is that correct? Or should I ask, Is this the actual way we honor our mothers?
I think, everyday should be Mother’s & Father’s day. Not because of the gifts – but it’s a moment that we take to thank our parents for helping us in growing, guiding us, financing us, providing us with so much of their valuable time and efforts to watch us grow and succeed in life. They have always been there to hold us when we are about to fall. There are times when they give us a smile but in the background they have losses to cover up. Passing as a teenager, we ask the question “Why is he or she (our parents) interfering in my life?” But we fail to realize the fact that they are protecting us from the “loop holes of life” where they must have slipped.
I understand this because now I write this from a parent’s point of view. There are times from Mother’s spend day & nights staying us – wondering if their child is going overcome that little flu. Run from one room to the other, turning the house upside down, panicking – in order that the father or the child does not have to go through the same.
Wish you precious mothers, on this day and everyday, a Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you for all that you do for us – your children, Husbands & Fathers. January 15 Our 9th Wedding AnniversaryBelieve it or not! Bena & myself, have come to our 9th Wedding Anniversary today. Hurray!!
It is hard to believe that, not long ago, we were getting all the final preps done for the evening… My family (brothers) and family friends, spend the morning decorating the Reception Hall at Messila Beach, Kuwait. My dad was at my cousin’s place (temporary residence for my wife), ironing her wedding gown… When it comes to ironing as perfection, nothing can beat my dad… After decorating the reception hall, my brothers and friends came back to home and got down busy on decorating the Wedding Carriage, car. And you may ask what was I doing? My mum was guarding me, “The groom is not do anything… Nor go to see the Bride-to-be… No communication of any sort to the Bride-to-be…” The anxiety was killing me… but I had to be patient… Not knowing what’s happening in the outside world, I had only my imagination to company my thoughts. At last, it turned 5:00pm, the Photographers & Video camera crew came over to begin the festivities… My youngest brother, Agnelo, was the Bestman… I helped him get ready, coz he had been busy helping Michael, my other brother, with the decorations. Click, click – shoot, shoot… began the capturing of the moments… Pictures with the family (dad, mum & brothers) – next only brothers (the 3 amigos)… What I hear, no sisters… sad to say, we never had sisters but we had plenty of cousins sisters to make up for our missing halves. This followed the traditional blessing of the family and relatives to the Bridegroom… After the crew finished at my place, they rushed out to the bride’s place… Click, click – shoot, shoot… at the bride’s place… She had her Mum, Flora, from Goa besides her… Some of my relatives also joined her as a part of her family… {My family’s really huge – think of it as an extended family…} After blessing was bestowed upon the Bride – all set out to the Church. The time had come… We were joined in Holy Matrimony by His Lordship Francis Micallef, the Bishop of Kuwait at the time. As we entered the Church, the little decorated aisle seemed like a long stream of loving hearts waiting to joins us in the bonds of marriage. Of course, these again were decorated by my brothers. His Lordship was very generous with our celebration that he let the choir sing all their hymns without any objections. The celebration was very enlightened. Now to let you on a small funny secret… I was so over excited that I got confused on the proper way on holding our arms while leaving. I stood on the wrong side of the bride… LOL!! Some may say that’s bad luck – some may say that’s good luck… I know for sure, after 9 years, we have been blessed with 2 wonderful girls – a wonderful family on both sides of the knot… A wonderful peaceful life… and more that would like to mention but may take up my allocated space.
Next we headed to the Reception Hall at Mesilla Beach… Our MC, Merywn Pereira, now a very close friend of the family… through his years of experience granted that guest will not turn up at the time set – 8:30pm… Given that it was Ramadan & Indian crowd… the suggested time of Guest arrival would be around 10 to 10:30pm…. BUT he was kind of surprise when he noticed the guest were already in & the hall was full!! He gave the go sign to begin the evening, right away… As we entered the beautifully decorated hall, the band playing our welcoming song… the Guest showering their Confetti’s as blessing upon us… I noticed that friends and relatives, cancelled on prior engagements to make it for our reception… That was overwhelming to see…
The evening was a great success because the Band, Stepping Stones, gave one of their best performances – the crowd danced the whole night long… There was race – creed – color – caste that seemed to have interfered in the evening celebration… This is one of those times when you feel the globe is universal… We had whole mix of people that evening, Indians – Pakistanis – Kuwaitis – Lebanese – Egyptians - Philippines… I might had left out some others but its still one united family that evening. We expected to have a maximum crowd of 500 but there turned out to be 550… That made the occasion from good to grand  Sometimes, life is strange in this way… When you least expect something to go your way – it does and it turns our to be the best… I thank one and all who made it to our wedding, physically and in spirit. December 17 Crystal's Birthday PartyBirthdays!!!
One of the most wonderful day for a child during the entire year... We, Dad & Mum, celebrated Crystal's birthday on Friday, 15th at 12 noon at our residence in Kuwait. We had our relatives, some friends and their kids over. On the whole, the afternoon to evening was wonderful with fun activities.The afternoon began by welcoming of all guest (invitees) home. After everyone settled in, we served soft drinks & beverages to quinch the thirst... To stop move the bellies, home-made snacks were served - Cheese Sandwiches (herbs with anari), Chicken mortedalla Sandwiches & Tuna herb Sandwiches. Of course, these were my inventions. Moving on to the main event, cutting of the Birthday cake - Soft Chocolate cake with cream butter frosting & chocolate shaving on top, made by Dad & Mum. Hmmmm.... we are still learning to bake the ultimate cake and learn how to cream down words on the cake. You'll notice the wonderful cake missing the words
 Now the fun begins with the Kids games conducted by our dear friend Fiona. The 1st game "Passing the Teddy Bear"... lasted for a little while and ended up with 2 winners, Conrad & Anora. The 2nd game "Bombing the Locations"... was another interesting turn around with 2 winners, Valusa & Conrad. Conrad did get luck that day winning both games. 2nd game was won by Brother & Sister. Congrats to the winners. The kids was made to dance to nice kiddies songs like "Birdie Dance", "Hokey Pokey", "Simon Says", etc.
The adults, feeling left out, now had to participate in a new game called "Balance the Match Sticks on the bottle"... This is something new that I had ever seen. This game was introduced by Fiona and each adult had to come in turn and put their mind to test. The goal of the game is to place the match sticks over another, on the coke bottle top, and not to topple off the other sticks. The person left having their stick or sticks stil on the top is the winner. We had 2 winners, Agnelo & Queiry... From what I heard, this game really set a record of heights reached.
While the Adult game played on, we started to get the food all hot and served on the Dinning Table. The food was laid as from Salad - Main Course - Fried. Salads was Coleslaw & Hommos. Main Course was Green Peas Pulao, Betroot Veggies, Green Chicken Curry, Mutton Vindalo, Channa Masala, Potato Mince Chops, Beef Roast Meat, Mixed Pasta with Chicken & Beef, Iddli. Desert was Fruit Salad with the Birthday Cake.
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?? We suggested that Santa might drop something if they had the breakfast... Breakfast was hot chocolate milk with toasted french bread topped with garlic butter, slices of turkish sausage, pepper mortedella & cheese (a varied pizza)... Now that ran down the tummy in seconds.... ( I wish Santa would come everyday... then breakfast would finish at the speed of light)...
Pulling out gifts, under the Christmas Tree, one after the other... the girls was joyed to see Santa did bring them something... It was a different 3D puzzle of each of them... We worked on getting one ready... Will follow with the next soon....
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