Ian's Birthday Was Yesterday!

For Ian's birthday I gave him: a cassette walkman [for listening to books on tape from the library], a coffee press, and an old Starbucks apron of mine to wear in the kitchen when he cooks. Also I took him out to dinner, and Stef, Kimmy and Marisa came too. We ate at Nicholas' restaurant [the ones who catered our wedding.] We had actually intended to go to Habibi,[the second-hand [unconfirmed!] word on the street is that the family who owns Nicholas' has a rift, and the guy we are friendly with went off to start his own restaurant] but it turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. A co-worker had given me the business card for Habibi--it was oval, and green, with raised lettering. Looked very classy. So I called them on Saturday, and spoke to Mazen, mentioned the catering of the wedding and that it was Ian's birthday, and asked to make a reservation for 6 people, for 7 pm on Sunday. [Nichola's doesn't accept reservations, so you usually have a 30-45 minute wait outside under their heaters, watching traffic whiz by. But the Habibi's card looked more upscale, and the restaurant was downtown, so I wanted to be safe.]

So, on the day of, everyone else carpooled and arrived before me [I had taken an overnight overtime shift and slept all day] and could not for the life of them find a store at the address where it was supposed to exist. Ian got very tired of waiting blindfolded in the car for his surprise, and manuevered from the back seat to press the horn with his foot. Repeatedly. Finally, Kimmy spotted the green 'Habibi's' sign in the corner of the window of the Long Island Pizzeria. The name of Long Island Pizzeria was still stencilled on the plate-glass door. We peered in, in disbelief, and saw that the counter had one of those glass cases that prominently display pizza-by-the-slice. Oh, and it was closed. It's always closed on Sundays. Why they accepted my reservation at all, let alone on for a day we were closed, is a mystery that we continued to contemplate until we lost interest.

So then it was back to Nicholas'.

Post your birthday wishes to Ian and he will be thrilled!