Egyptian Dinner

We've been wanting to do regular cultural dinners after our Asian party quite awhile ago. We did have a Navajo taco party, but it was high time for some more culture. We decided on an Egyptian theme to reminisce about our trip last summer.

Katherine was the main cook since she's more the expert on Mediterranean food. She made lots of good stuff. Kirsten was her helper and also did a fantastic job. We had Susannah's bridal shower that day (she'll post about that sometime) and had a wedding reception that evening so we weren't much help in the preparation department. The Chappells were kind enough to let us use their house.

Katherine also brought a whole bunch of decorations. Kirsten was a pro at arranging everything!

Susannah got some great shots of some of the food. I don't love the taste of these olives, but I LOVE this picture!

Kirsten had a really rough time locating any baklava in any of our local grocery stores, so she ended up making some and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! I need to keep that recipe.

We also had some plain pita type bread which made a nice picture and addition to the meal.

Part of the fun was dressing up in our Middle Eastern attire. We got a shot of the 3 of us who went on the Egypt trip. . .

and then one of the whole group. The hat that Katherine brought for Bishop Chappell really cracked us up. The girl on the right is Katherine's sister and her son. They were a fun addition to our group.

We have been begging Kirsten and Kim to do a duet in church because we love both of their voices and they're very similar. We haven't been that lucky until that Saturday. They sang at Susannah's bridal shower and then sang again for us after dinner. Here's a short video of them singing a duet called "Pie Jesu." It was beautiful.

This is a nicer version of what they sang at Susannah's shower. It's "Beauty and the Beast." For the shower, they found some karaoke version online and sang a duet in kind of a silly and embellished way (that we all LOVED, by the way). This is definitely more mellow, but a tribute to their earlier performance, to be sure!