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Jun. 12th, 2010 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ebonlockSo I had the first of two planned birthday dinners Friday night and the original plan was to hit this fantastic vegan restaurant down in Sunnyvale. Well we arrived only to discover the restaurant was reserved for a private party. Sure that could've been spelled a rather sad end to yet another birthday (mine are notoriously tragic, seriously it started when I was 17 and came down with chickenpox just before my birthday and has continued in that trend since), but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elo_sf mentioned there was a great Indian restaurant right around the corner so we all trekked over.
Ok the first sign you're in a really good Indian restaurant? An autographed photo of Amitabh Bachchan hanging right in the doorway. When I pointed it out toaelfsciene and we both squealed like fan girls. Then looking around the place we were in absolute awe, the decor was stunning, I mean just an amazing ambiance. Kind of like having dinner in some Hindu temple. One look at the menu assured us we were in for one helluva meal.
Oh my god the food, I could write sonnets about the cashew sauce on one of the Kofta dishes alone. Yum!windrose, aelfsciene, tersa and I ordered three actual meals and a bunch of naan, ours was the less spicy end of the table while elo_sf, phillipalden, moonlightnrain and lizzzie_lou turned up the heat. There was much sharing of dishes and general enjoyment and then she walked in.
We were just sitting around chatting when, as if responding to some unknown signal both Aelf and I looked over to see a belly dancer in pink crossing through the restaurant. We exchanged a glance that clearly said we were sticking around to see her dance and I declared with a very self-satisfied smirk, "Happy birthday to me!"
When she danced over to us she realized we were all totally into what she was doing and having done the restaurant performance thing myself I can tell you there's nothing nicer than getting positive feedback. It's a much better fuel than relying on adrenaline alone. And nothing sucks the life out of a performance faster than an apathetic crowd. So I made sure to grin and make eye contact and clap along with the music, and we pretty much had a gorgeous belly dancer all to ourselves.
Of course my friends immediately ratted me out to her as the birthday girl and I was dragged up to dance:
But I had my revenge and made sure she dragged everyone else up too starting with the boys:
And then it was the ladies' turns:
We were all howling with laughter and cheering each other on as we took our turns in the middle of the restaurant. Adriana, for that was the enchanting creature's name, was chatting with us between dances and was delighted to hear that Aelf and I were dancers. She invited us up to the city for a Sunday night Arabic dance party she does and mentioned she teaches classes so we might just look her up for a workshop. She was fun and cute and we made sure she left with a bunch of tips.
What might have started out a little rocky turned out to be one of the best birthdays of my life. When the dessert arrived with a birthday candle in it everyone told me to make a wish and I could honestly say I couldn't think of anything else I could possibly want. Still can't :)
Wackiest moment of the evening, though, was when she and Aelf were discussing shimmies and she looked at me and asked if it was all right if Aelf touched her hips to feel how she was doing it. I had one of those "Did she just ask me that?" moments before smiling and nodding in a confused manner. I only later worked out that she must have thought we were a couple and then I talked to Aelf and she commented that someone had mentioned we were "partners" and Adriana had interpreted it that we were a couple rather than dance partners.
elo_sf mentioned there was a great Indian restaurant right around the corner so we all trekked over.Ok the first sign you're in a really good Indian restaurant? An autographed photo of Amitabh Bachchan hanging right in the doorway. When I pointed it out to
aelfsciene and we both squealed like fan girls. Then looking around the place we were in absolute awe, the decor was stunning, I mean just an amazing ambiance. Kind of like having dinner in some Hindu temple. One look at the menu assured us we were in for one helluva meal.Oh my god the food, I could write sonnets about the cashew sauce on one of the Kofta dishes alone. Yum!
windrose, aelfsciene, tersa and I ordered three actual meals and a bunch of naan, ours was the less spicy end of the table while elo_sf, phillipalden, moonlightnrain and lizzzie_lou turned up the heat. There was much sharing of dishes and general enjoyment and then she walked in.We were just sitting around chatting when, as if responding to some unknown signal both Aelf and I looked over to see a belly dancer in pink crossing through the restaurant. We exchanged a glance that clearly said we were sticking around to see her dance and I declared with a very self-satisfied smirk, "Happy birthday to me!"
When she danced over to us she realized we were all totally into what she was doing and having done the restaurant performance thing myself I can tell you there's nothing nicer than getting positive feedback. It's a much better fuel than relying on adrenaline alone. And nothing sucks the life out of a performance faster than an apathetic crowd. So I made sure to grin and make eye contact and clap along with the music, and we pretty much had a gorgeous belly dancer all to ourselves.
Of course my friends immediately ratted me out to her as the birthday girl and I was dragged up to dance:
But I had my revenge and made sure she dragged everyone else up too starting with the boys:
And then it was the ladies' turns:
We were all howling with laughter and cheering each other on as we took our turns in the middle of the restaurant. Adriana, for that was the enchanting creature's name, was chatting with us between dances and was delighted to hear that Aelf and I were dancers. She invited us up to the city for a Sunday night Arabic dance party she does and mentioned she teaches classes so we might just look her up for a workshop. She was fun and cute and we made sure she left with a bunch of tips.
What might have started out a little rocky turned out to be one of the best birthdays of my life. When the dessert arrived with a birthday candle in it everyone told me to make a wish and I could honestly say I couldn't think of anything else I could possibly want. Still can't :)
Wackiest moment of the evening, though, was when she and Aelf were discussing shimmies and she looked at me and asked if it was all right if Aelf touched her hips to feel how she was doing it. I had one of those "Did she just ask me that?" moments before smiling and nodding in a confused manner. I only later worked out that she must have thought we were a couple and then I talked to Aelf and she commented that someone had mentioned we were "partners" and Adriana had interpreted it that we were a couple rather than dance partners.
