When Friends Come Calling

Last weekend my friend from back home, Emily, came to visit.  It was like a breath of fresh air. We've known each other for a long time, I'm not exactly sure, but I think we might be getting close to the 20 years of friendship mark. Is that possible??? As adults we've become the kind of friends who can just pick up where we left off in our friendship even if we haven't talked in a while...I love that.  And I love this lady.

One Christmas while I was living in the Middle East and she was studying in England, we met up in Istanbul and spent the holiday together.  So when we were deciding where to eat, I let the wave of nostalgia for that trip carry me along and we ended up at a restaurant here in Worcester called Sahara that serves Middle Eastern food.  The food delicious, and the atmosphere and decor reminded me a little of that trip too.  Like a lot of the places I visited overseas, the restaurant was going for an opulent feel (there was a mural of the heavens with baby angels on the ceiling) but if you looked closer was just a tad run down.  I don't think this detracted at all from the experience, it made it more authentic if anything. 

Anyway, back to Em.

Fact: She and I might be food twins, I can count on her to want the same things so we can share.  We ordered hummus and fattoush.  Yum.

  

 And here's a lovely falafel sandwich.

 

Fact:  My friend is amazingly intelligent, a hard working academic, and she looks exactly like Frosty the Snowman posing in front of this Christmas Tree.

Fact:   I am obsessed with the animations that you can make on google+

Fact: Cannolis are delicious and Emily has a talent for discovering where these delicious treats can be found.  She found this place even though I am the one who actually lives in Worcester.

Fact:  Worcester Common is home to an ice rink.

Fact: Em and I were both amused and slightly puzzled by this statue of a man riding a sea turtle with a Christmas wreath around his neck.

Fact: Not pictured in this post are photos of us watching musicals and painting our nails. I also unfortunately missed out on taking pictures or video of the dance routine that my lovely friend performed, it was almost like watching Judy Garland dance in Summer Stock.

You're probably tired of facts by now, but there's one more.

Final Fact: A friend like this is hard to find, if you have one, you should let them know that they are wonderful. 

Love you friend, thanks for coming to see me!