September’s been a crazy, busy month. Week days have been filled with prep for From my Friday Kitchen. Some weekends were filled with work and social gatherings. The last weekend of September proved to be a doozie though. Friday 26th was my mom’s birthday. On Saturday was my aunt’s 50th birthday extravaganza (I cooked the pastas for the main meal for more than 100 people and made a double layer pavlova) and on Sunday I had to complete a cake order of 150 mini cakes.

I can’t begin to describe the stress I felt leading up to the weekend. Deep down, I knew I could pull it all off (I cooked the pastas for my own 21st several hundred thousand years ago) but I was nervous that something would go wrong. I thought of every single worst case scenario and thankfully none of them became reality. It all turned out well, Alhamdulillah. I kind of credit the stress levels here – I perform well under pressure sometimes.

Despite it all working out, nothing really goes according to plan. Mercifully, I got the day off work on Friday so I could prep what I could for the Sunday cake order and prep things for the pasta on Saturday. I also wanted to cook a three-course meal for my mom’s birthday but didn’t get around to it. Instead, we ended up eating at Ocean Basket before we went to buy a gift for my aunt.

When we got home, I put the pavlovas in the oven for the next day. Nearly forgot to turn oven off as we had some visitors pop in to say happy birthday to my mom.

On Saturday morning, I got up early to start on the pasta sauce. I added the pasta to the sauce in the afternoon just before we left for the venue where the party would be held. I was so worried that it would have dried out by the time supper would be served.

The 50th was an amazing family affair. Everyone had fun and there was food in abundance.

For starters, savoury platters and fruit platters were on each table.

For main it was pasta served with salad and akhni served with onion sambal and raita.

The desserts were served buffet style and people could mingle while ending the evening off on a sweet note. All in all, it was a great night.

A great night that turned into a late night. We got home at nearly midnight and of course I had to be up early on Sunday morning because the people said they’d be picking up their order at 11:30. So there I was, tired as hell, decorating cakes from early in the morning to be done by 11:30. Only, 11:30 came and went and no sign of the people. I showered, had lunch, got dressed to go out and finally at 14:30, they arrived to fetch their cakes.

It was like a weight was lifted off my entire body once that order was out the door. All my nerves about something going wrong was for naught and I finally relaxed.

All my food and cakes for the weekend were met with praise, Alhamdulillah. People enjoyed the pasta at the party. The big pavlova was up in seconds. The Sunday cakes, I hear, were enjoyed too.

This coming weekend, we’ll be celebrating Eid-ul-Adha so there’ll be another festive food-filled weekend ahead.

What’s on your menu for Eid? Tell me in the comments section below.