13 Days of Partying

This year I turned 55 years old. Not a milestone birthday - like '50' or '75' but an enjoyable one for me! I started partying at our zone conference in Armenia on the 15th, where Sis. Carter gave me a scarf that she crocheted - she gave me my choice of about 10 colors and it will come as no surprise to all of you that I chose red! Of course everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and 4 other missionaries. The next day, the 16th we got a call from Elgouja inviting us to his home. His wife Denara had cooked a lovely dinner for my birthday. She is in my English group and I had said my birthday was on the 26th - well they got the 6 right! She had also made me some chortchellas (walnuts on a string dipped in grape sauce) out of red grapes that were delicious. Unfortunately I have no pictures - it was a surprise!
On Tuesday the 22nd the Women of Georgia invited me to their 'Canteen Kitchen' where they feed 50 elderly poor people everyday. They had the cooks stay late and teach me how to make Kingallis. First you roll the dough out into a 4 inch circle - really thin. Then you put a big spoonful of the meat mixture in the middle.

Very carefully you gather up the edges in small pleats till you can squish the top together. Then you twist it well so that it is sealed.

Here is a shot of my perfect Khingali - I am so proud! (if you can get 18-20 pleats - you can get married!) All the little dumplings are put into a pot of salted boiling water where they are cooked for 7-10 minutes. Then they are carefully scooped out, put on a plate and taken to the table where they are happily consumed!

After dinner they brought out a beautiful cake covered in fruit and sang Happy Birthday to me in English - quite an accomplishment for a group of Georgians - we were so excited we were all clapping!

Here I am cutting the cake - it was a lovely evening AND I got to take home the leftover cake and khingalis! We fried them for dinner the next day. I love these women!

Thursday the 24th was Thanksgiving - so we invited all the missionaries over for a turkey feast. They each brought part of the food so it was an interesting adventure. We had trouble even finding a turkey - it cost $70 at the store that caters to the Americans - but it was plump and yummy! Here is our spread - it was delicious!

Here's most of our happy group.

E. Reese made brownie cake for dessert and we put 5 candles on it for our group of birthday missionaries. Once again we sang Happy Birthday and I got to help blow out the candles. We then watched the movie '17 Miracles' about the Martin/Willie handcart companies - it was a really good movie.

So on my actual birthday, E. Reese made me pancakes in bed - I love to eat breakfast in bed - but it was more fun when the kids would sit on the bed and talk to me while I ate. It was a really cold day, so I opted to stay in the house all day and do mostly nothing!

On Sunday during Relief Society, they gave me some fun red flowers and chocolate and sang Happy Birthday again. I've enjoyed looking at my flowers all week. It was a great 13 days of partying - I love Georgia!!!