IFTAR AT SOMALI RESTAURANT

Nothing could equal my delight when I saw an old college friend of mine today in down town mosque .He apparently got a job in downtown Atlanta as an attorney. He told me that he was driving back to home in Athens. I offered him to have IFTAR with me at a Somali restaurant since he didn’t have a family in Atlanta (Plus he is single).He accepted my generous offer and decided to stay with me until after Taraweeh prayer. We drove back to the Somali restaurant after the Maghrib prayer. Apparently most of the people that eat Iftar at the restaurant pray inside the restaurant.They don’t make their Salat in the masjid which is few blocks away. We spent a few minutes on the buffet line searching in vain for some food to assuage the pangs of our hunger, but most of the food was gone. I felt embarrassed that I brought my friend all the way from downtown to have Iftar with me only to find out that my fellow Somalis have wiped out the buffet. I did not prepare myself for this to happen especially on a day when I have a friend with me. I continued to wind to kitchen to talk to the chef whom is an acquaintance of mine to make some good Somalia food for my guest. One thing I love about my Somali people is the affection and respect they accord to a guest. I ascended with my friend to a table next to other customers. Within few minutes plates of BARIIS and SUQAAR were flying in the air and landing on our table. It was a delicious IFTAR that my friend enjoyed. He even took some BARIIS for his mom in Athens.