Three Things Thursday: November 5th, 2015

I borrowed this concept from the lovely Nerd in the Brain, who encourages you to steal this “exercise in gratitude” with “wild abandon” by sharing three things that made you smile this week and “fill your blog with the happy.”

Thing #1: October’s “A Taste of India” Dinner
through “The Learning Tea,” non-profit affiliated with Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea House.
I was joined for this event by my wonderful friend, Susan and her 8-year old son, The Coop.  As we say in the South, we had a “large” time.

We particularly enjoyed exchanging many fine animal riddles, of which the Coop is a master. 

What animal starts with a “c” and ends with an “e”?

D’uh!  A Canadian Mongoose!

We chowed on some super-tasty vegetarian Indian food, with a particularly nice whipped cream dessert. The “cherry on this sundae” – all money raised supports a home and room and board for female university students in India.

Thing #2: A belated celebration of my dear friend Heidi’s birthday
at Carroll Street Cafe, which is a charming little place in the Cabbagetown neighborhood in East Atlanta, offering alfresco dining.

They feature $5 tapas and half-priced bottles of wine every Monday, so we indulged in all our favorite dishes: crab cakes, lamb sliders, papas bravas, Jamaican shrimp with plantains and pan-seared scallops.

We ran into a few of Heidi’s friends and had a great time chatting with them and of course, petting random pups, whose owners were walking them down the sidewalk around us.

Thing #3: Giving back at the Atlanta Food Bank
This was a community project set through work, but I actually had a good time pawing through random donated items (snack cakes, canned foods, toiletries) checking for valid expiration dates before passing the “good” stuff forward to box up for people in need.      Our group of about 40 volunteers sorted a total of 30,511 lbs of food, which constitutes over 25,000 meals. Pretty impressive for a couple of hours work. It made me feel good to have spent some time actually making a difference for people’s lives.

So, three lovely memories to bring me smiles for weeks to come. Thanks as always, Nerd In the Brain,for your kind inspiration!