today's trip: peshawar! smalls and i woke up 7 in the am to officially go visit our cousin and her husband at their new place. after getting the essentials. like a full tank of gas and snacky snacks. we drove to pindi to pick up some other cousins. and off we were at 9 to have brunch with another cousin, her husband and her 2 kids in nowshera. after reaching there a good 2 hours late we bolted the moment we had packed in some parathas and plenty of good jokes in our bellies. arriving at my cousin's in peshawar we sat around for some gupshup and then lunch. she did what i dig most about my cousins. she thought about what i liked best and cooked it. when i couldn't breathe and was asked to move away from the table i did between gasps. ok i made that last part up but damn that was some good biri! why won't my enthusiasm for biri simmer down? [wrote a song about it, like to hear it? here it go

here's my limmerick to biryani
all serious foods out of many
are sub par to this greasy meaty dish
for which countless smack their lips and wish
that they were even pakistani

my ode to one of my favorites
http://www.iahcchai.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_iahcchai_archive.html]
after eats it was time for naps. then the girls minus myself went to saddar for some serious shopping. both mano [code name for cousin] and smalls found some good deals they said. i hung out with the others for a bit until we decided we wanted a tour. so asad, fani [code name for cousin's husband. don't ask] and i pile up in my car [code name: nano's guddi] and zoom zoom zoomed our way down university road. past the charsi tikka joint. i wanted to go to ilaka ghair. where the real wheelin' and dealin' goes on but they said we didn't have time. so we're planning our next trip. they say that the further you go down that road the better prices you get thanks to all the smuggling. forget the drugs i want a laptop. i had a cool time with all of my cousins. they are such a blessing as are smuggle-cheap laptops