Birthday Hen(na) Party

For this blog, a Beatles song comes to mind: Duh, nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh, They say it's your birthday - Well, it's my birthday too yeah - They say it's your birthday - We're gonna have a good time - I'm glad it's your birthday - Happy birthday to you! So a Big, Happy Birthday shout out to our very own Wine Maven Richelle! A few days before her birthday, her co-worker and friend Becky asked if she would be interested in getting a Henna Tattoo? She has gotten them in the past and thought it might be a cool thing to do for Richelle's birthday. Richelle loved the idea and rounded up her sista wife Jenn, and friends Elaine and Dara to come join in the fun.  We were all excited and looking forward to the Henna experience. We guess you could call it a Hen(na) Party - Ha Ha! Get it? Hen Party? Which is the definition of a social gathering of women - so it's perfect. Nisha Agrawal is the tattoo artist and has her own business here in Austin called Nisha Henna Arts. You can find her on Face Book under the same name. Since Richelle, Becky and Dara have to work we plan to gather at their office, after they have closed, and Nisha will come to us.  Jenn is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to get things ready for the party. She buys champagne, and cute things to make gift bags for all the ladies attending the party and picks up the ingredients to make Richelle a rum cake strong enough for a wine maven. Also, no Wine Maven gift bag would be complete without a baby black box.

Come to find out the rum cake ended up being Richelle's third birthday cake! What? Who gets three cakes on their birthday? Well, apparently Richelle does and who are we to complain because the more cake the better, right? Her first cake was a delcious Red Velvet made by Ann's Kitchen Cakes located at 8650 Spicewood Springs Rd. #112 (www.annskitchen.com) and given to her by her fabulous co-workers at Bouquets of Austin located at 8863 Anderson Mill Rd. Austin, TX 78729 (512) 257-2395. They make the most beautiful wedding flowers in Austin (www.bouquetsofaustin.com). Their work is exquisite.

The second was to be picked up by Jenn on her way to the office and it was a gift from and made by Simon Lee Bakery who makes the most delicious wedding cakes (www.simonleebakery.com) located at 2700 Pecan Street in Pflugerville, TX 78660. This cake was half orange and half piña colada with vanilla icing and white chocolate shavings, topped with chocolate covered strawberries - oh damn!

As soon as we arrived we got the party started by immediately popping, pouring and drinking some champagne.

We toasted Richelle and prepared ourselves for the henna tattoo experience by washing the body part to be decorated (it's best to wash off any lotions you may have on). Then we were introduced to Nisha. She is this beautiful, little, teeny tiny, lady with kind eyes and the biggest smile you have ever seen. It's obvious she has a beautiful soul because she immediately had a calming effect over us.

She brought a book of her work - thousands of designs we could choose from - or we could just let her do whatever she wanted free style. Richelle kept changing her mind as to what design she wanted and we knew she'd continue to do so right up until the very last second. Becky, our lovable Chatty-Cathy friend, went first since she has done this before and let Nisha just do her thing. Once she started, we all fell in love with the concept she was doing which was a cuff on the wrist flowing up the arm and down to the finger... beautiful.

Jenn went second and also let Nisha do whatever design she wanted. In fact, she was so fast and good, that we all trusted her enough to let her free style. But Richelle still hadn't made up her mind. She kept going back and forth.

While she was getting her tattoo, Jenn asked Nisha many questions about the meaning of henna and how it is made. Nisha explained that it is used to celebrate many special occasions such as weddings, pregnancies, birthdays etc... bringing good luck to all those adorned by it. She told us that is was used as a game and icebreaker for her own arranged marriage. She hid her fiance's initials amongst her elaborate henna tattoo and while they sat and talked and got to know one another, he searched for them. Here's a little crash course on Henna: It is the English name of the plant that provides the ink for making the color. Lawsonia inermis is the botanical name of the bush that the leaf comes from. Mehndi is the term used for the application of the henna (or ink) as a temporary skin decoration (or tattoo). Henna is also used to color many other things such as hair, nails, and even leather. Nisha said she lets the leaves dry and then she mushes them up into a very fine powder before adding different ingredients such as eucalyptus oil, lemon juice, sugar and black tea. Then she puts the concoction into her homemade "icing bags" and puts them in the freezer where they keep for quite a while.

The fresher the powder the longer it lasts and the more intense and prettier the color. Once each of our tattoos was finished, we had to wait approxiamately thirty minutes for it to dry and then applied a spray of sugar and lemon oil to help set it. While they were drying we were sniffing and breathing in the calming aroma. The smell is fantastic. It's best not to wash the tattooed area for twenty-four hours (if you can help it) to help prolong the color. The finished tattoo is a dark black color, but that top coat will eventually crack off and underneath will be a stain that is orangish in color. The stain is temporary and can last up to two weeks.  Up next was our cool, laid-back, artist friend Elaine. She was like, "I'm obsessed with this henna tattoo. I want it all the time!" Richelle says, "I know. Totally. I love it too. I think I also want something around my neck or up my arm." She obviously still hasn't made up her mind.

Next is our fiery red-headed friend Dara (pronounced Dare-ah - like Farrah). She's from Jersey. You don't mess with Jersey. She asks, "Can I get this done? I think my arms are too hairy." We tell her that she is being silly because they aren't and to sit down and relax. Meanwhile, Richelle is still on the fence as to what design she wants.

As Dara is getting her tattoo she proceeds to tell us that Lady Gaga is the shit and THE BEST concert she has ever been to. After her tattoo is done, she strikes a little Monster pose.

And now ladies and gentleman, here is the moment we have all been waiting for... the Birthday girl's turn. Dude, it's Richelle!! What can we say about her? She is our crazy, hypochondriac, fun-loving, cool as shit, "whatever" friend. We love her so much and it shows because we are all here to celebrate her. We are talking and drinking and laughing our asses off. Never a dull moment. She has finally figured out what she wants. Can you believe it? We can't. She sits down in the chair and as soon as she gives Nisha her hand, she changes her mind one last time (uh huh, we knew it). For the final product she ends up referring to Nisha's judgement on the design, but knows she wants a cuff on the wrist and hand (as we all have) and also a decoration along her chest and up the side of her neck. Yea! A decision has been made and that's cause enough for celebration!!!

Isn't Nisha's work absolutely beautiful? And she did all of it off-the-cuff. It took about and hour and twenty minutes for five people (with a lot of talking in between from us). 

Nisha informed us that she also sells jewelry, clothing and has belly dancing and cooking classes. Is there anything this woman can't do?  Check out her website to see all the fun things she offers (www.hennaarts.com). Now let us eat that second cake from Simon Lee Bakery and open our goodie bags!! 

Elaine was funny because she kept scraping up the white chocolate shavings off of the table and eating them. She said, "oh my gosh, this shit is too good to let it go to waste."

Before Nisha left we asked her, "where is the best place to get Indian food?" We thought it would be fun to stick with the theme of the evening - and her response was, "My home."  We have no doubt that that is true, but we were not going to put her out like that. We thanked Nisha and gave her hugs and just like that she was gone. 

We decide to google some places nearby and found one that was open for a couple of more hours called Bombay Express. Sounds like it might be more of a fast food-type place rather than a real sit down restaurant experience like we were hoping for; but it will be hard to find a restaurant still open at 9:00pm or 10:00pm on a Wednesday night. So we were racing the clock to get there in time because it's rude to show up at a place ten minutes before it closes. Becky decided to pass and went home and Dara drove her own car so she could leave directly from the restaurant.  Dara drove off first as we yelled, "Go girl! You'll be there first, so get us a table." Then Jenn, Richelle and Elaine piled into one car and raced down the street on a food mission. Eighties tunes were playing on the radio and we were all feeling a bit nostalgic while singing at the top of our lungs to songs by A-ha, The Scorpions, Bon Jovi and AC/DC. We were totally rockin' out and having a good time. Then the song Turning Japanese by the Vapors came on:

Richelle and Jenn are bopping their heads and singing along when all of a sudden Elaine says, "I don't know this song. I have never heard it before." We stop everything and turn down the radio. Can you hear the record scratch?  Jenn had to pull over onto the side of the road because she almost wrecked the car. HUH??????? We turn around and look at Elaine and ask, "Really? You have NEVER heard this song before? That can't be? Here listen some more - it will come back to you." Elaine listens as Jenn and Richelle continue to sing along and ask, "Anything? Is it coming back to you now?" "Nope, nothing," says Elaine. We are in total shock because everyone knows this song - the video was on MTV for god's sake. We really thought she was kidding, but she wasn't and we didn't have time to 1.) convince her that she has in fact heard it before and just forgot or 2.) break into some kind of hypnotist act making her all of a sudden burst into song - because the restaurant is closing. So we continue on our way in total disbelief and then spot the resaurant. Jenn screeches into the parking lot and we all jump out of the car and run inside. It is just as we thought, a fast food-type place. We walk up to the counter and are unsure of what to order because nothing sounds familiar. Then Richelle shouts out, "Dosa!" like she has just solved the puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. She continues with, "they are good let's get some dosas." So we just go for it and order some dosas and a few other things to try.

As we sat there eating (our noses running and faces sweating from the spices - except for chilihead, Richelle of course) we were discussing how we were a bit disappointed because we've had some of the best Indian food in the world (in New York City and London) and this just didn't compare; but we wanted to give it a try in order to keep with the birthday/henna tattoo/Indian theme - so it was a good, quick, last minute fix. Before we left the restaurant, we were admiring each others tattoos and decided to take one last photo in honor of the beautiful artwork that Nisha had so effortlessly painted on us. We had a blast celebrating our friend Richelle's birthday and it just so happens that this hen(na) party turned out to be a pretty amazing experience for ALL of us. It's true that a fine wine gets better with age and we are slowly figuring out that we do t(att)oo.  So embrace the beauty that surrounds your life! Namaste ...