Muslim Thanksgiving

I celebrated a "Muslim Thanksgiving" with Basha (a Rotarian) and his family on Saturday, September 29th. This is the month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down. They will get up at 4 a.m. for breakfast and have nothing until 6 p.m. (not even a sip of water). Before the meal, there was prayer for 45 minutes and some songs, and then everyone went around the table to say thanks for something. The family all gave thanks for the passing of exams of 2 younger boys (16 or 17), and one of the boys said thanks for the food we were about to eat (they were HUNGRY). They asked me to say thanks in whatever way I wanted, in whatever religion I observed. I told them, "I'm a clean slate."
The food was delicious! Tacos, roti (a flat bread that you use to scoop up all the curry) with curried goat, these delicious crushed up pea balls with some yellow-ish creamy sauce, curried channa (chickpeas), fried chicken, rice, lo mein, pineapple upside-down cake, banana bread, and other candies. They packed me a big "doggy bag" and I went home and watched TV and laid on the couch (like the American Thanksgiving).