Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

It's been a while since I've been organized enough to do anything to celebrate my birthday, and as long as we're counting in decimal I've got a round-number bithday coming up, so this year I plan to do something. Alas, I'm still not organized, so I'm planning something small and simple: going to a restaurant for dinner and hoping a bunch of my friends will pick the same restaurant. It means probably not having a birthday jam session (unless we wind up being the only people in the restaurant, I guess), but it also means not having to get Mom's house in shape for a party, and getting to dress as myself on my birthday. And celebrating my birthday at an Ethiopian restaurant semed to work pretty well *mumble* years ago.

So here's the plan: Dinner, Thursday, 21 February 2013, at Shagga Coffee & Restaurant, 6040 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD (240-296-3030), time to be determined based on folks responding to this and telling me when they can show up -- I'm planning to arrive early and stick around a while so some people can come early, like anybody bringing kids who have early bedtimes, and others show up later. Only problem is that the restaurant closes at 10:00 PM on Thursdays, so the serious night owls can't show up too late.

They said they're not usually busy on Thursday nights. If people RSVP, I can call ahead and tell them how many to expect. Entrees run $7.50 to $12.95 with most being around $11-$12. Shared sampler platters are available, as expected for Ethiopian. They serve beer and wine. Not as fancy as the places in Adams Morgan, but I've had lunch there a couple of times and enjoyed it. I haven't tried the meat dishes, of course, but the vegetarian ones are what you'd expect if you've eaten Ethiopian food in the DC area before^[*]. Gifts are not expected -- I just want to see people and feel like I'm doing something kind of festive. I haven't been getting out and seeing my friends in person, and I miss y'all.

It's a small place. I don't know how many of you can make it, so I don't know whether it'll be a few of us at a couple of tables in the corner, or taking over most of the restaurant. Whether I wind up celebrating with a few of you or a horde, I'm looking forward to an evening out with friends (and yummy Ethiopian food). Please let me know what times work best for you (it'd be best to have that conversation in one place, like on Dreamwidth, but I know that's not going to happen so I'll just try to propogate relevant info between conversations in different places), and when I've got some idea of when people can be there, I'll announce times. So: comment at Dreamwidth (via OpenID if you don't have a DW login), or comment wherever you're reading this, or email me at dglenn@panix.com.

[*] Have any of my friends not had Ethiopian food? If so, here's what you need to know: dishes are mostly thick stews, served along with side dishes on top of a big piece of a thin, flexible bread called injera, on a platter, and there's a basket of rolled-up injera on the table. You tear off bits off injera and use them to pick up pinches or chunks of food -- no forks. And it's a lot more filling than it looks.