Hens

Another hen party weekend! This time one which I, together with the bride-to-be's sister, had planned from beginning to end.

While S. went on a little mission (to get her out of the flat) to buy a necklace (to match an outfit we'd have her wear later), we set up camp in her home. S's sister I, the other bridesmaid (in addition to yours truly) had prepared a delicious Afternoon Tea for us (well, we started eating at 12:30 so it was more brunch but the dishes were those usually had with afternoon tea: cucumber sandwiches, scones, tarts, etc.). While sipping both bubbly and tea our "hen" had to take our "How English are you?" quiz - since she's marrying a Englishman -, answering such questions as "how many players on a cricket team?" or "who's the longest serving Prime Minister since 1952?". She did so well she earned herself a Strongbow cider.

After the tea we hopped on a bus - S. blindfolded of course - to a dance studio where we were going to learn some Bollywood moves. S. was really nervous and didn't want to take off her clothes in the dressing room; not trusting us when we said we had something else for her to wear. But eventually she agreed and the teacher dressed her in a beautiful sari. That sari was just for the class but we had bought her another one for her to wear for the rest of the day as our Indian theme would continue, and the teacher kindly helped us to dress her, or wrap really.

Next stop was my flat where a chef awaited our arrival. He was going to give S. and the rest of us a cooking lesson in ayurvedian/Indian food. It was a bit difficult to teach 12 chatty and tipsy women but at least S. was paying attention most of the time and when she wasn't, he was happy to cook by himself. At least we did most of the chopping and mixing. The food was so worth the almost three-hour wait (Indian food is rather slow-cook when you do it proper and from scratch), except perhaps the dessert which was quickly thrown away when I revealed that the freezer held some ice cream (luckily our chef had left by then). S. and her soon-to-be husband N. came by today and had the leftovers with Peter and me, and as always with food with lots of different spices, it was even better the next day.

Between dinner and dessert we watched "N. tells the truth about S.", or played really, as S. had to guess what N. had answered to such questions as "what is S's best/worst characteristic?", "who controls the remote?" and "why do you want to marry S.?". We had interviewed and filmed N. earlier in the week and made him spill the beans about everything from S's snoring to the knitted wool socks she wears in bed while otherwise being spot naked.

And at 11:30pm we left (a HUGE pile of dishes and general mess) to go clubbing at Rose, a relatively new place in Stureplan (Stockholm's main trendy area) where one of the gals had managed to get us on the first guestlist, which allows you to both skip the queue and avoid the entrance cost. Our presence is even documented on one of the bar/club scene picture sites (see below) :) S. actually left before 1am - poor thing was exhausted from being on high alert all day for whatever we could have planned for her next - but some of us stayed until 02:30 or later. I haven't been clubbing for a while so I quite enjoyed myself and wouldn't mind going out again soon.

Fun and successful day to sum it up!