Two nights ago, we had Hanan’s father over for dinner for his birthday. He is a lovely man with a deliciously dry sense of humour, and when you meet him, you can tell where Hanan and Ethan get their inability to sit still, and their need to do twelve things at once. It was a unique chance for me to observe the Kattan genes over three generations and frankly, once I accepted the mania and drama, it was entertaining to watch. In lieu of conversation, Hanan flipped open her Mac and her electric foot massager (I kid you not), and started Skyping Aida while relaying instructions to her sister from her father, and all the while Ethan was doing homework on his computer. But wait, I hear you ask. Who was making dinner, icing a homemade birthday cake, getting Luca ready for bed, helping Ethan with homework and pouring drinks? Why, that would be me! I whirled around like frenzied butler waving chocolate icing-encrusted spoons at a chocolate-encrusted Luca who was refusing to brush his teeth. Ethan looked up from his science homework: ‘I need two rules for working safely with electricity,’ he said. I looked with mute desperation at Hanan. She didn’t glance up from the computer but she felt the look and shrugged. ‘Hire an electrician,’ I told Ethan. ‘And don’t put your toaster in the bath.’ He started writing, freeing me to finish icing Luca and put the cake to bed. Anyway, a good time was had by all, especially when I got my hands on a bottle of wine, and yesterday was Aida’s birthday, and we’re only sorry we couldn’t entice her to join us in Tampa so I could throw her into a crowd of cheering lesbians as her present… Speaking of birthdays, when the boys first asked me what I'd like for mine, I told them anything they picked would be perfect, because I was sure they would consider the kinds of things Mummy liked. 'A remote-controlled car!' one shouted. 'SPIDERS!!' yelled the other. Needless to say, I didn't hold out much hope. Luckily for me, the birthday fairy, otherwise known as The Diva Kattan stepped in and drove our under-age offspring to a liquor store where they picked out a breathtakingly expensive bottle of Bordeaux. It cost so much that I am still in the phase of just looking at the label while changing my mind daily over whether beef or lamb would work better with it (yes, I can really be scary to live with). Now I ended up with much more than I deserved in phenomenal presents from my beautiful wife, and such thoughtful gifts from the friends that we had over for dinner that I can honestly say there was not one thing that I haven't used already, including the inflatable woman (that's a joke, my friends are far too tasteful for that). But prize for most unique gift went to Leonie Casanova (http://tinyurl.com/yjpnu7v). She arrived 'from a music lesson' (liar) carrying her guitar case like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (but minus the bad pinafore dress and page boy haircut obviously) and then stood up after we'd finished dinner and announced that her present was a new song that she would sing for us that evening. Well, it was stunning, and captured all the emotion, intelligence and melodic brilliance that first made Hanan and I jump on Leonie the first evening we encountered her genius in a smoky jazz bar. But then it was over. A fleeting moment of heaven, and now I wanted to hear it again. Luckily, our own personal CNN correspondent, Hanan Amanpour, had thought ahead and had lunged for the video camera as soon as Leonie started strumming. By the time she was done, we had it all on tape. 'We'll make a video for the fans!' Hanan announced. 'It has to be about Shamim's birthday, not the song,' Leonie said. 'No way, it's about the song, not my birthday,' I answered. Hanan just shrugged and, like the mini United Nations that she is, managed to meld both our wishes together into one video. So, fans, super fans and mega fans, ladies, gentlemen and inflatable fans, I give you Leonie Casanova, singing 'I Wanted New York'. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7stXfZtcxI
