In celebration of Independence Day, Sachin and I threw a barbecue at our apartment. We went all out: bought a mini grill for our balcony, cleared out my room (where the balcony is) for food and extra seating room, and imported a keg from Jersey.

We even decorated a little bit. We made some slight modifications to the Happy Birthday banner that has graced our apartment’s wall for the last 6 months.

So far it has proven valuable for four birthdays.

My Taj Mahal print required some Americanization.

We had a lot of food. Sachin and Anushka went to Costco in Jersey and stocked up on hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, condiments, etc… I took the party to the next level by adding some surprise food items of my own. Yes, that’s right, I brought Grande Meals from Taco Bell.

A lot of people that came brought something with them. Some brought food, like brownies, spinach and artichoke dip, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (Yes, someone brought Krispy Kreme. How awesome is that?) Others brought alcohol, like Coronas, Smirnoff Ice, and Champagne. Other brought a combination of both, like Jello Shots, and vodka infused watermelon (or is it watermelon infused vodka?)

The party featured some amazingly favorable (yet unfortunately unrewarding) ratios:

It also featured the world’s biggest game of Catchphrase on our roofdeck. (This picture only captures about half of the participants).

All said, it was definitely the party of the year. Lots of good food, lots of good booze, lots of good friends. Happy Birthday America.