tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42812049781135432302024-03-20T19:23:33.059-07:00Dubai daysLife in Dubai - by a Brit and a Swede.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-61913341796813373162016-03-30T23:53:00.002-07:002016-03-30T23:53:10.451-07:00Out, Out at Crab Tavern<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">On a rare afternoon outing ...sans L'Enfant terrible deux....we swung by the great new bayou leaning Seafood eatery at <a href="http://www.mediaonehotel.com/" target="_blank">Media One Hotel</a> called <a href="http://www.crabtavern.ae/index.html" target="_blank">Crab Tavern</a>. </span><br />
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All stripped wood, exposed brick and industrial style lighting as is the trend now, this Crab Shack slash upmarket sports bar serves fine seafaring fare. </div>
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Crab - La Mer underdog in my view and so often overshadowed by it's ostentatious cousins Lobster, Oysters and Langoustine!! </div>
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Here the score card is evened up a little as the whole concept is around the numerous different ways one can enjoy wonderful Crab the true king of crustaceans!<br />
I'm a massive fan of crab, especially the dark meat..which is less popular but far more flavoursome. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Spicy Singapore crab cakes, Soft Shell Crab burger, </span><span style="background-color: white;">Vietnamese C</span><span style="background-color: white;">rab spring rolls, Crab Risotto and </span>Goan<span style="background-color: white;"> Crab curry are just a few ways its served up. </span></div>
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The main focus though is on sharing seafood Deep South style. So we went all in with the <a href="http://www.crabtavern.ae/menus/Alacarte.pdf" target="_blank">South Carolina Shovel</a> 110dhs pp - which is a giant tin stuffed full with 1KG of meaty crab claws, king prawns, buttery corn cobs all soaked in dreamy creamy old bay bisque which is perfect to stew the ratte potatoes (a potato that looks like a sausage) and to dip hunks of crusty bread in. twas totes amaze.<br />
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There's also a Louisiana Shovel (125dhspp) with Cajun bisque and spicy sausage or you can even trump it with a West or East coast Bucket (190dhs pp 150dhspp respectively) of even more epic seafood proportions, throwing mussels, lobster, oysters, and cured salmon into the mix. </div>
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This is how I like my seafood, big easy style, lots of smoky flavours and textures, messy and interactive the gastronomic nemesis of the sad little <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/jan/30/noma-live-prawn-dish-japan-truth" target="_blank">Noma Prawn</a>. </div>
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Of course if you don't like creatures of the sea there's a good selection of steaks, burgers, Jerk beef loaded skins, down south BBQ pulled beef tacos or Mama's fried chicken to keep you satisfied. </div>
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We paired our shovel with some lovely Chablis but you could also go Scandi and enjoy with Schnapps. We also added side of 'Kevin's' slaw....don't know who Kevin is but his slaw was fabulous, with apple sauce and vanilla!!</div>
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Staff were super helpful and as we sat in a state of post crab carnage, groaning and feeling stuffed I realise the whole time I'd been seated with an enormous football showing flat screen right behind my head - hubby looking over my head lovingly and declaring he was having the best time he'd had in ages...ah the romance! </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-90991897794854771112015-10-15T03:13:00.002-07:002015-10-15T03:13:36.271-07:00We've had ANOTHER Baby! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yup we are now FOUR!!!<br />
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So as I wrote two years ago in <a href="http://dubaidays.blogspot.ae/2013/04/weve-had-baby.html" target="_blank">We've had a baby</a> - I don't like to post to the world about being pregnant due to unfortunate past experiences.<br />
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However, I have secretly been baking another cookie throughout 2014 and we were thrilled to welcome our new little bear to our family on the 1st of March 2015. <br />
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He's beautiful and perfect and we are over the moon - feeling truly blessed and in awe at the miracle of life!!<br />
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However, this got me thinking that I'm likely to have even less time to blog....as wrestling Monkey #1 and now new baby keeps a person busy with a capital B!!<br />
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But, I do enjoy blogging and now more than ever - working full time as a Head of Operations aka 'A Mum' it's important to have an outlet outside work other than chocolate....but reconciling the two has proven a challenge the last two years....in 2014 I managed 3 posts :-(<br />
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You see these last years I've really tried to continue on the original focus of the blog. <br />
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When I originally started it was as a young care-free working professional, just the two of us....enjoying an adult life in Dubai...travelling, sports, night life - the full seasonal events calendar out and about all the time...it was easy to provide restaurant and activity reviews because that was our life.<br />
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That has now changed.<br />
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It's funny because as you plan the impending birth of your first child you tell yourself that things won't really change that much...Your exciting life will be the same you'll just have a baby in tow!.....<br />
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I hear childless and and 1st time expectant friends say the same now "Baby fits in with our life" at which point I spit out whatever I'm drinking (usually mineral water these days) and roll about the floor laughing!!!....because this used to be me.<br />
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Then you actually have a baby and BAM!! <br />
Your world is rocked to the core....It's love on a whole new level...and the overwhelming sense of responsibility for another human life....changes you, your relationships and every aspect of your life.<br />
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As a woman I felt this huge societal pressure to have a baby, get back in shape and continue with my super busy, traveling, socializing, grown up life....plus maybe become a mumentrepreneur in my spare time! (rofl x100!)<br />
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There comes a point... somewhere in a sleep deprived haze when you realize it's just not feasible to live that life anymore and actually you'd quite like to be in your Pj's by 8pm rather than quaffing cocktails at the latest hot spot anyway. <br />
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Accpecting this has actually been a great relief for me...as with most things involved with having a baby you have to accept that it's a phase in life and won't be forever and one should enjoy where you are at right now....and embrace the change rather than resist it!!<br />
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So that means for me to post more often the focus of the blog has to change too..... Sorry, I can't do travel, brunch and dinner reviews anymore as if we get out twice a year we're lucky!<br />
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I'm going to have to make the content more relevant to what I'm actually doing these days...and focus on family centric activities.<br />
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From now on reviews will be of breakfast places, soft play area's, afternoon tea's and only dinners at restaurants that have a 5pm seating! <br />
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That's just were I'm at in this wonderful journey I'm on called parenting...I really hope you'll stick around and still enjoy reading. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-62527107567327370612014-11-14T02:44:00.001-08:002014-11-14T02:44:43.040-08:00Best Steak in Dubai - West 14th Review <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Many claim that <a href="http://west14th.ae/" target="_blank">West 14</a>th offers the best steak in Dubai - quite an accolade....<br />
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Marketing itself as a 'New York steak house' hence the name, <a href="http://west14th.ae/" target="_blank">West 14</a>th is based at Oceana residences on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Jumeirah" target="_blank">Palm Jumeirah</a> and actually belongs to the Movenpick hotel group.<br />
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The venue is certainly an impressive location to take out of towners, the poolside terrace showcasing panoramic views across the water towards Dubai Mariana. <br />
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Everything about this restaurant screams "You are here to eat M.E.A.T and drink W.I.N.E!"<br />
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It's interior is designed with this single focus in mind - dark wood, exposed brickwork with 'feature' wine racks accented by blood red upholstered chairs. Even the subtle lighting has a hue of red to compliment the enormous goblet of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbec" target="_blank">Malbec</a> you'll be glugging. <br />
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Inside, they have live music which I'm a massive fan of in general and a dance floor flanked by the bar area which can get pretty crammed post their aptly named 'Butcher's Brunch' on Friday evenings.<br />
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It's a great steak eating atmosphere....sophisticated yet warm and service is friendly and accommodating. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KSmUjiQJk2M/VFdV6Eq8JkI/AAAAAAAACTg/TEzzE_gE0v8/s1600/1801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KSmUjiQJk2M/VFdV6Eq8JkI/AAAAAAAACTg/TEzzE_gE0v8/s1600/1801.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>The hot loaf you will automatically be presented with when seated is scrum-diddlie-umcious. However the chain saw knife you'll get to cut it with, whilst looking cool is actually quite annoying as a bread cutting tool.<br />
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Now, if I know I'm due to consume a huge chunk of flesh for my main I always opt for fish or seafood to start to somewhat balance the heaviness of the meat and bread. <br />
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Starters of note include the Sticky Calamari with a sweet chili, nutty sauce, Crab & Avocado salad, Seared Scallops and the Hot Smoked Mackerel. <br />
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On the menu there are no less than 12 steaks to choose from which come listed by country of origin, cut, weight and what they ate! <br />
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I very much like this approach as I've a 'free-range' or 'grass fed' preference, wherever possible and there is 1 'Grass fed' tenderloin cut available. <br />
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Of the rest there's 2 Rib Eye, 4 Tenderloin , 2 Striplion, 2 On the Bone, a Flank Steak and a mammoth 550g Tomahawk sexistly listed as 'the mans choice'. <br />
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Quality and prices are high ranging from 175 for a lesser cut to 495 Dhs for the Tomahawk.<br />
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And here's something controversial - I'm not a fan of the now homogenous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu" target="_blank">'Wagu</a>' beef either.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu" target="_blank">Wagu</a> is meat from a cow that's been artificially fed on beer (?!) and is often perceived as the best at trendy eateries. However, I believe that this is just due to it usually being the most expensive rather than based on flavour and quality. <br />
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But if Wagu is your poison of choice there are 3 variants to choose from .<br />
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In addition to the steaks there are also some other great menu choices - The Drunken Short Ribs are mouth melty amazing, there's half a roast Organic Chicken, 2 Lamb, 2 interesting sounding Vegetarian options and quite a good Fish and Seafood selection. <br />
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Although why anyone would order Fish at this blatant bovine temple is quite beyond me.<br />
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For main I always go one of two ways Drunken short ribs which I have with a side of creamy mash or the Irish Grass feed Tenderloin with béarnaise sauce and sautéed mushrooms - both are excellent! <br />
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Hubsy always threatens he's having the Tomahawk but usually looks twice at the 495 Dhs price tag and eventually plumbs for the more moderate 300g Black Angus Striplion. <br />
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What makes <a href="http://west14th.ae/" target="_blank">West 14</a> particularly good is the small touch's. <br />
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Steaks are cooked to six tastes ranging from 'Blue' to 'Well done' you get assigned the specific steak knife to match your cut and the huge condiment cart that comes around hosts some real treats, the plum mustard for example was a revelation with my tenderloin. <br />
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I have to confess <a href="http://west14th.ae/" target="_blank">West 14</a>th is a favourite meat haunt - especially when they were still included in the entertainer they now are not!! I've been many times and always default to the same menu items because they're just so damn good...I don't want to take a risk trying something new and being disappointed! <br />
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A little know fact is that they also do breakfast on Friday and Saturday and I'm desperate to go and sample the Braised Beef Short Ribs Benedict - phwarrrrrr!!!<br />
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It's certainly not cheap eats but imo you get what you pay for. <br />
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West 14th offers a great steak in a glamorous setting - for best results patron during the winter months sit outside enjoy the view with sun downers followed by Steak-Magificanto- Al fresco! <br />
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West 14th might just be the best steak in Dubai....the bar is high watch this space! <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-56017360278754117422014-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:002014-08-31T00:34:40.161-07:00Best Steak's in Dubai - Frevo @ Fairmount The Palm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos courtesy of <a class="js-nav js-initial-focus" data-send-impression-cookie="true" href="https://twitter.com/TheRealKunal"><span style="color: #0084b4;">Kunal Aurora</span></a> </td></tr>
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This is the first in a series of reviews which will focus on finding the best steaks in Dubai. <br />
Because everyone loves red meat right!...well apart from veggies and vegan's of course. <br />
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Also, this topic of investigation helps me domestically as my hubby can get involved with gusto!....Not wanting to make him sound like a lumbering, knuckle dragging Neanderthal *but* sports and steak are the two other loves of his life.....and seeing as my sports pain tolerance (yup I feel physical pain when forced to watch sports!) threshold is shamefully low a detailed analysis of Dubai steak restaurants is the only option left for duel enjoyment. <br />
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First up is <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/palm-dubai/dining/frevo/" target="_blank">Frevo</a> at <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/palm-dubai/" target="_blank">Fairmont the Palm</a>, a relative new comer to the Dubai red meat scene and not technically a traditional 'steakhouse'. Frevo is a Brazilian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churrasco" target="_blank">Churrasco</a> which looses translates as a massive BBQ. <br />
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Upon being seated at Frevo you are talked through the concept and menu - which starts with a hearty potato soup and robust warm bread basket featuring mixed fresh breads. <br />
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Said basket harbours the delightful small, round, bread balls stuffed with melted cheese called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_bun" target="_blank"> pão de queijo or chipá</a> - which roughly translates as 'cheese buns'!!<br />
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If that hasn't filled you up there is also an excellent salad buffet bar featuring, salmon, squid and cold cuts. <br />
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When you're ready for the carne carnage to commence you must signal this by illuminating a green button in the middle of your table...and toot sweet the tsunami of meat will wash over you. <br />
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Chicken, lamb, several different beef cuts the best imo being the strip sirloin, I didn't particularly care for the smoked beef or the garlic infused beef being somewhat of a traditionalist. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos courtesy of <a class="js-nav js-initial-focus" data-send-impression-cookie="true" href="https://twitter.com/TheRealKunal"><span style="color: #0084b4;">Kunal Aurora</span></a> </td></tr>
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But the meat won't stop coming until you press the glowing button to red ... spent, like an exhausted game show contestant. <br />
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What I particularly like is that you get a large table sharing plate with a selection of sauces and accompaniments such as Argentinian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimichurri" target="_blank">Chimichurri </a>sauce, black beans and rice. <br />
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It costs 250AED for the full <a href="http://www.zomato.com/dubai/frevo-fairmont-the-palm-palm-jumeirah/menu" target="_blank">food only menu</a>, and 150AED for the Veggie option... in cooler weather there's a lovely terrace with a view looking towards Dubai Mariana. <br />
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Frevo, isn't the best steak in Dubai - however it's a novel dinning experience with excellent food and being 'all you can eat' makes it decent value for money. <br />
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They usually have live music and Brazilian dancers too, making it fun and family friendly...just make such you keep the enormous steak knives out of reach of straying little hands!! <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-35615923339778862242014-01-12T05:11:00.000-08:002014-01-30T01:29:26.616-08:00New Year in Sri Lanka<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Firstly, Happy New Year all!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise 1st January 2014 over the Knuckles mountain range Sri Lanka</td></tr>
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Secondly, an apology....I'm sorry I've been rubbish at bloging in 2013.<br />
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You see our precious small monkey gobbles up all my time and I'm so knackered when I do get any downtime *rarely* I just want to sit in a quiet, darkened room and rock myself back and fourth like a mental patient...certainly not think or write.<br />
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However, as precious small monkey approaches being 1 year old in March *eek! my 2014 resolution (along with a pledge to run a half Marathon...I regret this already!!!) is to blog more...so here goes.<br />
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GO TO SRI LANKA!<br />
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If you live in the UAE it's 4 hours and a curious 1 and a half (?!) hour time difference to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo" target="_blank">Colombo</a> and cheap as chips with <a href="http://www.flydubai.com/en/?gclid=CNe_wenf5rsCFclQ3godr3sASQ" target="_blank">Fly Dubai</a>. In just 4 hours you can brush off the dry desert dust and be in the lush green paradise that is Sri Lanka.<br />
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We planned to go for New Year when we were craving a 'green fix', in September before we knew Dubai was aiming to stage the <a href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/12/watch-live-stream-here-dubai-attempts-new-year%E2%80%99s-eve-fireworks-world-record-54187/" target="_blank">world record fire works display</a> in our backyard doh!!...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An hour or so drive from Kandy to the Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage</td></tr>
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Instead of 450,000 fireworks in stark contrast on NYE we looked out at the vast <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckles_Mountain_Range" target="_blank">Knuckles mountain range</a> and watched shooting stars - natures own fireworks and imo more speculator!<br />
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I'd been told it was better to tour <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandy" target="_blank">Kandy</a> rather than industrial Colombo, so on day one we stayed at a guest house in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandy" target="_blank">Kandy</a>.<br />
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There we had the best Sri Lankan food of the trip, with some kind of caramelised aubergine, coconut carrot curry and spicy roast potatoes yum!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Although it's better than dying or being poached in the wild, it still felt 'zoo' like and we witnessed some bad handling of the elephants:-(</td></tr>
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We spent the next morning exploring Kandy, which is the Sri Lanka I'd imagined.<br />
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A brightly coloured, bustling, colonial town full of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckles_Mountain_Range" target="_blank">Tuk-tuks</a> and terrible pavements.<br />
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Full of wonderful sights and smells.<br />
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I witnessed a white haired, approx 80 year old lady simultaneously push a goat and a large wheel-barrow up a steep hill, amazing!<br />
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Buddhist monks walk around town carrying laptop bags.<br />
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Loved Kandy, I wish we could have spent a few more days there.<br />
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But we only had half a day there so just time to take in a few main sights - we visited to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Tooth" target="_blank">Bhuddist Temple of the Tooth</a> which smelt of fragrant jasmine and afterwards we pottered around the outside market munching on fresh mango.<br />
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For the rest of our 5 days we were to stay at <a href="http://www.madulkelle.com/" target="_blank">Madukelle Tea plantation and Eco lodge</a>, over an hour and white knuckle, bumpy mountain drive from Kandy.<br />
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<b>Note:</b> in Sri Lanka it takes you ages to get anywhere, not due to distance but due to the precarious roads and awful driving, our driver and guide was a lovely man named Sunny. Contact me if you plan to visit and I'll give you his number.<br />
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As we whizzed around the narrow single lane mountain roads a sheer 700 meter drop down, passing small villages and swerving lumber wagons, buses, skinny dogs who for some reason all like to sleep in the middle of the road (!) I wondered if any place would be worth this journey.<br />
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Then the asphalt stopped and the road actually got worse, even bumpier and windier...and just as I'm about to scream "let me out!!" there's an opening in the trees and I catch a glimpse of the <a href="http://www.madulkelle.com/" target="_blank">Madukelle Tea plantation</a> and well, I just stared, silent and wide eyed at the awesomeness and beauty.<br />
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<a href="http://www.madulkelle.com/" target="_blank">Madukelle</a> is by far the most stunning place I've ever stayed and I've stayed at a fair few amazing places.<br />
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A 25 acre working tea plantation supporting the local tea economy plus a dozen eco tents providing a tranquil escape for tourists.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast 1000 meters above sea level</td></tr>
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The main house is inspired by the grand colonial houses of old, offering a sympathetically styled interior with a traditional yet modern edge.<br />
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It's a delightful space, with it's open fire and rustic decor, mismatched furniture and garden staircase down to a cliff side infinity pool, all make it simply breathtaking.<br />
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The eco tents/lodges adopted from the African game reserves not only disrupt the natural environment as little as possible but also give you stylish and functional accommodation and spectacular views, proper <a href="http://dubaidays.blogspot.ae/2012/09/camping-in-desert.html" target="_blank">Glamping</a> baby!!<br />
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You can come straight out of your lodge and do one of the many picturesque walks, 30 mins down to the water fall and watch villagers doing their washing or trek up the mountain, passing tea pickers with bales of tea piled high on their heads.<br />
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Or visit the local Tea factory and learn about the rarefied art of Tea production.......<br />
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As we wondered up the misty mountain one afternoon, beautiful pan piped music rolled down the mountain side from the neighbouring Tamil village...it was honestly like a movie scene!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dusky light creates a dreamscape as the Tamil music fills the valley</td></tr>
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Once back at the lodge and just time for a quick dip in the pool, afternoon tea on the veranda and I'm just about ready for a glass of red curled up by the fire, thank you very much..<br />
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We sat one evening on our little terrace having tea and our duty free Twix's whilst watching monkey's play in the tree next to us as bats flew overhead. Heaven.<br />
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Our own precious small monkey was quite a tourist attraction himself, attracting attention everywhere we went.<br />
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At the Tea factory the women downed tools and took it in turns holding him and whilst out walking people from the mountain remote villages would leave their chores and houses to come and stare at our little chubby Buddha.<br />
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The Sri Lanka people were all very warm and friendly, and precious small monkey was welcomed and made a fuss of everywhere we went.<br />
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What makes <a href="http://www.madulkelle.com/" target="_blank">Madukelle</a> really special is it's unique character - the small touches, it's organic gardens with roses and a homemade scarecrow, that are lovingly tended and grow much of the food consumed.<br />
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A foundation the lodge has set up to support the local school, a Christmas wish tree on which local children wrote their Christmas present wishes so that guests could donate and buy them, school bags and headphones were the big ticket items for Santa on the Madukelle mountain.<br />
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The quirkiness and friendliness of the staff, nothing is too much trouble - that said you don't always get what you've ordered but any mistakes are promptly corrected and it all adds to the charm of the place.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just some 'cushion porn' for me I loved these handmade cushions!!</td></tr>
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Why we loved it so much, and it's not just down to the astounding panoramic views - natural beauty nestled in the melty-emerald green mountains, or the exquisite designed lodge. No, what Madukelle is, is our life dream incarnate.... we'd love to own a place just like this one day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best Nativity I saw all Christmas on the side of a remote Sri Lanka mountain who'd have guessed!</td></tr>
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We got to meet Madukelle's flamboyant French owner Philippe and I was a little in awe as he told us how he'd searched the globe for 2 years looking for the perfect spot and then spent a further 4 years in a labour of love to build the estate.<br />
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He explained in his husky French accent how he considered a vineyard or other crops at various gorgeous locations in the world. But it was....<i>" Zee beauty of zee tea and zee warmth of zee Sri Lankan people"</i> that had made him plump for Madukelle.<br />
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At this point, our first born babe in my arms, I asked Johan not to be offended if I divorced him immediately to run off with Philippe...interestingly Johan said he wouldn't be bothered at all if it meant he'd get free holidays at Madukelle...and in fact he was considering trying to run off with Philippe himself.....that is how gorgeous Madukelle is!!<br />
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I had also wanted to write about the trials and tribulations of doing this type of trip with a 9 month old baby...but that is a whole other post.<br />
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Needless to say we 'coped' and did have a great time... but the learning was - I think we'll wait a couple more years before we're quite so brave/naive/adventurous as to try it again!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-87915568162545734752013-06-04T02:30:00.001-07:002015-10-15T03:05:06.439-07:00The Carrot Cakes of Dubai <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/food/recipes/deluxe-carrot-cake" target="_blank">A good looking carrot cake </a></td></tr>
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Whilst pregnant I aquired a 4 O'clock cake habit. I told everyone that this was due to a 'pregnancy craving'.....this was in fact a huge lie!.........I wasn't really 'craving' anything at all, I just like to eat cakes and reckoned that being preggers was the perfect excuse to justify eating cake every day!<br />
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A particular favourite is Carrot Cake, I simply adore a whacking great chunk of the <i>not so healthy as it sounds</i> carrot cake, which disappointingly can't be counted as one of your 5 a-day fruit & veg intake either. <br />
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However, there can be so much variance between one carrot cake to the next it's always a gamble when ordering carrot cake in new Cafe. So to help you all, I very altruistically tasked myself to find the best carrot cakes of Dubai and report back.......please no medals.<br />
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<b>Some carrot cake history</b><br />
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Carrot cake has interesting origins dating way back to the Middle Ages when refined sugar and imported dried fruit were rare and expensive, so poor folk used carrots as an alternative sweetener. It then became fashionable again during the second world war when war time rationing made sugar and fruits become rare again, however there was a surplus of carrots!<br />
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All carrot cakes are not created equal and I have a very specific criteria about the correct combination of components that make up a perfect carrot cake, a great article exploring this further and comparing different recipes can be found in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/15/how-to-cook-perfect-carrot-cake">here.</a><br />
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<b>My prefect carrot cake criteria:</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Must include large soft sultanas - not spiteful little raisins</li>
<li>Must include walnuts - not pecans, pine nuts or any other type of nuts and not too many either</li>
<li>A musky, soft spiced cinnamon crossed with mild ginger flavour</li>
<li>A moist, firm texture with rich dark colour - I don't trust a pale carrot cake</li>
<li>Fleck's of actual carrot you can see</li>
<li>Must have cream cheese frosting - sounds obvious but I have heard tell of Carrot cakes with no frosting?!....the point of which I can not comprehend.</li>
<li>Multiple layers of frosting not just on the top</li>
<li>Extra points awarded for a little marzipan carrot decoration!</li>
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The measure used is my own stars system whereby the maximum is 5 stars *****, which equals a perfect carrot cake!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.malloftheemirates.com/en/taxonomy/store-category/cafes?page=2#!prettyPhoto" target="_blank">Rich - MOE</a> *1 Star</b><br />
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Rich Cafe was a new try for us and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it as I liked the décor and menu a mix.<br />
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The cakes were shown off in a beautiful glass fount counter and looked amazing. <br />
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However the size of the carrot cake is frankly scary and I'm not one to pass up a generous serving of cake but this slice was gargantuan, too big in fact.<br />
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The texture was dry and the flavour bland and often felt like chewing a mouthful of wood chip just to get through it. The frosting to cake ratio was uneven but again that was likely due to the enormousness of the cake.<br />
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Wouldn't recommend this carrot cake, which is a shame as really liked the place and everything else we ordered was yum! I have since tried their red velvet cup cakes and they are amaze-a-balls so don't let the disappointing carrot cake put you off.<br />
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<b><a href="http://heysugarbakeshop.com/" target="_blank">Hey Sugar</a> - </b> <b>3.5 stars ***/*</b><br />
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I'm a bit of a traditionalist and wasn't convinced carrot cake could successfully make the transition to cupcake, but my reservations we offset by this little delight.<br />
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On balance this is a pretty, generously frosted cupcake underpinned by a lovely moist carrot cake, with lots of real carrot flecks.It also had a little frosting carrot topper, super cute!<br />
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The only downside for me was the light cake colour and the frosting was a little on the runny side not as firm as I would have liked, but a decent and enjoyable afternoon tea scooby snack nonetheless.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.costacoffee.com/" target="_blank">Costa Coffee</a> -</b> <b>2.5 Star*** </b><br />
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A pretty average coffee chain carrot cake which is either improved or made worse depending on the day and the level of freshness.<br />
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On a good day the cake is fairly moist another day having sat on the cabinet a wee while to long it was dry and stiff around the edges. The frosting is decent enough and the size of slice was just right, the cake features walnuts and bits of carrot and a nice touch was the nut crust, but unfortunately not to my taste, made it over kill on the nut front for me.<br />
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There's just nothing particularly remarkable about this cake...it's just a bit Meh!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.thelimetreecafe.com/" target="_blank">Lime Tree Cafe</a> - **** 4 stars</b><br />
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<b><br /></b>I'd heard tell that Lime Tree offer the best carrot cake in Dubai and with a reputation like that this cake had a lot to live upto.<br />
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The slice is on the large side, it's a whole lunch on it's own! However, as it's moist and not not sweet so it's actually doable.<br />
The cake has good combination of key ingredients apart from sultanas which were absent.<br />
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The colour is dark and the flavour is spicy and well balanced with little flecks of carrot throughout.<br />
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The frosting is dreamy - perfectly sweet, cream cheesy texture but could have done with another layer or the inner layer being a bit fatter to balance the cake to frosting ratio.<br />
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This cake is decorated with a little fruit which bares an unfortunate name that I always confuse with a rather nasty STD - the fruit being <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis" target="_blank">Physalis </a> the other being <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis" target="_blank">Syphilis</a>! I'd much prefer a marzipan carrot.<br />
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I do like the detail of a little sprinkle of icing sugar on the cake and plate though when served, class.<br />
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There is no denying this is a very good carrot cake, however is it worthy of the title <i>'The best carrot cake in Dubai'</i> ...erm no, close but no cigar.<br />
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<b>The American Hospital, </b>post natal menu <b>- * 1 Star</b><br />
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Ok I included this one for a laugh, but during my post delivery stay in hospital when carrot cake appeared in a tick box for my daily menu I couldn't resist!<br />
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And you know what, aside from the awful cling film squashed presentation it wasn't that bad, better in fact than some I've had in restaurants and cafes see below!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.cariboucoffee.com/" target="_blank">Caribou Coffee</a> - </b>Ibn Tutta Mall, <b>***/* 3.5 stars</b><br />
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Surprisingly good! Somewhat tiring of the challenge i'd set myself I was about to pass up the chance to sample this carrot cake. I'm so glad I 'forced' myself to give it a try as it's by far the best of the coffee chains.<br />
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It was a light, moist flavoursome cake with a scrummy cream cheese frosting that was ideally proportioned. The<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> p<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">ièce de résistance</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span>was lots of lovely juicy sultanas and a precise scatter of walnuts, all in all a thoroughly good carrot cake!<br />
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The only down side was again like Gloria Jean that even though we were sitting in, the cake and coffee got served up in a paper cup and a polystyrene plate and plastic fork...it flattens the entire the experience for me I'm afraid so I've had to deduct half a star.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.malloftheemirates.com/en/dine/dining/the-coffee-bean-tea-leaf.html" target="_blank">Coffee Bean MOE</a> - * 1 Star</b><br />
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The ratio of cake to frosting was good, three layers in total of the right thickness. However, it was let down by the frosting being rather flavourless and synthetic.<br />
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This was not an exactly an offensive cake, it was a moderate effort but terribly bland and just wasn't interesting enough to warrant the calories!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.starbucks.com/">Starbucks </a></b>- Big Spinney's, Al Wasal Rd <b>*** 3 stars</b><br />
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My hopes weren't that high but this carrot cake was actually good.<br />
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Starbucks seem to have made a big improvement in their food selections over the last year or so. Likely responding to competition by trying to move more towards an artisan feel for food, rather than Mac-starbucks which is where they where heading previously.<br />
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Decent enough cake this, firm texture, a tad on the dry side though and not especially generous on the fruit, nut or carrot fleck front.<br />
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However, the frosting was yummy and I particularly like that you got 4 layers of frosting nicely distributed throughout the cake which resulted in even fork fulls of cake and frosting. Indeed this was the only cake that gave 4 layers of frosting and I likely!!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/AbuDhabi/Default.htm">The Ritz Carlton</a></b>, Abu Dhabi, <b> 0* Zero stars</b><br />
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I'm usually a massive fan of The Ritz cakes they do an awesome afternoon tea with amazing scones. However, after a recent trip to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi we were in need of some refreshments and stopped at the Ritz for their evening buffet, which was great aside from the terrible mini carrot cake on the desert section.<br />
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Neither the cake nor frosting tasted of anything at all and the cake was so dry it felt like I was chewing on a bath sponge! The carrot cake I had at the American hospital was much, much better, The Ritz should be ashamed!<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sophiesdubai?fref=ts" target="_blank">Sophie's Cafe</a> - </b>Shoreline #8, The Palm<b> </b><b>****/* 4.5 stars</b><br />
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Tucked away in the basement car park as part of the RIVA Beach club is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sophiesdubai?fref=ts" target="_blank">Sophie's</a>. It's a welcome addition for locals as it's convenient serving great healthy salads and fresh juices plus a selection of home-made artisan cakes and cookies.<br />
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It is a little on the expensive side though and it's an odd little location for such a nice <span style="background-color: white;">c<span style="line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">afé</span></span></span>, but the food is really good quality and portions are generous.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UwyiY5aj6_8/UYfKEblEE1I/AAAAAAAAB7Y/E5MAk7SiEE0/s1600/DSC_0321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UwyiY5aj6_8/UYfKEblEE1I/AAAAAAAAB7Y/E5MAk7SiEE0/s1600/DSC_0321.JPG" width="400" /></a>The carrot is delicious, nearly everything I want from a carrot cake.<br />
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Luscious moist texture, lots of lovely walnuts and sultanas I'd even say they might add some other kind of dried fruit, I'm not sure but it works.<br />
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It has a delicate, yet confident mix of flavours with each mouthful offering something different from smoky cinnamon |& ginger to a gorgeous subtle whaft of citrus.<br />
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The frosting is just sweet enough, just cream cheesy enough and soft yet firm enough and the ratio balanced well to the cake proportions.<br />
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I also loved that it feels very home made with wonky edges. Plus it's presented in glass cloche arranged on a table amongst the other cakes on staggered wooden plinths so the customer can get right up to the cake before you choose it, as opposed to having it behind the counter - nice touch I love.<br />
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Yes this is my favourite carrot cake in Dubai so far, it even bested the legendary Lime Tree one.<br />
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However, my search will continue or I supposed what I should do is make a carrot cake myself, maybe then I could award myself the crown of "Best carrot cake in Dubai!"....watch this space.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-14645381718529317632013-04-18T21:57:00.000-07:002013-04-18T23:36:19.569-07:00We've had a baby<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yes it's true we are now 3!!<br />
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It may come as a bit of a surprise as I haven't posted anything about being pregnant over the last 10 months, my posts are often a few months behind anyway. But you see in the past we've sadly suffered a couple of miscarriages and well.....having those experiences makes you literally not want to count your chicken before it's hatched.<br />
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Because of this I was very anxious throughout this pregnancy I couldn't really relax, I took it one day at a time. I wasn't the typical confident newly pregnant woman, telling everyone, making plans and taking for granted everything would be OK. We didn't even tell close friends until 5 months, so I decided not to post anything about expecting a visit form the stork until our much longed for baby had finally arrived. <br />
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Our little bean came into the world on the 17th of March 2013 weighing 7.2lbs - he's healthy, perfect and we are absolutely over the moon! I had a great and quick 3 hour natural labour at The American Hospital Dubai, we were really pleased with the care and service level they gave.<br />
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Our life has transformed overnight, adjusting to life with a newborn can be quite a shock to the system, I write this with one had whilst breastfeeding baby with the other! The affect of the lack of sleep can't be explained unless you experience it - everyone tried to tell us but secretly we thought surely they're exaggerating....hahaha silly us!<br />
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Not sure how frequent posts will be over the coming weeks due to most days not even having time for a shower, but I'll do my best as we have got some fun things coming up to write about.<br />
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For us now Dubai will always be the place where our biggest wish came true and gave us the happiest day of our lives.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-50674208438407908782013-02-28T03:37:00.001-08:002013-04-18T23:57:58.879-07:00101 - The One & Only, The Palm <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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101 located @ <a href="http://thepalm.oneandonlyresorts.com/cuisine/101.aspx" target="_blank">The One and Only on The Palm</a>, is officially my new favourite restaurant!!<br />
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Why? Because the setting is just beautiful, service excellent and the food is simply divine.<br />
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Located on the Palm at the less famous of the two, One & Only's, which is in itself an oxymoron.<br />
101 is a decked, jetty restaurant jutting out into the sea - with a spectacular backdrop of Dubai Marina looking like a mini Manhattan.<br />
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We went in the evening, by road but you can get there by boat from it's sister hotel, Royal Mirage - The One & Only on Al Sufouh Rd. I'd recommend going to have drinks at the bar there first and arrive at 101 via boat, as this is definitely the type of venue one should arrive at by boat, unfortunately we didn't do this.<br />
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I was expecting it to be lovely, reminiscent of it's sister hotels and a previous favourite (yes - I'm fickle!) <a href="http://royalmirage.oneandonlyresorts.com/cuisine/thepalace/beachbargrill.aspx" target="_blank">The One & Only - Beach bar & Grill</a>. I was prepared for typical Dubai high end fair, very respectable but just not that surprising or exciting.<br />
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However, the menu at 101 is a revelation, Spanish influenced Seafood is the stable and my do they deliver. We were in for a proper treat as even though the venue feels very Dubai and flash the menu and food is dare I say it.....soulful and quirky - which is a somewhat uncommon duet in Dubai.<br />
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I'm super excited because it's not very often I've found a restaurant in Dubai, with a chef that tries to be characterful and unique and doesn't just default to the same old crowd pleasing ceaser's, steaks and sea bass.<br />
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You can choose between the <a href="http://thepalm.oneandonlyresorts.com/content/pdf/Menus/101_TapasMenu_2012.pdf" target="_blank">tapas menu</a> with all the traditional tapas favourites like meatballs, Calimari, Manchego cheese and surprises such as 'Mejillones gratinados' - Gratinated mussels with garlic butter and 'Berberechos al limón' - Cockles in lemon sauce. Cockles in Dubai who'd have thought it!<br />
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We ordered from the <a href="http://thepalm.oneandonlyresorts.com/content/pdf/Menus/101_LunchDinnerMenu_2012.pdf" target="_blank">Al a catre menu</a>, which has a dizzing amount of choice, most of which I wanted to order.<br />
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To start I opted for Sautéed baby spinach - 55Dhs, Chicken chorizo, pine nuts and Manchego cheese.<br />
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The photograph does not do the dish justice it was eye-rolling-in-back-of-head amazing. And I loved that it arrived fresh from the oven in it's cooking pot.<br />
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I followed with the Seafood ravioli with Prawns, mussels, calamari and lemon sauce - 145Dhs. Lushness in every bite, zingy, fresh, subtle lemonyness, cooked to perfection both the pasta and the seafood which often gets overcooked to rubber.<br />
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My male companion (note not my husband!) had Veal chop ‘a la Milanese’ - 190Dhs, Macaroni gratin, sage and capers.<br />
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Now, 'Milanese' is to my mind a fancy word for a schnitzel and it would never occur to me to order a schnitzel in a fancy restaurant unless in Germany. However, I have to admit it was excellent, tender with a flavoursome accompanying sauce.<br />
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There were so many gorgeous sounding dishes it was hard to choose - I also could have gone for the Casareccia 150Dhs - Lobster, coco beans, ‘bouillabaisse’ sauce and Provençal butter! Coco beans?! and lobster?!....really would have loved to have been brave and tried that...<br />
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What I'd love to try is their signature dish to share, Paella with squid ink and calamari 155 Dhs per person. So I'm now fantistising about a languishing late lunch there - arriving by boat, dressed in some elegant Jackie-O inspired outfit and endlessly grazing on tapas, a shared Paella and supping cold cava whilst watching the sun set!<br />
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That's it.... I'm going off to book that very thing right this minute, I'll update this post upon my return and try to get better pics.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-770165365181077692013-02-17T03:57:00.002-08:002013-02-17T03:57:48.876-08:00 Digital Photography Level 1 @ Gulf Photo Plus <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a Christmas gift my thoughtful husband bought me a course of photography classes since I've a fledgling interest in photography and since starting this blog I'd like to take better photos for you.<br />
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<i>"Hooray!"</i>.... I hear you all rejoice! ;-)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-Hq_N1aqR0/UQ4UqMLSp_I/AAAAAAAABog/c8Xv2YpsDoA/s1600/DSC05200_ARW_shotwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-Hq_N1aqR0/UQ4UqMLSp_I/AAAAAAAABog/c8Xv2YpsDoA/s1600/DSC05200_ARW_shotwell.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Awesome Graffiti mural outside Gulf Photo Plus gallery </span></td></tr>
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My problem is I often have a vision in my mind of a picture I want to take, but unfortunately I don't have the technical knowledge to be able create it. We have a pretty OK digital camera a Sony DSLR we got as a wedding present, but due to lack of knowledge we aren't utilising it to it's functional capacity.<br />
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We could read the manual I suppose....but in all honestly <i>who</i> reads manuals!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XJHPAD_ETQY/UQ4j1jbejrI/AAAAAAAABtk/NYrBugk-ua4/s1600/GPP+gallery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XJHPAD_ETQY/UQ4j1jbejrI/AAAAAAAABtk/NYrBugk-ua4/s1600/GPP+gallery.png" height="427" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">GPP Gallery image from their <a href="http://gulfphotoplus.com/" target="_blank">website</a></span></td></tr>
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Johan also has and interest in photography so enrolled us both on the Level 1 Digital Photography run by <a href="http://gulfphotoplus.com/" target="_blank">Gulf Photo Plus</a>, as we thought it would be a cool thing to do together.<br />
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Gulf Photo Plus run lots of courses, workshops, free events, exhibitions and seminars with prominent international photographers. <br />
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The classes run from their Dubai Gallery/Studio on Alserkel Avenue in Al Qouz, this is somewhat of an odd location tucked behind <a href="http://www.timessquarecenter.ae/" target="_blank">Time Square mall</a>, which is somewhat of an an odd mall.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIQvNyNYdL8/UQ4VLIUEOcI/AAAAAAAABos/h3H2m7n4awo/s1600/Photoclassmap.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIQvNyNYdL8/UQ4VLIUEOcI/AAAAAAAABos/h3H2m7n4awo/s1600/Photoclassmap.png" height="481" width="640" /></a></div>
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The gallery is in an industrial compound which is quite hard to find, once you do however, you discover it's a small artisan mecca of urban galleries flanked by grafftti murals, who knew! The area itself seems to be trying to develop into and bohemian hub with the addition of the <a href="http://www.ripeme.com/ripe-market/market/3/Ripe-at-The-Courtyard,-Al-Quoz" target="_blank">Ripe Organic market</a> and <a href="http://www.thelimetreecafe.com/" target="_blank">Lime Tree Cafe</a> at the nearby Courtyard.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jq46OiLaAI8/UQ4PYmtZOwI/AAAAAAAABnI/sBUhPvmwyhc/s1600/Crossbaby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jq46OiLaAI8/UQ4PYmtZOwI/AAAAAAAABnI/sBUhPvmwyhc/s1600/Crossbaby.jpg" height="400" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Grumpy baby a subject for focus & lighting </span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://gulfphotoplus.com/gpp/2013/workshops" target="_blank">Gulf Photo Plus</a> offer an array of courses with options to suit various levels and interests. The digital photography class we took ran over a weekend Friday and Sat, starting from 10am to 3pm.<br />
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Our lecturer's <a href="http://gulfphotoplus.com/workshops/instructors/25/Tonya-Colson" target="_blank">Toyna Colson</a>, assisted by Musthafa were knowledgeable and kept a good momentum to the curriculum.<br />
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In level one you learn the basic foundations, understanding what all the programmes on our camera do and the fundaments of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture" target="_blank">Aperture</a>, <a href="http://digital-photography-school.com/iso-settings" target="_blank">ISO </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed" target="_blank">Shutter Speed</a> which are the 3 cornerstones of photography.<br />
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Proper equipment care, focus and lighting are other key subjects on the agenda. <br />
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Tonya, managed our expectations that we wouldn't come away with portfolio of award winning photographs, what you do is simple experiments to practice fundamental skills.<br />
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Before you can get creative and progress to elements of composition you have to master the mathematics of photography, which to a novice is quite a lot to get your head around. Aperture is measure in F-stops, ISO in sensor sensitivity amount and shutter speed in fractions of seconds.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lc9k8L3NDxk/UQ4ZdISq_MI/AAAAAAAABp8/dHicLWhTp2w/s1600/APSSISO.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lc9k8L3NDxk/UQ4ZdISq_MI/AAAAAAAABp8/dHicLWhTp2w/s1600/APSSISO.png" height="458" width="640" /></a></div>
Each factor affects the outcome of the image and the difficult thing is each of the factors when changed directly affects the others, so you have to make a sum of your desired combination and figure out if it will work on the hoof. Not easy!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-77lp24bhKHw/UQ45Z7AoGWI/AAAAAAAABv0/lBbd25jcN70/s1600/DSC05078_ARW_shotwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-77lp24bhKHw/UQ45Z7AoGWI/AAAAAAAABv0/lBbd25jcN70/s1600/DSC05078_ARW_shotwell.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Learning about White balance</span></td></tr>
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White balance is another key aspect where you determine what kind of colour you get. This is when you have to set the camera for types of light for example artificial, sunshine or clouds, you can also do manual adjustments to get the exact exposure tones required.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uyhdrIX6RxM/UQ4VnmEHj7I/AAAAAAAABo0/0dgcflSlN8s/s1600/DSC05081_ARW_shotwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uyhdrIX6RxM/UQ4VnmEHj7I/AAAAAAAABo0/0dgcflSlN8s/s1600/DSC05081_ARW_shotwell.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Correcting the White Balance!</span></td></tr>
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Depth of field is studied in some detail as is the different ways to capture motion.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Experiments in Depth of Field</span></td></tr>
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I also realised that my inability to take the kinds of photographs I want are mostly due to the limitations of my camera lens as well as my own lack of knowledge.<br />
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I had a few 'Eureka!' moments realising that no wonder I couldn't get the shots I wanted if I'm constantly in auto mode. <br />
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Plus, going 'back to school' with your husband is quite an interesting experience as we got competitive with one another and bickered about who was doing what right and wrong, it was funny.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Experiments in motion </span></td></tr>
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You get an home work assignment which you present and group critique the next day, so it's quite an intensive few days but that's good as you come away feeling like you've learned something.<br />
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The gallery/studio is a pleasant, practical and inspiring space as they have small exhibitions and you can peruse some of the amazing professional photography for sale. However, it's a bit stuck in the middle of no-where so can be difficult to get to and from if you haven't got a car as taxi's don't always know where it is either.<br />
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All in all this was an enjoyable and worthwhile 2 day course to give a structured underpinning of the more technical aspects of digital photography.<br />
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All I need to do now is practice, practice, practice!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-69201934222600487132013-01-17T21:58:00.000-08:002013-01-17T22:09:03.516-08:00Dhow trip to Musandam - Oman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--h6pS58C5Hw/UJ-vw8a38VI/AAAAAAAABBg/Lpnm_-OypoQ/s1600/DSC04840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--h6pS58C5Hw/UJ-vw8a38VI/AAAAAAAABBg/Lpnm_-OypoQ/s1600/DSC04840.JPG" height="241" width="640" /></a></div>
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Last Novemeber we spent a absolutely fantastic weekend on a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhow" target="_blank"> Dhow</a> cruise in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musandam_Governorate" target="_blank">Musamdam</a>, which is in the neighbouring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musandam_Governorate" target="_blank">Sultanate of Oman</a>. The Musandam peninsula is an enclave of Oman that juts out into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz" target="_blank">Strait of Hormuz</a> and is famed for it's great diving and pristine fjords.<br />
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Our friend Hartty who goes annually, organised a great bunch of people for a weekend of sun, sea, diving, snorkelling and superb scenery. </div>
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As we were a large group of 16 we booked a 75ft triple decked Dhow for exclusive use with <a href="http://sheesabeach.com/" target="_blank">Sheesa Beach</a> this cost 14,000Dhs (approx £2,400) departing Thursday eve and coming back early Saturday eve.<br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">Our cruise left from Dibba port in Oman, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Dubai taking into account Thursday evening traffic. You'll also need your passoprt as you cross the U.A.E/Oman broader. </span><br />
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After you set off, you sail about 3 hours along the Oman coast to Musandam where you moor for the night in a secluded fjord. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8s1wEWpLkA/UPVDR-9tiVI/AAAAAAAABiU/hR7agWvSXvs/s1600/dhow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t8s1wEWpLkA/UPVDR-9tiVI/AAAAAAAABiU/hR7agWvSXvs/s1600/dhow.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Total cost including crew & catering was 1,000Dhs pp (£170) for non-divers and 1,400Dhs (£238) for divers inc x 4 dives. Each price includes x 2 nights stay, breakfast, lunch, dinner, water and soft drinks. You can also take your own alcoholic drinks, snacks and other food you may want.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Considering the price of a nice dinner out in Dubai, the whole cruise is really good value for a brilliant weekend away experience.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">This way to the shower<br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">This particular Dhow was brand new, literally we were it's forth voyage and it had all mod cons A/C, in room showers and a communal flushing toilet.</span><br />
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However the Air con generator was very noisy, in addition our cabin was on top of the engine so when I lay in my bunk my whole body completely vibrated.<br />
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This mean't I couldn't sleep in the cabin so we opted for al fresco slumber on deck, which was amazing in itself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sw9krsMmQVI/UKo1R23mWsI/AAAAAAAABNc/OCmKWthozDo/s1600/DSC04718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sw9krsMmQVI/UKo1R23mWsI/AAAAAAAABNc/OCmKWthozDo/s1600/DSC04718.JPG" height="355" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Johan enjoying a misty morning swim</td></tr>
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Falling asleep watching shooting stars and being gently rocked by the motion of the ocean, then waking to a misty mountain vista, perfect!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQuBrtX7t4g/UKoyNVWqrRI/AAAAAAAABMs/7wFw_8XK6Mc/s1600/DSC04712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQuBrtX7t4g/UKoyNVWqrRI/AAAAAAAABMs/7wFw_8XK6Mc/s1600/DSC04712.JPG" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
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The food was OK, obviously as you're on a boat it's not going to be nuevo cuisine as they have to cater for generic tastes, so it was basic stodge food.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jy0KBU2Anw/UPVDk4AtaTI/AAAAAAAABic/9DE-WxzlMAw/s1600/Breakfast+dhow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jy0KBU2Anw/UPVDk4AtaTI/AAAAAAAABic/9DE-WxzlMAw/s1600/Breakfast+dhow.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Typical breakfast is coffee, fruit, cereal, juice, toast and eggs .<br />
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Lunch, was fresh salads, potatoes, rice, bread, 2 hot choices like curry or fish. <br />
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Similar for dinner with hearty lasagne or grilled shrimp, whilst for dessert we got apple pie and ice cream.<br />
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The crew and our dive instructor were fantastic throughout, as such on top of the trip costs we left a big tip for them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nFj_gdXxBy4/UPVTJccFR_I/AAAAAAAABjk/Wql_W4APEl8/s1600/DSC04814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nFj_gdXxBy4/UPVTJccFR_I/AAAAAAAABjk/Wql_W4APEl8/s1600/DSC04814.JPG" height="512" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh clams!</td></tr>
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In particular, our twenty something instructor Dillon who is mature beyond his years, a consummate dive master and all round lovely guy. His passion for diving and marine preservation was infectious, he's like a real life <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merman" target="_blank">Merman</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning dive briefing </td></tr>
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The divers got in two dives per day, the first day wasn't great visibility but the second was excellent.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swO0kDOYuFw/UKpALom3zTI/AAAAAAAABPg/VBViOUUlJLA/s1600/DSC04799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swO0kDOYuFw/UKpALom3zTI/AAAAAAAABPg/VBViOUUlJLA/s1600/DSC04799.JPG" height="354" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top deck Yoga</td></tr>
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Those not diving can instead, snorkel, kayak, swim, sunbathe, read, fish, snooze, Yoga - literally whatever you fancy it's very relaxed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ivQtmTblYk/UKo3mqypaQI/AAAAAAAABN0/YPAV4siohqk/s1600/DSC04748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ivQtmTblYk/UKo3mqypaQI/AAAAAAAABN0/YPAV4siohqk/s1600/DSC04748.JPG" height="355" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls off Kayaking </td></tr>
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At dusk a few of us set off in the small boat fishing, we chased shoals of barracudas but didn't get so much as a bite.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqHsPgfjCS8/UKo_tlBarwI/AAAAAAAABPY/jWScn-KX6dw/s1600/DSC04782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqHsPgfjCS8/UKo_tlBarwI/AAAAAAAABPY/jWScn-KX6dw/s1600/DSC04782.JPG" height="356" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glamorous fishing darlings!</td></tr>
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Instead we settled on watching the amazing sunset whilst supping ice cold beers.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bqmOfeLSurg/UKo_Jzq2p_I/AAAAAAAABPQ/6xZ6IO77IVc/s1600/DSC04771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bqmOfeLSurg/UKo_Jzq2p_I/AAAAAAAABPQ/6xZ6IO77IVc/s1600/DSC04771.JPG" height="356" width="640" /></a></div>
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The next morning the divers headed off early, and as the boat moved location to meet them we were followed by a playful pod of dolphins.<br />
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As I discovered, frolicking dolphins are quite difficult to photograph!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMMcoz96Lpw/UKpDrMS-JgI/AAAAAAAABQk/lWW_9_kQ6bE/s1600/Dolphcrop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMMcoz96Lpw/UKpDrMS-JgI/AAAAAAAABQk/lWW_9_kQ6bE/s1600/Dolphcrop.JPG" height="536" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only snap I managed to get - shan't wait on David Attenborough calling!</td></tr>
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Then once moored a shoal of rays passed by, the snorkelling was amazing, beautiful coral, Parrot fish, Eels, Nemo-Clown fish and even Turtles were spotted.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--9zvd8n74yQ/UKo67UjU41I/AAAAAAAABOM/xYFJ4OQvdiM/s1600/DSC04820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--9zvd8n74yQ/UKo67UjU41I/AAAAAAAABOM/xYFJ4OQvdiM/s1600/DSC04820.JPG" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
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One infamous sea creature, marked by it's absence from our trip was a Shark sighting of any variety. Apparently, there are hardly any Sharks left in these waters due to excessive over fishing.<br />
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We eventually did see the sharks as we returned to Dibba port, however the Sharks were all dead and lined up on the harbour ready to trade. Officially, Shark fishing is illegal or at least quanity controlled here, however as it's poorly policed the black market thrives driven by the Far Eastern demand for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup" target="_blank">Shark fin</a>s.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giqHxzZZH-w/ULcOs8IwhkI/AAAAAAAABRo/QHKoDbqQttM/s1600/Sharks.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giqHxzZZH-w/ULcOs8IwhkI/AAAAAAAABRo/QHKoDbqQttM/s1600/Sharks.png" height="216" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't get photos so these are from the investigation by The National</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup" target="_blank">Shark fin soup</a></span><span style="line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup" target="_blank"> </a>is a delicacy in the Far East, selling for US$150 (550Dhs) a bowl. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A kilo of shark fins sells for upwards of 300 Dhs approx £60 <span style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 15px;">and goes on to fetch almost six times that amount at the Hong Kong</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnH45WjFoAs/ULcO0-kwSoI/AAAAAAAABRw/qOH_pla46F0/s1600/Shark+Fins.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnH45WjFoAs/ULcO0-kwSoI/AAAAAAAABRw/qOH_pla46F0/s1600/Shark+Fins.png" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">Demand drives a worldwide black-market trade in sharks, with up to 100 million killed each year.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No species is safe, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerhead_shark" target="_blank">hammer heads</a>, <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reef_shark" target="_blank">grey reef sharks</a>, lemon sharks, carpet sharks,</span> even the majestic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark" target="_blank">Whale shark</a> the largest fish in existence is indiscriminately fished for it's fins.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 15px;">Most, including Whale sharks and Hammerheads are caught so young that they haven't even had chance to reproduce, thus depleting long term stocks further. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">further reading on the subject see The National's </span><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/more-protection-for-sharks-sought-as-slaughter-continues" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">article</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and some organisations trying to stop over fishing of sharks in the Arabian seas include - </span><a href="http://www.sharkwatcharabia.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Shark Watch Arabia</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://sharkquestarabia.bbnow.org/index.php" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Shark Quest Arabia,</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> or check out this </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Qbq7lQmAk" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">film</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Witnessing this first hand was the only down of the whole trip, although good in away as it drew our attention to the scale at which this is happening everyday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a happier note, we<span style="line-height: 15px;">'d </span><span style="line-height: 15px;">thoroughly</span><span style="line-height: 15px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 15px;">recommend</span><span style="line-height: 15px;"> a Dhow trip to Musandam and t</span>here are lots of options for Dhow cruises. You don't have to hire a whole Dhow exclusively like we did, if you're a couple or a smaller group you can join a pre-organised trip and if you don't want to stay on-board overnight you can just do a day cruise which runs from 11am-6pm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were really pleased with the pricing, staff and service so can recommend going with <a href="http://sheesabeach.com/" style="text-align: left;">http://sheesabeach.com</a>/ - which will upset other 'Dhow cruise companies' (you know who you are!!), who keep relentlessly spamming our blog comments!</span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-32211257990882985052013-01-01T05:46:00.000-08:002013-02-17T04:04:47.003-08:00Celebrating New Year in Dubai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This year we celebrated New Years Eve with friends at the mass beach party that is <a href="http://sandance.ae/" target="_blank">Sandance</a> at <a href="http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/" target="_blank">Atlantis The Palm</a>.<br />
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We opted for the 500Dhs VIP tickets which made the experience a whole lot better, as you get access to a separate raised area with VIP bars and toilets, less queuing and hassle so well worth the extra pennies.<br />
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The sold out line up included <a href="http://www.ritaora.com/us/home" target="_blank">Rita Ora</a> - who stole the show, <a href="http://elliegoulding.com/" target="_blank">Ellie Goulding</a> who was slightly disappointing, DJ's Zane Lowe, <a href="http://www.rogersanchez.com/" target="_blank">Roger Sanchez </a>and <a href="http://www.paulvandyk.com/" target="_blank">Paul Van Dyk </a>. Thousands of people were there counting in the New Year and witnessing an awe-inspiring 10 minute firework extravaganza!! </div>
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I wasn't drinking and was designated driver as getting taxi's can be a nightmare so we headed home at 12:30 - not as wild as we used to be I'm afraid, but a great time was still had by all;-)</div>
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2012 was a great year for us in Dubai and 2013 is likely to be even better!<br />
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Thank you everyone who has read our blog and we wish you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2013!!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-78600734562337965832012-12-12T00:07:00.000-08:002012-12-12T22:38:07.658-08:00I've got O.C.D - Obsessive Cushion Disorder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Some time ago a friend diagnosed me with O.C.D. - Obsessive.Cushion.Disorder.<br />
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It seems I buy a higher than average amount of cushions. Well it pretty much extents to all home furnishings really lamps, candles, picture frames, anything faffy, I love it all!<br />
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As I could easily bankrupt us by buying cushions alone I have to work on a budget. So, I utilize my signature strategy whereby I invest in a few key items from more expensive stores - a few 'feature' cushions if you will and then showcase them against a backdrop of cheap 'n' chic cushions. </div>
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I'm a massive fan of this strategy and utilise it in most of our home furnishings and my own clothes wardrobe as well. I'll invest in good quality classic key pieces and then buy the rest of my stuff form cheap high street shops.<br />
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I did the same with our <a href="http://dubaidays.blogspot.com/2012/04/tree-in-desert.html" target="_blank">Christmas tree</a> where I bought a job lot of cheap decorations from <a href="http://www.carrefouruae.com/default.aspx?langauge=en&country=uae" target="_blank">Carrefour</a> and then a few 'feature' decorations from <a href="http://www.potterybarn.com/" target="_blank">Potttery Barn</a> and <a href="http://www.crateandbarrel.com/" target="_blank">Crate and Barrel </a>.<br />
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To prove just how extreme my O.C.D condition is I've taken inventory and we have 31 cushions in total, I've catalogued a selection below for you.<br />
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<b><b><a href="http://www.marinagulf.com/" target="_blank">Marina - Exotic Home Interiors</a></b></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q89i0vJ-d7s/UKJISs4IB_I/AAAAAAAABFs/cfNS1wEDWuk/s1600/DSC03960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q89i0vJ-d7s/UKJISs4IB_I/AAAAAAAABFs/cfNS1wEDWuk/s1600/DSC03960.JPG" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.marinagulf.com/" target="_blank">Marina</a> is my favourite interior store in Dubai, closely followed by <a href="http://www.theone.com/" target="_blank">The One</a>. The only draw back of these two delightful establishments is they're both pretty expensive, so I have to purchase from them sparingly.<br />
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<b>Above: </b>Handmade patch work oversize floor cushions - Large - 369 Dhs each for cover and inner cushion. I adore these floor cushions, they're super comfy and get lots of compliments from guests, they also add a modern Arabic influence to our home.<br />
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<b>Below:</b> White Medium 275 Dhs each for cover and inner cushion. </div>
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<b><b>Bur Dubai - Textile Souk</b></b></div>
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<b>Top & Below:</b> Small purple Indian embellished square cushion cover 10 Dhs for two. I also bought a bright blue one but the zipper instantly broke so have to admit they're rubbish quality but at that price I wasn't expecting them to last long and this one looks great.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x5WBFcHOTgw/ULx-E6IqXtI/AAAAAAAABZo/s4EItTOPo30/s1600/DSC03952.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x5WBFcHOTgw/ULx-E6IqXtI/AAAAAAAABZo/s4EItTOPo30/s1600/DSC03952.JPG" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/" target="_blank">Ikea</a></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/" target="_blank">Ikea</a> is great and I try to go about twice a year if I can ever talk Johan into it, for more on that see <a href="http://dubaidays.blogspot.com/2011/11/ikea-relationship-test.html" target="_blank">Ikea: A relationship test. </a></div>
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The <a href="http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/" target="_blank">Ikea</a> cushions featured below are from Ikea's new more premium range and the fabric and finish is really good quality. </div>
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<b>Below: </b>Swedish design embroidered cushion cover <a href="http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/catalog/products/00164690/" target="_blank">ALVINE SPETSIG </a> @ 55 Dhs . They are made from 100% heavy cotton and are button close as opposed to zip which I think is super elegant. </div>
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The only down side to Ikea cushions (and bedding) is they have their own Ikea sizing, rather than standard sizing so you have to buy both the cover and the actual cushion from Ikea. Fortunately the Ikea <a href="http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/catalog/products/30160068/" target="_blank">inner cushion</a> prices range from 9 -19 Dhs each so they're cheap.<br />
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<b>Above & Right : </b>Blue & White <a href="http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/catalog/products/10217443/" target="_blank">EMMIE KVIST</a> patterned cushion cover 59 Dhs.<br />
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I particularly like this cushion as it's reversible, patterned on one side and striped on the other with a cute button fastening detail.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.zarahome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category/zarahomeae/en/zarahomens/269514/Cushions" target="_blank">Zara Home</a></b></div>
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I love <a href="http://www.zarahome.com/" target="_blank">Zara home</a> and am addicted to their <a href="http://www.zarahome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/zarahomegb/en/zarahomegb/153512/25012/Ginger%2BLily%2BAir%2BFreshener%2BSticks%2B(100%2Bml)?pageSize=0&tipoCatentry=" target="_blank">White Jasmine home fragrance</a>, which is the lovely smell that hits you as you walk in the stores. I really like their designs and styling, however I do find them pricey and poor quality. The glass wear and ceramic's are paper thin and the fabrics quality rarely correlates to the price tag.<br />
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Therefore, I try to wait until the sale is on, I stared lovingly at these Grey Duchess Satin bed cushions for months waiting for the sale and hoping they wouldn't sell out.....they do say <i>'everything comes to he who waits!'</i><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7KqbJeklUo/ULdSm4OUwbI/AAAAAAAABTs/4FQe-4k6Iuk/s1600/DSC_0124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7KqbJeklUo/ULdSm4OUwbI/AAAAAAAABTs/4FQe-4k6Iuk/s1600/DSC_0124.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><b><br /></b></b><b>Above: </b>Medium grey duchess satin, cover only sale price 150 Dhs each and small rectangle washed out blue linen, sale price 75 Dhs.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.homecentrestores.com/en/home-decor" target="_blank">Home Centre</a></b><br />
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I'm a big fan of <a href="http://www.homecentrestores.com/en/home-decor" target="_blank">Home Centre</a> as an alternative to <a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/" target="_blank">Ikea</a> in the cheap 'N' chic category. People turn their noses up at <a href="http://www.homecentrestores.com/en/home-decor" target="_blank">Home Centre </a>but I've had some great buys from there, decent quality for the money and they do great sales, sometimes upto 70% off. </div>
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<b>Below</b>:White rectangle frill cover & cushion 50 Dhs each.<br />
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<b>Right: </b>Cream plain velvet and striped velvet square cushion covers - 39 Dhs each.<br />
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<b>Below: White</b> glitter frayed square cushion cover 29 Dhs.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8a9-n5x79Y/UKJIj4BJfJI/AAAAAAAABF8/TMYOxoznlBY/s1600/DSC03967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8a9-n5x79Y/UKJIj4BJfJI/AAAAAAAABF8/TMYOxoznlBY/s1600/DSC03967.JPG" height="356" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Below: </b>Pretty small rectangle cream lace cushion on sale 15 Dhs. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmyvpvwWXnc/UKJK5XUw-NI/AAAAAAAABHc/JlyVuaBgOmY/s1600/DSC_0103_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmyvpvwWXnc/UKJK5XUw-NI/AAAAAAAABHc/JlyVuaBgOmY/s1600/DSC_0103_1.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Below: </b>Grey & cream striped satin cushion and cover 39 Dhs.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dc_ByqwFqJk/UMcxqTuZogI/AAAAAAAABb4/BdeRY-Hm3gE/s1600/DSC04956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dc_ByqwFqJk/UMcxqTuZogI/AAAAAAAABb4/BdeRY-Hm3gE/s1600/DSC04956.JPG" height="356" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Below: </b>Cream satin chevron bench cushions 29 Dhs.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.carrefouruae.com/default.aspx?langauge=en&country=uae" target="_blank">Carrefour</a></b></div>
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These were all an absolute bargain and are inclusive of cover and inner!!<br />
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<b>Below:</b> Red multi-colour cushion 29 Dhs. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MhQ45C0327g/ULx3h9vzyqI/AAAAAAAABYU/-9nqA71y8Bw/s1600/DSC_0101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MhQ45C0327g/ULx3h9vzyqI/AAAAAAAABYU/-9nqA71y8Bw/s1600/DSC_0101.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Below:</b> Large white stain embossed cushion 30 Dhs. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRmVYfz1t6E/UKJK9pkxdrI/AAAAAAAABHs/HEEnKSaq6Oo/s1600/DSC_0105_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gRmVYfz1t6E/UKJK9pkxdrI/AAAAAAAABHs/HEEnKSaq6Oo/s1600/DSC_0105_1.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Below: </b>Mink silky sheen cushion and Gold be-jewelled cushion 15 Dhs each.</div>
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My cushion lust is insatiable!!...............I still want more, I always want even more cushions every time I go shopping.<br />
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I am now wondering if I could get away with buying new cushions for Christmas. Like Christmas themed cushions used just for Christmas then packed away for the rest of the year.......I need to think of a way to sneak that past hubby.<br />
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Maybe it's just me? Or is there anyone else out there with Obsessive.Cushion. Disorder?<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We needed a new brunch venue as we often have visitors wanting to experience the definitive Dubai Friday brunch. M</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">y online research, plus many personal recommendations made us try <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Exclusive-Offers1/Dining-Offers/Brunch/Al-Qasr-Brunch1/" target="_blank">Friday brunch at Al Qasr</a>. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4JU1TnJElQI/UAZxO5xzVcI/AAAAAAAAA3M/IZ-jeWb10d4/s1600/Al+Qasrfront.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4JU1TnJElQI/UAZxO5xzVcI/AAAAAAAAA3M/IZ-jeWb10d4/s640/Al+Qasrfront.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Al Qasr, is the recipient of many awards for it's brunch - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150192982658025.310003.124603733024&type=3" target="_blank">BBC Good Food Best Brunch 2011</a>, <a href="http://www.timeoutdubai.com/restaurants-awards-2010" target="_blank">Time Out Awards 2010 </a>highly commended brunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's located in the hotel of the same name, nearby <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/" target="_blank">Madinat Jumeriah</a>. The hotel is beautiful, grandiose & glamorous yet sympathetic to its Arabian roots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Exclusive-Offers1/Dining-Offers/Brunch/Al-Qasr-Brunch1/" target="_blank">Al Qasr</a>, is famous for being so vast that you get issued with a map to help you navigate all the buffet area's. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CY349wlS1-4/UKJjaZFosdI/AAAAAAAABJg/z4QbGXBd6eY/s1600/IMG_2210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CY349wlS1-4/UKJjaZFosdI/AAAAAAAABJg/z4QbGXBd6eY/s1600/IMG_2210.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you enter the massive mezzine lobby, brunch is a short walk down a flanked staircase where a glass of bubbly awaits you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However you may have to queue down the staircase for 5mins or so before you're seated. The brunch itself is split between the hotels three restaurants </span><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Arboretum/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Aboretum</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Signature-Dining/MJs/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">MJ's Steak House</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Al-Hambra/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Al Hambra </a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been twice now once in the summer seated indoor at <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Al-Hambra/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Al Hambra</a> with the lovely SJ. Plus, a few weeks ago with the lovey Justine where we enjoyed outside seating at <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Arboretum/" target="_blank">Arboretum</a> terrace, which was nicer. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Al-Hambra/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Al Hambra</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, interior has a very different feel to the airy <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Restaurants--Nightlife/Casual-Dining/Arboretum/" target="_blank">Arboretum</a> as it's less glam and more rustic, brick and taverna style. Still pleasant and in the winter especially nice on the t</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">errance. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fizz with SJ in Al Hambra</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/Exclusive-Offers1/Dining-Offers/Brunch/Al-Qasr-Brunch1/" target="_blank">Al Qasr</a> brunch is great for celebrations and large groups as the atmosphere is sophisticated and lively, great for people watching and checking out fab outfits. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mojito's on the terrace with Justine</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The layout is vast, with a station for everything you definitely need a brunch strategy for this brunch and it can get really busy in certain area's.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Round 1: Hit the seafood & Sushi stations</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SJ got the the award for most variety of fish & seafood items squashed on to one plate, but then she is the reigning champion at this in general.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The sushi quality wise was ok, I can't say it blew me away but it looked the part. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I followed it up with a second starter </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">plate a curious mix of mini eggs benedict, some kind of oozing cheese soaked, artery clogging brioche which was amazing, plus chirzo and meatball tapas.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Round 2: Hit the mains</span></b></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next round was main plates again the choice is obscene. Roasts, grills, BBQ meats and fish, Chinese dim sum, Malaysian noodle and stir fry, Indian curries you name it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm so predictable I went for traditional roast both times, the first time they'd unfortunately run out of the Beef Wellington an outrage! There's always a queue for the Beef Wellington so you have to get in early.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I managed to consoled my self with big hunks of roast beef, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">divine confit of duck with red </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">cabbage</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, Yorkshire pud and gravy, all delicious.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had my roast plan, Johan had his usual 'Meat' plan but converted it to a 'Meat and Pasta Plan' when he saw the fresh hand made pasta station. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Round 3: Get a sugar rush or go cheesy </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The desert selection is an extravaganza with 4 separate area's dedicated to just deserts, everything is available this is definitely a brunch for desert lovers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One is dedicated soley to chocolate in every imaginable form! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On top of that there is also separate ice-cream, waffle's, dognuts and a candy station. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I won the desert choose, with a mix plate of, Marble cheesecake, Strawberry cheesecake, Duce de Leche and Pecan mini ice cream cone, a Red current partfit, a Mini key lime pie, one milk and one white choc dipped strawberries and a Blueberry macaroon. Heavenly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is also a fruit station I didn't visit that though, who wants fruit when there's so much cake to be eaten!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or if you prefer savory the cheese selection is pretty good to, Justine being veggie sampled most of the cheeses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Al Qasr, is a spectacular brunch in a gorgeous, setting especially good for special occasions and visitors as you also get some great photo opportunities of the <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Burj-Al-Arab/" target="_blank">Burj Al Arab</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's also conveniently located for after brunch drinks at nearby Madinat so </span><span style="background-color: white;">after brunch we popped to Trader Vic's for a</span><span style="background-color: white;"> post brunch cocktail. W</span><span style="background-color: white;">e all sat nursing our Peach tree bunch's, </span><span style="background-color: white;">groaning, needing a napp and hoping for a second wind else we'd be in bed by 6pm. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Al Qsar is pricey at 525 Dhs (approx £95) for all inclusive alcohol and 425 (£75) with no </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">alcohol. </span></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">t's worth the price tag though, the setting and location are superb and what the food may lack in flavour it make up for in variety and presentation. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-57725605085817851882012-11-13T04:41:00.000-08:002012-11-13T04:41:45.183-08:00Mountain Biking Wadi Bih<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A while back I got 'forced' by my biking loving hubby into a weekend biking trip to Wadi Bih, described in the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/UAE-Off-Road-Explorer-Publishing/dp/9948033361" target="_blank">UAE Off-Road Guide</a> book as "The UAE's answer to the Grand Canyon"...gulp! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">A rare sight...me and a bicycle!</span></td></tr>
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Wadi Bih has a mountain road that covers approx 75 kilometres, hosting the annual <a href="http://www.wadibih.com/home.htm" target="_blank">Wadi Bih run</a> and <a href="http://www.wadiadventure.com/home.htm" target="_blank">Mountain biking challenge, </a>neither of which are for the faint hearted. </div>
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I hired a ladies mountain bike from <a href="http://www.wbs.ae/default.aspx" target="_blank">Wolfies bike shop on Sheik Zayed road</a>, unfortunately they'd run out of men's hire bikes that weekend so after calling the hotel, we arranged to hire one from there. </div>
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Turned out to be some old local ladies bike, Johan was quite worried when she came wheeling it out to reception but it turned out to be kick ass <a href="http://www.hummerbikes.com/models.html" target="_blank">Hummer</a>. </div>
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We set out Thursday evening to <a href="http://www.goldentulipdibba.com/" target="_blank">The Golden Tuplip, Dibba</a> where we would be spending the night. The drive from Dubai took about 2.5 hours with Thursday rush hour traffic and you cross the boarder to Oman so you'll need your passports. </div>
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Arriving at about 21:30pm once checked in we just had time for a quick beer before bed. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Whilst clean, <a href="http://www.goldentulipdibba.com/" target="_blank">The Golden Tuplip</a> has seen better days. I suppose it was quite cool in a retro 'must have been top notch in the 80's' kind of way. Of course it was totally fine for our one night purpose. </span></div>
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Indulging in hearty early breakfast the following morning and meeting up with our friends who'd be joining us, off we popped on our mountain adventure. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">All the fresh fish baking in the sun</span></td></tr>
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As you exit <a href="http://www.goldentulipdibba.com/" target="_blank">The Golden Tulip</a> you briefly cycle the coast road which is really pretty. Generally, sea air often has a fishy waft to it but at one point the pungent aroma was over whelming. We realised this was due to the vast mats of fish laid out to dry in the sun along the road.<br />
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More nature came in the form of some serpentine road kill...I swear I didn't do it!!<br />
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With the sun blearing down it sure gets hot so make sure you take plenty of water, we had a brief rest at about 8km then it was time to hit the road again.<br />
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Unfortunately after about another 5km I had, had enough. <br />
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This was frustrating and I wasn't being wimpy, I wasn't even tried form the cycling I could have gone about another 20km or so easy, I reckon.<br />
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No, my problem was of a more delicate nature.....a chaffing issue.<br />
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The roads are extremely rocky and bumpy, riding over which causes terrible friction in certain places.<br />
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Mountain biking amateur that I am, I didn't know to procure some of those special cycling shorts with a fake bottom in them or to apply liberal lashings of Vaseline to ones delicate areas to prevent this.<br />
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Also, I didn't have any gloves so my hands were red raw and blistered and I just couldn't hold on any longer.<br />
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Saddle sore and hobbling I could just about manage the 12 km back...ouch!<br />
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And all those hills that had been fun powering down shouting "<i>Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee</i>" on the way up....weren't so fun on the the return journey!<br />
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It was definitely worth it though the scenery was amazing and it feels so liberating cycling along with the wind blowing in your face, it's also great is to get out of the city.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Beautiful mountain views!</span></td></tr>
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Our round trip was a respectable 25km, although our friends carried on and ending up doing about 50km.<br />
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I would definitely recommend mountain biking in Wadi Bih as a great weekend trip out of the city. Regardless of your level of experience biking as you can do as much or little as is you want. Just be sure you remember gloves, fake bum and Vaseline!!<br />
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We spent the afternoon lazing on the beach and finally my reward....a well earned beer, nothing quite compares to a cold beer after a day out adventuring.<br />
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P.S. The next day I was walking like John Wayne!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-52261724602848153132012-10-17T05:37:00.000-07:002012-10-17T05:56:29.096-07:00Anniversary Dinner @ The Ivy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6RlkFUPHjGs/UGlIMmJZgnI/AAAAAAAABAk/vuU0DLZgI0Y/s1600/Ivy+Dubai.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6RlkFUPHjGs/UGlIMmJZgnI/AAAAAAAABAk/vuU0DLZgI0Y/s640/Ivy+Dubai.png" width="640" /></a></div>
It was my turn to plan our anniversary celebration this year as Johan was to be away with work and only flying back the morning of our anniversary. As such, i<span style="background-color: white;">t would to be a simple romantic dinner, on my short list of Dubai venues were, </span><a href="http://www.grosvenorhouse-dubai.com/en/grosvenor-house-dubai-restaurants-bars" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Torro, Torro</a><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><a href="http://www.lpmdubai.ae/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">La Petite Maison</a><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><a href="http://www.theivy.ae/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">The Ivy</a><span style="background-color: white;">. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I took my Mum to the</span><a href="http://www.the-ivy.co.uk/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank"> Ivy in London</a><span style="background-color: white;"> a few years ago and it was amazing, nestled in hustle and bustle of theatre land, it's bursting with old school charm and art deco glamour. Seeing as you don't find either of those two things often in Dubai, I opted to take a punt on </span><a href="http://www.theivy.ae/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">The Ivy Dubai</a><span style="background-color: white;">, hoping it would being similar.</span><br />
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No sooner than I'd made the booking, I started having reservations about this choice as how would they re-create the atmosphere of the famous original here in Dubai?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy 2nd Anniversary! </td></tr>
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Based on previous experiences, creating ambience isn't a speciality in Dubai restaurants. Often I find that what should be an amazing dinning experience is lacking a certain, essential,<i> je ne se que</i>. Which is what makes the difference between a good and great restaurant.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I</span><span style="background-color: white;">'d already been dissapointed by <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/" target="_blank">Nobu</a> and <a href="http://dubai.armanihotels.com/dine/dine_armani_peck_en.html" target="_blank">Armani Peck</a> (though the later not due to the food), </span><span style="background-color: white;">so how would <a href="http://www.theivy.ae/" target="_blank">The Ivy </a> shape up</span><span style="background-color: white;">? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">It didn't start that well, walking through the mall at <a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Jumeirah-Emirates-Towers/" target="_blank">Jumeriah </a></span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Jumeirah-Emirates-Towers/" target="_blank">Emirates</a></span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.jumeirah.com/Hotels-and-Resorts/Reiseziele/Dubai/Jumeirah-Emirates-Towers/" target="_blank"> Tower</a> to enter, allbeit a very posh mall, with a little art exhibition outside The Ivy. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">I just can't get used to fancy restaurants being in the middle of malls, I automatically feel like I must be going to Chilli's. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">From the outside it looks like an Irish bar but don't let that deceive you. I</span><span style="background-color: white;">nside the space is beautiful decorated with sumptuous deco style chandeliers, dark wood and the same iconic Tiffany styled stained glass windows. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">We went Tuesday evening, and although quiet, it </span><span style="background-color: white;">didn't feel tragic as is often the case midweek. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A blush Kir Imperial </td></tr>
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It has to be said the Ivy Dubai has 'it'. So <span style="background-color: white;">I've tried to identify some factors imo that make up the 'it' - the </span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>je ne se que</i> if you like. N</span><span style="background-color: white;">ot in any particular order. </span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">a) Lighting - </b><span style="background-color: white;">Hallelujah! Finally a restaurant that hasn't got a 100 Watts bulb plugged in to every socket, cranked up to the max. Lighting at the Ivy is perfect, subtle, soft, romantic (aka flattering) but not so dark that you can't see your dinner.</span><br />
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<b>b)</b> <b>Crispness of linnens - </b><span style="background-color: white;">There is something extremely depressing about a flaccid table cloth, or in fact no table cloth at all. Not a requirement for more casual/gastro style places but at higher end places I want a table cloth that stands to attention.</span><br />
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<b>c) Consumate but not intrusive service - </b>The<b> </b><span style="background-color: white;">staff were friendly and pleasant but not, insincere and fake. They got a bit confused at the end of the evening over a few small things but nothing major. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Not like at <a href="http://www.rivingtongrill.ae/" target="_blank">The Rivington Gril</a>l, where they told me the pie I'd ordered would be chicken and leek and when it arrived it was fish and potato. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--RzviddLGLU/UAfebziDZ_I/AAAAAAAAA7A/M9FAaEaYpAs/s1600/Crabivy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--RzviddLGLU/UAfebziDZ_I/AAAAAAAAA7A/M9FAaEaYpAs/s320/Crabivy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dressed crab </td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: white;">d) Signature red roses - </b><span style="background-color: white;">Two classic red roses on each table </span><span style="background-color: white;">and the theme followed through in the bathroom arrangements. </span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">E) Silver table ware - </b><span style="background-color: white;">Nothing quite compares to real hallmarked heavy silver tableware and by that I mean - cutlery, bread bowl, salt and pepper pot, jugs, side dishes for sauces etc.</span><br />
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<b>F) Good Appetif - </b><span style="background-color: white;">The exact amount of raspberry liqueur in my Kir </span><span style="background-color: white;">Imperial, making it blush not dark purple a mistake made in many places. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>G) Great food - </b></span><span style="background-color: white;">The food was excellent. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3yl1dYyvFSs/UAfco2OBmHI/AAAAAAAAA64/jLBrVtP5wN4/s1600/DSC_00982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3yl1dYyvFSs/UAfco2OBmHI/AAAAAAAAA64/jLBrVtP5wN4/s320/DSC_00982.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crispy Pork belly</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I </span><span style="background-color: white;">started with the dressed dorset crab, I'm partial to crab particularly in a pretty dress. It was everything I wanted, light, tangy suace, good consistency, sitting atop it's own toasted cushion. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Johan had Beetroot and goat cheese salad that he said was excellent but I thought it was just fair. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">For our mains I had roast pork belly with pigs pudding, which I'm never usually a fan of but this was a completely different to typical fry up pigs pudding. The taste and texture were more akin to chicken's livers, delicious!</span><br />
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Also, I find in Dubai many places cook pork belly Asian style which is quite soggy for my taste, I like the fat crispy which this one was complete with crunchy crackling.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RmSQeJEKOIk/UEX3gdsuqzI/AAAAAAAAA_M/w59T2t0-mSE/s1600/IMAG0321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RmSQeJEKOIk/UEX3gdsuqzI/AAAAAAAAA_M/w59T2t0-mSE/s400/IMAG0321.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French Onion Soup</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">We enjoyed The Ivy so much that evening, we returned two weeks later as they have a live jazz band on </span><span style="background-color: white;">Thursdays and being the start to the weekend it was busier than our previous mid-week visit. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">This time we had the <a href="http://www.theivy.ae/menu/chefs-plate/" target="_blank">'Chef's Plate'</a> as it's excellent value @ 3</span><span style="background-color: white;"> courses and 1 side for 200dhs, it changes weekly and you choose from a selection of 3 starters, 3 mains and desserts.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JLRcqnvzJjU/UEX3dn3EJAI/AAAAAAAAA_E/pVT5xzhkgCI/s1600/IMAG0320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JLRcqnvzJjU/UEX3dn3EJAI/AAAAAAAAA_E/pVT5xzhkgCI/s320/IMAG0320.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aged Tomato & Mozzarella </td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Now, we always share our food with each other, often we'll eat half our dish and then swap unless one of us has ordered something the other hates. </span><span style="background-color: white;">It sounds sweet doesn't it, but it's actually a competition to see who made the best food choice and is the victor and who will have food envy and be the LOOSA!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Johan started with a French Onion soup sporting a gigantic Guryve crouton and I opted for the Aged Tomato and Mozzarella brushetta.</span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vn0GGq0rHYw/UEX4ECkBj_I/AAAAAAAAA_U/T_MKRSvH2Y0/s1600/IMAG0322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vn0GGq0rHYw/UEX4ECkBj_I/AAAAAAAAA_U/T_MKRSvH2Y0/s400/IMAG0322.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry Cod</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Both we good and against a lesser opponent the brushetta would have had it in the bag, but on this occasion it was no match for that giant oozy-soup soaked crouton! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">So johan won that choose. </span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
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For mains I'd selected the Indian spiced cod and Johan the rib of beef. Annoyingly, Johan also won that choose as well.<br />
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The cod was under spiced and over cooked, it was very dry, whereas the rib beef was mouth-melty tender and came preached on creamy mash and gravy - dreamy! Luckily due to the rules of our little competition I got half the rib-beef and Johan got half the parched cod, result!<br />
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Johan finished with cheese which wasn't anything special, meaning I won the dessert choose with the most buttery smelling cherry pie with cream angliase - which was of course perfectly presented in a little silver jug. However, this still mean't Johan was the overall winner.....I hate loosing the food choose.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UW3_Smj9fnE/UEX4fR22SiI/AAAAAAAAA_g/JZv3ecUfN2k/s1600/IMAG0327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UW3_Smj9fnE/UEX4fR22SiI/AAAAAAAAA_g/JZv3ecUfN2k/s320/IMAG0327.jpg" width="188" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Cherry Pie 'Before'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0igkKAUG2n0/UEX4od7noYI/AAAAAAAAA_o/ikF_oWIWgmA/s1600/IMAG0329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0igkKAUG2n0/UEX4od7noYI/AAAAAAAAA_o/ikF_oWIWgmA/s320/IMAG0329.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry Pie 'After'</td></tr>
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Aside from where it's located and it's exterior, The Ivy Dubai does a surprisingly good job at delivering an authentic Ivy experience. O<span style="background-color: white;">bviously</span><span style="background-color: white;"> its never going to be exactly the same, but t</span>wo positive visits and ticks in all the boxes, means The Ivy is our new favourite restaurant in Dubai, great for a romantic date or a some chilled weekend glamour.<span style="background-color: white;"> </span>Only down side was we weren't able to use our trusty Entertainer voucher book:-(<br />
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<i>PS. Apologies again for bad photo quality you'll be pleased to know I've know purchased a new phone with a really good camera so better food pics in future.</i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-46032241959435130862012-09-23T06:42:00.000-07:002012-10-01T00:06:02.221-07:00Camping in the desert<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>"You must go camping in the desert, i</i><i>t's a much more authentic experience than being in the city", </i><span style="background-color: white;">everyone says when you move to Dubai. </span></blockquote>
Oooh that sounds great we thought and headed off to <a href="http://uae.luluhypermarket.com/" target="_blank">Lulu Hypermarket</a> and splashed out on a 'delux' cheapo 2 man tent made of tin foil and string and various other bits of faff you need to go camping.<br />
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This activity caused a row, a<span style="background-color: white;">bout which </span><span style="background-color: white;">approach</span><span style="background-color: white;"> we would take to our Dubai camping trip.</span><br />
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You see Johan is a Viking adventurer, raised in the <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=v%C3%A4rmland&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DHoKUKe8Fo3wrQf-5OTICA&sqi=2&ved=0CHMQsAQ&biw=1092&bih=524" target="_blank">Värmland </a>wildes of West central Sweden. Whereas, I <span style="background-color: white;">was raised in the industrial West Midlands in the UK, not far from <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=spagetti+junction&ix=h9&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1092&bih=524&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=iXkKUP2kA4iyrAeJnajJCA" target="_blank">spaghetti junction.</a></span><br />
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I once took Johan camping to Sommerset in the UK and he was horrified the camp site had electricity, warm running water and a social club.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Camping Scandi style is literally out in the wilderness, chopping down trees for fire wood, bathing in the lake, subsisting on self sourced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca" target="_blank">Smultron</a> (wild strawberries) and generally avoiding Elk and Bears! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I am </span><span style="background-color: white;">British</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">and our idea of camping is</span><span style="background-color: white;"> a daddy long legs infested shower block, a fry up in the morning and having a pub within walking distance. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Plus, </span><span style="background-color: white;">I'm also a Glamper! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.glamping-uk.co.uk/" target="_blank">Glamping </a>is glamorous camping - it's a movement in itself, but for me it's also a state of mind, a philosophy if you like, whereby there is no excuse not to be glamorous EVA, regardless of the circumstances.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fYhR96VZmPo/UAfyDUk0NWI/AAAAAAAAA78/GOLOfBIh6oU/s1600/DSC04192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fYhR96VZmPo/UAfyDUk0NWI/AAAAAAAAA78/GOLOfBIh6oU/s320/DSC04192.JPG" width="320" /></a>This caused us to clash, as<span style="background-color: white;"> Johan wanted to purchase the bear minimum of camping and desert survival essentials. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Whereas, I wanted to purchase pretty Marrocan lanterns and foil plated hard plastic wine glasses. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">I've mentioned before my deep hatred of drinking wine in disposable plastic cups. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">We finally compromised and I forewent the lanterns but held out for a scented candle, the shinny wine glasses and some decorative beakers from <a href="http://www.zarahome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/home/zarahomeae/en/zarahomens" target="_blank">Zara Home</a> (they were in the sale!)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Our next row was about the food we would take in our newly purchased cheapo cool box. Johan wanted to take m.e.a.t, yup just meat. </span><span style="background-color: white;">I gave in to that demand but also insisted on a selection of cold mezze, side salads and deserts to accompany our m.e.a.t. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rYEOZ0-n6Ok/UAfycgTRF_I/AAAAAAAAA8E/MhJKrAxWWD4/s1600/DSC_0089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rYEOZ0-n6Ok/UAfycgTRF_I/AAAAAAAAA8E/MhJKrAxWWD4/s320/DSC_0089.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Essential Glamping preperations!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Next I made us late because of course I had to paint my nails. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">I was shouted at for this, words to the affect of </span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>"What's the effing point of painting your effing nails to go camping!"</i> were uttered. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Eventually</span><span style="background-color: white;">,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> with all our gear tightly packed </span><span style="background-color: white;">we headed off in our newly </span><span style="background-color: white;">acquired</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and much coveted </span><span style="background-color: white;">Mitsubishi</span><span style="background-color: white;"> Pajero. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">This replaced our previous rental car a basic model Toyota Yaris that we had non-loving named </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">'The babies shoe' as it was of a similar size to one. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">It was the lowest spec in </span><span style="background-color: white;">existence, if the wind blew we'd sway into the next lane of traffic and it </span><span style="background-color: white;">didn't even have the essential passenger side make up mirror...<i>so it had to go darlings!</i></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IA8-4sXSKfY/UAf1Z2N4f8I/AAAAAAAAA9E/c5u3HkT8jGo/s1600/DSC04212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IA8-4sXSKfY/UAf1Z2N4f8I/AAAAAAAAA9E/c5u3HkT8jGo/s320/DSC04212.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;">Heading off late Friday morning we rendezvoused </span><span style="background-color: white;">with some friends and 'more experienced' Dubai campers along the way. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">The first rule of driving into the desert is, NEVER, NEVER, go alone. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rc8su9D6Bm8/UAfxtLMcdUI/AAAAAAAAA7w/72MDij97v1M/s1600/DSC04189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rc8su9D6Bm8/UAfxtLMcdUI/AAAAAAAAA7w/72MDij97v1M/s400/DSC04189.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hooking up about 1 hours drive outside the city we went off road towards Big Red, <span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> a massive 300ft high sand dune. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Big Red is located along the Hatta Road, i</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">ts red colour comes from it’s high iron oxide content. </span></span><br />
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We spent the afternoon dune bashing and stopping frequently to retrieve various vehicles in our caravan, that had been launched into bushes or swallowed by sand dunes.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">As dusk fell, we found a lovely spot to camp just in time to crack open the beers and watch the sun set. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YUmkLNSUbg/UAfzyKpnNbI/AAAAAAAAA8M/POh_4QzeBmI/s1600/DSC04252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YUmkLNSUbg/UAfzyKpnNbI/AAAAAAAAA8M/POh_4QzeBmI/s640/DSC04252.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Next we made a camp fire and sat chatting in it's orange haze, while the children played. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">As everyone got out their burgers and hot dog sausages and chucked them on the BBQ. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">I prepared (not easy on an ankle height camping table) our gourmet Arabian desert feast of Hummus, Talbulah, warm pitta, vine leaves and kebabs. Taking out the pepper mill, I ground some fresh black pepper onto our delights and we ate them on proper plates with with real cutlery. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Yes I'd brought it all with me, because this is what Glamping means!! Effort = glamour!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">We were of course mocked shamelessly for this by the 'more experienced' desert campers for our 'naive' choice of desert camping cuisines and receptacles. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6CkSpOuQslA/UAf0z777YRI/AAAAAAAAA80/7pwG0eYC1uY/s1600/DSC04280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6CkSpOuQslA/UAf0z777YRI/AAAAAAAAA80/7pwG0eYC1uY/s640/DSC04280.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Johan defending his part in these selections, by vehemently dening any involvement in the scented candle acquisition and siding with the prominently male audience, even grassing me up about the nail painting incident that made us late.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ner3pkPVD3s/UAf2AIDApRI/AAAAAAAAA9U/pbm8JVj4jTE/s1600/DSC04308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ner3pkPVD3s/UAf2AIDApRI/AAAAAAAAA9U/pbm8JVj4jTE/s320/DSC04308.JPG" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Quite glad of my <br />
'fancy scarf ' stopping<br />
your head from burning off ah Johan!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">The bulling continued as I produced my shinny wine glasses. I finally got all defensive and made a attempt to explain my Glamping philosophy. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><span style="background-color: white;">Well of course they were literally rolling around the floor laughing about this and I became the butt of all jokes. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Interesting, though that all changed when I offered around my exotic fruit salad and chocolate chip brownies and the 'more experience campers' who hadn't given a thought to desert desserts, very gratefully scoffed the lot.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">More interesting still as the night wore on, some of them even quietly asked for my much maligned shinny wine glass and some Red wine, to go with the cheese and grape course I mustered up! </span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Plus, I later overhead one remark "oooh there's a lovely scent of peach & citrus coming from somewhere".</span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Throughout whilst outwardly renaming magnanimous, inside I was of course flicking the V's at everyone going "nan, nan - nann- nan" and doing a victory dance....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">"Haha! - l</span><span style="background-color: white;">augh at my Glamping will you!!!" </span><span style="background-color: white;">As</span><span style="background-color: white;"> smug </span><span style="background-color: white;">self-satisfaction settling over me for the remainder of the evening. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">As the evening embered away whilst the children told stories around the camp fire and refused to got to sleep, the adults got hammered.</span><br />
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At this juncture I feel I need to tell tell you about the un-glamorous downsides of desert camping;<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eJWHOjEqVCY/UAf2TYVVAyI/AAAAAAAAA9g/uKUq-UMS3_o/s1600/DSC04316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eJWHOjEqVCY/UAf2TYVVAyI/AAAAAAAAA9g/uKUq-UMS3_o/s320/DSC04316.JPG" width="320" /></a><b>1) </b>Drunkenly staggering around in the pitch dark desert trying to find a secluded place to dig a hole to wee in, whilst simultaneously trying to not get a scorpion in your knickers.<br />
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<b>2)</b> Going at the wrong time of year (late May) so you wake up not only hung over but being boiled alive in your tent like a kipper.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-blJjFuLSB-o/UAf2q5W_dxI/AAAAAAAAA9o/_ApHgfrCKM0/s1600/DSC04216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-blJjFuLSB-o/UAf2q5W_dxI/AAAAAAAAA9o/_ApHgfrCKM0/s200/DSC04216.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<b>3) </b>Having sand in every single orifice and even emended in your crows feet<br />
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<b>4)</b> Having to suffer dune bashing all the way back with a hangover and wanting to vomit.<br />
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<b>5) </b>Due to<b> 4) </b>needing to get home desperately whilst others get stuck in the sand and leisurely stop to photograph wild life!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-31735671128684551512012-09-04T04:01:00.000-07:002012-10-01T00:17:40.817-07:00Birthday Dinner @ Nobu Dubai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vht787qaXT0/T-xfbcXHqmI/AAAAAAAAAes/91g_YMns7vA/s1600/DSC_0120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vht787qaXT0/T-xfbcXHqmI/AAAAAAAAAes/91g_YMns7vA/s640/DSC_0120.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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My actual Birthday weekend was spent exploring Hatta pools (may do separate post on that), however we returned on the Saturday evening and Johan surprised me with a Birthday dinner at Nobu.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">I have to apologise for a few things. Firstly, </span><span style="background-color: white;">there aren't many pictures of the food because it was my Birthday and I was carried away with enjoying myself rather than cataloging the cuisine!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Secondly, compared to many food blogs I'm not sure I'm much of a food writer either. </span>I'm not great at articulating the complex flavours of things, in the fancy pants way food writers do.<br />
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My default description when asked what I can taste in any red wine is always the same<br />
"rubbery-mushrooms".<br />
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Due to this, I've aimed to give you a fair account of the general dining experience instead.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9vAwNPWyPvI/T_RvuPGcRII/AAAAAAAAAvQ/j8zzLY0CJ_U/s1600/Nobucookbook.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9vAwNPWyPvI/T_RvuPGcRII/AAAAAAAAAvQ/j8zzLY0CJ_U/s400/Nobucookbook.png" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master Nobu himself</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">Fact is, I'm a huge fan of Nobu and have been dying to visit <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/experience/introduction/" target="_blank">Nobu Dubai</a> since we moved here. Hence why #1hubby selected this venue as a Birthday treat.</span><br />
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I have visited Nobu <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/berkeley-st/experience/introduction/" target="_blank">Berkley St</a> and <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/london/experience/introduction/" target="_blank">Park Lane</a> in London and some years ago was gifted the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobu-The-Cookbook-Matsuhisa/dp/1903845203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342777548&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Nobu cook book</a>, from which I've made a few of the simpler sauces at home, no mean feat.<br />
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I've not been brave enough to attemp Nobu classics such as Black cod yet, as sourcing the ingredients alone would take some planning and a visit to a really good fish market. As they unfortunately don't sell Black cod or Sea Urchins in <a href="http://www.waitrose.com/bf_home/bf/1235.html" target="_blank">Waitrose</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobu-The-Cookbook-Matsuhisa/dp/1903845203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342777548&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Nobu cook book </a>is really interesting as it also contains a biography of Nobu Matsuhisa<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span>himself. Detailing his journey from childhood, overcoming his humble beginnings and going on to found Nobu, arguably one of the most famous and successful restaurants brands in the world.</div>
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An insight you glean from his story is how Nobu's never compromised his true passion for letting quality ingredients and minimalist simplicity be the stars in his cooking.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b2pb2ZofFz4/T-xioxV_AFI/AAAAAAAAAfs/e9Au-PApKdo/s1600/Atlantis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b2pb2ZofFz4/T-xioxV_AFI/AAAAAAAAAfs/e9Au-PApKdo/s640/Atlantis.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/experience/introduction/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Nobu Dubai </a><span style="background-color: white;"> is located in the giant pink curiosity that is the </span><a href="http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Atlantis Hotel</a>, on The palm, Jeremiah.<br />
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I can't decide whether I think <a href="http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/" target="_blank">Atlantis</a> is architecturally amazing or a gaudy monstrosity.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaA8fmje1hU/T_BUCx2vxnI/AAAAAAAAAsU/AfNdWoI-Lnc/s1600/DSC_0133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaA8fmje1hU/T_BUCx2vxnI/AAAAAAAAAsU/AfNdWoI-Lnc/s640/DSC_0133.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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As you walk down the sprawling corridors of Atlantis towards Nobu you are met by a fairy tale sweeping stair case and a vast Aquarium of sharks, rays and reef fish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8iD7t3u0YE4/T-xhVy82CfI/AAAAAAAAAfU/1cnL0qeE9qc/s1600/DSC_0140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8iD7t3u0YE4/T-xhVy82CfI/AAAAAAAAAfU/1cnL0qeE9qc/s640/DSC_0140.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Help me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It's pretty impressive, but also a little sad. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I feel the same about aquariums as Zoo's, I love seeing the amazing creatures but feel bad for them, being in captivity and having they're existence trivialised into being pre-dinner entertainment for humans. Pft!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Johan had booked a supper for us at 10pm, we arrived at 9:45 thinking we'd have a drink at the bar however we were seated straight away. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">The interior of Nobu is impressive, a little bolder and more dramatic in design than the London venues.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUdWRii9fWU/T-xhju53ivI/AAAAAAAAAfk/yVMQBVOnLXc/s1600/DSC_0141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUdWRii9fWU/T-xhju53ivI/AAAAAAAAAfk/yVMQBVOnLXc/s640/DSC_0141.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sad face :-(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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That said, when it was full of people it didn't have the intimate ambience of the London venues, it felt more canteen than restaurant.<br />
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I think one factor for is the flat open plan layout and the lighting. There's something going on in the hospitality industry in Dubai, they love cranking the up the wattage and this doesn't help the ambience of a place at all. It was the same when we visited <a href="http://dubai.armanihotels.com/dine/dine_armani_peck_en.html" target="_blank">Armani Peck</a>, amazing food but so brightly lit it totally killed any chance of atmosphere.<br />
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At Nobu our table was packed pretty tightly to the next, this is not unique to <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/experience/introduction/" target="_blank">Nobu Duabi</a> they pack you in tightly in the London venues as well.<span style="background-color: white;"> L</span><span style="background-color: white;">uckily, this wasn't such an issue as we had a semi-detached table, so no neighbours to the right. </span><br />
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Staff were very friendly, though to nit pick it was slightly edging towards the insincere side of friendly.<br />
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The wine list had a decent if not huge selection, we ordered a bottle of Domaine Droin, Petit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chablis_wine" target="_blank">Chablis</a>, Burgundy 2008 (365dhs),<span style="background-color: white;"> to complement the seafood and fish. </span><br />
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The wine was of course pricey because;<br />
1) it's Dubai<br />
2) it's Nobu<br />
3) it's My Birthday.<br />
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However, it didn't make Johan turn that funny shade of green that the wines priced over £100 per bottle do. <span style="background-color: white;">There's a £20,000 bottle of wine on the list at <a href="http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/restaurants/barsandrestaurants/seafiresteakhouse.aspx" target="_blank">Seafire</a>....which just the very thought of makes Johan feel physically sick. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgokdKZ7DU4/T_BUwcSs_AI/AAAAAAAAAsc/so7YYImGif8/s1600/Nobu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="499" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgokdKZ7DU4/T_BUwcSs_AI/AAAAAAAAAsc/so7YYImGif8/s640/Nobu.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They must have dimmed the lights for this photo</td></tr>
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With the absence of photos I've improvised and taken pic's directly from the <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/experience/introduction/" target="_blank">Nobu website</a> they also have the menu <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/menus-2/dinner-2/sushi-sashimi-2/" target="_blank">online</a>.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Here's what we ate, all prices in dhs;</span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Edamame 25</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Kelp salad 45</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Eel and cucumber roll 60</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Wagu beef tacos with ponzu sauce 75</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Creamy Spicy shrimp 185</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Black cod yuze miso 185</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Rock Shrimp tempura 120</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Savory cabbage spicy lemon dressing 90</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Nobu Cheese cake 55 and another gratis one off Nobu for my Birthday. </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #5c5233; font-family: Nobu, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
Our <span style="background-color: white;">Edamame came in a flash and was, bright green, pert, evenly salted, suitably hot but not </span><span style="background-color: white;">tongue</span><span style="background-color: white;"> burning - so perfect. </span><br />
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Waiting for the rest of our food to arrive in fits and starts makes for ample people watching opportunities.<br />
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Of particular interest was a table full of old men and much younger women, who looked like they may get reimbursed at the end of the evening for their company. Lots of glamorous ladies with similar shaped noses and a table of about 10 bad mannered, over privileged teenagers.<br />
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Literally, they were all about 14 on their own and dining at Nobu at midnight...at 14!!!<br />
I question if any teenager really needs a £40 piece of raw fish?!!!<br />
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The thing that struck me the most was that they weren't even particularly impressed to be there either, it seemed to them to be a massive bore equivalent to hanging out in MacDonald's. <span style="background-color: white;">Little darlings, I'm sure they'll make delightful and well adjusted adults. </span><br />
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Anyway our food arrived, not a massive amount but enough to not to be utterly stuffed to bursting, which is a considerable change for us.<br />
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Of particular note, were the faithful Black Cod and the debuting Wagyu beef taco's which were a revelation. But minuscule, like teeny-tiny food for Tinkabelle and her fairy friends.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wRzorPpWv_I/T_Brh-2D9GI/AAAAAAAAAts/rM2UblqkDto/s1600/Nobu+blackcod.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="475" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wRzorPpWv_I/T_Brh-2D9GI/AAAAAAAAAts/rM2UblqkDto/s640/Nobu+blackcod.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Johan adored the Creamy Spicy Shrimp, I found them just OK and could only mange two shrimp as the sauce was so rich. The discord between the spice and creaminess didn't work for me, I felt they were fighting one another and not in a good way, as such the flavour repeated on me all night.<br />
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The kelp salad was exactly what you'd expect from a plate of seaweed really, with a mild hue of soy.<br />
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I order sea kelp because;<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">a) it's very good for you</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">b) it's rarely on menu's so I don't have it often</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">c) it's a nostalgic reminder of childhood holidays to Wales. (Years of torture - being force fed seaweed on the beach by my older brother, must have made me </span><span style="background-color: white;">acquire the taste for it!)</span><br />
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A slight<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">déjà vu</span><span style="background-color: white;"> happened - as the twice I've ordered the Sea Kelp at Nobu, at Berkley St and at Dubai both times the waiter has tried to talk me out of it.</span><br />
Querying;<br />
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'Are you sure madam? It's tastes very strongly of the sea'.........</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white;">Both times exactly the same question?!.....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This must be because lots of dinners have complained about the Sea kelp's taste, post ordering it. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Makes me ponder the general aptitude levels of visitors, who don't expect a menu item called </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">'Sea Kelp' to taste remotely like a weed that lives in the sea, the name is a dead give away surely?!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">The tempura and the cabbage were very good, but unfortunately t</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">he bad news came in the form of the Eel & Cucumber roll. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I order Eel because I love it's pungent, smoky flavour paired next to the clean crisp cucumber. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">However, it didn't taste of either ingredient or anything else really, in addition it's structure was also a bit sloppy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I</span><span style="background-color: white;">'ve had it before and it was perfectly firm, well rolled and fresh. This time it felt second rate, bit like supermarket sushi that had been sitting on the kitchen counter far too long and was nearing expiry. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">The good news was a complete surprise. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nobu's not famous for their desert, however</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> they should be as </span><span style="background-color: white;">t</span><span style="background-color: white;">he <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">p</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">ièce de résistance</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span>of the evening was the </span><span style="background-color: white;">complimentary</span><span style="background-color: white;"> birthday dessert. The <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/dubai/menus-2/dinner-2/dessert-2/" target="_blank">Nobu Cheesecake</a>, some kind of </span><em style="font-style: normal; line-height: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">brûlée</span></em><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><span style="background-color: white;">passion fruity, vanilla lusciousness</span><span style="background-color: white;">, so good we ordered another. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">We used our faithful<a href="http://www.theentertainerme.com/books/the-entertainer-2012/books/united-arab-emirates/entertainer-fine-dining-2012/c-24/c-69/p-107" target="_blank"> Entertainer</a> voucher which took a slight sting off the bill and all in all we had a wonderful time. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">However, if I had to give Nobu Dubai an overall rating it would be a 6.5 out of 10, sorry Master Nobu.</span><br />
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Nobu Dubai just felt like a cash cow for the chain - trading on mass, off it's famous name rather than being true to it's founders original food philosophy.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-69546985252527109542012-07-20T01:30:00.000-07:002012-07-22T23:24:53.313-07:00Cycling in Dubai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This post is particularly special as finally after much nagging and coercing, Johan is making his bloging debut on Dubai Days! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">He has written about a subject close to his and many others </span><span style="background-color: white;">(not mine) </span><span style="background-color: white;">hearts, cycling.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">So, without further ado I shall step aside and make way for his tour de force of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">circumvolution</span><span style="background-color: white;">. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Coming to Dubai I was </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">concerned</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> I may have to give up one of my major hobbies - road cycling. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Every weekend back in the UK, I'd head out with a group of friends road biking around Windsor & Berkshire. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It's a great place to road bike, out in the country side, passing small villages and being able to stop for some much needed respite at the pub. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Sure, I had heard that there was an active community of road biking enthusiasts in Dubai, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">but couldn't imagine myself getting into it in the same way.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I prepared myself for he fact that cycling as I knew it, would have to be left back in Europe. </span></div>
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That said I wasn't going to give up completely, I'd have to give cycling in Dubai a try, as even bad cycling is better than no cycling at all. </div>
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So, packing for a new life in Dubai included - 15 kilo of <a href="http://www.cervelo.com/tour-de-france/" target="_blank">Cervelo</a> bicycle and equipment.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFSR52pJUJs/UAe67l1-E4I/AAAAAAAAA5g/c8RgBNAoc4A/s1600/DSC04379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFSR52pJUJs/UAe67l1-E4I/AAAAAAAAA5g/c8RgBNAoc4A/s400/DSC04379.JPG" width="400" /></a>For two months my bike was parked in a corner in our apartment, unused, gathering dust and getting sadder each day. <span style="background-color: white;">So on my 60th day in Dubai I took it out for its first ride. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">It has to be said, taking the first ride along the leaves of the Palm Jumeriah is quite a good start to cycling in Dubai.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Encouraged by this positive first experience, I started to explore options for group road cycling in Dubai. </span></div>
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As it turns out, cycling is quite a big sport in Dubai. There are two major cycling groups both run by volunteers and fellow cyclists. </div>
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<a href="http://www.dubairoadsters.com/" target="_blank">Dubai Roadsters</a> gather at 6:00 a.m. on Friday by <a href="http://www.thelimetreecafe.com/Pages/Page.aspx?PageID=6" target="_blank">Limetree Cafe in Jumeirah. </a></div>
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Another group, <a href="http://www.cyclechallenge.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=445" target="_blank">Cycle Safe Dubai,</a> meet on Um Suqeim Road beyond Dubai Bypass road at 6:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. For reasons of proximity I have done most my rides with the <a href="http://www.cyclechallenge.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=445" target="_blank">Cycle Safe Dubai </a> group.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: <a href="http://www.cyclechallenge.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=445" target="_blank">Cycle Safe Dubai</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Now I have asked myself several times - what on earth I am doing, getting up at 5:00 a.m. on a weekend, I must be crazy, my wife certainly thinks so. </span></div>
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But when you drive through Dubai at that hour in the morning, on traffic free, 8 lane roads, seeing the sunrise between the skyscrapers it makes a little more sense. </div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Getting further out of the city as you approach the</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> meeting point you're met by around 100 cyclists waiting to set off, which is a remarkable sight in itself. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> have done about 8 rides with <a href="http://www.cyclechallenge.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=445" target="_blank">Cycle Safe Dubai</a> since I started in February. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">Image: <a href="http://www.cyclechallenge.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139&Itemid=445" target="_blank">Cycle Safe Dubai</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px;">It's now July and the weather is becoming to hot to bear, it was</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> 40 C</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">°</b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> when I came back last weekend. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">A 2 hour ride easily sucks up 3 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;">litre's</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> of water so you have to be quite creative where to store all your water bottles. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In this heat you must keep hydrated. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">As one would imagine, cycling around Dubai does not involve any hills, it's flat asphalt roads surrounded by miles long sand-dunes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">So, its all about speed. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">Plus, it has consistently been hard wind when I've been out, and with the wind on my back I've been averaging 55km/h along the last 6.5km stretch before reaching the parking lot.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">With the help of GPS tracking app </span><a href="http://www.strava.com/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Strava </a><span style="background-color: white;">you are able to compare your time along that stretch with fellow cyclists, which gives you that extra boost you need after 2 hours out in the sun. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NEiPXqcpZPw/UAkFp7PFHNI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/N69G1K51byg/s1600/Strava.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NEiPXqcpZPw/UAkFp7PFHNI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/N69G1K51byg/s640/Strava.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strava app - Palm route</td></tr>
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All in all though, cycling in Dubai can't be compared to riding up the Alps, the green UK countryside, or along vast rural cycling-paths in Sweden. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--e8kTjjSH7c/UAe4sybtpcI/AAAAAAAAA5A/EJwyfhDdP1A/s1600/DSC04205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--e8kTjjSH7c/UAe4sybtpcI/AAAAAAAAA5A/EJwyfhDdP1A/s320/DSC04205.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">However, it has it's own unique quality, cruising through the desert landscape, at times speeding past camels </span><span style="background-color: white;">indifferently</span><span style="background-color: white;"> chewing dry branches, is quite a spectacular experience. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">So to anyone considering moving here; </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">don't leave your bike behind!</span><br />
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<b><br /></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-14069171279770184022012-07-10T03:26:00.000-07:002012-10-01T00:18:01.192-07:00Shamed by cake!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQUIJrmIO1w/T_p5CvlvtZI/AAAAAAAAAyc/LeI_PH2jsH4/s1600/Cupcakes+heading.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQUIJrmIO1w/T_p5CvlvtZI/AAAAAAAAAyc/LeI_PH2jsH4/s640/Cupcakes+heading.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perfect <a href="http://hummingbirdbakery.com/" target="_blank">Humming Bird Bakery </a>Cup Cakes</td></tr>
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It seems every woman in the world today is obsessed with baking, in particular cupcakes.<br />
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These days, you're considered an under achiever if you haven't founded your own cupcake company by the age of 30.<br />
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It's a modern day phenomenon, same as how every woman in the world seems to own a <a href="http://www.longchamp.com/gb/luggage-travel-bag-women-10176.html" target="_blank">Longchamp holdall.</a><br />
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Back in April I decided to try my hand at baking and made Johan a Lemon drizzle cake for his birthday. <span style="background-color: white;">It didn't turn out well, it was a grizzly frizzled cake as flat as a pan cake, you can read about that pitiful effort </span><a href="http://dubaidays.blogspot.com/2012/05/birthday-week-part-1-steak-cake-and.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6pGkAKEdhcE/T_p5Ylen9eI/AAAAAAAAAyk/L-VLMoe3x8s/s1600/DSC_0074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6pGkAKEdhcE/T_p5Ylen9eI/AAAAAAAAAyk/L-VLMoe3x8s/s320/DSC_0074.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Lemon drizzle fail! </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">After this epic baking fail, I was determined not to let baking get the better of me. </span><br />
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Adding insult to injury is that fact that my Mother is an amazing baker and taught me to bake as a child. It seemed I was forever cutting pastry and making fairy cakes (the old name for cupcakes).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NO7Y41istF0/T_p5iWBztsI/AAAAAAAAAyw/CphQ5E2RIqs/s1600/DSC_0077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NO7Y41istF0/T_p5iWBztsI/AAAAAAAAAyw/CphQ5E2RIqs/s320/DSC_0077.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I tried to style it out with good presentation!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So how could I have forgotten all that my Mother had loving taught me???? </span><br />
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Well I have forgotten plenty over the years - same as I've forgotten all about<br />
'<i>Representations of gender in 19th century expressionist literature' </i>and other such stuff that <span style="background-color: white;">was taking up valuable brain space.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jQsVqsbrODA/T_p6NWSlT4I/AAAAAAAAAy4/qRF6FS3cXHI/s1600/MKSBC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jQsVqsbrODA/T_p6NWSlT4I/AAAAAAAAAy4/qRF6FS3cXHI/s400/MKSBC.png" width="286" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">I had also recently been gifted the </span><a href="http://www.mariankeyes.com/Home" target="_blank">Marian Keyes</a><span style="background-color: white;"> cook book </span><i style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saved-Cake-Marian-Keyes/dp/071815889X" target="_blank">Saved By Cake</a>. </i><br />
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I love <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saved-Cake-Marian-Keyes/dp/071815889X" target="_blank">Marian Keyes</a>, she's a hoot and her cake book is pretty and poignant. She explains how learning to bake helped her manage her manic depression and stopped her from committing suicide.<br />
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From that description it doesn't sound like it's a right laugh but it is, she's even manages to make the recipes themselves funny.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9fAay5AyD1E/T_p6Q65oHcI/AAAAAAAAAzA/_dPESAH30Yg/s1600/Cupcakes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9fAay5AyD1E/T_p6Q65oHcI/AAAAAAAAAzA/_dPESAH30Yg/s320/Cupcakes.png" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Marian's cupcakes </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.mariankeyes.com/Home" target="_blank">Marian</a> explains how she had zero baking ability and taught herself from scratch, inspired by this I resolved to master baking.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">So I chose a cupcake recipe from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saved-Cake-Marian-Keyes/dp/071815889X" target="_blank"><i>Saved By Cake</i></a> named </span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Consistently</i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i> Good Cupcakes </i>which <a href="http://www.mariankeyes.com/Home" target="_blank">Marian</a> states are an easy, fail safe cupcake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Mine exploded!!!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sT8hITqVdRo/T_p7rgUxQFI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/AJ3M3_gA-Ag/s1600/DSC04349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sT8hITqVdRo/T_p7rgUxQFI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/AJ3M3_gA-Ag/s640/DSC04349.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">My evil cupcakes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">I </span><span style="background-color: white;">made evil cupcakes, pulsating and spewing lumps of cake mix like molten lava all over the oven. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxeJAY4-aAw/T_qAIXNDasI/AAAAAAAAAz0/tylgDp3MwZI/s1600/DSC_0085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxeJAY4-aAw/T_qAIXNDasI/AAAAAAAAAz0/tylgDp3MwZI/s400/DSC_0085.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Getting better but still not great</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">However, being a tenacious sort I didn't get deterred and stayed up until 1am, until I got a worthy batch.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Johan went to bed leaving me slaving in the kitchen at midnight and thinking his wife was mental!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Through this process of trial and error I gained more confidence and ended up being quite experimental. </span><br />
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I had an idea to make some sort of red, white and blue Queens Jubilee cupcakes.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtuytJ8nZXI/T_p87eexK1I/AAAAAAAAAzY/1CkCuG54Z-Q/s1600/DSC04360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtuytJ8nZXI/T_p87eexK1I/AAAAAAAAAzY/1CkCuG54Z-Q/s400/DSC04360.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Haha finally at 1am!!!</span></td></tr>
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I took Marian's, <i>Red Velvet Swirl</i> cupcakes that have cream cheese frosting baked inside. <span style="background-color: white;">Unfortunately, I hadn't any red food colouring so I improvised</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and added a few extra bits of my own.</span><br />
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The result was quite special - a light moist cupcake with Raspberry, Blueberry and vannilla cream cheese baked in side.<br />
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See what I did there?! Red, white and blue!<br />
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I even used real <a href="http://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/vanilla-pods/?gclid=CJH43MuxjrECFUR76wod-GBm" target="_blank">Madagascan vanilla</a>, which is gorgeous but a massive pain in the bottom. <span style="background-color: white;">Life's just to short to scrape minute vanilla seeds out of the pod.</span><br />
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Then came the frosting - A calo-rific - artery-clogging-extravaganza of my own invention!!<br />
White chocolate, vanilla butter cream frosting.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ks4PL8dGI0Q/T_qAKUY9IwI/AAAAAAAAAz8/_MNDnIzaqhw/s1600/DSC_0087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ks4PL8dGI0Q/T_qAKUY9IwI/AAAAAAAAAz8/_MNDnIzaqhw/s640/DSC_0087.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I experimented with both piped and flat spooned frosting styles. I think I actually preferred the flat as it saves the hassle of cleaning the piping bag and nozzle and gives a neat little result.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0KO1W0gYLyc/T_p-pAK1C_I/AAAAAAAAAzs/D0tRnV3m398/s1600/DSC04370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0KO1W0gYLyc/T_p-pAK1C_I/AAAAAAAAAzs/D0tRnV3m398/s640/DSC04370.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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My conclusion is that baking is exhausting and requires lots of washing up.<br />
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Therefore, I shall not be setting up my own cupcake business, sorry to disappoint you all ;-)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ddTptlQASUs/T_qAMzeYTvI/AAAAAAAAA0E/479hZr10_2E/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ddTptlQASUs/T_qAMzeYTvI/AAAAAAAAA0E/479hZr10_2E/s640/DSC_0090.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">OK they're a tad lopsided !</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the next 4 days we subsisted on a diet of only cupcakes as we had so many. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One day I actually had one for breakfast, lunch, dinner and one for dessert. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great diet - a friend pointed out that the Blueberry and Raspberry actually count towards my 5-a-day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So with cupcakes in the bag, my next challenge is to create a <a href="http://www.grouprecipes.com/106282/swedish-princess-cake.html" target="_blank">Swedish Princess Cake</a> - the lightest, most delicious and difficult to make cake in the world! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll keep you posted on my progress. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-72098592992728792752012-07-04T05:24:00.000-07:002012-07-14T07:25:28.744-07:00Visit Petra - Jordan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqIOuHwKZcA/T-_3AOkv5ZI/AAAAAAAAAgI/hYFl2fNTCgg/s1600/DSC03578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqIOuHwKZcA/T-_3AOkv5ZI/AAAAAAAAAgI/hYFl2fNTCgg/s640/DSC03578.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's in there somewhere Petra</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">E<span style="background-color: white;">ver since I was a kid </span><span style="background-color: white;">I have wanted to go to </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra" target="_blank">Petra</a>. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pUKD32waV-8/T_AAMRHGvmI/AAAAAAAAAhY/6j80_H7BACo/s1600/Jonespetra.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pUKD32waV-8/T_AAMRHGvmI/AAAAAAAAAhY/6j80_H7BACo/s400/Jonespetra.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first time I ever saw Petra</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I became enthralled by Petra after seeing it in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1990! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember thinking;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I'm going to go there one day when I'm a proper grown up". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It may have took some 22 years, but I finally made it to Petra and boy was it worth the wait. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra" target="_blank">Petra</a> is located in the south west of Jordan about 2.5 hours drive from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqaba" target="_blank">Aqaba</a> where we were staying. We got a taxi which is the commonest way to reach this ancient city, the round trip costing about $100. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RaaIzzwYHuw/T-_34A89yKI/AAAAAAAAAgU/XvmxWv7VVEw/s1600/DSC03580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RaaIzzwYHuw/T-_34A89yKI/AAAAAAAAAgU/XvmxWv7VVEw/s640/DSC03580.JPG" width="356" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Map of Petra</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Entrance to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr" target="_blank">Petra</a> cost 90 JD approx $125 per person which sounds like a lot of money. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, when you experience the glory of Petra for yourself you realise it's actually cheap! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr" target="_blank">Petra</a> is a true wonder of the world, so don't mind paying $125, </span><span style="background-color: white;">I feel better knowing that some of the </span><span style="background-color: white;"> fee</span><span style="background-color: white;"> goes towards preservation and protection</span><span style="background-color: white;"> of this historic site. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also didn't expect it to be so vast, it's a proper city and to walk and hike around the complete remains is a 12km round trip. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can even hire a horse and gallop around the way Harrison Ford did in the movie. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vEb9DqdFwgQ/T-_9pBKpkQI/AAAAAAAAAg4/FsCLSASLaNI/s1600/DSC03660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vEb9DqdFwgQ/T-_9pBKpkQI/AAAAAAAAAg4/FsCLSASLaNI/s640/DSC03660.JPG" width="355" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the few occasions </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">To savour our visit we </span><span style="background-color: white;">opted</span><span style="background-color: white;"> to walk, </span><span style="background-color: white;">spending the best part of a day, around 6 hours there. Admittedly we took our time,but you could do it in 3 hours if you go on horse, camel or donkey. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But really why rush a wonder of the world?!!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make sure you dress for action and stay hydrated. For hiking in the baking heat, you absolutely need proper walking shoes/trainers, sun cream and a hat or head scarf. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Avoid flip flops, sandals as they will fall apart and short skirts or shorts are just not practical. Top tip is layering as you can go from hot to cold quite quickly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To reach the main city first you have a 2km meander deep into the <span style="background-color: white;">cannons, which is a beautiful and tranquil journey itself. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdDRm62IHkE/T_ADwHZG6rI/AAAAAAAAAiM/em2OzK80xrg/s1600/DSC03600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdDRm62IHkE/T_ADwHZG6rI/AAAAAAAAAiM/em2OzK80xrg/s400/DSC03600.JPG" width="223" /></span></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWW8n8Tdl1I/T_AEFUpNGhI/AAAAAAAAAig/6lO1wxaIJbk/s1600/DSC03602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWW8n8Tdl1I/T_AEFUpNGhI/AAAAAAAAAig/6lO1wxaIJbk/s400/DSC03602.JPG" width="223" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">However, nothing quite prepares you for the breath taking first </span><span style="background-color: white;">glimpse of The infamous Treasury from behind a deep gash in the canon. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--mSHFXMFigI/T_AEM6HS9SI/AAAAAAAAAio/Otuioju_nj4/s1600/DSC03603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--mSHFXMFigI/T_AEM6HS9SI/AAAAAAAAAio/Otuioju_nj4/s400/DSC03603.JPG" width="223" /></span></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GX42QlufzKg/T_AEqEAVI1I/AAAAAAAAAjM/EzAVBIKdcCo/s1600/DSC03607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GX42QlufzKg/T_AEqEAVI1I/AAAAAAAAAjM/EzAVBIKdcCo/s400/DSC03607.JPG" width="222" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sometimes places you </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">dream about visiting turn out to be disappointing, because they don't live up to your expectations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">Petra</a><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> is most certainly NOT one of those places. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cxuLazkJ1o4/T_ALknB6BQI/AAAAAAAAAlE/77BHaYyVdiw/s1600/DSC03638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cxuLazkJ1o4/T_ALknB6BQI/AAAAAAAAAlE/77BHaYyVdiw/s400/DSC03638.JPG" width="222" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A much needed rest</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-amKvLnLBDgw/T_AFGdrCNKI/AAAAAAAAAjo/TeSbISK6rQs/s1600/DSC03612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-amKvLnLBDgw/T_AFGdrCNKI/AAAAAAAAAjo/TeSbISK6rQs/s640/DSC03612.JPG" width="355" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Channelling Indiana Jones </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">On the contrary if anything I wasn't prepared for just how majestic and breathtaking it actually is.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKphmOSINw/T_AKh1jsSOI/AAAAAAAAAk0/6NFcp2_da6A/s1600/DSC03624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKphmOSINw/T_AKh1jsSOI/AAAAAAAAAk0/6NFcp2_da6A/s640/DSC03624.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Carved out into the rock face are cave dwellings, which until very recently were still inhabited by Bedouin and you know what I can think of worse places to live. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My student flat in Streatham for example was far less luxurious and certainly didn't have the amazing view!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X1O1tE4VDDA/T_ALYWKhRjI/AAAAAAAAAk8/jyPBnLIamgU/s1600/DSC03633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="353" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X1O1tE4VDDA/T_ALYWKhRjI/AAAAAAAAAk8/jyPBnLIamgU/s640/DSC03633.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Petra</a><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">has a rich and fascinating history.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Established around the 6th centuray BC by the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataeans" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Nabataens</a> <span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">with a population of around 20,000, made it quite a metropolis in those times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">It was an extremely important ancient city for trading in the region and is sited in all major ancient civilisations Egyptian, Greek, Roman. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtwlV6LYWC8/T_ALyqAr6hI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/HolTCIfQ0q0/s1600/DSC03639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtwlV6LYWC8/T_ALyqAr6hI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/HolTCIfQ0q0/s640/DSC03639.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fascinatingly, </span><span style="background-color: white;">at the height of Petra's success the climate was</span><span style="background-color: white;"> different to today. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More rain so the land would have been a little greener and more fertile, making agriculture possible and food stuffs available. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Indeed, Petra must have been a thoroughly modern city in it's day, which is reflected by the lavishly decorated buildings. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dsb4mc2DGGc/T_AMn9-zCRI/AAAAAAAAAl8/TaXA7cil3kM/s1600/DSC03646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dsb4mc2DGGc/T_AMn9-zCRI/AAAAAAAAAl8/TaXA7cil3kM/s640/DSC03646.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the lesser sandstone structures are heavily eroded and sun damaged. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aEBfWFzqjKw/T_AOQtFw-CI/AAAAAAAAAnc/1OwyNEU5-c0/s1600/DSC03661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aEBfWFzqjKw/T_AOQtFw-CI/AAAAAAAAAnc/1OwyNEU5-c0/s640/DSC03661.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A schlep up hill to the old temple/church ruins reveal amazingly preserved intricate mosaics, of animals, people, even some saucy mosaic nudity! </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrIuHneDdBY/T_AQz66mMeI/AAAAAAAAApg/EWERMA0rpK8/s1600/DSC03688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrIuHneDdBY/T_AQz66mMeI/AAAAAAAAApg/EWERMA0rpK8/s640/DSC03688.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The trek further up hill to The Monastery is not for the faint hearted, it's quite a climb but you're rewarded with spectacular panoramic views. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxoEqrEJ7Yw/T_AQYnzRWeI/AAAAAAAAApM/eR-wnmPtUXE/s1600/DSC03685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yxoEqrEJ7Yw/T_AQYnzRWeI/AAAAAAAAApM/eR-wnmPtUXE/s320/DSC03685.JPG" width="179" /></span></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qcmOD2IWm4w/T_ANmIT-AdI/AAAAAAAAAm8/1arqhT1DGDI/s1600/DSC03657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One annoyance is all the sellers bugging you to buy jewellery and postcards. Totally understand people need to make living and exploit Petra's tourist revenues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">However, it's the sheer volume of hassle you get, little kids, like toddlers </span><span style="background-color: white;">chasing you.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't make the mistake of thinking they're kids being friendly either, they're not they want your money. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Petra's growth was also due to it's location. B</span><span style="background-color: white;">eing hidden deep in the canons mean't it was less </span><span style="background-color: white;">vulnerable</span><span style="background-color: white;"> to attack.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Throughout the city ran miles of ingenious small canals that collected rain to supply the city with fresh water and sanitation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is alleged that Petra was abandoned due to a combination of massive flash floods and an earth quake in 363 that destroyed this vital water system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">What a wonderful day we had at Petra. I was totally captivated, that</span><span style="background-color: white;"> night I had magical dreams that whisked be back in time to the days that Petra was a great </span><span style="background-color: white;">bustling</span><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><span style="background-color: white;">vibrant</span><span style="background-color: white;"> Rose City. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my dream, I sat in a cool spot under a silver barked tree. It was late afternoon and I watched the merchants trading goods and the fine lady's of the day drinking tea as the sun came down...... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Petra is truly a place of dreams, i</span><span style="background-color: white;">f you only visit one place in the Middle East make it Petra.</span></span></div>
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</script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-40496103629579062262012-06-27T02:43:00.003-07:002012-07-10T06:02:23.062-07:00Yas Island Triathlon - Abu Dhabi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yas Island is an amazing location for the Tri</td></tr>
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Our good friend Mr.H returned to see us becuase;<br />
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a) he loves us - in particular my feminists arguments<br />
b) he can get cheap flights due to his BFF being a pilot<br />
c) he and Johan were signed up to do the <a href="http://www.yasisland.ae/en/archive/events-/tri-yas-/" target="_blank">Yas Island Triathlon in Abu Dhabi</a><br />
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They were doing the Olympic distance which equals a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle around the Yas Island F1 track, topped off with a 10km run. It starts late afternoon to miss the killer mid day heat, that said at about <span style="background-color: #fafcfb; line-height: 32px; padding-right: 8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://ww.holiday-weather.com/abu_dhabi/averages/april/" target="_blank">33°C</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">it's still pretty hot to be doing that amount of out door exercise in. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cocktail's = Tri training who knew!</td></tr>
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I have to say I'm a big fan of Mr. H's approach to fitness. His theory is, that as beer and burgers contain carbs and sugar, they're pretty much super foods for training like Mars bars - as such, all should genorously partaken of.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The great love of Johan's life.....his faithful <em style="background-color: white; font-size: small; font-style: normal; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cervélo</span></em><br />
all ready to go!<br />
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Old School fitness for Mr. H - reminiscent of the days when proffessional footballers used to have a pint at half time.<br />
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Non of this silly abstenaince and macro-biotic diet rubbish, beers + burgers = Tri training, simples!<br />
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Now as much as the boys love some extreme exercise they also love a bit of 'friendly' competition and banter. </div>
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I suffered a week of preparatory training, with swimming lessons, pumping up bicycle tires in the living room, sneaking off to the pub to discuss 'strategy' and chatting incessantly about speeds, distance and hydration. </div>
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And of course ribbing each other about who would be better, faster, stronger at every opportunity. </div>
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I almost spontaneously changed sex due to the amount of testosterone floating around our house.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Johan absolutely aced the swim!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Unfortunately, the boys were put in different start waves - which mean't my dual role as chief cheerleader and official photographer was even more challenging, due to having to run from one activity to the next.</span><br />
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The burger and beer training obviously paid off though because the boys both did great - I sound like a proud Mum eek!<br />
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Now as a first time spectator of a triathlon I have to say it was surprisingly good fun. I was initially quite intimidated by the prospect, figuring it would be all serious athlete's types and their entourages.<br />
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Although there were a few of those,<span style="background-color: white;"> on the most part people were normal and it was a great atmosphere. What surprised me was the diversity of participants, it was really inspiring to see people of all ages and abilities having a go. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">This made me harbour a split second thought of <i>"hmmmmm maybe I could do it?!"</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Thankfully those silly thoughts quickly subsided.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">One thing I couldn't quite believe is there was no free snacks available for competitors, there was water that was it. </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Usually, a protein bar or hydro - gel brand sponsor such events, giving away free snacks and drinks but here nada. The organisers are really missing a trick, they need to get a sponsor on board as everyone was complaining about it and all the poor participants were ravenous by the time they'd finished. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. H popping an artery </td></tr>
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Unfortunately, due to a miscalculation of the clock the 'official photographer' was having a little sit down, chat and a coffee and accidentally missed the boys both coming over the finish line, oops sacked!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To the victor, the spoils!</td></tr>
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The result was, that although, Mr. H did very nearly give himself a cardiac arrest, (he couldn't breath properly all the way back to Dubai) he beat Johan by 2 mins on the run. A surprise to us all and a fact that will be much recycled, for 'nose rubbing in it' purposes between their circle of friends.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Spurred</span> on by this epic humiliation - (being beaten at anything by Mr.H is a fate worse than death), Johan is now resolved to do an Iron Man, to cleanse the shame.<br />
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An Iron Man is even harder- it includes a 3.86Km swim, 180km cycle and a tiny little Marathon squeezed in at the end to finish it off !<br />
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My life will be made a misery whilst he trains for this, I'll be forced to exist on protein shakes and be in bed by 8pm,*sigh*<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">To finish folks I'd like to big up myself for this post - as I've never written anything about sports or a sporting event before.....check me out, I'll be having opinions about the offside rule next! ;-)</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-65658054671506831312012-04-26T02:53:00.001-07:002012-04-26T02:53:14.478-07:00Jordan - Wadi Rum<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We have a list called 'Places to Go and Things to See'<i>,</i> it grows and grows and each time we tick one item off we add on three more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Top of our trip list since moving to Dubai has been Jordan and with the close proximity to UAE we set off for a weekend visit. How great that you can pop to Jordan for the weekend!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We took a flight form DBX to Amman at 18:00 on Thursday evening , getting straight on a internal transfer from Amman to Aqaba in the south coast of Jordan. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qE6c2M0WGSk/T5QPK4-Se8I/AAAAAAAAAVI/nUMltosbfsU/s1600/DSC03421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qE6c2M0WGSk/T5QPK4-Se8I/AAAAAAAAAVI/nUMltosbfsU/s320/DSC03421.JPG" width="179" /></span></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ngg0_tpomG8/T5QNvlG9c7I/AAAAAAAAAVA/big73YbXy3Q/s1600/DSC03402.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ngg0_tpomG8/T5QNvlG9c7I/AAAAAAAAAVA/big73YbXy3Q/s320/DSC03402.JPG" width="177" /></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Arriving at about 22:00, we stayed at the Movenpick hotel in Aqaba, which was designed with sensitivity to it's environment yet also had a smack of old school Swiss glamour. We got upgraded to a lovely suite with a sea view, which was great as we never get upgraded to anything!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jordon's Geo-graphical location is both fascinating and a little perturbing in current climates as it borders Israel, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Jordanian people are friendly, helpful and surprisingly humorous. Tourism being a key revenue stream for them means they want visitors to feel safe and welcome, everywhere we went we were met by genuine smiles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The day before visiting Petra we decided to explore the</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;" target="_blank">Wadi Rum in </a>, <span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Aqaba</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Wadi Rum, is a vast 60km mountainous desert to the east of Aqaba. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Wadi means 'valley' in Arabic and Rum is said to mean 'elevated' or 'high' in Aramaic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We were recommended a local guide by some Swedish friends who had visited themselves recently, Jordan seems to be very popular with Scandies. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">His name was Isam - </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a tall, jolly man who liked to make jokes, we had a laugh. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We had planned an afternoon excursion of about 5 hours in all inc travel times of about 45mis each way. W</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">e set off just after lunch to check out the best bits of the Wadi Rum, take a camel ride, have a camp dinner & watch the sunset before heading back. The all inc cost for two of us was about £50, we did give the camels boys a small tip on top.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Wadi Rum is a striking landscape with a perfectly contrasting slash of blue sky against the rolling golden sands. It's been inhabited since prehistoric times, by many different cultures–including the </span></span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabatean" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;" title="Nabatean">Nabateans</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 19px;">– who left their mark in the form of rock paintings, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyphs">petrogiyphs.</a></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Petrogiyphs</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Wife face cover, big improvement, no?'<br /> - Isam asked Johan</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We stopped to have a look at some examples alongside a small Bedouin camp. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The owner welcomed us inside, he was about 60yrs old and had the weathered look of the Bedouin, his face regal looking and proud.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FY2qzcnca0A/T5Qj23js4EI/AAAAAAAAAWg/rqUOKMbt0dk/s1600/DSC03465.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FY2qzcnca0A/T5Qj23js4EI/AAAAAAAAAWg/rqUOKMbt0dk/s200/DSC03465.JPG" width="110" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">He was very nice man, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">made us sweet Arabic tea, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and sang us a traditional Bedouin love song whilst chain smoking </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">filter-less</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> cigarettes. Heavily coughing throughout his rendition, he actually </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">stopped twice to hack then carried on - it was brilliant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We repaid his hospitality by buying some fragrant Amber for £6; which for a comfy seat, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">some shade, 4 cups of tea and a traditional song was remarkably good value we thought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Next we jumped - well clambered is a better description on some camels for few kilometre ride</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. S</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">topping along the way to look at the network of ingenious rock calved canals used to collect rain water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We also stopped to do some climbing of the beautiful sandstone sculptures, before setting up dinner camp. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Isam</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> was worried about me climbing but not so much about Johan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I was about to get on my female equality high horse when </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Isam</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> explained it was a matter of foreign politics's not a gender issue. "Your husband from Sweden, he falls down and dies no-one cares, you from UK you fall down and die, Jordan king be very upset with us". </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Antoinette Gardiner, the mother of Jordan's current monarch, Abdullah - is British. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYIu-ZTB3iM/T5QrEyCI_nI/AAAAAAAAAXA/fabpuqWCQVc/s1600/DSC03545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYIu-ZTB3iM/T5QrEyCI_nI/AAAAAAAAAXA/fabpuqWCQVc/s320/DSC03545.JPG" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Isam had started dinner whilst we'd been off Camel riding, it was a simple chicken stew cooked over the open fire and i</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">t was absolutely deliciousness!! He gave me the recipe.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Recipe: </b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Chicken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Onion</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Potatoes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tomatoes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Some Spices</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Water</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Method:</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Roughly chop everything and stick in a pot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cover in tin foil and bung on the fire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cook for 1 hour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Serve with warm pita.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Eat with hands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We feasted on our stew, laughed at Isam's jokes, drank sweet tea and watched the sunset .....a perfect end to a perfect day! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Interestingly - Wadi Rum is also known as 'The Valley of the Moon'. It was a full moon when we visited and the brightest and most illuminating I have ever seen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-10144831884814375222012-04-02T05:12:00.000-07:002012-06-28T02:01:15.482-07:00Dubai World Cup - 2012<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Dubai World cup is the richest horse race in the world with a total purse equalling $10million. It's also one of the Dubai social events of the year, attracting thousands of visitors. People aren't just there for the racing, but also the fashion, firework show and this year Toni Braxton was headlining. So we headed off to Meydan again suited and booted in our Sunday best, as there is a formal dress code with ladies encouraged to wear hats. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Couldn't find a hat I liked so made my own!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Tickets:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There are a few ticket options - a free ticket with limited access, or Apron views which we bought @ 350Dhs (£60) a ticket. This gets you gets you access to the main area where the Jaguar Style stakes, the Alhan photo booth, <i>The Bubble Lounge</i> and <i>The Irish Village</i> are. This was our first time at the Dubai World Cup and I have to admit that although we had a lovely day I was a tad disappointed. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Reason Why:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Considering the glamour stakes are high I was expecting a day of civilised refinement. However, the environment really isn't set up for a refinement unless you want to spend an <i>absolute</i> fortune. We wouldn't have minded spending a reasonable amount for some decent food a bottle of wine and a nice seat outside, but no could do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's true we could have coughed up for the full hospitably package from 1,750 - 5,000 Dhs per person. But that would have mean't £600 for the two of us </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">even for the cheapest</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> option</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, before drinks, transport, outfits spend etc. Which seemed a bit excessive for a day at the races. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Drinks & Seating: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the Apron Views there is <i>The Bubble Lounge </i>which you'll be surprised only serves bubbles, however the cheapest bottle of champagne was 1,000Dhs (£170). Just being the two of us and Johan not being that keen on bubbly (he likes one glass that's about it) we kind of felt it was;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a)Extortionately priced </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">b)A waste for just the two of us....well for Johan anyway I could of happily quaffed 5 glasses of champagne all to myself! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What we would have of liked was maybe one glass of bubbly to mark the occasion however you can only buy, by the bottle. Even if you do fork out 1,000 -4,000Dhs on a bottle there didn't seem to be any seating in <i>The Bubble Lounge. </i>There were these lean to bar tables and a few stools which were like gold dust. I'd have been livid if I'd forked out minimum 1,000 Dhs and couldn't even get a seat to enjoy my f</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">izz in some comfort. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Getting good seating </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">in general</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> is impossible, as the main seating area isn't that big </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">considering</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> how many people attend the event. It's quite funny to watch people stalking seats in the desperate hope that they'll catch someone leaving, I noted that older women seem to be particularly skilled at this. Like Lion's stalking Antelope, this is probably because of the high heel, foot pain factor for which a chair provides much needed respite. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Shoes:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lots of women were hobbling around that day many no loger able to cope with the pain and abandoning sky high platforms altogether and going bare foot. I stuck it out as long as I could but with my new pink KG stiletto's torturing me w</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">e ended up having to sit on the grand stand seats, just to give my poor feet a rest. Again not very glam in your posh frock and hat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Food:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Other than the hospitality the food options are fast food outlets. Which were indoor, awfully littered, and under stocked it seemed. There were massive queues everywhere and it seemed surreal, everyone in hats and suits eating in the equivalent of a scruffy MacDonald's. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PJ0dmIIR5bw/T4RcjESPIFI/AAAAAAAAATY/od7cx3QLx4Y/s1600/DSC03738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PJ0dmIIR5bw/T4RcjESPIFI/AAAAAAAAATY/od7cx3QLx4Y/s320/DSC03738.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So we ate Egyptian Pizza from a cardboard box, seated on concrete seats, drinking wine from plastic cups. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">DWC was not the glamorous day out I had had in mind, maybe my expectations were just to high. It's not that I mind sitting in the arena or eating Egyptian pizza from a cardboard box per se</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I just don't see the point of getting all dressed up and having to wear a fancy hat to do it, if I'd known I'd rather have worn my jeans and converse!! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For example, one good thing about Ascot Races is you can take your own picnic. You can make your own affordable glamour - bring a proper picnic basket, s</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">it on a nice tartan blanket, have nice cheeses & </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">chutney's, some fizz or Pimm's making the whole day a little </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">more refined. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Of course, they have stricter rules about alcohol here, so I totally get you couldn't BYOB as at Ascot. However, maybe the rule at the DWC is you have to buy drinks inside but you could bring your own picnic. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I don't mind paying for drinks</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> I'd simply like the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sophistication of being able to bring my own non plastic pint pot to drink them in. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Most of the fast food kiosks had run out of food anyway by 6pm, so it's not like they'd loose revenue from food sales. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what I wanted DWC to be like</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My point is I expected and wanted a more tasteful day at the races </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">without having to bankrupt yourself in the process. As</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> money doesn't equals class - but hey why did I assume that logic after all this is Dubai. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Highlights:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Of course there are some good things, the races are great and the closing show, fire works, Aero acrobatics were amazing. They certainly do know how to put on a good show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">However, nothing quite prepares you for the horror of two things. The queue for the ladies toilets and the taxi queue, I'm surprised we are not still standing in it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Conclusion:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'd say if we go again best to;</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">G</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">o with a big rowdy group of friends </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Get there early to secure a valuable sofa and table area</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Go in comfortable shoes </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don't wear spanx</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bring my own plastic pinic wine glasses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Have a big lunch before you get there</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Split the cost of a bottle or two of fizz between the group </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Book a helicopter home;-)</span></li>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-46530668090092932592012-03-16T02:01:00.000-07:002012-09-04T05:11:14.505-07:00Dubai Friday Brunch - #2 Spectrum on One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So as do most visitors to Dubai, the dashing Oscar wanted to go to Friday brunch. Again we were very last minute and most places were full so it was a toss up between<a href="http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Dubai/Dining/Splendido/Default.htm" target="_blank"> <i>Splendido @ The Ritz</i></a> or <i><a href="http://www.fairmont.com/dubai/dining/spectrumonone/" target="_blank">Spectrum on One @ The Fairmount</a></i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After much debating the individual benefits of each we eventually opted for the latter due to <i>Spectrum</i> having a seemingly better seafood selection. When you are new to Dubai, it really is a minefield choosing which brunch to got to, on-line reviews and forums don't really help much either as you always get 3 people who love it and 3 people who complain, it's pot luck really on any given day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I opted for the bubbly option as is my way and the boys went for Mojitos, beer, wine and strange blue shots!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the key to a successful buffet is you've got to have a plan of attack. Otherwise as experience has taught us you end up stuffed by your second plate without having experienced many of your favourite dishes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You have to be focused and ruthless about what you want and don't want, this also cuts down on post plate bloatage and wastage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* Here I have to make a serious point - now I enjoy brunch every now and again as a treat, so this may sound hypocritical. However one of the down sides is witnessing the utter waste and gluttony that takes place at buffet's. This can also be said of hotel buffet breakfast, why do people go mental and horde plates full of everything on offer with no hope of actually eating it all??</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all want value for money of course, but it's a false economy if you don't eat it anyway. I have no problem with people gorging if they actually eat the food, it's the waste I hate. The food wastage at brunches is shocking and makes us quite uncomfortable, hence we have a funny love/hate relationship with brunch because of this. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We go because we love good food and what I do like about brunches is the ability to have a little bit of everything, the variety is why we go not the quantity. So we try to operate a minimum wastage strategy, of small plates and portions rather than the gut busting hoarding. Anyway, self righteous rant over sorry lets move on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So you need a brunch strategy and it's fun to discuss each other's plans and tactic's. On this day I was feeling traditional whereas Oscar was feeling all spicy and oriental, one thing we all agreed on was we were all feeling fishy, so we started off will a full assault on the Seafood counter. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is my hitting the buffet strategy:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plate#1 - Seafood </span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">x 1 Mini smoked salmon egg Benedict</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 x King Crab legs </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">x 1 slither of GravLax </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">x 2 King Prawns</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aoli & Lemon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bread and butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*The Swedish boys had the above + herring and Oysters!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Oscar went to Thailand <br />and </span><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">India</span><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plate#2 - Sushi</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sushi - </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spectrum on One</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> had an amazing sushi, sashimi, tempura and dim sum selection best I've had at a brunch yet. Some really unusual items and the sushi was well made. I'm a bit of a stickler for well made sushi, I loath too large, floppy sushi. These were smallish pieces, firmly packed that held their structure well when being plonked in soy sauce. The seared sesame tuna was a delight!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plate#3 - Roast Beef</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can take the girl out of England but you can't take England out of the girl! Roast beef and Yorkshire pud with lots of lovely roast tats and a glass of Malbec for me, yum!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plate #4 - Cheese</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Was a very small plate of cheese, crackers and grapes and a glass of white port from the designated cheese and port room, that's right they have whole room of cheese!!!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plate#5 - Mini treats</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The desert selection is fantastic and much better quality than say the one at </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saffron</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> that always looks good but the deserts don't taste of anything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In general have to say the quality of everything </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">@ Spectrum on One</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> was far better than </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saffron - </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">people rave about the food at </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saffron</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> but I don't think it's all that. As said Saffron, looks the part but fails to deliver on taste or quality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">nyway, back to deserts at </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spectrum on One.</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They have an Eaton mess station and a macaroon station. I opted for a mini red velet cup cake, x 2 choc fondu dripped strawberries x 3 tiny macaroons and a white chocolate covered cake with berries in the middle....all were delicious I scoffed the lot! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Johan on the other hand, had the kind of desert a 10 year old boy would choose an Eaton mess full of jelly sweets and plate full of more jelly sweets, he's such a food connoisseur my husband. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boys finished off the 3 hour eating and drink-athon with some funny blue shots we don't know what they were or where they came from, we didn't ask for them they just appeared. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm very suspicious of blue drinks and food so I didn't have one. We just had time to pop home for a quick nap before we had to go to the next event of the day a civilised dinner party...ouch!!</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4281204978113543230.post-66378215738868687332012-03-10T08:06:00.000-08:002012-06-28T02:42:59.606-07:00Mr. H took us to the Races - Meydan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've never been to the Races in the evening before, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've been to the dogs in the evening but never the horse races. But our gorgeous visitor Hamilton had gotten us some gratis tickets so off we all popped in our glad rags to Meydan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Meydan is Dubai's Horse Racing stadium and is (as with most structures in Dubai) really impressive. Meydan will host the Dubai World Cup at the end of the March which is one of the social events of the year. So we'll be back for that even more dolled up as hats are a must. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">No probs as I love a bit of glamour...FACT! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One thing I find a total 'glamour killer' is the use of plastic cups at outside events. I agree that at some venues it makes sense to have plastic glasses. I've been to packed nightclubs and gigs were I was very thankful they had plastic glasses, as people tend to get a bit mental and throw them.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> But this trend of </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">giving</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> you wine in a plastic pint pot, just because you are outside anywhere drives me crackers!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I question if it's necessary at Meydan to serve wine in plastic beakers on a quiet night, where the average age must have been 60! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Not exactly an </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">audience</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> that's gonna start a tear up and glass each other!!</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Another weird quirk is that you can't actually bet on the horse races, so instead we had our own pool going at £5 per person per race. Hamilton cleaned up - a jolly time was had by all. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v9tUFfNUK_o/T3rvzPphnoI/AAAAAAAAAGo/LdyyruzAKmA/s1600/DSC_0030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v9tUFfNUK_o/T3rvzPphnoI/AAAAAAAAAGo/LdyyruzAKmA/s320/DSC_0030.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hamilton, Jess and I with our beakers </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of wine very glam!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">p.s.I've been instructed to point out that Hamilton,'won' all the races due to his superior intellect and racing knowledge. </span><br />
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0