On Thursday, we began our weekend with some drinks on the beach at Barasti Bar at the Le Meridian Hotel. Barasti is a bar we really enjoy because it is right on the water and this week we decided to sit on the beach on the giant bean bag chairs they have, right next to the stage where they had an Irish DJ called 'Gate Crasher' playing music all night. Awesome dj and probably the coolest light show I've ever seen... plus giant balloons full of confetti were being bopped around the dance floor by the crowd. Actually awesome. I've learned my lesson about having an empty stomach when drinking, so we stuffed ourselves with plates of Arabic BBQ they were selling at the Bar. Quite yummy lamb and chicken kebabs, salad, and hummus with flat bread. On our way to catch a taxi we saw a fist fight taking place between one of the bar security guards and a patron. Actually very funny because it was kind of a slap fight in the middle of the street but neither were very successful since as another onlooker observed, "they didn't have any heart." The police suddenly busted onto the scene to break it up and then blocked off the whole street as if some major incident was occurring, so we had to walk a couple blocks to the main street to get a taxi. Very funny, and not something I ever thought I would see in Dubai. At Wylie J's in Geneva, NY, yes, at a swanky hotel bar in Dubai, not so much...
We LOVE the beanbags at Barasti...We got home on the early side because we wanted to make the most of our Friday. We got up early and headed to brunch at the Lime Tree Cafe, which is a great cafe with New Zealand breakfasts and other delicious sandwiches and salads, and you can eat in their beautiful garden. After brunch we decided to check out a supermarket that our friend Dom had told us was an American supermarket. It is called the "Safest Way" and is actually a Korean market, but surprisingly does carry a lot of American products. We were thrilled... Halloween M&M's, Tollhouse Cookie Dough, cans of chicken broth (surprisingly hard to come by here, and don't even think about the fresher stuff in cartons), good cheese, and American potato chips of all varieties... including Burger King 'flame broiled' chips, which Jared could not resist. They also had Butterball turkeys, and so bought a 10 pounder to roast Saturday night. We also found some other basic necessities we've been looking like ice cube trays, a cooler, and beach towels.
After our very successful grocery shopping trip, we headed back to our favorite JBR beach and relaxed and swam for the afternoon... Now that it is getting colder in New England, I really feel that I must emphasize the fact that we had a lovely day at the beach with perfect weather. Probably mid-80's and windy... I'm missing out on foliage and Halloween, so I have to embrace what I've got!
Friday night we had dinner plans at the Marina with our friend Jenn's cousin Maura who lives in Dubai. On Maura's recommendation we went to an Italian restaurant called Bice (B-chay) and had the most amazing meal I think I've had in Dubai. Delicious drinks (Mojitos and Peroni, then some Pino Grigio), and I started with Crab Cake over Avocado 'tartare' (basically guac) and then had veal-stuffed tortelli with a white cream truffle sauce. Absolutely amazing! [At this juncture I feel I should apologize for my need to discuss food excessively on here. I really really love food, and eating out is probably one of my top five favorite things to do, so, please excuse my long tangents that describe in detail what I am eating on a regular basis]... Dinner was a lot of fun and hopefully we can get together with Maura and Gio again soon.
Saturday was supposed to be our productive day since we mostly relaxed on Friday. And given that we ended up buying a grill (and lots of grill tools, including a whole fish griller and corn on the cob griller) and a few other odds and ends we still needed for the apartment, like a coffee maker, blow dryer (yes, I am very proud to say I am a girl who has not used a blow dryer in over a month. I remind Jared of this if and when he ever tries to say I'm a 'high maintenance' gf... Mom, I know you're cringing right now), and some indoor plants to continue to make our apartment more cozy. Unfortunately, the grill can't be delivered until next week, but in a way that's good because getting gas for the grill is actually kind of a big deal over here. Contrary to in the US where you just go to the super market or gas station or almost anywhere and buy propane tanks, here, you can't buy full propane gas tanks. You have to buy an empty tank somewhere (luckily they sold them at the Ace Hardware where we bought our grill, other places we were looking at grills didn't sell them), and then take the empty tank to a gas supplier and have your tank filled, which apparently can take up to 3 days. Then they deliver the tank to your house... All very odd. Especially for a warm climate where grilling is popular pretty much year round.
So after our shopping spree at Festival City where the Ace, Ikea (where we bought the plants) and Hyper Panda (another Walmart-esque store where we got the coffee maker, etc.) we decided to find the gas supplier to have our tank ready when the grill arrives. Well, our attempt to find the gas supplier in Karama (near Bur Dubai where Jared used to live) turned into a complete nightmare of bad directions and wrong turns and Jared and I coming home not speaking to each other. So we gave up, deciding we'd try next Friday.
We both took some time to recover from our nightmare drive before roasting our turkey (with all the accompaniments) and having a delicious dinner. Overall a great weekend.
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