Desert Sports and V-Day

First of all, let me just say, that I have the BEST boyfriend in the entire world. I know I do because he planned the most perfect impromptu (we had plans to go see a local rock band and do a non-traditional Valentines Day, but decided not to go at the last minute because neither of us were feeling up to a big night out) Valentines night, with no planning and preparations at all. I love him. So much. Anyway, enough about that for the moment.

This weekend we decided to engage in some of the desert sports that Dubai has to offer. Outdoor sports year round is definitely one of the benefits to an arid climate, and I have been dying to go watch Polo. I was turned onto Polo in Hawaii when I've been to visit my Mom and gone to see the Hawaiian Polo on the North Shore of Oahu. The whole experience is just fun (forget beautiful because the North Shore Polo is right on the beach), but everyone brings their blankets and beach chairs and sits along the sides with picnics, and the announcer does a great job of explaining the game to the uninformed, and then between the chukkas they have a dj playing music and sky divers landing on the field. Oh, and you can buy sweet and savory crepes and alcoholic beverages to drink (if you haven't brought a cooler of your own). So, suffice to say, after Hawaiian Polo, my expectations for polo are pretty high.

Then, three or four weeks ago, Jared and I decided to check out the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club on a Friday afternoon because we had read that there's polo every Friday and Saturday afternoon from 3pm that you can go and watch. After about a 30 minute drive we found the Polo and Equestrian Club (it's pretty far out of town in the Arabian Ranches) and were a little disappointed because I guess since Polo is played so regularly here, every week isn't a huge event. It was very amateur polo (slow moving and constant stopping) and there were only about 15-20 people watching on the sidelines and no music and announcers (it must have been just a scrimmage). So we watched for about 45 minutes before Jared got bored and we left. I had been wanting to go back when there was an actual event because I thought it might be more along the lines of my previous polo experiences.

So, upon investigating the Polo and Equestrian Club website I discovered that there was a Valentines' Day Polo Cup tournament with the finals on Friday Feb. 12th from 3-6pm. So after convincing Jared it would be fun and bribing him with a cooler full of beer and picnic of hummus, sausage, cheese, and crackers, we ventured back to the Polo Club. It was definitely much more crowded and this time we had to pay AED 50 to park on the field. This was much more in line with the Polo I remember...

The games were much more serious and the whole field was packed, so that when we got there about 3:15pm we had to park at the very end. They had family fun activities set up on the terrace of the polo club (complete with a kids bouncy castle, those things are huge here for some reason) and then the opposite side of the field completely packed with SUV's and picnickers. There was even an announcer this time and a score board, so much easier to keep track of what was going on with the game and some music playing in between the chukkas. Overall a really fun atmosphere and so we stayed for two whole games and thoroughly enjoyed our little picnic.

Now Jared is convinced that he wants to take up Polo, although we've decided that it is probably the most expensive sport in the world (given that you have to own a horse). Oh well... Still a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Then on Saturday, we decided to continue the sport theme of our weekend and go watch the Gaelic Games Irish Football and Hurling Tournament. Our friend Derek is Irish and his wife Angela is half-Irish, so Angela invited us to come watch with her and her friends. Neither one of us had ever even heard of Irish Football or Hurling before, so we decided to go check it out (plus we figured there might be Irish beer involved..). The tournament was held at the Dubai Rugby 7's Stadium (also way out of town -- guess you can't build sports stadiums in the middle of sky scrapers). We met Angela's friends and had a couple of drinks while watching one of her friend's daughters Irish dance and then watched a Hurling match (probably the most dangerous sport in the world! The fastest field ball sport I've been told and no pads or gloves even though it's basically a variation on lacrosse. The Irish make American athletes look like wimps). Then after the Hurling match we watched an Irish Football match which is basically soccer, but you can also use your hands. No shin guards either. Those Irish are tough!

We enjoyed the Gaelic games and it was just nice to get out of town for awhile. Although, it was hotter than we realized and drinking cider (for me) and beer (for Jared) in the sun can certainly do a number on your level of hydration, so when we got home we both went to bed by 9!

Then Valentines Day was Sunday. We had been planning on having a non-traditional Valentines Day this year since we kind of did our romantic celebration on Thursday night when we went out to Buddha Bar (Jared's favorite bar with a giant 30 foot Buddha statue in the middle) for cocktails and Asian apps. My friend from work Phil is roommates with members of the house rock band at the Majestic Hotel, the "Rock Spiders." So we had been planning to go see them on V-Day for something different. However, after our weekend of drinking while watching sports in the sun we were both feeling severely dehydrated and exhausted and not up to a big night out. So we decided against going out and had a more traditional Valentines Day at home (traditional for us -- we always stay in and cook a nice dinner. We hate going out to eat on Valentines Day since you can pretty much count on poor service and even worse food, similar to New Year's Eve). So, we made the decision to stay in at about 3:30pm and so Jared promised to cook dinner for me for when I got home from work. For such little preparation time he made me the most amazing meal! He knows that the way to my heart is through my stomach, so skipped the flowers this year (massively overpriced in Dubai) and cooked my favorite food. He made me grilled fillet mignon and green beans with homemade rosemary pomme frites. Absolutely amazing! I could not believe when he told me he was going to make homemade frites (fries are probably my favorite food in the world, see previous posts on my McDonald's fries dependency here). And after the Super Bowl wings he's gotten really into deep frying and used a 'double fry' method and they turned out superbly. Better than any restaurants I can remember. And not to overlook the steak, but it was cooked perfectly as well. Just amazing.

My plate. I just have to brag about my boy's cooking skills. Fillet and frites are the way to my heart.

Then for dessert Jared picked up Valentines cupcakes from the newly opened Bloomingdale's at the Dubai Mall. Bloomingdale's opened about a week ago and they have transplanted New York City's Magnolia Bakery within it. Vanilla with the richest butter cream frosting. Hands down the best cupcakes we've had in Dubai (and trust me, we've sampled around. we LOVE cupcakes). So, unexpectedly and with little notice, Jared planned the most perfect Valentines night I could possibly imagine, on the 8th anniversary of our very first date. Happy Happy Dubai Valentines Day!