27 on the 27th!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, yesterday was my 27th birthday, on August 27th. I was pretty excited about that, so I kept telling Jared that it is a very special birthday. And although I didn't get any bling for a gift (as I was secretly hoping), Jared did spoil me and make my first Dubai birthday very special...

Crabcake Benedict for Breakfast! Yum!!

To start the day, I woke up to find Jared secretly cooking away in the kitchen to surprise me with my favorite food for breakfast: Crabcake Benedict. It's truly a New England thing that I can only find a few places in the South Shore and Cape (Grumpy's in Dennis being the best, where I memorably had crabcake benedict twice in one weekend. oops). Jared had wanted to take me out for brunch, but of course Ramadan put a wrinkle in that plan, so decided making it at home was the next best thing. He truly knows the way to my heart, and I kept saying, "I love you, you poached eggs for me..." (Poaching eggs is not something either one of us had ever done before...)

After breakfast I got to open my gifts which included an expensive peony scented lotion I had been oogling, a new beach hat (or rather coupon for me to pick one out myself), and a spa day at a luxurious spa at the Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr Hotel. I was so surprised, and excited because they are all things I would not buy for myself (isn't that supposed to be what birthday gifts are about?).

We then lounged around the house for a bit to recover from our delicious breakfast, before heading out to the mall so that I could search for a beach hat. An hour and a half or so of looking and I found a perfect hat at Bloomy's (Jared having vetoed approximately 40 hats before finding the right straw hat). Then home we headed so that I could try out my new hat. We headed to the pool and swam and lounged away the afternoon (having my birthday during Ramadan really limited the number of activities we could do, since everything is closed on Fridays, and even more so during Ramadan).

After we got our fill of swimming and felt that we'd spent enough time in the heat, we lounged around the house until it was time to get ready for dinner. Jared surprised me by making a dinner booking at Gary Rhodes' new steak restaurant Twenty10. It only opened 3 weeks ago, and some of the reviews were mixed, so Jared was a little hesitant to go there. Well, it was probably top 5 best meals we've had in Dubai, so a perfect choice.

We got there a little early and got a drink at the bar (mmm, white cranberry cosmo!), and then proceeded to have an amazing meal. The restaurant embraces a sharable starters concept, so we split the Rillettes Fritters (yummy pork rillettes we discovered in Paris once again!), and a Lobster Caesar Salad. We both then got steaks (the restaurant gained brownie points with us right away as they only serve American beef and [some] Wagyu (overrated uberexpensive Australian beef). I got a 12 oz. fillet, and Jared got a giant ribeye. They both came well-seasoned and cooked to medium-rare perfection, with free sauces. I chose the Bearnaise and Jared the horseradish whip. Between Hollandaise and Bearnaise in one day, I was floating in French sauces, which only Jared knows will make me love you forever. The steaks were a la carte, so we also shared spinach and homemade frites as sides (give me steak frites and I'm in heaven). And although we had cake waiting at home, we could not resist getting an order of the sticky toffee pudding to share, which the chef kindly divided into two portions for us on our own plates. All the food was cooked and prepared to perfection, and I could not possibly have wished for a better birthday (whilst in Dubai during Ramadan....). I still maintain that I am 'mid' twenties for one more year (whereas, most of my friends are late twenties...), and I certainly enjoyed my 27 on the 27th!