Delicious pumpkin whoopie pies (my new favorite fall recipe. amazing. to die for. total fat kid.) Also, notice my large AMERICAN jack-o-lantern pumpkin. We found those (along with gourds and Indian corn) at Waitrose a few weeks ago, and I could not help but get a little carried away... AED 250 (or about $68 USD) later, and our apartment is adequately fall festive. Even if the temperature here tells you otherwise...
Baking in my new cupcake apron, courtesy of my Mom's lovely friend Jan.
Wow, I can't believe it has actually been almost 2 months since I updated my blog. I don't think I have gone that long since I started writing it! Sorry (if you actually noticed or cared)... I think it is because we really haven't been doing anything all that interesting, and have both been really busy with work. Kindergarten is a lot more drama than I could have ever imagined (although not nearly as much as 3rd grade, where I substitute taught for three days a couple weeks ago). Jared's been busy with work too, so that means our social lives have become pretty dull, and we have been finding ourselves exhausted on the couch with take-out many a Thursday night in the last couple months.
When we have been able to muster the energy, we have done a few fun things. In the spirit of our love of fall and beer, we attended a huge German-style Oktoberfest celebration in mid-October. It was held in a giant tent at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and set up like a German Beer Garden with rows of picnic tables and even had German strength games for prizes (in how few hits can you pound a nail into a 2x4). We went with our German friend Dom and some of his work colleagues. It was a great night, complete with a German Polka band straight off playing at Oktoberfest in Munich and an all you can eat German buffet (nothing like pretzels, sausage and suckling pig all washed down with a Liter of beer). We have been talking about going to the real Oktoberfest in Munich for the last couple years, but if Jared's handling of his 2.5 liters of beer is any indication, we wouldn't last 5 minutes in Munich. Needless to say, a great time was had by all.
Then the following morning (or should I say afternoon), we were invited to our first Champagne Brunch at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel (JBH). Nothing like packing all the fun into one weekend you can possibly fit. All-you-can-eat Champagne Brunches are an institution in Dubai, and it seemed a travesty that we had not been to one yet (although we did contemplate canceling as a result of our Oktoberfest aftermath). Somehow we pulled it together though and had a lot of fun. The whole concept behind the Champagne Brunch is that you can eat (and drink!) all you can in the 4 hours you are there. It's kind of a full-day commitment to glutany and intoxication. They start at around noon and go until 4 or 4:30pm. There are varying levels (depending on how nice the hotel/restaurant is, and how much you want to pay). The one we went to at JBH was about 350 dirhams a person and included a buffet with sushi, meat carving stations, and various other international foods including Asian, Arabic, and Indian stations (although, curiously, no actual foods you would associate with a normal brunch, ie: no eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, etc.). The food spread and variety was impressive in and of itself, but what really blows your mind is the alcohol. There was free-flowing all you can drink champagne, red and white wine, and specialty cocktails (think raspberry mojitos and lynchberg lemonade) served by the pitcher. There were 10 of us at brunch and at one point I think we had 8 pitchers on the table at the same time. I wasn't sure how we would fair, but it turns out hair of the dog was just what we needed. However, I don't think I will feel the urge for another Champagne Brunch anytime soon...
And the other 95% of the time in the last two months when we have not been gorging and binge drinking, we've been embracing the cooler weather that has finally arrived in Dubai. In the last month or so things have really cooled down (highs are now only around 85-90 degrees with no humidity and lows in the high 70's at night. That still sounds really warm, but coming off of 6 months with 90% humidity and 120 degrees highs, it feels wonderful). We are registered for two road races coming up and so have been enjoying getting to actually work out and train outside. We're running the Dubai Creek Half Marathon on December 10th, and the Dubai Marathon 10K on January 21st. I've been loving going back to my favorite running spot Al Safa Park and going on long runs on the track that surrounds the perimeter of the park after school. We have also been loving getting back out and working in our garden again. After the long, hot summer it was looking pretty rough, so we've been working on getting it cleaned up and weeded so we can start hosting bbq's again, and enjoy our little wine and cheese sunset happy hours. During the summer months I am always questioning why the hell we live in the desert, but now that wonderful winter is arriving in Dubai I am reminded once more... We even had our first rain shower since February last week, and I was absolutely delighted (and even more so by the beautiful rainbow over the Burj Khalifa after it stopped).
The cooler weather has also stirred up our love for festive fall food, and we've been trying new fall recipes and cooking up a storm in honor of the season. The day I went wild on the pumpkins and gourds at Waitrose, I, of course, had a buy a giant pumpkin to dedicate purely to roasting for all my favorite fall recipes. This year it seems I become even more obsessed with pumpkin than in previous years (perhaps my yearning my cooler weather is projecting itself through my stomach). Either way, I've gotten a bit carried away in the last month making Velvetly Pumpkin Bisque aka Pumpkin Soup (twice!), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, a pumpkin roll, pumpkin whoopie pies, and pumpkin pie martinis (just for good measure). I had to cut myself off last week, just so that I won't be totally pumpkined-out by the time Thanksgiving arrives.
So, I guess to sum up our last two months, I can say we've been busy busy busy with work, friends, food, and fall. Now I remember why I like living here.
Gobble Gobble! My Kindergarten sign greeted our guests.
The Turkey! (and the chefs)
Our 24 pound turkey. It barely fit into our oven (and the borrowed roasting pan we used also did not fit without being squeezed in), but in the end it came out well.
Jared indulging in his traditional turkey leg, Medieval Times-style. Clearly, not as appealing to me.
Group Photo.
Another group photo. Missing a few...
Beth and Angela [+ bump].
The dessert spread.
