8 Years and DSF Parade

Saturday, February 19th, was mine and Jared's 8 year anniversary! The time has gone so fast that we sometimes have a hard time believing it has been that long. But then we just think about all that we have done in that time -- we started dating when I was a sophomore and Jared was a junior at Hobart, then subsequently both moved to Boston for law school and survived three bar exams together (first Jared took MA, then the following year I did, then the third year Jared took NY. I would not wish three summers in row of bar exams on anyone). We have done long distance on more occasions than I like to think about (while I lived in London and Rome, a year of me in NY and Jared in Boston, a year of him in Dubai and me in Boston) and have traveled the US and world together. When I think about it that way, it's been a long time! I mean, we could have a child in 3rd grade! (you know, if we were extremely irresponsible hardcore pro-life people). We have also been together longer than the vast majority of our friends who are in couples, and a good number of them are all engaged and/or married now.... So, given all of that, we thought we needed to adequately celebrate such an occasion. So, we decided a trip somewhere was in order, and will be heading to Istanbul next weekend for a proper celebration.

However, we couldn't let the day pass without any ado, so decided to go out to a nice dinner at our favorite steak restaurant in Dubai, Gary Rhodes' Twenty 10 at the Royal Meridian Hotel in the Dubai Marina. Before dinner though, we decided that we needed to hit up the Grand Finale Parade to the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) that they were holding on the Burj Boulevard in our neighborhood. Last year we went to the shopping festival parade that they hold every night of the shopping festival down by the Dubai Creek, and it was one of the most entertaining/trippy parades I've ever seen, so couldn't possibly let this one pass us by without checking it out. And truly this year's DSF parade did not disappoint. It was similarly a psychedelic-Alice in Wonderland experience, only this time there seemed to be an actual theme to accompany the seemingly random barrage of bird people and larger-than-life dancing shopping bags. I was only disappointed that my camera was putting up a fight with me and so all but three of my photos are far too blurry to share. The theme seemed to be "Around the World" and therefore there were different dancers and floats to represent all of the continents in the world (ie, African dancers, floats with North American icons like the Statue of Liberty, giant dancing Russian Matryoshkas (think "The Nutcracker"), and Chinese New Year-style dancing dragons and fish. Very entertaining, although my favorite part was still the random dancing bird people (see my Feb. '10 postings on the DSF Parade for a visual representation). I will share a couple pictures though just so you can get the idea...

The Clown Car float. A little freaky if you start thinking about Stephen King's movie "It"...

A random parade shot. This scene reminds me a bit of "Babes in Toyland" with the giant rainbow train.

Closer image of the train. I think it at least gives you an impression of the trippiness of this parade. Oh Dubai.

Then after the parade we headed to the Royal Meridian for dinner. We got there a little early, so decided to grab a drink at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel called 'Maya' which has a lovely outdoor terrace overlooking the water. A mojito and some chips and salsa later and we headed to 'Rhodes' Twenty 10' for dinner. Jared had called ahead to tell them it was our anniversary, so when they showed us to our table, it was decorated with rose petals and heart confetti, quite a sweet touch I thought. Then we had a fabulous dinner of crab salad (with quail eggs, surprisingly delicious) and lobster minestrone soup for starters (all the starters are meant to be shared), and then American steak(!) (a rib-eye for Jared and filet for me) with triple-fried frites and cheesy cauliflower. All pretty standard steakhouse fare, but what makes Twenty 10 in my opinion is the plethora of sauces/dips you can choose from to accompany your steak (which I once believed to be blasphemy, but I can now appreciate the goodness that a little Bearnaise can add, especially if used for dipping frites!). Jared chose whipped horseradish, and I of course chose the Bearnaise... Mmm. For dessert we split a sticky toffee pudding (probably the best food to come out of the UK besides fish and chips). Then, when we were just about finished they brought out a plate of beignets with "Happy Anniversary" written on the plate in chocolate. Another lovely touch which I thought couldn't be beat until they brought me out an absolutely gorgeous bouquet of roses and lilies, saying that it is the restaurant's tradition to give the woman a bouquet when couples come for their anniversary. Just lovely. I felt quite special carrying a bouquet through the hotel as we were going to get our car from the valet. A perfect and fitting way to celebrate 8 years.