It’s true what they say, time waits for no man…uh…time flies… no no time marches on! Either way you look at it I have now spent my third Christmas in Dubai, I can’t actually believe it. Seems like only yesterday I was doing the whole family thing times three (yeah divorced parents and one in-law). I can’t complain however, we spent a very merry weekend with some great friends here and had a wonderful time all in all, even if I did miss the fandamily (just a little bit).
The day before Christmas Eve I braved the Mall to do a last spot of shopping – it wasn’t as crazy as I was expecting, but nevertheless Stu would have lost his mind. I can deal with the crowds, tyre-kickers, babies in strollers, you name it (if I have to) but the thing that drives me slowly insane is being bombarded in each and every store by a different cheesy Christmas carol or stars forbid, Boney-M. This year was no exception and seemed actually worse than last year, or maybe I wasn’t this silly last year and had stayed away this close to day.
With the shopping and wrapping done, and with x-mas dessert sitting smugly in the fridge, we headed out on Christmas Eve to start the festivities with a bang. Following tradition, well Dubai tradition that is, we went for Friday brunch. I have explained this concept before I think, but essentially a Dubai brunch is in actual fact a lunch, and not a brunch like we have in South Africa, which is actually a late breakfast. So anyway, we went along to the Shangri-la Hotel in SZR, to the Dunes Cafe, for their Christmas Eve Brunch with some of Stu’s colleagues and their wives. Great value at 285 dirs (including alcohol) even further discounted to 228 due to the number of guests at our table AND I won a dinner voucher in the lucky draw, so basically it cost us almost nothing. The restaurant is lovely and the buffet was outstanding. From sushi to soup, Peking duck to roast turkey, roast lamb to crêpe Suzette…and a chocolate fountain. Oh and they even had Yorkshire puddings! Wow, haven’t had those in ages. Our waitress was dressed in a little red Mrs Santa type outfit and the tables were decorated beautifully, complete with little bejewelled wire trees. On one side there was a faux ginger bread house doorway, and at the head of the buffet sat a huge teddy bear leaning against a Christmas tree – all sculpted out of ice. Did I mention it was outstanding?
Christmas morning I woke up to discover that, instead of a white Christmas, we had been blessed with a WET Christmas – it had rained in the night and (some of) the dust had been washed off the plants in the garden in preparation for our luncheon. In what seems to be our own little tradition we had Christmas lunch here with some good friends. Again we did a secret Santa (picture frame for me this year) and ate waaaaay too much.
This year’s menu….
Roast Capon*
Roast rack of lamb
Roast beef
Stu’s famous potato salad
Carrot and coriander salad
Organic beetroot, onion and pine-nut salad
Tomato, onion and parsley salad
**
Bûche de Noël (recipe in the BBC Goodfood this month courtesy of Raymond Blanc (pictured)
**
Cheese and biscuits
* a capon is a castrated rooster, and apparently a delicacy in France for Christmas.
It was all very delicious – well done Stu!
Boxing day we took it easy…boy did we need it after all that food (and drink). Oh and in case you were wondering, like I was after one of my clients asked me about it, where the term “boxing day” comes from (and no it isn’t so named due to fisticuffs with the mother-in-law) but rather “a day to open the Christmas Box to share the contents with the poor”.
Enjoy the rest of 2010, not much of it left now.
p.s. Just received this SMS which tickled my fancy…
2011 is a special year which will happen once in a lifetime
It will start with a combo 1/1/11
After 10 days 11/1/11
After 10 months 1/11/11
After 10 more days 11/11/11
May it be a special year for you!