The sun is shining this morning, and after almost 2 weeks in the southern part of the UK I can tell you its quite unusual for their summer so far. Mostly we have had rain, and occasionally some very hectic winds, but after the Dubai heat and dust we really haven’t minded at all. Green is so pretty!
Summer is on it’s way, today was around 32 degrees C. It’s hard to get used to the sudden change from Winter to Summer, as Spring doesn’t seem to happen at all. One day you wake up and it’s hot again, all of a sudden. This of course means that all the lovely outdoor activities we have enjoyed over the cooler periods will be winding down, but happily they aren’t all off the menu yet (pardon the pun). Taste of Dubai ran this weekend, and we spent a few (sweaty) hours there this morning.
If you haven’t visited a “taste of …” event yet then you may not know that it’s a massive festival of food – various restaurants offer up tastes of their menus, with the idea that you get a sense of their cooking styles and menus, and then obviously the idea is that you will go and have a full meal there at some point. Really a great way to discover some new places to try for a meal. There was also live music by the “Maple Jacks”, who were amazing. Some of the visiting celebrity chefs also host live cooking stations where they may even teach you a trade secret or two.
(more…)
I finally ate at Zuma (DIFC) last week. Thankfully it was a business dinner so I wasn’t paying, as I have heard it is quite expensive.
There are two sections to the restaurant, the upstairs lounge which is more relaxed with low tables and big cushiony chairs, and then the downstairs part which is more restauranty. We sat upstairs, which is supposedly the more popular choice as it’s more vibey. That may well be true but I have to say I’m not a fan of those low tables – the table always feels a little bit far away for me and the top generally ends up being in line with my knees – which usually means I end up having to bring the plate up to my face to eat.
Zuma is a predominantly Japanese-style restaurant from what I could tell, with the emphasis on small plates of food being shared by the table vs traditional starters and main courses. This is fine in theory but let me tell you grabbing a piece of marinated sea bass off a central platter with chopsticks and then getting it safely to your mouth without dropping marinade, or in fact the entire thing, on your lap is quite tricky, and resulted in me not trying some of the courses at all.
It may not be something you associate with Dubai but we have had some cold weather this past month. Ok well cold for us anyway, and as you will see in the graph below the lowest lows seen here for quite a while. Is this global cooling? Not sure but I have to say I have enjoyed being able to bundle up in jerseys and socks for a change. It won’t last and by April will no doubt be a distant memory, but being able to open the windows, and have soup and stews without running the aircon, is lovely!
(more…)
Once upon a time, long long ago, I was a vegetarian. For eight years. But my dad always reckoned it was a “phase”, and maybe he was right, because it didn’t last. After reading “Eat Right for your Type” and suffering with never-ending allergies, which I blamed on my felines at the time, I realised I wasn’t feeling great and maybe it was my diet. After slowly adding fish, followed by other meat, back into my diet I was like a new person, and I never looked back. As much as I wish I could give it up again altogether, I just can’t quite do it. And being a South African married to a South African does mean that meat is pretty much always on the menu.
(more…)