Whirlwind trip to Europe

Ok, so I know that doing that whole "Europe" thing is annoying in an I've never left my own country before way, but really that's the only way to describe it!

We flew out of Abu Dhabi to London last Tuesday. I got to spend a fabulous day shopping with my mum and had a fantastic dinner with my dad, mum, sister and brother in law before we had to catch a flight to Glasgow on Thursday.

The flight to Glasgow was pretty groovy - for only £20 extra each we flew "business" on BMI which was fun, but not all that much to write home about for a 1 hour flight. We did have Russle Brand sitting behind us on the flight though - and I pretended I didn't know who he was *evil grin*

Some dear friends of ours from Derby got married in Glasgow on the Friday. The wedding was beautiful and I shed a little tear. We walked from the church to the reception through Glasgow led by a piper - it was a wonderful experience marred only by my heels getting caught in the cobblestones everywhere! He he he.

The reception was fantastic. We were sitting at a table with all our Derby friends, the food was delish and the band which came on after lunch was simply brilliant. We danced the night away, shedding more than a little tear when it came to saying goodbye to everyone again.

On Saturday morning we flew to Paris (somewhat less glamourously on easyjet) for another wedding, this time a cousin of O's. This affair was rather more extravagant than the previous day. Evening gowns, fois gras and flowers is how I will remember the evening. The bride was beautiful and the groom looked happy, if a little overwhelmed.

We then spent another two days in Paris seeing some of the sights and utterly catching the Paris bug, ensuring that we'll be back again and for longer.

The trip was very tiring but very enjoyable. It's nice to be back.

Here comes the sun...

After two weeks of nothing but sandstorms and the occasional downpour the sun finally showed his face today. Hooray!

It was a perfect day, no humidity (oh thank you Little Miss Downpour last night), clear blue skies and a deliciously cool breeze wafting in from the sea.

O and I decided to take full advantage of the weather and headed for our first trip to the public beach that is, fairly, new to the Corniche.

For a mere 5 Dirhams (about £1) you can chose between the Ladies and Families Only section or the Manly Man* section. Unless of course you are a single man/group of men in which case you may not venture into the ladies section - naughty naughty!

The beach is superb. Beautifully done with lots of facilities (by which I mean toilets, of course), showers and large beach umbrellas, some of which have seats and a little table underneath for picnicking purposes.

We camped out and ventured into the water straight away. It was still a little chilly for my liking but was so refreshing after an hour or so baking in the sun.

The beach is clean, the water is clear, the lifeguards actually pay attention to what is going on and I felt totally comfortable leaving our stuff unattended while we went for a dip. Not all that usual for me, on holiday I'm often anxiously glancing up the beach in the direction of my towel to make sure no one is hovering around with intent to snoop or loot, but not here!

I can see us making full use of that beach in the years to come, it's fabulous and so close to home - plus it doesn't come with a hefty membership fee that the other hotel resort clubs do.

Two thumbs up and a strong recommendation. Now we just need some visitors to whom we can show it off!

*Not the real name, but far more fun.

Busy busy busy!

Even though we finally have the internet now - which is fabulous! - what with working and everything I've been completely cream-crackered and have not had the energy to come up with something interesting to write!

Yes, I be working now - after a good few months of nothing at all and spending my savings up a storm I am in gainful employment. It is very nice to know that there is a wage coming in and to have something to do each day! Although I must admit, I'm not overly fond of having to get up at silly o'clock every morning and I do miss being the mistress of my own time. But as I've said, what is the point of having all the time in the world if you've no cash to do anything with it? And believe me when I say that out here, without the moolah you are really stuck for things to do.

In recent news, we've had horrible weather lately! Lots of rain and there's been a sandstorm hovering over the whole of Abu Dhabi for about a week and a half. So it's been a week of gritty teeth and the glorious balcony is now somewhat less than glorious. I just haven't had the inclination to get my bucket and giant squeedgie out to give it a good ole' clean. Will have to tackle this at some point after we return from The Weddings (TM) - more on that another time, with photos I'm sure.

I am on a quest to find the perfect pair of shoes to go with the perfect dress (for which I paid £70 more than I would have in the UK!) which is proving fruitless so far, and there is only one more mall to try - will it have the shoe of my dreams? Or will I have to risk it and drag my poor, long suffering mother out on a mammoth shoe shopping trip on my one day in London next week?

I almost can't bare the suspense!

The long silence has been broken...

...we have the internet! Woohoo!

I will now upload some entries I've written while banned from the virtual world and come back to a proper update after that.



Update: I have since learned that I can actually back date my entries so that they appear on the day they SHOULD appear. I've never claimed to be terribly quick. So the entries referenced above are now on the dates they should be.
Woohoo!

Adventures at sea

Some friends of ours have a boat, and we often join them on the weekends when they take it out to go to a little deserted island and hang out on the beach, wake-board and all sorts of other fun stuff that is nice to do now that the weather is better and before it gets too hot.

This weekend was one such occasion and after fun and frolics we headed back to Abu Dhabi, probably a little bit later than usual since we all noticed how much the tide had gone out a lot when we had to get towed off the beach by a friendly passing family (many thanks to them).

The adventures really began however, when we found ourselves in the middle of the sea but going over rocks that were scraping the bottom of the boat – worse still was when the boat stalled and wouldn’t move. We were sand-banked. Gulp.

The boys got out and (avoiding the millions of big black sea urchins that were scattered willy-nilly) attempted to shimmy and shake the boat over to deeper water. No joy. So we called the police, who were sympathetic, but frankly there was not much they could do since we were completely surrounded by very shallow water and they would have needed a veeeeeeery long rope to be able to pull us out – not to mention the further damage that would have happened to the boat since we were also surrounded by rocks on all sides.

With the sun going down and the prospect of spending a somewhat chilly night on the open water it was with a substantial amount hope that we spotted another boat hanging about on the edge of the sand-ledge we were stuck on. The owner of the boat (S) waded out to the other boat in water half way up his shins and came back with a couple of other chaps who after some um-ing and ah-ing advised us to make our way back to their boat.

S was adamant that he was going to stay with his vessel but when he considered how low on the horizon the sun now was, the fact that the police couldn’t actually do anything to help and that it would be quite some time until the tide came back in he decided to drop anchor and join us on our rescue ship.

We then embarked on a rather bizarre and surreal 400m trek across the seabed to the other boat. It was truly fascinating to see the urchins up close – they were very black and very spiky. I was glad for my beloved Havianas, though I doubt how protective they really would have been had it come to it. They got a much needed cleaning mind, so all is well. I also spotted some purple coral (I think) adorning one of the rocks as I walked past but felt I couldn’t stop and sight see since our kind rescuers were waiting.

We got to the rescue boat and after clambering aboard in a most unladylike fashion I made sure to express my deep thanks to our host. He told me not to thank him but to thank the Sheik (I’m still not 100% sure which one) who was sailing by, saw us marooned and sent someone out to get us since he’d been similarly stuck once before and knew the worry that someone might not come for you (many, many thanks to him). It was very kind and we were dropped off at the nearest marina, all a little tired and sad for the boat left out there all by herself but otherwise unharmed and now all with a great tale to tell in the future.

As far as I know the boat was recovered safely though S has said that there is a story to tell about that too so we wait eagerly to find out what further excitement was had.

Gourmet Abu Dhabi

I cannot express how much I hope this becomes an annual event. Running from the 5th to the 14th of February a glut of international chefs and food related celebs descended on this fair (though currently rather sand-whipped) city.

The festival involved 2 special guest chefs, 13 masterchefs (with 22 Michelin Stars between them), 5 master patissiers, workshops, masterclasses, talks, seminars, food safaris, special dinners, gala receptions, chef’s table lunches and dinners, forums and a kitchen party.

Due to our issues with the internet and not being able to book tickets to events over the phone (grrrrrrr), it was only the kitchen party that O and I were able to attend. There was not a lot of information about the even anywhere online (“An informal dinner…that takes place in a commercial kitchen”) so I was a little unsure about what the party actually entailed, and when I called the hotel to confirm the start time the event was described as a kitchen table dinner so I picked my outfit for the evening and we set off.

I was mildly surprised when we arrived at the venue to see tables loaded down with chefs’ hats and aprons (though the aprons are very cool), the camera man and photographer were also rather unexpected but I was getting very excited by this point. We were informed we had to wear our hats and aprons – if I could raise only one eyebrow I would have been doing right then – and we were led into the kitchen! We found food stations with chefs behind them preparing a large variety of different foods, a bar set up near the fridges and no seats. Gulp. I’d unwisely elected to wear my high high-heels because of the length of my trousers…yadda yadda yadda. Which is to say, it was an unwise footwear choice for me that evening since it was a three-hour event and I was to be on my feet for the whole of it! After a second “gulp” we got stuck in.

There was a chocolate fountain which I actually didn’t touch because the rest was so fantastic, a vegetarian wrap/sandwich type station, freshly made sushi and sashimi, amazing Brazilian BBQ, charcuterie, pasta, fresh breads, deserts and lots and lots of wine. I stuffed myself on fresh-sliced Parma ham, salmon sushi, parmesan pasta, duck marinated in orange and papaya, cheese breads and… chicken hearts. Yep. That’s right. The hosting chef insisted that we try it and after letting O go first, who pronounced it “ok” I dived in after finishing my glass of pink fizzy stuff. I was VERY apprehensive, generally not being a fan of most things offal, but this was actually quite delicious. Strong and meaty in the way kidneys are, but without the powdery texture or completely overwhelming flavour that so often comes with innards (I’ve found). It was a real treat actually, all the more so because I was expecting the worst.

The evening flew by with the whole kitchen full of people running around in chefs hats and aprons, and when the band came out and started singing La Bamba it was clear why this was called a kitchen party. The chefs were so SO welcoming to us all, they really seemed to be happy to have us there whereas I was worried we were in the way and it was nice to be able to tell the actual person who cooked your food how much you enjoyed it.

Bring on next years event!

George Michael and Alicia Keys

Any musical event that takes place tends to draw a large crowd, no matter who it is it would seem! The latest was George Michael, with Alicia Keys as his special guest. Not being a big George Michael fan I would not have spent the money to go to the concert, but when a couple of tickets fell in to my lap it seemed rude not to go along (especially since I had very eager company).

We got there a little late, so missed the first song by Alicia Keys whilst in the queue for the ladies. Miss Keys was pretty good. She looked fab, sounded better and had nice interaction with the crowd. However her songs were rather samey and her set seemed to last an eternity! For what I considered to be a warm-up act she was on stage for more than an hour, far too long in my opinion. Her band and backing singers had to persuade the crowd to keep applauding for the obligatory encore, which led me to believe that the crowd weren’t actually all that desperate to have her back on stage.

When Keys had finished, there was an announcement that George Michael would be on in half an hour and that his performance would be in two parts. Half an hour! Now I thought that it would be more prudent to come on whilst the crowd was all fired up rather than making them wait for half an hour getting grumpy – but then I’m not an international superstar so what do I know…

Half an hour dragged on and then the man himself came on stage. The first half of his show was pretty entertaining. The graphics on the set were enchanting and there was a good vibe even though Michael didn’t interact with the crowd at all. After 45 minutes he ran off stage and the display flashed up with the message “Back in 19.59” 20 minutes until he was coming back onstage. 20 minutes!!! To be honest I’d had enough by that stage and was very ready to head home, but we stuck it out… unfortunately.

The second half was dire. Boring and lifeless. Michael talked to the crowd a little bit this time, but only because he needed to do something while the band was being moved from the back to the front of the stage. Another 45mins/hour and he was done. But off course there were to be encores. And not just the one either. We stayed for the first, but then some people sitting near us said they had heard him rehearsing Happy Birthday (on the 4th it was 37 years of independence and unity of the UAE) and I’d heard that he was going to duet with Alicia Keys so we decided to beat the crowd and try to get a cab back.
It was gone 1am by this time and I could take no more.

It was a fun evening, and I’m glad I went along because it’s something different but I dislike ego and there was a hella lot of ego there that night.