MARIA BONITAS (CASA BONITA, CASA BONITA)

I can't believe I almost forgot to blog about this on my ultimate catch up session. Maria bonita, the mexican where I did utter the words 'this is the best day of my life' over the guacamole. Located on umm al sheif road (or something) in jumeirah 3/ umm sequim, there lies heaven! Actually decent mexican food for once! Amazing gauc, delicious burritos, refried beans I would kill for!

See you soon, Maria!

DF in the Desert

Last weekend I ventured out of Dubai and headed to the desert! An indeed, it was quite deserted - sans a few ropey looking camels who came to visit at 5 am! Tasty arabic bread and beef koftas, watching the stars and forcing the guy with a guitar to play 'puff the magic dragon'. good times!

DF down under

So I went off to Sydney on october 24th for almost a month of work... Two big auctions were happening and they needed some help! Sadly only a couple days off out of the month, but I loved Sydney! i didnt realise at all that it is actually quite cool - lots of good shopping, tasty food and pretty architecture... DF and SJ took a boat trip around the harbour, ate some tasty snapper, purchased some sweet owl items from a pop up shop(Little Venice in Paddington), drank excellent coffee (who knew Australians had such good coffee?), sold a polar bear, witnessed an excellent thunder and lightening storm and befriended a naughty koala! I also loved the Jacaranda trees - purple and so pretty!...

Long time no blog

So it has been a long time since i graced the blog with some blogging... this is due to insanely busy schedule at work - going to Australia for a month (work) and then moving house! But i am back and ready to blog, starting with my trip to Oz!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Thai Delight in Karama

Last night me and my husband ventured down to karama to take a look around and also try out Thai Terrace. I have to say I had my doubts about this Thai terrace, as I called ahead for directions and they explained they were next to Burger King at a major junction. However, we thought we would give it a go... After we got over our astonishment that there is indeed no terrace at Thai Terrace, we took a seat and ordered some water. The menu, to be honest, looked kind of insane. The place itself was cute in a kind of cafteria way - the giant fishtank looked a little sad, as one fish was trying to dig his way out and it reminded me a little of a Thai version of a Scottish cafe. The place overall was pretty charming though, so we sat down and ordered....

Spicy Fired Beef
Chicken Pa Naeng (which I have to order in every Thai place i go)
Sticky rice (which was truly the stickiest rice I have ever consumed)

And it was delicious! The best panaeng ever! EVER! we ate every single morsel of food to be found, and I saw what seemed to be an endless supply of delicious food floating past my table. I cannot wait for an excuse to go back here, and i HAVE ONE, AS i found it is remarkably close to the burjuman mall, which was also delightful.

VISA RUN...to the immigration office

I just had to blog about my experience at the immigration office. the whole time i was there i was kicking myself for leaving my iphone in the car, as I couldn't take any pictures. picture this...

You arrive at a large, rather utilitarian looking building. Every other person around you is wearing national dress, you are indeed the only person there wearing a sleeveless maxi dress and a slight frown. good thing you brought that pashmina! To continue, you make your way inside, only to realise you have actually entered a maze. Signs to point to different areas then suddenly, you are facing a dead end! or, if you are lucky, another inspiring quote from Sheikh mo. Finally, you see an information point, who explains you need to turn left, left, right, left then right at the sign (what sign?) but somehow you end up there... then you enter a queue only to find out you should be in the LADIES queue.... it goes on, i wont bore you with the rest, except of course, the entire reason i am writing this post. Where do you end up? In a falafel/shawarma shop where you pay and collect your visa. Seriously. you get your visa with fries... (optional)

Hyperreality

Burn it!

I came across this today and I have to say I really like it. This diptych is by Ayman Baalbaki, entitled 'Burn it I' (as if you can't read) and i love the combination of media used here. (acrylic, collage and neon light fitting on canvas) it reminds me of Bruce Nauman and Richard Prince (whose work i love also)

Sadly its a little out of my price range at $70,000-90,000.- but maybe it's in yours? Coming up for sale at bonhams dubai on october 11th...

Psych!

There's just something about the word 'psych'. I love it.
I am bringing back 'Psych!' if it's the last thing i do!

Nasimi

How can I sum up Nasimi? Ministry of sound + bikini's + alcohol + uae = Surprisingly fun!

I arrived at nasimi with my new pr friend to be greeted by what appeared to be newcastle on a friday night. Girls in bikini tops with a jean skirt, next to guys with tight jeans and v-neck tshirts. Shudder. I freely admit i expected the worst. After parting with a three digit sum to get in the door, I was greeted by something else much more up my street... food. Yes indeed, stir fry noodles and shawarmas of all varieties (well two - but still, i was happy!) i didnt sample these until much later (due to the fact i had filled up on some of that guacomole i mentioned in an earlier deet) but when I did I was happy.

The music was fun - which very much surprised me as a certified hater of all dance music. Turns out, it isnt that bad. combined with some Sol, some dancing and a shawarma and it was a good night all around ...

the icing on the top of the cake? watching drunk people in bikinis try to swim and dance at the same time. Its worth a visit just for that!

The Empty Quarter

Fashion - the story of a lifetime

So my first arty event was tonight at the vernissage for Fashion - the story of a lifetime at The Empty Quarter in Dubai's elegant DIFC. My local pal SS showed me around and introduced me to lots of fabulous people who I am looking forward to getting to know. The gallery space itself is really special, with partition walls throughout that hang from the ceiling - allowing such a versatile space. I am already looking forward to their next exhibition so that I can see these walls in action - I wonder what shape the room will take? For 'Fashion' the gallery was split into smaller galleries, each space displaying a different photographer and their work. I have always loved fashion photography, but tonight i saw some really beautiful work I hadn't come across before - such as the work of Parveen Shaath and Melvin Sokolosky. I loved the mixture of photographers brought together to make a show as a tribute to fashion. The crowd reflected this mix with a wonderful grouping of people from all over the world, in true Dubai style.

After the view I headed over to Zuma (my first experience of the Dubai venue) which was packed with people but a lot of fun - then headed home to J1.

The exhibition runs until october 17th - I will be back.

Guac Attack

Made some awesome guacamole tonight
Full deets below:

One avocado - mushed up
Half a small indian/red onion chopped up super tiny
One garlic clove - also chopped up tiny
some crunchy red peppers
chopped chilli

Mix it up and serve with tortillas... yammers!

Coconut Grove

Coconut Grove
Last night I was craving an authentic Indian curry... So I headed down to Coconut Grove at the Rydges Plaza with an equally hungry companion. And boy, was I happy! The restaurant itself - on the 9th floor - was quiet at seven thirty, but instead of being weird it felt private and we could laugh all we liked raucously without disturbing anyone. We decided to start the night with some cocktails which came in holiday-ish glasses with maraschino cherries and slices of lemon... they were indeed as retro as the decor, but they were delicious and totally worked with the vibe of the restaurant. We tucked into onion bhajis to start - served with a huge dollop of ketchup. ketchup?! The bhajis were delicious with a light batter and just the right amount of spice!
For mains we tucked into Goan fish curry, coconut rice, veggie biryani and a daal makhani - which were all fabulously authentic and spicy! The buttered naan was wonderful also. In retrospect for two people I would suggest sharing a rice and a naan, as it seemed (although we were indeed stuffed) that we had hardly eaten a bite.
Tasty food washed down with some cool draught Tiger beer and good views? I am on it!
8/10 :)

And another thing... Eid mubarak!

On Saturday I ventured down to the Dubai Mall...against the advice of the taxi driver who picked me up. "You shouldn't go down there! very bad!" I assumed he had caught sight of my bank statement but alas, no, he was in fact referring to the Eid holiday and the fact that everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, was at the Dubai Mall. My sister and I waited for two hours for a cab home from there - visualize above. We amused our selves by eavesdropping on three Irish girls behind us, fantasizing over the Cold Stone that was just out of reach, and playing "did he just cut in line?" / "I don't recognise any of these people".... If you are a sadist, have a unhealthy obsession with people watching or feel like imagining what hell looks like, head to the Dubai Mall on the next public holiday!

Skin Food

I was very happy to find Skin Food (Skin Pood to all of you who have been to korea...) at ibm yesterday. It was quiet leaving me lots of room to shop, and the staff were friendly (and gave me heaps of free samples too - in true SF style!) I am currently trying out the grape seed body gel - watch out for updates!

Ramadan Kareem!

I am finding that i have an almost love/hate relationship with Ramadan. Not eating/drinking during the day in public is quite tricky, especially at the beach, but malls open to 1am suits my night owl nature down to the ground!