13th post

This is my 13th post and therefore I'm cursed with a touch of Blogger's Block. It is the last day of National Nutrition Month so I'm a little down. I can't get excited about writing about fine dining in Abu Dhabi because it is so similar to fine dining in Houston or Dallas but I promised so here goes.

You can find any type of food here. Surprisingly, the hardest to find is the traditional Emirati style dining experience. You know the one where you sit on the floor and eat with you right hand only. (see photo)
Most of the upscale restaurants are in the hotels and resorts. If you want wine with your dinner, then the hotels are the only places that serve alcohol. The Emirates Palace is 7 star so of course that is where we go for special occasions. The seafood is fantastic and there are many nice places to get that.
There are a few "Mexican" restaurants that get better the longer we've been here and the more we forget what real Mexican tastes like. I must say that it is better than any of the Mexican that we ate when we lived in Norway, Holland, London, Singapore and especially Virginia.
There is a new place opening up at the Intercontinental called "Carnivore". You will be able to dine on zebra and camel with a side of wildebeest. Yum.

As you can see, we are not starving here. The eating options here are the best we have ever had in 10 years of ex-pat life. We even found Blue Bell ice cream in one store and I'm still amazed.

So I will close out the food series and next week I'll write about the Prophet Mohammad(peace be upon him) in honor of his birthday.

McArabia

In the UAE, you can get any kind of fast food that you desire from McDonald's to Domino's Pizza to Baskin-Robbins. The McDonald's here has all the same menu items (only without the bacon) and they actually have a sandwich named the McArabia. I decided to order one as part of my investigative blog reporting. I pull up to the drive-through window and a young Filipino man sticks his head out. He speaks three languages at least, probably has a BA in Engineering back home, and here he is to serve you with a smile. I know his kind very well by now, this country is ripe with them, the Middle East's own caste of Untouchables but with a much nicer label slapped unto them: "guest workers." But more on that later.
The sandwich is chicken in Arabic flat bread... very messy but doesn't taste any more arabic than anything else here.

I've never been one to blame Mcdonald's for the obesity epidemic, but I will say there is no lack of size XXL burqas and DishDashas (native dress) here.

Our favorite fast food is the Lebanese Flower where you pull up and Lebanese guys hand you a wonderful chicken dinner wrapped up and ready to go. It is where the locals go and after 7:00 prayer time it is like Grand Central Station. We have grown to love all Lebanese food. I have humus and tabbouleh almost everyday for lunch. It is one of the few foods (like Pepperidge Farm goldfish) that I can eat everyday and never get sick of.
Next blog I'll talk about the more upscale places to eat.

Food Porn

In the last post I mentioned dunking Oreos in camel's milk. Of course, I would never dream of defiling National Nutrition Month by eating cookies and of course the camel's milk is non-fat. Now that I've cleared that up, back to shopping at Spinneys...

In the Muslim world, pork and alcohol are strictly prohibited. I've observed that their aversion to pork-n-beans far outweighs their hatred of Heineken. Nevertheless, Spinneys has special rooms for only Non-Muslims to enter. The alcohol room can only be entered if you are in possession of a license and this is only available to non-Muslims. I've noticed a few Emirati cars with blacked out windows picking up discreet deliveries from the special alcohol room. Not sure how that works, but somebody is having a party.

I've never felt dirty buying bacon before, but when I enter the special pork room I always feel the need to look around and see if anyone noticed that I've slipped through the forbidden double doors. I quickly make my purchase and high-tail it outta there. I did notice that Pop Tarts are in the pork room. They were always high on my list of food porn, now even more than ever.

Oreos and Camel's Milk

As everyone knows, March is National Nutrition month. As this is the last week of March, I thought we would use this space to visit some of the food issues we deal with here in the UAE. You may wonder where I grocery shop. We actually do have a superstore called Carrefour (french for "touche Walmart"). I don't go there much. The last time I went there, they were playing San Antonio Rose over the Musak system and that is just wrong. I prefer Spinneys. Going to Spinneys is like shopping with the United Nations...locals, ex-pats...you hear every accent in the world. They have some western foods along with local(and sometimes scary) items. Example: You can get Oreo cookies here and some camel milk to wash them down with. I'll write more about the Spinneys experience in the next post.

I seem to recall that there was someone (Katie) who once said that if I blogged everyday, she would always write a comment. Don't worry, I'm warming up the scanner and I have the middle school photo album ready to upload. Should I start with 5th or 6th grade?
Confidential to BFF...I also have some middle school pictures of you circa 1971...will be expecting a comment from you as well

Empty Nester Gone Bad

I'm sure this blog is enough proof that I'm an Empty Nester gone bad. I'm told that to fill the void that occurs when the kids leave home, it is best to get a pet. I was thinking about that the other day when I came across an article in the Gulf News...
"The Dubai Camel Centre has produced a cama, a hybrid between a male camel and a female llama." I don't know how two things as ugly a camel and a llama can produce such an adorable baby but I've gotta get one. David reminds me that we live on the 11th floor of a high rise so I've gotta work out some details. Maybe we could keep a herd of them in Nebo??? Do you think they buck? We could invent a whole new rodeo sport.

I'm taking suggestions on what I should name my cama. I will announce the winning name next week...

Aladdin has left the building

We had a wonderful weekend. Today we went out fishing with a group of friends in the Persian Gulf. We didn't really catch anything and there were a lot of really bad Free Willy and Finding Nemo jokes, but a school of dolphins escorted us to a deserted island where we had a wonderful gourmet picnic (obviously prepared by someone else). In the US we have a bad image of the Persian Gulf, but where we live it is beautiful, like the Caribbean, with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water. The sidewalks of the corniche are paved with special tiles commissioned by Sheikh Zayed. No they are not made of gold...but they are the exact colors of the sea and the sand of the Persian Gulf and they look really good with Zayed's petunias.

Yesterday we had brunch at the famous Burj al Arab in Dubai. I promised I would try to describe the interior and so here goes. It is Aladdin meets Dr. Seuss in Vegas. My tacky-o-meter started beeping when we walked in the front door and was at a full Code Red by the time we got upstairs. Lets just say money doesn't buy taste. Parked out front was a Maserati, a Lamborghini and 2 Rolls Royce cars available for guests if they wanted to go for a spin. However, decor aside... the view of the Persian Gulf from the restaurant on top of the 27th floor was spectacular and the food was amazing.

Christie, you win the contest about who would play Boadicea in the Hollywood Movie. The judges all concurred that even though Roseanne would do more damage to the Roman legions, Angelia Jolie probably has more box office appeal and she can use all her kids as extras.

Thank Allah it is Thursday

Well, the weekend is here and I'm very excited about what we have planned.

We are going to go with a group of friends to the Burj al Arab (translated "Arabian Tower full of Russian mafia") in Dubai for Friday brunch. I've always wanted to go inside this 7 star hotel and I will be sure to give you all the details when I get back.

We also have a 7 star hotel in Abu Dhabi called the Emirates Palace (translated "We have more oil than Dubai"). It is a huge hotel that I'm sure can be seen from space. We have eaten dinner there several times and had coffee with edible gold sprinkled on top.

Katie, you have correctly named Enya as the artist who sings (hums) the song Boadicea. As a reward, I will not be scanning your baby pictures onto the next blog. Christie, be afraid....

Next question - Who should play Boadicea in the Hollywood movie? Another prize to the best answer.

Boadicea is a Super Hero

The final installment of the Harry Potter series comes out 4 months from today. There are rumors that 2 characters will meet their demise. Bookstores in the UK are planning on setting up counseling services to deal with the grief-stricken readers. I think Harry's a goner, but we will have to wait and see. Here is a fun fact that will interest the Harry fans out there...

In case you don't know the story of Boadicea, here it is in a nutshell. In AD 61 she was a queen of the Celtic people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain. Upon the death of her husband Prasutagus, the Romans annexed his kingdom and brutally humiliated Boadicea and her daughters. Lets just say "momma wasn't happy".

Boadicea gathered an army and then burned to the ground the twenty-year-old settlement of Londinium (London) and destroyed Verulamium (St Albans), killing an estimated 70,000-80,000 people. "I am fighting for my lost freedom, my bruised body and my outraged daughters" was her battle cry. Roman emperor Nero briefly considered withdrawing Roman forces from the island, but ultimately Boadicea was defeated. In true warrior-queen fashion, Boadicea and her daughters took poison rather than fall into the hands of the Romans.

In 1902 a statue in her honor was put in front of the Houses of Parliament. There on the banks of the Thames, you can see Boadicea and her daughters in their chariot ready to rumble.

What does this have to do with Harry Potter? Well, legend has it that Boadicea's grave lies somewhere between platform 9 and 10 at King's Cross train station in London. This is the reason why Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express leaves, magically from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Today you can see a luggage cart embedded into the wall and Harry fans young and old go and get their picture taken there.

There is a song on my Mom-pod called Boadicea...can you tell me who it is by?

Zayed, the Lady Bird Johnson of the Middle East

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WBwl80lPo
http://www.sheikhzayed.com/english.htm

What to say about Sheikh Zayed, whose giant face shines down upon us from posters everywhere? (David even has his portrait staring at him all day at the office. ) He can truly be described as the George Washington of the Emirates (just add a few more Marthas and a lot more George Jrs to the mix). But he is more than the founding father...he also put the united in the United Arab Emirates making him the Honest Abe of the Middle East. He championed the rights of minorities so he could also be the MLK as well. What I love him for is that he was the Lady Bird Johnson of the UAE. The desert highways are now lovely green ribbons running through the sand. Lady Bird, of course, planted bluebonnets on the highways of Texas, while Zayed was more partial to pink petunias.

Christie, you are deserving special status as you so correctly pointed out that my computer has UK spell check and that my words have been morphing into Brit-speak. Therefore, although Katie will still be my favorite daughter, you, oh cheeky one, will be my favourite daughter.

Also, all future misspelled words will be blamed on my UK spell check

Martha Stewart is my hero

As I look at the Middle East through blue (western) eyes, I hope that I am open minded enough to see certain things as not right or wrong but only different...to see the possibilities not just the problems.


David is convinced that I'm going to get put in jail for writing this blog, therefore I have set a few ground rules for myself.

- stay away from discussing politics/religion (here they are the same thing )
- don't embarrass my kids (I won't go to jail for this, but I won't get any presents for Mother's Day either)


If I do get sent to jail, then I would be very "Martha Stewart" about it. I would go with my head held high. I would be a model prisoner and hope to get out early for good behavior so I could go get my roots done.

Katie, you have achieved "favorite daughter" status by posting a comment on my blog. Chris...you going to let her get away with this?

My fan club has requested a blog about Sheikh Fayed (the George Washington of the UAE). I'll have to do some research on the Big Daddy and let you know what I find.

Re-think the bikini

The shamal winds have kept us from taking our daily walk on the corniche (beach road) and instead we actually used our membership at the Hilton Health Club. The treadmills are facing a large one-way window out onto the pool area. This week the Hilton is full of Europeans on spring break holidays. They didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that the air felt like a convection oven turned on high or that they were getting sandblasted in the process. They also didn't realise that we could see them because they couldn't see us. Observations....

-If beer and bratwurst are the basics of your diet, please re-think the bikini.
-Do people over 70 really need a tan?
-Watching overweight people lounge around is very inspirational to a workout routine...I think I actually did an extra 5 minutes on the treadmill as a result.

-I miss the Corniche walks

Slainte and Shamal

are my two words for today. One of course is a Gaelic blessing to your health on St. Patrick's day and the other in honor of the current weather here in the UAE. We drove to the boat show in Dubai yesterday in a giant sandstorm. This was due to shamal winds coming off the great empty quarter of Saudi Arabia and blowing hot air and sand our way. I guess that should not come as a surprise as we live in the desert. I guess the interesting thing is that it does come as a surprise. You see...

-Abu Dhabi is so green that we forget we are in a desert
-We get winds off the Gulf for the most part so humidity is more of a problem than sand
-Wearing contact lens is not an option during a shamal wind

I'm often asked what Abu Dhabi looks like. If you take Miami and add in a mosque on every corner and dress everyone like they are from the Old Testament, then I think you would have it. I have no words to describe Dubai, except that I think it should be tested for steroids.

Beware the ides of March

Living in the Middle East, I get a lot of questions from family and friends back home. I decided to try blogging to give those back home a glimpse of what I see daily. So let us begin 6 months into this journey with a few observations that have stuck with me since we moved to Abu Dhabi in Sept. 2006.

-Abu Dhabi is so far east that the muslims here face west to pray to Mecca
-It is not uncommon to see the men hold hands with each other when they walk
-Gulf Arab men rub noses when they greet each other (was not expecting that)
-You are fined for having a dirty car, but it is perfectly acceptable to let your kids hang out of the windows when you drive
-There are no addresses here. Directions are given using landmarks and the streets have several different names. Ordering pizza can get very interesting.
-Only 25% of the population here are nationals, the rest are expatriates, mostly male workers from the sub-continent
-There are twice as many males as females in the UAE
-Shops close from 1-4 in the afternoon for siesta
-Weekends are Friday and Saturday. Church is on Friday. This is probably the hardest thing to get used to.
-They don't do Daylight Savings Time
-Not wearing white after Labor Day is not a rule here