Out and About in Dubai

 

I have always thought that security is a joke in my building complex. People come and go as they please. No one seems to be questioned if you look the part and of course there is no guest sign-in book. In my first few days in Dubai, when the guard gave me the code to the lobby doors, he didn’t even check to see if I was a resident or not.

So all you need to do is raise your hand at any security guard in a “hello, how are you” fashion and you are greeted with a smile and then granted access to the “Lifestyle of a Lifetime” that is (haha) Jumeirah Beach Residences.

Okay, well, since the marketing was all a big fat lie, the hand wave actually gets you access to the hot and smelly parking garages or the grafitti lobby elevators. Sometimes I think I’m still living in NYC as the words “s*x f*cker” (no astericks) is etched onto the stainless steel elevator walls and doors. But even in NY I didn’t have prostitutes outside my building like I do here.

When we first moved in, we were given access cards for the lobby doors and a remote control for the parking barrier but none of them were ever activated. We’re supposed to have a parking permit on our car but it expired on Dec 2007 and new ones have never been issued to any resident since. At my pool, sometimes I wonder if half the people that are there are even residents or if they just walked in from the streets. All of these issues have been reported over and over again to our our developer – Dubai Properties – and nothing seems to be done about it.

As safe as people keep saying Dubai is, it’s still just like any other big city. Sh*t happens. Well sh*t happened this Monday night just a few floors down from me. A women was murdered and there were police all over the place.

It is sad what happened but maybe it takes a tragedy to wake up the property managers here to give us real security guards and proper security measures.

Tags: marina life | 2 comments »

One month into the new job!

Work is going great. Lots of new responsibilities. So many things to learn. We have over 1700 employees in my business unit so tons of people to meet and to get to know. I’ve learned more Tagalog, Hindi, and Arabic this past month than my last 9 months put together.

And I’ve even learned some Chinese as well. What? Don’t I already know Chinese? Did you know that there are an estimated 8,000 dialects of Chinese. Only about 1000 have been officially recorded to date. So with that many dialects of Chinese going around, there had to be one unifying dialect – And that official dialect is Mandarin. Although my parents speak Mandarin, they only taught me Cantonese (something about the grandparents being from Canton). They also speak Vietnamese but neglected to teach me that too. Bummer.

At work, out of over hundreds of Chinese colleagues, I have found only one – ONE! – that speaks Cantonese like me. She also speaks Mandarin so is teaching me simple things like numbers, hello, good morning, etc. I find it quite difficult – like learning French because of the pronunciation – I tend to pronounce French words like English and I tend to pronounce Mandarin like Cantonese but they’re completely different. But I think I’m making some progress!

As for Tagalog – I can say Kumusta, Salamat, and Magandang Umagi. One day, after killing too many brain cells the night before, I walked into the office screaming, “Salamat!” with upraised arms thinking it was good morning but in reality it means, “Thank you,” so I got a couple confused stares a then bursts of laughter. Ah, the joy of languages.

Don’t test me on Arabic and Hindi just yet. I’m trying to progress beyond Salam Aleikum, Sabah al Khair and Namaste. Although Namaste is cheating because we all learn that in yoga class. So I guess that would mean that I have learned nothing new in Hindi. Drats.

Tags: job | 4 comments »

There is nothing like a big bowl of hearty stew in the cold of winter. And just because I’m in Dubai doesn’t mean it doesn’t get cold!

Even though it is 40°C (104°F) outside every day, it is 22°C (71.5°F) in my apartment and we don’t even have the A/C on!

So I was looking forward to this La-Ham Murraq / Saloona or meat stew recipe:

Like chicken and fish saloona, this is very common throughout the UAE, indeed in some homes it is cooked twice a day. Because it can be accompanied by so many other things – rice, biryani or bread for example, it is a flexible dish.

A daily cooked Ramadan dish, it is popular for sending into the Mosques during the holy month as it is filling and nutritious. It is also one of the most famous Bedouin dishes.

Serve with dishes of sliced limes, dates, radishes, garlic chives, sliced white onion and buttermilk.

I had to half this recipe since I was only cooking for 2 people so I used 1 pound of lamb shoulder and cut it into small chunks:
 

 

The lamb was then simmered in a large pot of water for 30 minutes to tenderize the meat and to remove the foamy meat scum that boils out. This way, the final stew doesn’t get all gross with floaty gray bubble bits.

While the meat simmered, I chopped up the potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and smashed up a few garlic cloves:
 

 

When the lamb was done simmering, I drained it and discarded the water. Next I browned the onions in canola oil for a few minutes and then threw in the garlic, lamb, the spices (bezar, turmeric, cinnamon bark, salt, pepper, and whole loomi), and the chopped veggies. I simmered for stew for one hour:
 

 

The brown balls floating in the stew are whole loomi which is dried limes (see photo below). It is often sold and packaged as dried lemons for some reason. It has a smell and taste similar to preserved Chinese kumquats.
 

 

After one hour, we had this bowl of goodness to enjoy:
 

 

It came out more of a soup than a stew but I think that may be because I didn’t use a starchy enough potato. The lamb was very tender, the loomi gave the soup a slight tang, and the bezar gave it a bit of a spicy kick.

I liked it very much and it was even better for breakfast the next day!
 

Note: This post is part of my Cooking Local project.

Last Sunday: Chicken with rice in the bottom.

Up next Sunday: Lamb fried with spices (La-ham nashif)

Tags: recipes UAE | 2 comments »

Last night, while waiting on the queue to get into Club 400 at the Fairmont, a man standing next to me asked, “How much?”

“How much what?” I asked back, thinking he was inquiring about the cover charge for the club.

“How much?” he asked again and pointed at me.

It was at that point that it dawned on me what he was talking about. I think my face turned all red as I turned to my husband who was oblivious to the whole exchange so I said to him, “This guy just asked me how much.” DB looked at the guy and told him, “This is my wife.”

They guy just gave DB a dopey smile and walked away.

I couldn’t believe it. He must have been really drunk as he wasn’t being discrete at all. Each time he repeated “How much,” pretty much everyone on line in front of and behind us heard him. The nerve of some people.

Tags: wtf | 8 comments »

Eating out in Dubai can be expensive. A lot of great restaurants are located within hotels and DB and I seem to frequent the same ones over and over again.

But to get to really know Dubai, I think it’s also important to visit the more modest establishments and the stand alone restaurants.

A bunch of girls and I have been visiting a different restaurant every 2 weeks. We take turns organizing each dinner and the only criteria is that the meal has to be less than 100 Dirhams ($27) per person.

It’s a great way to explore different parts of Dubai, eat lots of delicious food, and best of all, meet new people and catch up on girl talk.

So far, we’ve been to the following restaurants:
 

1. Nanking (Chinese, Indonesian – Bur Dubai). The food was good and portions were huge. There was a lot of doggy-bagging that night.

2. Shahjahan (Indian – Metropolitan Hotel). Unfortunately, I missed out on this one .

3. Noodle Bowl (Chinese – Satwa). Good Cantonese food. We sat outdoors as the weather was still nice.

4. Thai Terrace (Thai – Bur Dubai). Mmm….great Thai food and the flavors were very authentic. So much better than Smiling BKK.

5. Curry On (Thai, Indian – Beach Road). This used to be the old Noshi Noshi. We visited on another beautiful day in May and were able to sit outside again. The food came in tastings of threes so it was quite fun!
 

 

6. Nando’s (South African – SZR). This is a South African chain that serves up some pretty good chicken with their Peri Peri sauce. The Chicken Espetada was my favorite. I love the way it was presented with the vegetables on the bottom and the meat skewer hanging above the platter:
 

 

7. Royal Orchid (Thai – Dubai Marina). Really great Thai food but pricier than the other places we’ve been too. Loved the fish cakes:
 

 

8. Ravi’s (Indian – Satwa). The food was pretty good and was the best deal yet at 25 Dirhams a head! They serve Lamb’s Brain so if you like odd food like me – give it a try.
 

And there is still many more to visit – we’ve got at least 20 more restaurants on the list so far!

Tags: food | 5 comments »