A non-food related TT this week!

9 months after quitting my job in New York, getting married to the BF of 5 years, relocating to Dubai, and taking the time to explore a new country, I am just about to say goodbye to the life of leisure and embark on a new job, new career, and a whole new set of experiences.

Only 3 more days of leisure left!

13 Things I’ll Miss When Starting the New Job

 

13. Marathon sessions of Heroes, 24, Lost, etc.

12. Wearing pajamas all day and not even bothering to brush my teeth (at least until the hubby gets home).

11. Meeting up with other non-working friends for coffee, lunch, tanning, or mahjong.

10. Impromptu trips like the Seychelles.

9. Spending all morning at the gym – run 6 miles, yoga class, sit in sauna, then enjoy a leisurely beach-side lunch.

8. Prepping and cooking time-consuming recipes likes roasts or stews all day long.

7. Being able to jump in a car at anytime and explore Dubai on a whim.

6. Drinking until all hours of the morning on Sundays (due to hashing).

5. Shopping at the malls when it’s quiet b/c majority of the population is at work.

4. Rock climbing at Wafi on Sunday and Wednesday mornings when the rock wall is open to non-members and practically empty (evenings are packed and hectic).

3. Free time to work on my online blog and photo projects.

2. Sleeping in if I so choose to (although try as I might, I’m usually awake at 5:30am and out of bed by 7am).

1. And the #1 thing I’ll miss the most – Reading all my blogs!!!

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13 of My Favorite Foods that Keep Me at The Gym

 

I have been delinquent the last few weeks as I couldn’t think of any inspiring themes. Then I thought, why not just write about the one thing that’s on my mind 24/7….Food!
 

So this week, here are 13 of my favorite foods that keep me on the treadmill for 12-15 miles each week to keep those calories off!
 

1. Rib-eye steaks. This is my favorite cut because it’s nice and fatty. And nothing beats Kobe beef. It’s so smooth, velvety, and tender it just melts in your mouth – like budda! – and worth every penny (or fil). The first time I had it was about 2 years ago in New York and now I’m hooked!
 

2. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Well, any fried chicken really. I’m not picky as long as the skin is nice and crispy and the meat is tender and juicy. Better if it comes with mashed potatoes and meat gravy. But you can’t go wrong with the Colonel.
 

3. Foie gras. Not the pate or terrine kind or the stuff that comes in a jar but the controversial and really high caloric duck/goose liver pan-fried in nothing but salt and butter…oooh…heaven.
 

4. Pizza. I prefer to buy by the pie because getting a slice is just too much of a tease. Favorite toppings: sausage, pepperoni, parma ham, prosciutto, arugula, fresh mushroom (no canned cr*p please), wild mushrooms, basil, red peppers, extra cheese, anchovies. No Way Jose: olives, pineapple.
 

I love pizza so much, I once gathered up a troop of friends to visit 6 pizzerias in one day!
 

5. Bacon. It’s great by itself. Even better when wrapped around scallops, shrimp, dates, steak, chicken…it’s just great.
 

 

6. Sausage. Not the beef or chicken kind, but real pork sausages: whether plain, Cumberland, Lincolnshire, bratwurst, weisswurst, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire, Jones, English, Italian, Spanish, Polish, German, Chinese – it’s all good!
 

7. Whoppers. Yes, from Burger King. Besides KFC, it is the only other fast-food that I like. I love the sesame-seed bun, the flame-broiled meat, the “special sauce” (which we all know is just mayo and ketchup), the meager lettuce, and even the government-grade cheese. Nothing like comfort food from your childhood and American commercialism to bring it to me wherever I am in the world.
 

8. Chicken Wings. I could eat these as a full meal. I like them bbq-ed, buffalo-ed, medium, Frank’s hot, Lebanese lime and garlic, Chinese sticky, teriyaki-ed, honey-ed, sesamed, you name it!
 

9. Shawarmas. So cheap and you can get these everywhere in Dubai. Even Ikea for the bargain price 90 cents! But the street ones taste much better. Best to order 2 or 3 at a time as they are rather small.
 

 

10. Peking Duck. Ah, there is nothing better than duck fat as mentioned in #3. So along those lines, peking duck is soooo scrumptious with its succulent meat and crispy crispy – mmm so crispy skin and that nice layer of fat in between. Man, I think I’m going to have to go to Noodle House for a quick fix of this.
 

11. Quiche Lorraine. Do real men eat quiche? I certainly think so. Quiche Lorraine contains #5 so it ranks up higher than regular quiche. I like to make mine with Gruyere cheese to make it a little richer and nuttier than just Swiss cheese. Throw in some caramelized sliced onions, bake until golden and it’s mm-mm-good.
 

12. Bone Marrow. There was a restaurant that my husband and I used to frequent in NYC called Cafe d’Alsace and they had a lovely Bone Marrow (la moelle) appetizer on their menu. It was served still in its bones with simple sea salt and grilled toast. I miss those days. It looks something like this:
 

 

13. Alcohol. What? You don’t consider 3 Guinness and 1 Oatmeal Stout a meal? I do
 

As you can see, I’m a huge carnivore. Good thing I don’t like sweets or desserts – Whew!

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13 Things I Still Need For My Apartment

It’s been 5 months since I’ve relocated from New York to Dubai (7 months for my husband) and there are still major pieces of furniture and other house stuff that we don’t have either because we haven’t gotten around to buying it or we haven’t found anything remotely decent. Things such as:


1. Bed. We are still sleeping in the guest bedroom as we can’t seem to find any master bedroom furniture that we both like. Furniture stores in Dubai are crap. I miss Pottery Barn.

2. Full-length mirror. We have a small mirror in the bathrooms but I have to jump up and down to see if my shoes go with my outfit.

3. Dining table and chairs. Same reason as #1 – furniture stores in Dubai are crap. We eat on the couch or on the floor. I miss Crate and Barrel.

4. Blender. Been missing my margaritas… Will be sure to pick one up before the next girls’ night-in.

5. Matching stemware. We don’t even have 2 wine glasses that match. I’ve broken them all.

6. Dishwasher. Sadly, this is one thing that we will not be getting as there is no room for it in the kitchen. But I’d still like to have one.

7. Garbage can for the kitchen. Right now, I just hang shopping bags on a doorknob as a makeshift trash bin. I know, I’m a lazy butt.

8. Bathroom cabinet. There is absolutely no linen closet or medicine cabinet in either of our bathrooms. We have all our toiletries sprawled out on the (very) small counter space. Ikea has been no help. I miss Target and Bed Bath & Beyond.

9. Lamp shades. We have bare bulbs hanging from our ceilings. We finally bought some shades for the living room but are still missing nice shades for the bedrooms.

10. Broom. I’ve got a Swifter but it’s not very useful when I’m a klutz and break glassware on a weekly basis. Can never seem to remember to pick one up at the store.

11. Mouse pad. Sad to say, we haven’t had a mouse pad in years. We use scraps of paper or the Ikea catalog. I think the reason for not owning one goes along the lines of #10 – never remembering to pick one up at the store.

12. HDMI cable for the TV. I’m not shelling out 200 dirhams ($60!) on a cable that costs me $10 in the States! I’ll wait ’til the next visitor comes and brings me one. I miss Best Buy.

13. Welcome mat. Because every house should have one.


So that’s it! Hopefully the apartment will be complete before the next visitor gets here. Otherwise, I’ll have to add airbed to the list of things we’ll need!

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13 Things Banned / Illegal in Dubai

1. Porn

2. Sex Toys

3. Codeine

4. Poppy seeds (A Swiss national is serving a four-year jail term after three poppy seeds from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow airport were found on his clothes.)

5. Secret Dubai Diary (Etisalat customers cannot access the site but du customers still can)

6. Laser pens or laser emitting devices (huh?)

7. Oil paintings, books, magazines and sculptures that do not adhere to the religious and moral values of the country

8. Living in Sin

9. Man-Woman holding hands in public (but Man-Man is okay)

10. Employers locking up their employees passports (but still this practice continues unfortunately)

11. Gambling (you cannot place any bets at a horse race, BUT, you can play this game where you “predict” who will win and the person with the best “predictions” wins a prize…hmm…)

12. Skype (partially banned, actually, since only one Dubai ISP blocks it, the other does not…)

13. I’m not so sure if this is truly illegal or if it’s a matter of courtesy: I am not allowed to be naked in the ladies locker room of my gym (there are signs posted up)

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13 Dishes I’ve Made For Dinner Recently

1. Rogan Josh (a type of Indian lamb curry)

2. Chicken Korma (a type of chicken curry)

3. Pho - this is a vietnamese soup made of beef broth flavored with star anise – and served with flat rice noodles, thinly sliced beef, thai basil, thinly sliced onions, and a squeeze of lemon

4. Spaghetti with Chicken Wings (this is one of my favorite lazy man recipes – throw chicken wings (frozen or not) into a pot with a jar of pre-made pasta sauce, simmer 20-30 minutes and serve over pasta. Meat should fall right off the bones.)

5. Bulgogi with fried rice

6. Roast Chicken in an apricot and soy-ginger glaze

7. Chicken siu mai (aka steamed chicken dumplings)

8. Vietnamese Hot and Sour Soup

9. Baby Octopus in Chinese black bean sauce

10. Chicken Scallopine in a white wine sauce

11. Carrot-Ginger Soup

12. Salad with Calamari in a Lime-Vinaigrette Sauce

13. And most recently (yesterday) – Mushroom and Bacon Quiche with Emmental Cheese

I’m hungry now !

Yesterday, I had been sitting in front of my computer since 8am in the morning. The goal was to search through the Dubai online recruitment agencies and apply for jobs. By 2pm I still hadn’t logged on to a single job website (shh…don’t tell DB). What is wrong with me? I kept promising myself that I’d get cracking on the job hunt in just a little bit. But first I felt the need to take a shower. It wouldn’t be right job hunting dirty now would it? Anyway, here’s what I ended up doing all morning instead of what I should have been doing:

1. Watch CBS Morning Show, ABC Good Morning America , and then the CBS Evening News on MBC 4 until 11:30am

2. Make a huge pot of Vietnamese sweet and sour soup for lunch

3. Look up recipes for bulgogi

4. Marinate leftover meat in preparation for bulgogi dinner

5. Watch a movie, preferably a good movie like Atonement.

6. Log onto Facebook and see what’s going on in the world of your friends.

7. Look up online how many minutes you have left on your cell phone

8. Take a long shower

9. Tidy up the apartment by sweeping the balcony, making the bed, taking out the trash.

10. Check on the status of plants and new seedlings that have just sprouted in the garden (mint, sage, basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, garlic chives)

11. Constantly open the refrigerator door – each time hoping that food will magically appear or that something tasty can be made out of bread, mayo, and beer (man, I need to go grocery shopping).

12. Catch up on blog reading and take the time to leave comments.

13. Create a Thursday Thirteen list on procrastination

2. Shawarmas off the street for only 3.50 Dirhams (that’s 95 cents!).

3. Freshly squeezed mango juice easily accessible at street stands and so yummy.

4. Visiting the spice market and trying to identify which spice is what. Getting better and better at it every time.

5. Easily accessible and an incredibly wide variety of ingredients at any grocery store for proper cooking of Indian recipes.

6. Being able to go scuba diving at any time of the year (granted, with a 5 mil wet suit during the “winter”).

7. Frequent sightings of real camels – sometimes even on the beach in front of my apartment!

8. Trying to get a photo of every camel statue I see.

9. Hoopoe sightings in our general vicinity – such cool birds!

10. Being only a short 4 hours away from Seychelles and Maldives. (Can’t wait to go to the Maldives!)

11. The smell of shisha wafting in and around outdoor venues.

12. Being able to wear flip flops EVERY DAY and EVERY WHERE.

13. Stunning sunsets in the desert.