More chocolate in my tummy then on the strawberries

Tuxedo Strawberries

Since I have some have time on my hands at the moment to experiment with cooking, I have noticed Aidan belly getting plump. I have wondered if there’s any correlation between the two.

I was talking to our neighbours and they were experimenting and distributing faux jewel and pendant encrusted chocolates to local restaurateurs and department stores. The response they received was positive but they were taken aback when requests were made for the chocolates to be encrusted with genuine diamond pendants. I have said it before and will say it again, there’s now such thing as over the top here!


After being inspired by our neighbours story, I refuse to serve Aidan expensive confectionary but the least I can do is make the confectionary look smart. In the process of dipping the strawberries in chocolate I think more time was spent licking the chocolate off my fingers then worry about getting it onto the strawberries.

This dessert will increase Aidan’s intake of fruit if nothing else. Enjoy!

It's just a small party in the neighbourhood

Yesterday when we were going for a walk around the neighbourhood we noticed the villa down the street were setting up some serious looking stage lighting in front of the place. There were lots of outside lounges/seating being setup around the yard. Hmmm.....we figured they were going to pretty big measures for a party but then we remembered which part of the world we were in.

Last night when we heard music coming from outside and thought it could only be one thing, it must be the party they were setting up for yesterday and we were right, only we had underestimated the size of the party. As we got closer we estimated there were probably 50
cars parked out the front and they weren't just your ordinary sedans, there were some pretty pricey cars. And we saw what the stage lighting was for, a live band playing and a light show was being shone onto the front of the cream coloured villa (remember a villa in this part of the world equates to a small mansion back home).

To show you there’s no such thing as “over the top” around here, there were doormen/security guards at the front gate and to finish it off nicely were poles with red velvet ropes on either side of the drive way to guide you to the front gate.

This is quite similar to “Sweet 16” on MTV. It’s a TV show showing the extents wealthy families go to celebrate their daughters 16 birthdays - from buying expensive cars as gifts before their daughter have a driving license to hiring famous singers to perform at the party.

I’m sure the only reason why we didn’t get an invitation was because it got lost in the mail.

Welcome to the sandy part of the world.

How often do you do some dusting around your place? Once every couple of weeks at most? Well as we soon discovered after moving to this part of the world, approximately 3 months worth of dust accumulates easily within 1 week - we kid you not!

Because of the sand, windows are kept closed most of the time and use a lot of air conditioning to ensure you don’t roast in the desert heat. So you move the dust around but isn’t removed from the house unless vacuumed. The sand here is not like the beach we all knew growing up next to the beach. Beach sand grains are much coarser then desert sand. We aren’t geologists but this is our arm chair geologists’ theory:

Beach sand - Sand grains are bigger because the sand comes from sandstones/rocks in the area being eroded by waves. This erosion has happened more recent, so less wear and tear on the sand grains – hence more coarse and big.

Desert sand - These sand grains are noticeably much finer due to being constantly blown and moved around the desert over hundreds of years – lots of wear and tear from brushing against each other.

If you know a thing or two about geology and our theory is a complete work of fiction, well keep it quiet because it sounds very scientific anyway!

The roads around the area we live haven’t been sealed yet and a lot of houses are under construction so on a windy day, even the slightest breath of wind will whip up the sand. So once a week we do a major dusting and vacuum to get rid of all the tumble weeds of dusts gathering in every corner.

We experienced our first significant sandstorm of the season the other day. That morning we headed out, leaving a few windows slightly open to allow air flow – boy was that an understatement. While driving around we couldn’t see much further then a few hundred meters down the road because there was so much sand being blown around. If you usually navigate according to landmarks then that day you would have gotten so lost even using a GPS wouldn't help. Because the sand in the air was so thick, it total blocked out building in a familiar landscape and thick blankets of sand would dance across the roads as you drove.


In the afternoon when we returned home, to our amazement there was more sand inside the apartment then outside! The heart breaking point was Quyen did the cleaning and dusting the day before and now the lounge room looked like a sandbox. We needed professional help to relocate the sand out of our apartment and back into the desert, so we called in a cleaner to get the place looking spic and span - within 3 hours the job was complete.

Lesson – Do not have the windows open unless you’re at home to close them incase a sandstorm whips up unexpectedly.

Hello from Oman!

We took a border run on Friday to get Quyen's passport restamped for another 60 days. Her residency will be through by mid next week. However, that's the same time as the old visitor visa expired. So, we headed to Oman! A whole 150km away. It was a beautiful drive through sand dunes, amazing mountains and the most breathtaking scenary.

We got plenty of pics and at one point were driving up to the top of the mountain range when we came across about six camels on the roadway. It was a great experience. We stopped the car and watched them for a while. Mind you, we didn't have a choice as they were blocking the narrow road with a cliff on one side and a border fence on the other. this place was about 30km off the main road and is the border of Oman and the UAE. The Emirate of Dubai stretches up to the border from the coast.

Enjoy the pics!

Britney Spears' undies

I scan through the Aussie news each day and when I see an article on the NSW election update reading:

"Treasurer Michael Costa spent 20 minutes this morning explaining why the national accounts figures aren't relevant to whether or not NSW is in recession, but managed to spice things up with a mention of Britney Spears' undies."

it reminds me of why I made my decision to take me off the electoral roll when I left Australia.

Onya Michael Costa!

Shaks meets U2

Picture this scene... oh you don't have to coz you have a video to play!

This was taken while I was driving home along Sheikh Zayed Road (aka Shaks) this afternoon. I had the sunroof open, 6 lane freeway with all cars doing 120kmh and aiming for home. The song - U2,Vertigo! So apt, I had to capture the moment and share it with you. This strip of buildings is about one third of the tall buildings in this strip. I will get another video further down the track when the sun is up.

Post comments to request the background song and I will see what I can do.

UAE Male & Female Dress

Fashion in Dubai

Fashion in Dubai Though the locals (Emiratis) are expected to dress a certain way by their community, it is accepted by the Emiratis that expats have their way of dress too. But long term expats do respect the conservative dress code and don’t wear singlets or shorts in public unless at the beach or at popular shopping centres where it’s accepted from tourists and expats.

In Islam, men are obliged to cover from their navels to their knees. Whereas Islamic women are to cover all their body except what is essential - hands and face. These rules are still adhered to in large parts of the Muslim world. In more secular Muslim countries like Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt, many women are choosing to wear the hijab, burqa, niqab etc. as an act of defiance against the secularisation of society, but also because of the widespread growth of the Islamic revival in those areas.

The main religion here is Islam and Emiratis are easily distinguished:

- Men wear white head wraps and full length white gowns.
- Most women wear a full length black gown, and a black head scarf revealing the face.
- A portion of women wear head wraps only showing the eyes.
- A small portion of women wear head wraps fully covering their face with black gauze across the eyes.
- There is the rare occasion when you will see women from a certain sect wear head wraps showing the face but there is are gold metal strips cross the mouth and around the eyes.

For local men the fashion accessories to go with the white head wraps and gowns are sandels accompanied by a hands-free ear piece for your mobile as you strut your stuff down the mall.




Women do wear regular clothes beneath the full length black gowns. Since only their face and hands are allowed to be seen at most, the local women do their best with what they are able to express themselves with in public. They tend to wear a lot of eye make up to accentuate their features, wear hand jewellery - bracelets and rings, buy exclusive brand and highly ornate hand bags and wear platform and high heel shoes. So it’s still funny to see women fully covered only revealing their eyes yet wearing platform shoes and a Louis Vuiton handbag.



Though there is the odd expat who think just because they’re in a different country no one knows their age, hence they can dress way younger then they really are and it’s not very easy on the eyes my friends!