Posted by Kanga.
Another trip to the grocery store:
How do you want your choco – bits, flakes, pops, or bumps?
Don’t these fellows look happy to be eaten? Umm, appetizing.
Archive for the ‘food’ Category
What is wrong with this picture?
November 14, 2011Posted by Kanga.
There are at least two things wrong in the picture below.
The two pork cutlets are the only things undeniably right. They were a good size and delicious. The herb butter was tasty, although I don’t put it on the pork, because I think that’s just over doing it. My only complaint about the asparagus would be that I can eat three times that much because I love asparagus.
The two glaringly wrong things, in case you haven’t deduced them yourself, are the rectangular plate and tiny, tiny baked potato. This meal was served in a pub, a supposedly British pub. That is not a pub plate. That is a foo foo fancy restaurant plate (and a foo foo food presentation as well). As for the potato, I would gladly have traded one of my cutlets for a decent sized potato, or three of those little ones. We are frequently at this restaurant, so I will have to remember this experience when ordering next time. It doesn’t really make sense, because meat is always more expensive than potatoes. It also doesn’t make sense to have such an artsy food presentation in a pub. Pub food should be a hearty plateful for the working man. Of course, being Dubai, this pub is in a hotel, so not exactly working man territory.
Bananas
October 26, 2011Posted by Kanga.
Not all bananas are 8 inches long and bright yellow.
In fact, you might think these look rather beat up. But, once they are peeled, you can see that they are not nearly as bruised as you might have thought.
They have slightly different flavors. We like the little yellow ones the best. They have a paper thin peel, yet are firm and sweet.
Navratan Korma
October 16, 2011Posted by Kanga.
In my search for dishes at Indian restaurants that I can eat (i.e. containing no chili pepper) I have discovered navratan korma. It is cooked vegetables in a creamy sauce with cold fruit (sometimes fresh, sometimes canned) on top. I like contrasts in my food, either temperature or texture. That’s one of the reasons I like tacos so much. I don’t usually like to mix my vegetables and fruit, but this is a concept that is growing on me. I can’t always count on being able to eat navratan korma because some restaurants can’t resist putting some chili pepper in, but my loving husband has learned to make it for me at home.
Grocery Store Discoveries
October 7, 2011Posted by Kanga.
Rocky Road Ice Cream – and there was the sound of angels singing…
Fudgee Bars, which come in “vanilla jolt,” “mocha rage,” “milky craze,” and “durian delight” flavors. The size and packaging led us to wonder if these were like Twinkies, but no, they are not that squishy or lacking in nutrition. Cupp Keyk takes brand misspelling to a new height. Kat Kat Tat doesn’t sound very appetizing to me.
Quaker seems to have thought of everything. Oats to put in your rice, because not just any ol’ oats will do.
Discoveries at other stores:
Pega-bunny jumps over the moon!
These kinds of things always stick out like sore thumbs to us. Apparently, no one is concerned about sexualized toilet plungers.
A Gem Tucked into an Alley
September 16, 2011Posted by Kanga.
It may be a little challenging to find, but is well worth the effort. Oriental Restaurant in Fujairah is fantastic.
Beef noodles and fried rice.
Chicken in special sauce.
Prawns sambal.
The food is very delicious and reasonably priced. We’ve already been back a second time. This is definitely a “tweetup” worthy place.
Small Proofs of Globalization
September 10, 2011Posted by Kanga.
Today’s grocery discovery was Shasta brand sodas. Of all the American soda/cola products this is one I didn’t expect to see.
We picked up a few other interesting sodas.
Barr American Cream Soda comes from Glasgow and claims to be “refreshing the nation.” The graphic reminds me more of a bar of soap than a refreshing drink, however. Old Jamaica Ginger Beer “with fiery Jamaican root ginger” comes from Kegworth, England. Idris Fiery Ginger Beer comes from Chelmsford, England with the challenge to “try it if you dare.” (It’s not fiery. Even I don’t think so and I’m pretty wimpy.) Our old friend A&W Root Beer comes from New Jersey (and as we discovered previously smells like surgical spirit.)
Good Friends and Good Food
September 10, 2011Posted by Kanga.
Last week, our beautiful friends Devina and Shruti came to Fujairah. We met up at Delhi Darbar Restaurant for breakfast.
The challenge for me at any Indian restaurant is finding something that has no, and I mean NO, chili peppers. DaddyBird prefers food the spicier the better. The bowl at the lower right is vegetable korma and was supposed to be mild, but it was a no go for me. I managed with paratha (bread), green salad, and an omelette. I could see and avoid the peppers in the omelette. Despite my chili aversion, the food was lovely and ridiculously cheap. Four people ate their fill for 53 AED ($14.50).
Cultural Experiences – Both Planned and Unexpected
August 28, 2011Posted by Kanga.
Our friends from Malta ventured out from Dubai to Fujairah for dinner with us last week. Our planned cultural experience was to go to the Ramadan Food Market to buy the components of our meal and bring it home to enjoy.
We brought home flat bread, fatoush (green salad), tamarind and some kind of berry juices, sausages in bread wraps, tabouleh (chopped parsley salad), hummos, kushari, samosas, pakora, chicken biriani, and probably more, but I can’t remember it all. It was a fun food adventure.
We supplied root beer, the only soda we had on hand. This was a new experience for our Maltese friends, who say that it smells exactly like a surgical spirit solution commonly used back home. [Our friend also confessed to having a pyromaniac phase around the age of eight when he sprayed this surgical spirit (mostly alcohol) on the ground and lit it for fun.] So, root beer, which is right up there with baseball and apple pie on the scale of American-ness is not very appealing to people in the Eastern hemisphere. This might explain why it is rare to find it in grocery stores. Now we’ll have to look for this surgical spirit to do a smell test and see for ourselves.
I had a similar experience when I first tasted Jagermeister (German herbal liqueur). I swear it tastes just like the cough syrup we had when I was little. Just tastes like medicine to me.
Our friends had brought us a treat from Malta – a pudding, which I tried the next morning. Before I tell you what it is like, I must explore the word “pudding.” In America, this word has just one definition. A pudding is a creamy, milk based dessert, like custard. (There are also bread and rice puddings, but again these are desserts.) In Europe and abroad, pudding can mean just about anything – sweet or savory. Christmas pudding is actually a cake. Blood pudding is actually a sausage. So, when someone says “pudding” we are not sure what to expect.
This pudding turned out to be what we would call a fruit cake. It is dense, dark, a bit chocolaty with tasty fruit bits in it. I’ve tried it cold, warmed up, topped with a little ice cream, and warmed up with butter. Quite good.
Sushi Chefs Should Not Go On Vacation
August 12, 2011Posted by Kanga.
In our continuing exploration of eating in Fujairah, we went to the Bamboo Lounge at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club.
Only after I had spent several minutes debating whether to get sushi or the seafood platter, did the waitress inform us that the sushi chef had gone on vacation, so no sushi.
So, seafood platter it was. I had trouble figuring out which was the calamari because it was not cut in the usual rings and was the softest calamari I have ever had. All in all, very nice and more than I could finish.
DaddyBird had the pad thai. Which he reported to be good.
Living the Travel Channel 