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New Year’s Eve in Dubai 2010-2011

January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

We celebrated much the same way as last year with fish dinner at Bu Qtair and a short walk down to the beach to watch the fireworks at the Burj al Arab.

There were cupcakes (courtesy of the Nystedts).
tray of cupcakes

My camera takes crappy pictures in the dim lighting and if I use the flash, everyone has red eyes. So, you will have to take my word for it that there were nine of us over the course of the evening. No hats, but there were noise makers and confetti poppers.

Then, the fireworks. (To see all the still photos click here.)
fireworks

fireworks

fireworks

Posted in Burj al Arab, celebration, Dubai, New Year's Eve, video | 3 Comments »

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Christmas Day

December 26, 2010

…began with a brief exchange of gifts.

For me, two strings of pearls – one white and one “black.” Natural black pearls are actually shades of purple, blue and brown. Very beautiful.

For DaddyBird, a handmade wooden dhow.

handmade model wooden boat

The day ended with a pleasant dinner with 22 of our friends.

(The one mugging for the camera is Mali.) More pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/ivanbautista2008/Tweetmasparty2010#

God bless us, everyone!

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Christmas Eve 2010

December 25, 2010

Last year we spent both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve with friends at our favorite fish shack restaurant, Bu Qtair. This has become the tradition.

There were Christmas crackers containing a paper crown, stickers and a funny joke. (A corny joke, if you want to know the truth – How do you fix a broken pizza? With tomato paste. What does a doofus call his pet zebra? Spot. You get the idea.)

This was our toothsome dinner – hamour, pomfrit, two shari (not pictured) and two kilo of spicy prawn (also not pictured). It didn’t take us long to stuff ourselves.

We are a little concerned about our beloved fish shack. They informed us that they now offer rice AND they brought out malmac plates (instead of paper) and forks. Getting downright hoity toity. Maybe this is what happens to a great place like this after being featured on a cable food/travel show.

Great fun was had by all, especially DaddyBird.

For more on this fun evening, see our friend Micheline’s blog. (She writes a great blog. You might want to follow her regularly.)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Posted in Christmas, food | 3 Comments »

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Time slippage

December 19, 2010

Where does the time go? I’ve been scolded for not posting more often (never make money with this blog if I don’t ya know – never mind that that has never been my intention). Not much has happened.

So, here it is:

i put up the tree.

artificial Christmas tree

The cats enjoy chewing on the artificial branches. (We did not even bother putting it up last year because they were still kittens.) It is currently encircled with a pair of toddler gates to keep them from grazing. Even though they could easily leap over it, it seems to be enough of a deterrent, so far.

We ate at pleasant little Lebanese restaurant with quaint decor (and good food, especially the freshly baked bread).

stained glass windows with shutters

And I saw this in the store.

granny square crochet poncho

And, no, it will not be under the tree.

There you have December, so far, in a nutshell.

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Dubai Metro Progress

December 4, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

We are finally seeing some progress above ground on the metro construction out our window. Compare to how it looked back in September 2008.

Salahuddin Road under construction

The traffic flow isn’t quite normal, yet. However, the main flow is not diverted around the back of our building, so it is much easier to exit our parking garage due to less traffic on that street. It is also easier to tell taxis where to drop us off and there is a safe area for them to pull over and let us out. Much improved.

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Camel Races

November 27, 2010

Posted by Kanga.
ten camels kneeling
We were invited to go out to the camel races.

The camels are fitted with remote controlled robotic jockeys, so the owners follow the camels in their SUVs on both sides of the race track. There are two tracks, 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers.

Posted in animals, camels, Dubai | 2 Comments »

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Thanksgiving

November 27, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

We gathered with a large group of our friends at one of the restaurants serving a special Thanksgiving meal, Billy Blues. We didn’t take an official head count, but by the end of the meal, it was somewhere in the 25-30 range. We spilled over into additional tables.

It was not the same as a home cooked meal, but the food was good and the company was GREAT. The restaurant staff were pretty amazing, handling such a big crowd well.
green beans, mushrooms, turkey breast, mashed potatoes

Posted in celebration, food, restaurant | 1 Comment »

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Falcon

November 20, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

You never know what you will encounter in the mall. Yesterday, it was a falcon. DaddyBird was pleased as punch to get to hold it for a few minutes.

man holding a falcon

Here’s the video. You might want to turn down the volume since the sound is mostly children screaming in the amplifying mall acoustics.

Posted in animals, birds | 3 Comments »

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Street Sights

November 16, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

truck load of goats

This is not an uncommon site on the streets of Dubai and probably anywhere else in the Emirates. These poor fellows are on their way to someone’s dinner table and not as guests.

tractor

This, however, is not something I see regularly. I doubt any of those three guys had a seat belt (maybe the driver, but it’s not a given) or any other safety equipment that would protect them in case of collision. It looked like a pretty rough ride.

Posted in animals, Dubai traffic | 1 Comment »

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The Joys of Styrofoam

November 15, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

It has been a while and I am certain you have begun to wonder what my crazy cat has been up to lately.

This continues until the tray is torn up into little bits. When we are putting away groceries after shopping, we have to watch anything that is in a styrofoam package because he will snitch it and run off to play with it no matter what the contents are.

Posted in cats | 1 Comment »

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