Friends Visiting Part 1

Yay, my friends from Holland came over to Abu Dhabi to visit me! It was great fun and I showed them for a couple of days around Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We visited all the important landmarks. TOP tip: Abra boat ride on Dubai Creek for AED1 and walk around the souk, visit Dubai Mall, Burj Al Arab, Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque, Desert Safari, Emirates Palace, Beaches and walk along the Corniche. FAB!

Can't wait till the next friends arrive in less than three weeks time!

Back home!

I miss home! Especially the fresh air, my friends and their babies, my family, sitting at the kitchen table, walking into down, cycling to the beach.. so Ill never leave it so long again going home

Home sweet home

Drinks on the balcony

Drinks in town

More lunch

On our way to UK

Hoek van Holland

 Punting in Cambridge

Kings College

King College

Dessert at Jamies

Our stay at Lensfield

Hand in Hand

Walk around town

Movie Night

 Cheese!

 High tea in Amsterdam

Lunch on the Spaarne

Reading Donald on the balcony

Cycling trip to the beach

 Pancakes in the Dunes

Blond moment #6

Ok, So am working on my MacBook in excell, the language is set to Dutch. Am used to working in English settings... I just lost my file and have no idea where it went... I just pressed "verbergen" (hide) and it disappeared. What to do?

Lesson learnt: Don't work on your day off!

Will continue reading Vogue now

Big buildings in Abu Dhabi!

Abu Dhabi is booming with plenty of stunning developments and architectural highlights!

This is a huge big building just next door to my place. When I just arrived in Abu Dhabi in March 2010 they just started and year and a half later, they are nearly done! You feel tiny when you stand next to it.

Few blocks away five towers have been built, can't wait for it to open as it will have stunning views of Abu Dhabi islands.

And finally... They just started on the tallest building in Abu Dhabi, see below. Wonder how long that will take and if Ill still be in Abu Dhabi to go up to the top floor!

Blond moments 4&5

Plenty of blond phone moments to share

1. How to put your iPhone on silent? Took me four months to figure this out. Few days ago my phone stopped making sounds and I had no idea how this had happened.. Apparently there is a switch on the side of the phone to put it on silent, makes sense, was wondering what that button was for, pressed it couple of times, never thought of pushing it from one side to another.. Lesson learnt

2. How to insert a 0 in your text message with my good old fashioned Nokia? This one took me over 6 months, before that time I put in my text: lets meet at 2:59 or used the letter o.. Anyway, it's easy, just press the 0 button and it appears by magic!

That's it for now!

Master Class at Gordon Ramsay!

Dear K, Last time I made a meal was....... Can't even remember :-)
Except for last Friday when I made nachos with cheese for Srini..

So you can image my fear when we had to create a three course menu according to Gordon Ramsay standards at Verre, Dubai a few weeks ago. It was great and the meal we had to prepare was delicious! Even though I was the only one who managed to burn my risotto.

It looked and tasted GOOD! We were also treated to a blind wine tasting, guessed three out of four.. All those tastings in Stellenbosch paid off :-)

With love from AUH, xx c.a.

                                          The Menu

           First course: Risotto with Butternut

                                                                     After

                                       Before - Fillet of Beef

                                                              Still Smiling

                                                                      After

                                        Before - Tarte Tartin

                                             And After

                                            Blind Wine Tasting

   Whohoo! First white and red were great

                                                     The Final List

                                                           View of Dubai Creek