Oops it’s been a while!

I am sorry that I have been MIA for the last few days.  My parents came to visit and so I took a few days off to spend quality time with them.  We packed a lot in to their visit and I was even good and took pictures of a few things (of course wordpress is now not letting me upload them…I will try to sort that at the weekend!!!)

On the day that my parents arrived (after a four hour delay poor souls) I went to meet them for a catch up at their friends place in Umm Sequum where they were staying.  It was lovely to see them and they were on good form despite being tired!  We went on a mission to Mall of the Emirates to get dad set up with a Dubai mobile number and there may have been a quick trip to H & M where dad treated mummy and I to a few bits (this skirt in green is my new fave thing!).  From there we headed back to get ready for dinner at Le Petit Maison in DIFC for dinner with the legal eagle and her parents.

The restaurant is lovely but it’s a sharing concept and I will be honest that’s really not my favourite thing. Still we all agreed that we were anti-sharing and so decided to just get what we each wanted!  One MASSIVE steak later I actually began to rethink my aversion to sharing to be honest.  It was delicious though as was the apple tart I followed it with! I would say it’s good food in a nice place but it was wildly over priced.  If good French food is your thing and you want a nice venue then La Serre would be the better bet in my opinion…

The next day I had to work sadly but then I joined my parents and their lovely friends for dinner.  We went to the so-called ‘fish-shack’ in Umm Sequum for some really authentic food.  They catch the fish and cook it right there!  Honestly it’s the freshest fish I have ever had.  We also had spicy prawns which were yummy.  I am going to take Bond there soon because it’s a lot like going to a fish&chip shop back in the UK which will be a fun nostalgic trip for us as we always used to go when he lived in Port Solent.  They recently got a new building too so you can sit in comfort with a decent view of the water and boats.  After gorging on fish we decided to walk it off a bit and went for a stroll, our good intentions were foiled though when we came across a Gelato shop.  I decided to try kinder bueno flavour which was excellent!  It may have replaced hazelnut as my new favourite…

On Monday I took the day off to spend time with my uncle who flew in from Mauritius to see us all.  We met in the Jumeirah beach resort hotel which is really beautiful.  The lady serving us was beyond charming and I had the yummiest jasmine tea.  Bond came to meet us for a late lunch at Jamie’s Italian.  I have been to the one in London but never tried the Dubai outlet before.  It really was terrific, I had truffle and mushroom risotto which was perfection.  We were all abstemious and didn’t have dessert…so boring as the menu had some great choices!  It was so lovely to see my uncle after far too long and for Bond to meet him again.  Hopefully he will have more stop overs here so we can spend more time together!!   Fingers crossed one and all please!

After my uncle left for his flight the four of us went to Box Park as my parents haven’t seen it before.  Box park is really fun and has lots of cute shops and restaurants.  Bond treated us to lovely frozen yoghurt from Yoghurtland too.  I was very good and had the sugar free option with fruit!  Bond had to leave to go for a training run and so I took my parents on to City Walk to see the shops there.  I really like these two parts of Dubai because you can walk outside and enjoy the nice weather rather than being stuck in a mall.  Also both areas have quirky shops which I enjoy exploring and my parents did too.  We went to Sephora where I finally got my eyebrows done by the lovely girls at the Benefit Brow bar.  What these ladies can do with tweezers and wax is really most impressive and i encourage you all to go and see them for all your eyebrow needs…It will be a shame when the heat intensifies and these places are no longer accessible!

The following day I was also off work and so I picked up my parents for a trip to Dubai Mall which is always a must.  My mother also wanted to make the most of my store discount in Sephora.  She is now all sorted for her La Prairie and Dior skin care needs for quite some time…I also got some new nuxe skin care because I am obsessed with it and apparently I lack any self control!!  We had a fun day exploring the mall and then we had a quick bite at Markette.  I definitely recommend Markette, the food is great and the service is impeccable.  The beetroot quinoa salad is especially good and combines two of my preferred ingredients.

On Wednesday I had to go back to the office (Boo!) but it seems that my parents had a super time getting massages, lucky so and so’s!  In the evening I was invited back to their friends place for dinner.  They have a great delivery place called ‘Eat&Drink’ which I thoroughly recommend, the food is good and not that expensive either, always a winning combination!  It was fun to just have a casual evening and catch up with them all.  As I was driving our friends made me tonic with lemon so I could pretend to have a cocktail which I thought was really sweet of them.  All in all it was a lovely evening!

Thursday I had yet another day at the office but I spent the whole day in a good mood because we had been invited to a boat party.  I had never been on a boat before in Dubai so I was really excited to go because everyone who has ever been told me it was so much fun!  I really enjoyed the whole experience of seeing Dubai from a different angle – it’s really a beautiful city with an amazing sky line.  It’s always fun to see Dubai with people who don’t live here too because we do take it for granted and it’s important to be reminded of how lucky we are to be here.  My parents kept saying how amazing the skyline was and it made me really look at it again and appreciate it.  Having now done it I really want to go out on boats more, it’s a great way to get away and feel free!

On Friday Mummy and I had a girly day with her best friend, we did some shopping and had scones and teas at her lovely villa.  It was a really fun day out, it’s so lovely that Mummy’s best friend lives out here!  In the evening we had dinner with some great friends of ours that I wanted Mummy and Daddy to meet.  We all went to Frankie’s which is easily one of my favourite places in our neigbourhood.  The food is excellent, the staff are great and the live music adds a great vibe ( I think I have blogged about it a fair few times). Every time we go we have a great time and it’s become a firm favourite with everyone we have ever taken (the happy hour is also a bonus!)

On Saturday we had a quiet day but in the evening I had my parents over for dinner, having roped Bond in to do the cooking obviously…My mother and I tackled the supermarket for the necessary ingredients, in spite of the somewhat useless cheese counter assistant we were able to find the perfect goats cheese.  Bond made excellent chicken stuffed with goats cheese wrapped in prosciutto (after a quick trip to the pork section of course), it was absolutely delicious as was the asparagus he paired it with.  We finished up with Apple Crumble (Waitrose’s finest) and custard (again thank you Waitrose) both of which were very good!  My parents were thoroughly impressed and I fear Bond will be prevailed upon to cook more often now!

Sunday was Valentine’s day of course (Happy Belated Valentine’s to you all!) and I took the day off to spend it with my parents as it was their last day in Dubai.  We headed to the massage place they had raved about…and now I must join them in raving too.  ‘Taiy Pradit physical medicine and rehabilitation centre LLC’ truly is fantastic, it may not be as luxurious as hotel spas but the quality of the massage is far better.  They dug out every knot in my shoulders and though it hurt at times I felt like a new woman afterwards!  Following the massage we went to say goodbye to mummy’s bestie which led to us going to Satwa to do said bestie a favour.  We may have got a tad lost so it took a while longer than I had anticipated!  I hadn’t been to Satwa before and was impresed by the Iranian Hospital which is all mosaiced, it was so beautiful I couldn’t believe it was a hospital!  Having completed our mission we headed back to my parents hotel so they could change before our Valentine’s dinner.

We had all decided to go for dinner at Rhodes Twenty 10 which is Gary Rhodes’ restaurant at Le Royal Meridien Hotel. We had been once before and my mother fell in love with the foie gras brulee they do so we figured this was the perfect place for a special occasion.  We decided to go totally cheesey and went for the Valentine’s package.  It was five courses of amazing food and we even got welcome drinks and roses and a perfume for each of us as well as gorgeous silver tea light holders!  For all you foodies out there I urge you to go to Rhodes, it was really incredible!  The white tomato soup amuse bouche was really a highlight, it was unusual and delicious and more like a fluffy foam than soup.  The smoked salmon was also delicious and the halibut was another highlight.  We then split a Chateau Briand which was cooked to perfection.  The desert platter was another score, each part was delicious though my favourite was the sticky toffee pudding.  I even indulged myself and had an baileys and coffee which was the perfect ending!

All in all it was a terrific visit and it was sad to say goodbye to my parents though I can’t wait for their next visit to have even more fun in the sun!