Chelsea FC

Chelsea FC…

I am actually a big football fan.  I have stuck by Chelsea FC through thick and thin, even after marrying an ex Arsenal football player and having my very comfortable life paid for by Arsenal FC, whilst being fully ingratiated into the club and it’s values.

I am not going to lie, when you spend so much time around something that you used to detest, you cannot help but see it in a different light.  Whereas I used to go and sit in the Directors box of Arsenal Football Club, mingling with them all, I would ultimately being going for the free vino and fabulous food, not uttering one word if Arsenal scored a go, uttering a quiet cheer if they lost (I couldn’t be completely disrespectful by cheering loudly).  Fast forward 10 years, I admit I am happy when they score.  Not Chelsea happy – whereby you jump up and down screaming and shouting, but I can now get lost in that goal moment, jump up and smile.

Chelsea, regardless of anything else have always and will always be my team.  I never thought to question that until today.  I mistakenly had thought we had moved on somewhat, or at least driven this diatribe underground, but it appears not. 

I am so appalled and disgusted by the behaviour of their so called fans who threw a black man from the train carriage in France and then proceeded to chant racial abuse, that it has left me questioning everything.  Not just loyalties with football, but the darker depths of are we really heading back to the 70’s and early 80’s, where racial abuse was commonplace and everyone appears to have an angry existence?  Back then, you would see signs in some of the windows of bed and breakfast places saying, “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish.”  Seriously!

Admittedly, not living in the UK and reading all the anti Muslim, anti Semitic stories in the press, I am likely to have a warped view of it.  At some point in the, hopefully no-too-distant future, I want to take my daughter home, but what world will she be brought up in if I do?

Chelsea Football Club HAVE to take a very hardliner approach to this.  Failure to do so will make a mockery out of the FA’s “Kick Racism Out Of Football” campaign.  Also, what about all the black players and fans?  I have no doubt that these thugs are Season Ticket Holders.  If this is the case, they should never, ever, be allowed to step foot inside Stamford Bridge again.  They should also be banned from purchasing any tickets to football in the future. 

This goes deeper than just football though.  These mindless thugs are likely to be part of the Chelsea’s utterly unauthorized ‘firm’, a bunch of morons who meet on match day to fight.  I appreciate that stopping the travel is unlikely, but at least ban them from travelling so they are sending out the right message.

The irony of these uneducated morons is that they will be the first to cheer when Drogba scores a goal and wins Chelsea the match… Need I say anymore?!

Don Alfonso 1890 Dubai - Food Fit for Kings

A couple of weeks ago, myself and a colleague were invited to go to a female press afternoon at the restaurant Don Alfonso which is located in the Shangri La on the Sheikh Zayed Road and all I can say is “WOW”!

The restaurant is everything you would expect from one located within the Shangri La. The bar, with it’s brushed aluminum top, the brushed aluminum chandeliers each table with the comfortable arm chairs and beautiful fresh flower arraignments, give you an insight into luxury that they convey into their food.

Since moving to Dubai, I have really struggled with flavors.  Asian food is amazing.  Arabic food fantastic, American food delicious, English food gorgeous, but Italian food…  Maybe it is my heritage.  Maybe I know the flavors so well because I was brought up, sat in the kitchen after church on a Sunday, with my Nona, Mother and aunts, gossiping, squealing, laughing, shouting, arguing whilst they all fought for to be heard (think Big Fat Greek Wedding and times it by 5).  But at the heart of this, they were all cooking.  Each one - including me, was always given a job to do which would finalise in the whole family being sat around the dinner table as we ate what we had cooked just a few hours later.

Eggplant Parmigiana with San Marzano tomato sauce

All food is a passion to me, but Italian food is in my blood.  Nowhere in Dubai that I had eaten so far, has been able to get the flavors spot on, and more often then not, the pasta is horrendously overcooked.  Not so at Don Alfonso.  Actually, the food took me straight back to thinking about my Nona, which left me really rather emotional.

All plated beautifully, the Eggplant Parmigiana with San Marzano tomato sauce, was superb.  The tomato sauce was beautifully sweet, yet it perfectly offset the saltiness of the strong Parmesan cheese.  The main course was a stunning Sea Bream in Aqua Pazza, a delicious broth – very similar to one that my Uncle would make.  

Neapolitan Sfogliatella with Cinnamon cream and candied sour cherry

I was very worried that I would have no space left for the desert, but when they brought out the Traditional Neapolitan Sfogliatella with Cinnamon cream and candied sour cherry, suddenly I was not so full.  

The typical Italian desert, which my Nona would hand-make herself, was nutella perfection.  I was desperately hoping my colleague would not eat hers so I could, but sadly, this was not meant to be as she ate it quicker than I.

All in all, I will definitely be back.  I have my family visiting at the end of March and this is absolutely on my list of places to take them.  

Culture Club

Culture Club

At the moment, I seem to work, work, work. So what little time I have outside of the office I spend with my family although this makes for a very boring life.  Luckily though, the guys in my office make up for this.  As I have said before on here, one of the great things about Dubai is meeting people of so many different nationalities and cultures.  In my office alone I have six different nationalities, and this is due to grow over the coming month as we rapidly hire more staff. 

Now, in the UK people would say they were Italian, Pakistani and Czech despite being born and raised in the UK, often third generation (yes, I am one of these people – Italian BTW).  Here though, this is not the case.  More often then not, the people who are here have never, and are very unlikely to ever, visit your home country if you live in Europe or America.  But they burn with curiosity about your home and culture, as you may about in theirs. 

Take Christmas for example, my colleague is a Pakistani Muslim.  He is shocked that in the UK, you don’t have church bells ringing in every village like you used to.  He believes it is a great shame that we are losing our identity and national religion, but he was very confused about Christmas.  He understood the religious side, but was unable to get his head round the idea of Santa Claus, the tree and presents.

Now this is my favourite time of year.  I love nothing more than preparing for it months in advance, and spending the time with my family and friends.  The whole two weeks surrounding Christmas is a time of food and because you are on show, catching up with those you haven’t seen in a while, you have to look the part too – Food and fashion, two of my favourite things.  Because of this, I was only too happy to explain, getting incredibly animated with excitement about the whole day and it’s importance (think of an Italian mama gesticulating and you can get an impression of me).  I explained the about the excitement of children when they open their presents and how you can use Santa to get your children to behave as he only gives presents to those who are good.  I described in detail, the importance of the huge family dinner, where you have three different types of meats, two types of potatoes and ridiculous amount of veg – and that is just the main course.  And how you spend the next few days eating the left overs whilst friends visit. 

I was so excited about the whole day that my colleague went out, brought a Christmas tree with all the trimmings and had his children write to Santa.  They had their own big family Christmas day and his brother, who loved seeing all the kids happy, said that next year, Christmas would be at his.  Clearly this is not a religious day, but in the same way westerners, atheists and Christians alike all celebrate Ramadan here, they too have experienced one of the best things about our culture.

With all that is happening in the world, the shock and disgust that 99.9% of Muslims feel, is often overlooked.  So often I read in the western press negative things about their religion, because people don’t understand it.  They fear it.  There is nothing to fear.  Take it from me, someone who is completely western but has fully embraced and loves the culture of Middle East.  It is just a shame that others don’t have the opportunity to have this life experience.

A New Beginning…

Well it has been more than a while since I last posted anything and my, how things have changed.

We are still in Dubai – So much for staying here just two years! Life, as we know it has moved on dramatically.

Firstly, my husband and myself adopted the most beautiful baby from Ethiopia.  We have just celebrated her second birthday and 18 months of being her parents.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives, but I am aware of becoming one of ‘those’ mothers, so I am going to try not to post too much about her! 

Secondly, I have landed my dream job.  I am now the Editor of BUSINESS INSIGHT MAGAZINE, a magazine that is published in partnership with the DMCC, which is a business freezone in Dubai and have many other things in the pipeline.

Thirdly, we moved from the apartment with views over the palm to a villa.  It feels much more homely and we have a large garden, swimming pool and friends all over the village.

It is all very exciting!

Expats celebrating UAE National Day our way...

UAE National Day celebrations have been going on all weekend, with everyone enjoying a 4 day weekend.   For expats, this long weekend is especially advantageous as it is not a 'dry' weekend, so with all the pubs, bars and restaurants open, it is a great time to go for a brunch and catch up with friends and, if you are lucky enough, family.   

Now don't get me wrong, if you are not into eating and/or drinking you too were taken care of; there have been parades, buildings adorned with flags and lights, street entertainers and programmes on TV empowering women and the younger generation (reminding them that they can achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve) as well as a stunning fireworks display over the beach last night.  Oh, and let's not forget about the Rugby Sevens! 

For us however, the highlight of our long weekend was taking my sister, her partner and my nephew to Beachcombers Brunch at The Jumierah Beach Hotel.  We were recommended the Beachcomber as it is family friendly with a magician, a man making poodles and such like out of balloons, and a children's play room containing everything from soft toys to Sega computer games.   

Beachcomber - From TripAdvisor

Located in a fantastic setting, right on the beach and in full view of the Burj Al Arab, we met with friends and had a 4 hour lunch;  for 900aeds per couple (or £163.63 - Seve ate for free).  We drank Laurent Perrier champagne, cocktails and just about any other drink that took our fancy, whilst eating from an amazing buffet of Asian food.

This being our first brunch, we had made assumptions on the drink choices.  Initially, Ian and myself opted for the champagne brunch when our waiter explained that without taking this option, the glasses of champagne retail for 150aeds (£28) each.  When they brought out the bottle, and Rachel saw it was Laurent Perrier, immediately the upgrade came along with her apology to the waiter, "I thought it would be like the UK - House sparkling wine.  Certainly not good champagne!"

The food was some of the best we have had whilst being in Dubai.  The first island contained an assortment of salads, from beef to chicken, with varying intensity of heat of spices.  Next to it, and away from the ice cream machine, was the desert islands, with an array of mouthwatering individual deserts and various pies that you were able to chose from.

Just a little on from the desert island, was the main course area.  Here, you could elect to have everything from Pad Thai to Nasi Goreng, Beef and Chicken Satay to Sweet and Sour Chicken.  As I am sure you can imagine, I loaded up on a selection of as much as I could possibly eat and before you ask, yes I did finish it all!  Ian and our friend Jerry, managed to find the Roast Beef station (everyone thinks about us Brits), but I completely missed this.  From Ian's plate, it looked to be cooked to perfection - medium rare; lovely and pink.

It was a chilled day.  Ian, Jerry and Bert went out to the beach just before the rain and lightening started and played football on the sand with a couple of dads who were out there already.  The girls, being much more civilised, stayed indoors with the champagne.

People may think that £81 on lunch per person is expensive, but I would vehemently disagree.  It was great value for money;  You could eat as much as you wanted and your glass was never more than half empty before being refilled.  My only complaint was that I realised I had forgotten about the chocolate fountain...  Luckily though, my sister agreed that next time they come over, we will definitely be taking them there again! 

UAE National Day

Today is the UAE National Day; a day when Emiratis celebrate that 41 years ago, they gained full independence from the UK and set up the unification of the seven emirates.

United Arab Emirates National day, as with all other holidays, is celebrated with by a long 4 day weekend for workers in public office (and most private companies take this up also).

Throughout the Emirates, flags and car stickers are sold; transforming cars to bespoke models by those whom cover the cars in them.  Younger adults, normally males, drive around town blaring their music and bibbing their horns until the early hours - Much like the Italians do when they win a football match!

It is lovely to see just how patriotic this young country is.  Buildings are lit up in red, green and white, fairy lights are strewn on public highways and everyone is out to have a good time.  Expats, though they may celebrate the long weekend differently, are not forgotten... Last night, both Ian and myself received a text welcoming us to the UAE and reminding us that this is a day of 'joy and pride in which we remember the journey' that the UAE has taken so far and which it continues to do.  

Whilst some may scoff at this, I thought that this was a lovely gesture - A little goes a long way to make you feel welcomed when you move somewhere new!  We all know that the UAE has a great vision, and wants to empower it's own people, but what many do not know, is that it wants to do so, whilst learning the lessons that other countries in the developed world have, and embrace their ideas and assistance.  

I know Ian would cringe at me writing this, despite him agreeing with the sentiment, but we are both excited to be a part of it all.  I have heard the UAE (particularly Dubai) being called the place where dreams are made.  When I look at the country with all the people we have met here, and what they have all achieved, I completely agree.