Eat and Drink!

Of course eating is arguably the most important part of my day, and on a vacation possibly more important, as I love to leisurely sample local cuisuines. Dubai had some great food on offer, and also some lovely dining venues. The first place we dined out at served Lebanese food. I hadn't eaten Lebanese food in so long I almost cried with delight when the dishes started to arrive. This is food that is really really difficult or prohibitively expensive to buy or create in Korea. Here we had a selection of mezze, including my perenial favourite hummus and as always accompanied by pita bread. We also shared a mixed grill of various meats. Soooooooo yummy!!




This next dinner scene was from a classy Iranian restaurant. Kubba had the dill flavoured rice with a big hunk o' lamb, and I had okra and lamb stew with the accompanying crispy topped rice. Sooooo delicious. After this meal we were served sweet black tea in small glasses that look a little larger than your average shot glass. We were also served a few dessert nibblies, and it was one of these that gave me perhaps the most orgasmic dessert experiences I've ever had. This is notable because generally speaking I don't have much of a sweet tooth. The sweets in question were small balls of what seemed to be a lightly baked nut dough, and reminded me of my mum's Christmas speciality, pecan puffs. These were so very delicately flavoured, and seemed to explode into a fine powder of scrumptiousness upon chewing. Soooo delightful.

Breakfast was usually at home, where often the maid(!!) would prepare something for us and the kids. The kids here are Kubba's cousins; from the left, Kubba, Faisal (13) and Hadi (11). The food here is simple but yummy, again with foods that are next to impossible to get in Korea such as pita, certain salty cheeses, and fresh mint. Oh how I love fresh mint.

Even something as simple as going to the local grocery store to pick up some juice yielded unexpected delights. Look at the fantastic tropical flavours of these drink boxes. Yummmmmm.





Here is more Lebanese food. Look at Kubba's fantastically pink pomegranate juice. I was also served instant coffee in a tea pot. Interesting. As you can see, this was an outdoor eatery on the banks of the semi-river that runs through town known as the Creek.









One evening we stopped at a resto-cafe, again along the Creek, and had some tea and a shi-sha (the big waterpipe he's sucking on). Kubba said the quality of this one wasn't so good, but I couldn't really tell. I can tell you, however, that these things are very fun to smoke. A piece of charcoal is place atop flavoured tobacco (in this case apple flavour) and then the smoke is drawn through the water chamber, which smooths the taste as you draw it in. Shi-shas are commonplace in cafes round these parts.




Another evening we went to the fancy golf club for drinks. I just loved seeing these guys dressed in customary Arab dress propping up the bar. Yes, most people in the Middle East are Muslim, and no, they are not supposed to drink. But then again Christians are meant to go to church every week - everything on a spectrum...




One of the most delightful places Kubba took me to eat was an Iraqi restaurant. He tells me that Iraqis specialize in making meat tasty. If the kebabs we had were any indication, Kubba was right.