Month: January 2016

Xiao Long Bao Din Tai Fung Dubai

Our first Xiao Long Bao experience

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We finally got a chance to dine at  Din Tai Fung, the latest restaurant franchise to open it’s doors here in Dubai at Mall of the Emirates. Two of Din Tai Fung’s franchise in Hong Kong was awarded a Michelin Star. The Taiwanese restaurant is known for it’s Xiao Long Bao (XLB), a dumpling with soup inside. Anthony Bourdain refers to them as “pillow of happiness.” We informed our server that it was our first time and she patiently explained how to eat the famous dumpling. She also prepared a ginger, soy and rice vinegar dip to complete our XLB experience. To eat the Xiao Long Bao: Make the soy ginger sauce. Our server warned us that the dumpling is piping hot, wait a few minutes before eating. Take your XLB and dip in your soy ginger sauce. Place your XLB in the spoon and poke a small hole to release the broth. Blow some steam off and enjoy. The original XiaoLongBao is made with pork but the restaurant doesn’t have a license so we settled …

Pedestrian Friendly Dubai

A request for more pedestrian friendly Dubai

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Our area which consists mostly of residential building has 6 schools and two hospitals nearby. The traffic situation can be busy in the mornings during school week and scary during off hours. Ped Xing – means pedestrian crossing Pedestrian – a person walking LittleMiss C and I have been walking to and from school everyday since she started. Her nursery was just 5 minutes on foot from our old place and now the new school is just 10 minutes walk from our place. It’s convenient, healthy and economical to just walk specially during Dubai winter. On our walks we have only seen 2 Ped Xing lines and notice a lack of road signs that inform drivers a school is present. With 6 schools in the area motorists will encounter parents with children walking and trying to cross the street. Most of the drivers respect pedestrians and take time to stop even if Ped Xing is not available, sadly some do not stop. We need to cross 1 main road and 2 residential streets to get to school. On the main road a crossing …

Boulevard Kitchen Grilled Calamari

Lunch at Boulevard Kitchen, Manzil Downtown

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The whole stretch of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard offers various restaurants and has become a haven for food lovers. Our latest find came in a lunch invitation at Boulevard Kitchen of  Manzil Downtown. I gave our reservation details at the reception and they seem confused and surprised that we were there. A gracious lady asked where we want to be seated, the kids replied that they would love to sit outside, the courtyard area, she informed us that we can’t because it’s the smoking and shisha area. We settled at the corner table with a view of the open kitchen, the kids always enjoy watching the chef’s work. It was surprising that we were only handed a two pages lunch menu, refreshing as it gave an impression that the dishes were carefully chosen. They now have a 3 course menu selection with shisha for AED 119 per person from 12pm until 4pm. We started off with dishes from the Soup & Salad selection and chose Grilled Calamari Skewers and Smoked Salmon. Roasted peppers and tomato salsa with chili vinaigrette complimented well with the perfectly charred calamari. Even …

School lunch box ideas

2016 Bento Week: January 3 – 7

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Hello 2016! I’m back to preparing baon for my happy crazy bunch. I hope this will help and inspire you to pack lunch. Sunday It’s the first day back to school after the winter break. Fried chicken was baked the night before and the steamed rice prepared that morning. LittleMiss starts FS1 in her new school. I wanted to prepare something that will make her smile while she’s in school. She was crying when I left her but was very happy when I picked her up after class. Thankful that her schoolmates made her feel happy. Kuya V was excited to see his friends. It’s going to be a busy month for us since we are preparing for his term 1 exams. How I wish they stuck with the exam schedules we had last school year, it was less stressful for all of us. Monday The night before we bought bread from Ceasars Bakeshop for baon. Chicken Tikka Roll for Kuya V and Cheese Bun for LittleMiss. Tuesday Bread was toasted on a hot frying pan with butter because I don’t own a toaster. …

new years eve fruits and cakes

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year! We welcomed 2016 in the comfort of our new home. The initial plan to watch fireworks live like we always do every year was cancelled since we wanted to finish unpacking and not leave the house all alone. For NYE dinner we prepared ham, sinuglaw, garlic shrimps, fruit salad and Moist Chocolate Candy Cake that LittleMiss and I baked. It has been a tradition in our family that we welcome the new year with at least 13 round fruits to signify prosperity for the coming year. We wish you a happy and prosperous 2016!