Walk Like An Egyptian!

Mom and Dad are here!  My parents have been in town for the past 2 weeks and we've been very busy tour guides.  To capitalize on all of our time together, we planned a very special trip last weekend.  We had a long weekend off of work for the Islamic holiday Eid al Adha, and we weren't going to let a day go to waste.  So 48 hours after they landed in Dubai we got Mom and Dad back on a plane for our first trip to Cairo, Egypt!

Let's start with the drawbacks.  Cairo is easily the filthiest city I've ever visited.  Waterways are choked to death with trash, there is garbage lining most streets.  It also is home to the worst traffic I've ever seen in my life, we couldn't get anywhere, any time of day, without sitting in 90 minutes of traffic (to go 12 miles).  The monuments are stunningly crowded, and not always well cared for.  And a certain level of corruption and kick-backs dominates the tourist experience.

On the flip side - you're standing in front of artifacts that have survived over 5,000 years of human history.  The story of ancient Egyptian civilization is riveting and if you can swat off of the pick pockets and panhandlers long enough to catch your breath (however smog filled) and enjoy the view, you can allow your mind to take you back to those early days of this amazing civilization.

Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed but the sculptures, contents of King Tut's tomb, and royal mummies at the Egyptian Museum were truly a one in a life step experience.  It was fantastic to explore the only remaining Wonder of the World from the original seven with my parents.  The Pyramids of Giza are an amazing site to behold.  This was definitely on the bucket list!

A visit to the hallowed grounds of the ancient city of Memphis.  This is a huge 3,000 year old limestone statue of Ramses II.

Over 4,500 years old!  The Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara.  This is Egypt's oldest permanent pyramid.  The architect Imhotep was the first to build a pyramid that wasn't made out of perishable materials.

Taking a quick lesson on carpet weaving.  An art form that I totally admire and respect.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza has 2.3 million blocks and each weights 2.5 tons - this is just ONE of them.

The front of the Great Pyramid.  Truly amazing.

I couldn't help it - I walked like an Egyptian.  (Matt indulged me).

The pristine Solar Boat was found in pieces at the base of the Great Pyramid in 1954 and reassembled.

The Great Pyramid.

A beautiful shot of the Pyramid of hafre, Khufu's son.  Originally all three pyramids at Giza were encased in lime polished limestone, you can still see this on the top of Khafre's pyramid.

The only spot where you can see all three pyramids at once!

I couldn't resist.

The Sphinx!  An awe-inspiring view!

 
We stuck to the local delicacies for lunch like kushari, falafel, hummus, kofta and lentil soup, but dinner we treated ourselves.  Here we are at the revolving restaurant on 41st floor of the Grand Hyatt hotel.  It makes
one 360 degree rotation every 75 minutes.

In front of the Egyptian museum built in 1901.  I assure you no animals were hurt in the shooting of this picture.  Matt is lovingly playing with one of the plentiful stray kittens. :)

To conclude our trip we took a Nile dinner cruise on the Nile Maxim boat.

A whirling dervish!

 We bribed a bell boy to sneak us on top of the roof our our hotel (do not try this at home).  Just so we could capture what the area surrounding the pyramids looks like - yup traffic circles and cinder block buildings.

 

We had a packed full few days.  By the end of the trip I caught these two resting like mummies!

Abu Dhabi F1 - If You Don't Go for the Cars, Go for the Concerts!

The only way to make sure that your time was well spent at the Abu Dhabi F1 is to make sure you are coming home with a significant amount of ringing in your ears - whether the cause be car or concert.

This year we skipped the time trials and when straight to the after party and however cliche this may sound, dare I say it was the party of the year?

The folks that run the Sky Bar in Beiruit put their event management and planning skills to work and brought us the "Sky Bar" positioned within it's own inflated dome, stadium-style risers for the VIP table service and a T-shaped stage built up in the middle.

The party was fantastic!  The headliners where Rudy, Basement Jaxx, Tinie Tempah, and Kelis!  (Click on the link to hear Kelis tell us all about her milkshake!)

Just when we thought the concerts couldn't get any better a rumor started circulating amongst the crowd that they were expecting a surprise musical guest.  We had no idea who we could be anticipating while the stage crew was setting up the set and when the lights went up - Prince danced out on stage!  The crowd went absolutely nuts!  He did a 90 minute set with his band and it was unlike any concert I've ever experienced.  He gives new clarity to the term 'musical genius'.  He also made a point of telling the audience "this is real music, by real musicians."

As if you needed any other mark of a good night - we arrived up as the sun was breaking through the clouds.  Anything for his highness!

 

Darth Vader in Dubai?

The Millennium Falcon has landed in Dubai! Sort of. This city has been host to a lot visitors over the years but I can't say Jabba the Hut or storm troopers have ever found a home here before! While I often wish we lived in Cloud City (we rarely have them here...) it is pretty shocking how natural these images look!

Cedric Delsaux, a French photographer who has made a name for himself juxtaposing iconic images from the classic Star Wars films into locations on earth, has turned to Dubai for his most recent set of images.

"Dark Lens: Dubai Invasion" uses our vast building sites and urban desert as reimagined backdrop to George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga.

In Delsaux's images, the Millennium Falcon can be found parked in a vast construction project in the Ducai's downtown (our neighborhood!), exhausted droids are seen hanging out around a clapped-out old Buick and terrifying At-At armored transports stride over freeways.

Click on the image below to see the whole (awesome) slide show and article.

Cooking Class with Refletts Chef Pierre Gagnier

We were dining at Refletts earlier this year, and got a bit carried away.  Katie and I went to town on the food, wine - it was all so good!  Unfortunately, our stomachs were bigger than our wallets.  The manager Dennis gave us two choices - we could go to jail or work off our (substantial) debt.

So, being world reknowned chefs, we decided it was a win-win - Pierre could really use our help.  We put on our Saturday morning finest, and went into the kitchen to sweat it out.  Here's a picture of me telling everyone what a tomato is (nobody had ever seen one):

 

Katie's no slouch, either - here she is telling one of the soux chefs that you could chop mushrooms - he was blown away.  "This is so amazing - now that I know they can be chopped, the possibilities are endless!" he was heard saying.

Clearly, it was a big success - we spent all day cooking, cleaning, tasting, and generally impressing everyone with our skills.  A crowd soon gathered, and Pierre challenged us to a duel.  Let's just say that it was close - his 45-ingredient fruits de mer "LA MÉDITERRANÉE" narrowly edged out my "Matt's Famous Garlic Bread."  I maintain that he cheated - the saddle of rabbit he added at the end definitely didn't come from the ocean.  However, I'm a gracious loser - see his recipe at the end (I don't give away my garlic bread secrets to just anybody!).

Here's a photo with the two head chefs on the left, Pierre, and a few of the other people working off their debt that day:

For those of you who believe a world-renowned chef is better than a guy in paper hat that can make a wicked batch of popcorn, here's one of Pierre Gagnaire's recipes (and don't forget to check out his website at http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com):

LA MÉDITERRANÉE…pour quatre personnes:

2 pieces Agria potato
200 gr. Rock salt
60 gr. Flour
20 gr. Potato flour
50 gr. Butter
3 spoons Olive oil
1 spoonful Paprika powder
24 pcs. Gambas (or prawns, for you English-speakers)
1 spoonful White Port
1 spoonful Espelette pepper
2 pcs. Eggs
2 pcs. Saddle of rabbit
1 spoonful Rosemary
4 dl. Cream
300 gr. Rocket salad
1 spoonful Sage
2 pcs. Garlic
1 spoonful Tarragon
250 gr. Cuttlefish
2 pcs. Leek
300 gr. Hummous

• Cover an oven tray with rock salt, place the whole potatoes on the tray and cook for 1½ hour at 180 degrees. Peel the potatoes, mash them and add the flour, paprika powder, egg yolk and potato flour. Mix until you obtain a dough texture and roll into in a large cylinder shape. Cut it in pieces of approximately 4 centimeter long and a diameter of approximately 2 centimeter.
• Cut the cuttlefish in pieces and keep it aside.
• Cook the gnocchi in water with rosemary and reserve on the side.
• Cook the rocket salad in a pan with a little bit of water from the gnocchi and add the cream. Let it cook on low heat.
• Heat the gambas with the white Port, butter and espelette pepper.
• Heat olive oil in a pan and sear the saddle of rabbit. Add the butter. When the butter is fully melted, add the sage, chopped garlic, tarragon and the cuttlefish.
• Cut the leek and add in the pan with the rabbit along with the gnocchi.

Plating:
Put the rocket salad in the center of the plate, place the mixture of rabbit, cuttlefish on top and then the gambas. Pour a little bit of the cream of the rocket on top of the dish.

The World's Fastest Roller Coaster! Guess Where It Is?

Not to be out done by Dubai's world's tallest building, self-proclaimed 7 star hotel, or single largest piece of acrylic glass (seriously) our friendly neighbors to the West have decided to forgo the luxurious claims and go for the need...the need for speed.

Abu Dhabi is now home to the world's fastest roller coaster!  It's called the Formula Rossa and it is located in Ferrari World.  It goes as fast as 150 miles per hour and uses an "aircraft carrier-like hydraulic launch system" to shoot its coasters along the twisty track!

Buckle your seat belts before you watch the video!

Tom "Cruises" the Burj!

It's been pretty noisy around here this past weekend as the sound of a helicopter going overhead was consistent.  Turns out the Mission Impossible: 4 crew decided that they were going to shoot some footage of the Burj Khalifa from the air.

That's right, the Mission Impossible: 4 cast and crew have been in town for weeks filming the new movie and the town has been a buzz!  Yours truly was even cast as an extra for one planned scene at a black tie function, but I had to turn it down because I'll be in Egypt with my parents the weekend they are filming!  I was so close to providing swanky background fodder for Mr. Ethan Hunt - darn!

However our biggest thrill came this weekend, when the aforementioned helicopter was flying overhead...what they were filming was Tom Cruise himself hanging off the Burj!

As one lucky chap recounts on Facebook:

‘My sister Caitlin is visiting from our home town of Norwich. I told her I was going to show her something really special and took her to the tower with my wife and kids.

‘When we got there we saw this pair of legs outside and assumed it must be a very brave window cleaner.

'Then Caitlin shouted, “That’s Tom Cruise!” I said, “Don’t be ridiculous”, but sure enough, it was. I grabbed my camera and he smiled and laughed.

‘He was cool as a cucumber. Anyone brave enough to film up the Burj Khalifa Tower deserves a Hollywood pay cheque.’

Don't worry he can prove it.

 

And a few shots courtesy of the locals:

 

Welcome to Dubai Tom!

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Happy Halloween!

Fall is finally here in Dubai!  Which means that we now get to enjoy "normal" summer weather for the next few months.  The temperature has dropped from 115 degrees each day to about 90 degrees and we are even getting a sea breeze at night.  Dubai really only has two seasons: hot and hotter.  But this is our Fall and I am determined to embrace it!

Which is why when Matt and I walked into Waitrose the other night we were tickled to find a pumpkin display front and center!  I nearly jumped for joy!  Those are bonda-fide USA grade pumpkins friends (really they are from Indiana!).

It's like he was sent here just to make me smile!

Warning - too much sugar (and excitement over finding candy apples) will make you do weird things!

This is what Matt sees when he wakes up in the morning!  Scary!

My softer side.

I think that this facial hair could work for Matt, don't you?

Unfortunately, the checkout counter at the grocery store was the closest we got to dressing up this year.  However, I refused to be kept down and insisted on wearing an orange and black ensemble to dinner last night.  For Halloween we decided to "treat" ourselves by checking out the awesome Uptown Lounge at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.  As you can see, the view was spectacular.

I am really upset, because I found out my family hosted a Halloween party this year and for some reason didn't invite me!  They probably thought they could get away with it, but then somebody smuggled in a camera and sent me this video!