On Wheels, Out To Sea & Back Again

Harry De Wheels

Pie By The Port

Cakes & Tarts, David Jones

Pies & Quiches, David Jones

Pates, David Jones

Of Sunny Sydney Days

Bondi Beach Babe

Coffee Break
Sheraton Hotel Open House

Live Cooking
Sheraton Hotel Open House


Sweet Treats
Sheraton Hotel Open House

Hop On Hop Off Tour Bus
Sydney Harbor Bridge

Room Service After A Long Day Out

Coffee Night Cap

Cupcake Bakery & Sydney Fish Market

Cupcake Bakery

Towers Of Temptation

Peter's BBQ Grill

Sydney Fish Market

Sydney Fish Market

Doyles

Sydney Fish Market

Dubai Advantures...Day 2

Foul Name, Fine Flavors

I start my Middle East adventures with a local breakfast stew Foul Modammes. Be put off by the name and you'll be missing out on a good thing: A slow cooked mix of fava beans, olive oil, lemon and various spices, finished with whimsical swirls of yogurt, and a hearty stew is born.

See this as the Egyptian version of baked beans, with added heat from the cayenne and chili powder, and a deeper, more earthy flavor from cumin and cinnamon, this fortifying dish will set you up for the day far longer than beans on toast can.

Monster Muffins

First day of work concluded with bowling night, which meant dinner had to be sorted at the lanes as well. Granted, the bowling alley is not a place you would expect to find decent food at, but I was surprised to learn that the in-house cafe was run by a reputed restaurant chain, whose name I do not recall, but the logo in the above picture should set the detectives in you in the right direction. On with the food, shall we?

The picture may not tell the big picture, pun intended, but take my word for it, these muffins are monstrous, each the size of my open palm. I was tempted to challenge myself, but as Mama would say, never eat anything bigger than your face, and being in the company of colleagues you're meeting for the first time lends weight to her words, so I begrudgingly left these muffins alone.

Mile High Blackforest

I turn away from the super up-sized muffins only to walk into a counter of super-upper up-sized cakes on display, well you can't blame a girl for trying.

Here in Dubai, the land of towering skyscrapers and soon to be world's tallest building the Burj Dubai, the national obsession with height seems to have now spread to their cakes. You've seen 3 tier cakes before, well take 2 said cakes, stake them one atop the other, and to ensure your neighbour doesn't outdo you in the same manner, you crown the tower with tall pipings of cream, then top that with a coffee bean each, and you have a sure winner.

In the same spirit of Mama's good advice to never eat anything taller than you, I left these chocolate structure alone as well. Oh what fun we would have had.

Pub Grub at the Lanes

Cue to my dinner, a more manageable portion of grilled catfish and a side of salad. For a desert land Dubai brings in some of the best and freshest catch money can buy, and here in a bowling alley no less, my catfish was flaky fresh, lightly grilled, seasoned simply and finished with a squeeze of lemon. This is not your sub standard bowling alley grub, this was good.

Service Apartment

Welcome to my humble abode, my own little service apartment! It may be no 2 storey presidential suite, but it has a great kitchen unit at the back with a built in oven, and on the bar counter a Nespresso coffee machine (very sexy). All the appliances a girl could ask for.

Arabian Sheets

Nights, folks, until the morrow.

Off To Dubai! & Introducing...

Sneak Preview

Dear folks, I have been sent on a journey into the oasis of the dessert, the exotic and enigmatic Middle East, Dubai. I will not be traveling alone, I've brought a tiny friend with me this time. Squeezed into the tight corner of space my luggage could provide, smuggled into the country to keep me company, I introduce to you, Tea Leaf Picking Boy!

This little fella actually belongs to my Sis, let's call her Piggy. She just returned from a holiday in Taiwan and brought him home with her. Why the long name? It was on the label, and it stuck.

Take a deep breathe and wave goodbye, Tea Leaf Picking Boy. We'll see you when we land.

Blue Cheese Ravioli with Parmesan & Garden Peas

Traveling on business means one thing, you fly Business. And to that the airline provides a preview of the comforts to come, in the form of the airline lounge, for you to relax and recharge for the long haul flight ahead.

Not that I really care for free wifi, shower rooms with luxury toiletries or free booze. I was there to check out the grub, coz regardless of whether you're flying high or riding low, it's the food that matters.

Usual selection of sandwiches, soups, and of coz, the cheese selection aside, the ravioli caught my eye. An inch wide and cooked dry with a sprinkling of baby garden peas and grated sharp parmigiano reggiano, it was a light and pleasantly good dish, simple and not too filling. Not bad for lounge food, I have to admit.

Scallop & Mango Salad

The only time I've been served scallops on Economy was when I flew with Emirates to Europe. Singapore Airlines, sadly, does not serve scallops when you fly cattle class, ever. Not even when you pre order seafood meals on their website. I find that quite unsporting of SQ, especially given the premium you pay to fly with them, even on cattle class. But I digress.

Onto the scallops they do serve in Business, huge, lovingly pink in the middle, and well matched with slices of sweet mangoes on the side.

Lobster Thermidor

Here's a tip before you fly, folks. You can, and for the most part should, take a look at the special menus many airlines provide on their website. For those with allergies, special dietary or religious requirements, this is a convenient way to get suitable food on flight, and break away from the otherwise predictable and boring chicken-or-fish choices come feeding time.

But I do it for 2 very different reasons: You can get a choice of the more expensive meats or seafood selections (unless you're flying Economy with SQ, see grouse above) and you get your food way before the others do, up to 30 minutes earlier sometimes!

So being a creature of good food habits, the moment I learnt about my trip to Dubai, I went online, scanned the specials on demand, and chose the dish I last had more than a decade ago. Lobster Thermidor. Oh ya.

If the tail in the picture above looks huge, it was. Cooked just enough to stay tender and sweet, not tough or chewy, and coated in creamy hollandaise sauce that was rich but not too heavy, it was a well executed dish.

Roast Chicken & Mandarin Wrap

This was a red eye flight, which meant yours truly had dozed off with a smile on my face to dream of more lobster tails swimming in a sea of hollandaise, to wake up to the smell of coffee brewing in the gallary (now this is the closest you can get to coffee heaven on Earth, short of setting up camp in a Starbucks store).

Breakfast was a huge chicken and mango wrap, though a tad too big for breakfast, and slightly on the dry side. Maybe substituting lobster for chicken and adding some hollandaise would help...I'm just saying.

Across the Seas, Into the Night

The view from the plane as we cross the timezones never ceases to amaze me. Seeing the colors change so rapidly before your eyes, from the elevation you are at, is the reason I hardly sleep on flights. It is a priviledged view, don't you think?

Wow, all this excitement, and I'm not even arrived in Dubai yet! Just a few more hours to go!