Pete and Christine: October 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cooking Class

Last weeks activities for me included a cooking class at an Italian restaurant near Al Bateen port called Riviera. There were 16 women in the class, which was taught by the head chef, Vittorrio. He showed us how to make homemade pasta! (That will never happen). How to simmer bolognese sauce for nine hours! (Again, probably will never happen). And how to make lasagna topped with homemade bechamel sauce. (It was actually really good! I might try it at home.) At the end of the three hour class all 16 women were completely ravenous. At this point, they showed us how to make pizza and then served up the two small pizzas. I've never seen two pizzas disappear sooooo fast. Wow. At the end we got to eat our (their) creations, but I think I was so hungry at that point that I totally forgot to take pictures of the final product. It just looked like lasagna though, so you can use your imagination. :-)

Vittorio showing us the different kinds of tomato sauce.

The assistant putting the meat into the bolognese sauce.

Getting ready to pull the pizzas out of the oven

Sunday, October 25, 2009

What $10 can get you

...In the produce section at Lulu's:

The apples are from "USA" (Washington), the potatoes from "China," and the bananas came all the way from "Phillippians."

Friday, October 23, 2009

Birthday Boat Cruise

Months ago, my friend Sinead and I figured out that our birthdays are on the same day! We sort of had the idea to have a big party together to celebrate, but never really got around to planning anything. Fortunately, we have amazing husbands who got together and planned a surprise for us!

On Thursday night, Pete got home from work and told me we were going out to try an Arabic restaurant that was recommended by a friend from work. I got ready and we headed out to Mina Port for dinner. When we pulled into the parking area, Sinead and her husband Dave were there too. I was SO confused! What were the chances that they would be at the same restaurant as us? (I had NO IDEA I was in for a surprise!) Once we were out of the car, the four of us boarded a huge dhow boat. At this point, I thought that we were just going to join up on one of the dinner cruises that goes down the Corniche in Abu Dhabi. Then, more friends started showing up! By the time we "set sail" I had finally realized that we had the whole boat to ourselves for our very own birthday party! What an awesome birthday surprise it was :-)

The party is just getting started - waiting to leave the port.

Pretty sweet spread, huh?

Our birthday cake had fireworks on the top of it.

They spelled Sinead wrong ;-)

The birthday girls

Completely stuffed and on our way back to land

The entire party - Waleed, Eric, Drew, Karma, Me, Pete, Pam, Julie, Damian, Sinead, Dave, Mandy, Jen, and Nick

Mariachis in Abu Dhabi?

Who would have thought that there would be a mariachi band playing at a British pub in the Middle East?

They even played Guantanamera!

It's finally nice enough to hang out outdoors! I believe that calls for celebration :-)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Day trip to Al Ain

I signed up for a day trip with one of the ladies groups that I'm a part of here. The trip was to a "palace" and to the zoo in Al Ain. When I signed up...October seemed a long ways off, and we were all pretty sure the weather would have cooled down by then. Hmmm...maybe, not so much! Anyway, it was nice to get away for a day and the company was good, so I'd say it was a fine day despite the HOT weather!

At the "palace" (which was really more of a museum, and not so palatial after all): Looking cooool in the sweltering heat. (Georgie, me, Ruth, Sally, and Sinead)