Graco Ready 2 Grow Stroller Review

With the new addition to our family, we finally decided to invest in a stroller. If you live in Dubai, and visit the mall regularly (which is a given) then you can’t live without a stroller. With Azlan now constantly competing with baby Safah, we knew a double stroller was what we needed. My sister suggested Graco strollers; it being a known with a good track record.

After some research, we decided on Graco Ready 2 Grow Stroller.  As we do with most of our heavy equipment, we chose Souq this time around also. The stroller was priced at 1850 AED but Souq gave us a really good discount and we got the stroller at 899 AED. To avail the deal, click here. The stroller was delivered at our doorstep within 3 days with a one year warranty.

And we absolutely loved it!

What we loved about the stroller

The stroller was compact, considering that it accommodates two children. We are able to maneuver the stroller even in narrow shop aisles. With its spinner wheels, the stroller is easy to move around.

The stroller has 12 riding options and accepts two car seats for infants. As the children grow older, we have adjust the riding options to suit our needs and the children’s comfort. Right now, Safah faces us in the rear and Azlan sits comfortably in front with his toys on the kid’s tray. The storage basket is also quite large which makes it a perfect accessory for shopping in Dubai’s huge malls. The canopies over the two seats also makes the stroller ideal for walks in the parks given Dubai’s smoldering heat.

Graco Ready 2 Grow stroller is also easy to fold and open. Believe me, with two kids this option is crucial for getting attached to the stroller.

What we did not like about the stroller

The only downside about the product for me is that you can only take this stroller along when both your kids are going out. If I wish to take Baby Safah out while my older one goes to school, I have take my baby carrier along. Buying two strollers in limited apartment space is not an option for me so the baby carrier will have to do for now.

Disclaimer: This review is not paid and reflects my own personal experience with the product.

 

 

 

Itzza Pizza…what a lovely idea!

Last month, we moved to the heart of the Concrete Jungle- JLT. With the new addition, Baby Safah and all the moving about, hunger pangs hit us high and energy levels hit the lowest.  But the best part of living in JLT is having the best food options and one of them is Itzza Pizza.

The restaurant with its red bricks and the simple furniture beckoned us in; and being pizza fans, we decided not to take any step further. Since the weather was not too hot, we decided to sit outside for a change and get a little bit of natural Vitamin D. The restaurant was nearly empty (being lunch hour) and with our duo of mischief (Azlan and Safah), this was the best part.

As always, I left the menu selection to husband while I settled the two children. Also with my husband’s love for pizza, I knew I would not be disappointed. We ordered Mozzarella sticks and Garlic Bread as starters. We also selected two regular pizzas: Chicken Tikka (for our desi tastebuds) and Chicken Alfredo (for our Dubai-raised-non-mirchi-food-lover son).

Our expectations from the pizza were high since the menu told us that Itzza Pizza had been voted the best pizza award in the UAE in 2012. And disappointed, we were not! The food turned out really yumm (or maybe we were just too hungry).

The Mozzarella sticks were perfectly done… crisp on the outside and soft in the inside. But I only got half a piece as Azlan devoured all the cheesy delight. The Garlic Bread was also fresh and crispy. The flavor was just right for me- not too dry and just the right amount of crisp. The garlic did not overpower the taste as happens in many Garlic Breads that I have tried.

But the Pizzas were the best! The thin crust pizzas were succulent and not dry at all. The topping was perfectly balanced with the thin crust. Even though a love a little bit of spice, I found the Children Alfredo Pizza better than the Chicken Tikka pizza. For me, the Chicken Tikka pizza did not deliver in terms of spice level and the small green chillis were too hot. I ended up removing them and enjoyed the pizza like any regular chicken pizza.

However, the Chicken Alfredo Pizza was a different story. The creamy white sauce on a pizza base turned out to be a treat. On a pizza bread, the white sauce gave a slightly new flavor and all of us ended up attacking the Chicken Alfredo Pizza (leaving  Chicken Tikka as a leftover dinner option).

After that day, Itzza Pizza is a regular dinner option at our home. Home Delivery suits us much better with our children. I am not a fan of their Buffalo Wings (with its strong Buffalo Sauce) but I would absolutely recommend the Penne Chicken Alfredo Pasta. The best part is you can create your own pasta (choose your own pasta, sauce, toppings). I do hope they start offering a combination pizza- getting two flavors on one pizza base.

My Wishlist

The next time I order (and I intend to do so soon), I would love to check out the Chicken Caesar Salad (based on a friend’s recommendation) and Chocolate Calzone (the chocolate lover in me beckons).

 

 

5 Ways to deal with Facebook Depression

Recent Research on social media, or more specifically, Facebook has added yet another social evil to the website. According to a research article published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Facebook is a cause of depression for regular Facebook users. This comes as no surprise to me as any time I open my Facebook newsfeed, I find a friend who is enjoying a dream vacation; another friend who has been given the best birthday surprise of her life and yet another who just bought the latest iPhone. All this is happening when all the excitement in my life is being bogged down potty training a three-year-old. So, this advice is coming from someone who actually has felt the same depression and is actively trying to deal with it. It may be more difficult than you think given the temptation that Facebook offers. Here are some steps that will help you deal with Facebook Depression.

Understand and Acknowledge

Just reading this article is a step in the right direction. You need to understand that a person’s social media life is often very far from reality. The dream vacation that your friend is enjoying must have come at a cost and maybe that friend had been dealing with more depression than you and needed a break in his life. Also, if you have more than 100 friends on Facebook and at least one of them experiences a happy day or week in their lives worth sharing, it would seem that people on Facebook are always happy.

Limit your use of Facebook

If you are opening Facebook on your smart phone at every chance of a break, then you seriously need to rethink your strategy. Being permanently logged in to Facebook through your smartphone is not a good option for anyone. Just unplug from Facebook for a few hours and relax.  You will not miss on anything important if you do not check on your Facebook for the next few hours. Rather, you will end the dominion that Facebook has on you.

Make your own Memories

While we are gazing through looking glass at other people’s life, we often do not realize that we are cutting back on our life that we could be spending making our own memories. Do something that you really like when you take the time off from Facebook. Enjoy a movie, go to the park or just take a long relaxing bath. Even though this is not worth a Facebook post,  but it would do wonders to your mood.

Talk to Friends and Family

Most people suffering from any kind of depression isolate themselves from the rest of the world. This is not just unhealthy for you but also for your family and friends who feel left out. Talk to them and they would definitely love to help out. Or better yet, spend time with them to ease those anger and depression lines from your face.

Apply the Golden Rule of Ethics

The Golden Rule of Ethics says that don’t do unto others that you won’t like for yourself. Even if you are having a great time after a long time, try not to rub it onto others because many of your friends would be feeling the same Facebook depression. Maybe you could break the cycle of narcissism and bring something healthy in the social media world.

Good Luck in dealing with this new breed of depression.

Why Salman Khan has to go to jail.

Pro-Axact or Anti-Axact

This is one hot question that has been going around in Pakistani social circles in the last few days. The recent media attention diverted to the Axact situation has created yet another division in Pakistan: pro-Axact or anti-Axact. After being involved in  heated Facebook discussion about the very matter, I realized that I have actually no stand on this particular issue. This is saying a lot for a person so opinionated like me. The case of Axact is not very simple. There are a lot of grey areas but no black and white even if there was a black and white, there would be too much grey.

The rumors about Axact have never been new for me. Many Karachites had declared Axact as a shady business even before the NY Times got hold of the matter. This group does not blame Axact for only fake degrees but have already silently charged the company to be involved in the porn business also. Supposedly ex-Axact employees have provided them with all the information to put Axact on the pedestal before the rest of the world caught up. For them, it is a little surprising when people still defend Axact. My sister belongs to one of this group. In her rather rash words,’ buray kaam ka bura anjam (fallout of bad deeds)’. These people can never see anything good in letting Axact continue. They see Axact as another black spot for a nation already stooped in bad media publicity.

Then there are the Axact employees, their families and their loyal-to-the-core extended families. The employees claim that they have worked in Axact and never even caught a whiff of scam or any other illegal work. The rest of the loyal group backs the claims of the Axact employees. Obviously, these people would still defend Axact till the end since going with the waves would cost them jobs that cannot be replaced in terms of the unbelievable pay and packages. CEO of Axact, Shoaib Sheikh, has recruited these people to make viral his side of the story. The official stance of Axact is that the whole debacle is media conspiracy against Axact since the company had just had its launch party for its supposedly pro-Pakistani media channel, Bol.

I would not argue that media does have something to gain from Axact’s loss of respect. Media channels never paid heed to rumors about Axact when the company was not a threat to their existence but suddenly Axact was all they could talk about in talk shows and almost all other program formats. But, on the other hand, ‘what would FIA and NY Times have against Axact?’ What do they gain by putting Axact down in the drains.

My stance for the entire situation is a little diluted. Axact is more or less an outsourcing company. It brings millions of dollars into Pakistan that should have been the responsibility of our government and politicians who are busy spending all the dollars that comes their way mainly through selling off their country. If Axact were to close down, the employment situation would worsen considerably since the company provides jobs to over 25,000 employees. In a country, with an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, this is a big deal. The company also is the biggest IT sourcing company for Pakistan and if the company were to close down, jobs would not be created in Pakistan but India, a country which is already taking away Pakistan’s share of outsourcing jobs.
However, the fact cannot be ignored that Axact is involved in fake degree scam, which has been proven just recently. No company, however big and beneficial for Pakistan, should be above the law. Axact would have to close down but it would truly sadden the state of affairs in Pakistan.

Muslims ousted in a Muslim country?

If one was to visit a beach in Dubai on an average sunny morning, they would find it occupied by bikini clad women and men in tight shorts. While such a sight is not uncommon in the western parts of the world, in a Muslim country like Dubai, the sight puts off the Muslims to a certain extent from visiting the same beaches.

Expats Muslims living in Dubai are aware that when they agree to work in Dubai, they would be working with a diverse group of people. But many of them are not aware that living in Dubai is quite like living in a Western country; except for the fact that every third person they meet, is likely to be brown. Westerners only form a three percent of the entire population of Dubai; but somehow, they have come to dominate the culture of Dubai in most respects of the Dubai lifestyle.

The beaches is also one of them. Though one does find Muslims on the beach but they are usually few and far apart. And there is a reason behind this. Most Muslims who do visit the beach often walk uncomfortably in these beaches. It would seem that they are unwelcome in this part of Dubai. This is not entirely a wrong observation.

When I asked a few of my Muslim friends, I received a mix response. One Muslim friend affirmed my observation when she said, ‘I do not want my children to be subjected to such displays of the flesh, so I avoid the beach.’

Another young Bangladeshi couple lightheartedly remarked that they go to the beach every weekend for the eye candy. Some go all the way to Abu Dhabi to enjoy a beach with a more conservative dress code.  This makes me wonder why there are no Muslim beaches in Dubai where people have to follow a more conservative dress code. Muslim families would probably feel more comfortable in visiting these beaches.  Sixty percent of the population of Dubai is Muslim but yet little is done to cater to this population in any real way.

Many Muslim women have commented that they have been subjected to mocking stares by some Westerners for the way they dress. Islamic laws decreed that females are properly covered from head to foot when they leave their homes. Abaya is a common dress for Muslim females in many parts of the Muslim world including UAE. Almost every person in the world is aware of this but a friend’s confidence in her Abaya was shaken when a nine-year old boy loudly declared, ‘look, the woman’s wearing a parachute’ on seeing her clad in an Abaya.

While some may be easily rattled, others have developed a thick skin to such remarks and stares. Another Muslim woman, with a stronger willpower, continues to wear her Muslims swimwear with a frilly frock around her hips despite the funny stares she receives. She assertively comments that these stares increase her resolve in going out and swimming to her heart’s content. She silently dares these people to look at her swimming ability rather than her dress. Go Girl!

Listening to these stories, one wonders whether these are isolated events or whether Westerners could be so insensitive to the local culture of a Muslim country. Laws in Dubai have certain dress codes for public spaces and almost every person who can read a sign knows this. At every entrance of the mall, stickers are glued to the entrance doors stipulating the proper dress code for public spaces in UAE. But yet every other person entering the mall is confidently wearing mini shorts or skirts. I would not attribute this skimpy dressing to UAE’s oppressive heat since all malls, without any exception, are air-conditioned. You don’t feel the heat inside a mall. I believe that Westerners need to develop a sensitivity to local culture and laws.

Rethinking UAE’s ecological footprint

You do not need a course on environmental studies to make the assumption that Dubai has the one of the highest ecological footprint globally. The entire city is man-made. There is human centric approach to Dubai that no other country can match. Before Dubai was the way it is right now, the city was practically a desert. And it still is underneath expansive malls, the tallest sky scrapers and the air conditioned bus stops.

According to a report released by World Wide Fund in 2012, UAE ranks third place in terms of its ecological footprint. The ecological footprint of UAE is 8.4 gha which is third to Qatar and Kuwait at more than 11.5 and 9.5 gha respectively. This means that UAE is the third leading country to cause global warming and the climate change occurring around the world. The average ecological footprint globally is 2.7 global hectares which suggests that UAE is way above the average.  The world’s total bio-capacity is 1.8 global hectares. This means that the world is already consuming 0.9 global hectares more than it is producing. When we zoom into UAE, the situation becomes more serious. UAE produces only 0.6 gha of bio-capacity per person according to the WWF Report of 2012 but it is using 8.4 gha.  The rest is imported from countries around the world to meet the current standards of living.

A step in the right direction…

However, the situation is not as bleak as it sounds. There is a silver lining in the clouds if we compare the figures with those of 2006. In 2006, UAE ranked as the country with the highest ecological footprint. UAE’s ecological footprint was 11.68 gha. Since 2006, the government of UAE took notice of this issue and realized it needed to take affirmative actions. The government collaborated with WWF to reduce its ecological footprint. UAE was the third country to take this step after Switzerland and Japan.  UAE has been able to achieve this through a number of initiatives. These include:

• Increasing the use of renewable energy;
• Installing energy efficient electricity and water meters in residential home to ensure responsible use of energy;
• Developing green codes for future construction projects;
• Launching the Heroes of UAE campaign (directed to UAE Residents and corporate companies to consume energy more responsibly).

A few suggestions

While this is all good, I believe that UAE’s infrastructure makes it very hard to control its ecological footprint. The entire lifestyle in UAE is anti-green. For UAE to bring down their ecological footprint, they need to think and act outside the box. The initiatives right now are quite generic and not specific to the culture and lifestyle of UAE. UAE needs to ‘Think Global and Act Local’ in this case.

The government needs to bring their attention to the following issues:

• Shopping Culture: Tourists in Dubai are responsible for 4.36 billion dollars of revenues in the company. Most of this is generated from Dubai’s shopping culture. While malls in Dubai are an important source of revenue for the country but UAE needs to rethink of how to make shopping more green. I am attacking shopping because the thousands of products that tourists buy from shopping malls are packed and transported in plastic shopping bags. Plastic bags are the real Satan for the environment since they never decompose and end up in the oceans for millions and trillions of years. If I were to get even 0.1 dirham for every shopping bag that goes out of Dubai Mall, I would become a millionaire by the end of the month. And I think, the government needs to do just that. This would propel the consumer to either take a big shopping bag or demand paper bags from the shops. Either way, the situation would be much better than it is right now.
• Better Working Hours: Okay, I have a personal gain in this one but you need to listen before you start making any assumptions. Almost every office in UAE remains open well beyond sunset. This consumes energy as electricity is being consumed in these offices. Lights, computers and even coffee machines are made to work more hours than they should and thus consume more energy than they should. The government should mandate a nine to five working schedule. In this way, they could kill two snakes with one stone as the Pakistani phrase goes. They would make both employees and the environment happy.
• Re-evaluate the Entertainment Industry: I confess that my first visit to Ski Dubai and the Dubai Aquarium humbled me to the efforts of UAE government in creating their own oasis within the desert but even then, I was thinking about the energy costs associated with maintaining such ventures. The average temperature in Dubai during the summers surpass 40 degrees but Ski Dubai keeps a temperature below 4 degree. Also, UAE is a desert with limited supply of water but the aquarium is home to one of the biggest sea animals. I know closing these down would significantly impact UAE’s tourism industry but the high ecological footprint calls for desperate measures. I realize that I have lost many votes at this point but in all honesty, no one can defend these ventures from an environmental perspective.
• Heroes of UAE: A campaign is a brilliant idea but there is no brilliant idea in the present campaign. The campaign is not hard hitting and does little to sway the average consumer. Nobody in Dubai ever talks about the environment. They talk about the heat, the pay scale, children, sales and every other thing but in all the time that I have been in Dubai, I have never heard anyone discuss the environment. Households contribute to 57% of the ecological footprint in UAE. Living in UAE, I realize that very few residents feel that they should do something about the situation. Most are too busy handling the heat to handle anything else. They don’t realize that they are contributing to adding more heat into the environment when they keep their air conditioning turned on, round the clock. Honestly, the go-green campaign needs to be re-thought to be made more effective.

These are just a few suggestions from a layman but my suggestions center on Dubai specifically. I do hope the UAE government takes notice of my suggestions.

Molestation In Dubai: Are we safe?

As a female, molestation is something that affects me on a personal level. So, when I heard of a recent conviction of a men charged of molestation, both my fear and interest were piqued. Three days ago, a man was charged with six months of jail and deportation to home country for having molested a female at Dubai Mall during last year’s National Day Celebration. Googling further, I realized this was not an isolated case of molestation in Dubai. Even though the crime figures in Dubai are moderate to low, molestation cases are frequently reported.

This made me think back of an observation that I had made during my initial days in Dubai. The city is swarming with men. Majority of the labor force in Dubai are men; whether they are the taxi drivers, the plumber or your food delivery guy. According to the CIA Factbook, the sex ratio of Dubai is skewed in direction of males, being 2.19 males per females. What’s more disturbing is that the imbalance increases for men between the ages of 25-54, with a sex ratio of 3.22 males per female. This means that for every female, there are more than three men or 3.22 to be more exact.

A sex ratio of 3.22 is abnormal and UAE has the highest imbalance in sex ratio globally. Unlike India and China, UAE does not have a high sex ratio at birth but rather a sex ratio of 1.05 males per female is below average when compared with the world average of 1.07:1. The high sex ratio in the country at age 25-54 is mainly accounted through the high number of immigrant male labor entering in the country.

While there may be a few females smiling at the possibility of a pool of young and working males, this news comes with a giant pinch of salt. The high sex ratio means that males do not have equal outlets to their sexual needs. Even though, I do not completely agree with Freud’s psychosexual theories, I am not blind to the fact that libido is particularly active between the ages of 25-54. Thus, the cases of molestation are not really surprising. I would go on to say that they are quite rare given the circumstances. If it were for not the swift justice in UAE, the situation would have been much aggravated.

I am not siding with molesters here. I am just trying to open a different perspective here. Labor in UAE comes from most underdeveloped or developing nations such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines. Many come to the UAE to earn money of their parents or families back home. Of these, most have never been married. These people share rooms often with thirteen men at one time; living the life of bachelors when at their age, they should be moving towards marriage. But sadly, marriage for them is usually not an option in the near future. Many of them understand that even if they marry, they cannot bring their wives with them since pay is meager and rents too expense to afford in their current salaries. The wives would have to stay back in the home country which makes them question whether marriage is really a good idea since for them, it usually means added expenses.

Sadly, nothing is being done to take account of this issue. The threat of jail and deportation is not a very effective preventive measure. Statistics show that the situation is not going to get better. To deal with the problem of molestation cases, the core of the problem needs to be addressed. This means allowing the labor force an equal opportunity to lead a normal life and this includes marriage in the equation.

Dubai, give me my money!

Three months in Dubai and I am changed person. I officially declare myself a spendthrift, after spending 5,000 Dirhams in less than a day. I am not going to admit the exact amount since right now I am tricking myself into admitting that I did not quite spend as much as I really did. I have literally stopped my mind from mentally calculating the figure and for now, it seems to be working (Wish me luck).

Looking back on my day, I realize how quickly Dubai can make you bankrupt. So this post is a note to myself and to all the others who are caught in the same circle. I solemnly vow to look out for the following money magnets:

The never-ending-leg-tiring shopping malls

Dubai is known for having one the biggest shopping malls in the world. People from around the world come to Dubai to shop. While tourists have only a few days to spend big chuncks of money, sadly, expats like us have no home to run back to. Shopping malls beckon us, they taunt us and they seduce us into spending so much money.

The oh-so-tempting sales

Is there anything less tempting to a woman than a sale? Take it from a sister of two and cousin of thirteen girls, the answer is no. I personally think there is something in seeing the red and white sign of a sale, that a woman’s body starts producing happiness hormones. When in Dubai, you are in the danger of getting addicted to the hormone. Every time I go to a mall, there is a sale going on. After three months, I have realized that some stores are always on sale. But even then, a sale sign drags me in. And then I am goner. I end up buying stuff that I go home to torture myself with.

‘We won’t let you leave with money in your pocket’

says every store in Dubai. If the sales don’t get to you, the selling tactics of the stores do. Take IKEA for instance. Let us for one moment believe that a lady has enough willpower to quickly grab what she needs, forgo sale signs and move directly to the cash counter. But is she so strong not to grab the Dh. 2 bowl or the Dh. 4 biscuit pack sitting pleasantly at the cash counter. No again! She already put those in her trolley while you were thinking. Even till the end, stores try to push you into buying products you had no intention of buying and sometimes don’t even know existed.

For the love of plastic

Credit cards are your biggest enemy. This card holds money for you that you mostly don’t need but still use. And what’s more alarming is the money isn’t even yours. It’s the bank’s and now you have to return it back (with interest you probably can’t afford).

Dh. 2 is not just two dirham

It is actually 54 Pakistani Rupees (and yes, I still convert and am getting quite good at it). As I start putting these in my trolley, I justify to my husband, ‘It is only two Dirham’. And I keep on doing this, till the trolley is brimming and even over flooding with two Dirham products. And when you end up at the cash counter, you get a crash course in multiplication. Two plus two equal to four; you keep on multiplying till you reach a horrific 500 and then you realize you have been duped yet again.

Writing all this down makes it even more horrific for some reason. I  now realize that I really need to polish up my saving skills. I have decided on putting the following made up tips into action:

• Burn THE PLASTIC or buy a safe deposit box and bury it there (did I just say buy again!);
• Won’t go out until I really have to. Even then I would order online to avoid going out and buying stuff I don’t need;
• If I have to go outside, I would not look right and left; better yet I would only take the minimum amount of money;
• Continue to live in a small apartment with limited closet space to limit buying more stuff.

I hope I remember all this when I go out the next time. 

Sandy Toes and Sweet-ish meals

If you have been to Dubai and haven’t visited JBR Walk, then it’s like you went to Thailand and didn’t visit the Nana District or you went to Singapore and didn’t visit Universal studios. Dubai may be famous for its malls but the real excitement is at The Walk. The Walk is a 1.7 km path created near the beach; with the sea on one side and restaurants on the other. In between, you find the people walking at their own pace.

A few weeks ago, when we went to The Walk, the weather was very pleasant. As my son went running down the concrete pathway, I felt myself relax in the cool sunny day. I let my eyes feast on the sights and smell of the area; like a hungry tourist with a record button in the mind. A new art installation was in the process of being made as the artist was busy sketching lines. A lion-like dog was attracting quite a lot attention and lovers strolled by, with hands held.

Even though we didn’t go into the waters, the day turned out quite well. We managed to locate a kid’s play area right in the middle of the beach, in front of The Cheesecake Factory. We decided that with the play area in the front, the restaurant was the perfect place to have lunch and thus we ordered for a table for two-and-half. When the seemingly endless line of people waiting for their turns threatened to spoil our appetite, we got out to enjoy the sun and the sand. My little one wanted to try out the play area so we entertained him. The sheer number of children in the small play area made me realize the population problem. The area was literally stomped with little toes and feet clambering for the rides. At once, three or four children were hanging on the swings. With the sturdy swing and the sand below, no one left the fear of any accidents so most kids were on their own.

We played awhile but when our stomachs began to play weird noises, we headed inside. It seemed that the restaurant was quite popular. Even after an hour, we hadn’t managed to snuck a table. However, just a few minutes later, we were given a nice spot on the upper gallery. For all the wait, we made a small pledge not to move from our table for the next one hour. At the back of mind, I wondered who long has the cycle of vengeful customer had been going on today. But I pushed it back to enjoy the view and order food!

A customary complimentary bread and butter basket was served. I prefer onion rings or garlic bread, so I just waited for the real food to arrive. And when it did, I was glad for my decision. The platter was huge. My teriyaki chicken could have fed two more people like me. If you like to take leftover food home, Cheesecake Factory is the right place for you.

The chicken was done well but a few bites of the sauce in my mouth, the entire food began to taste a wee bit too sweet for my spice loving taste buds. The balance was a little out in my opinion but then my taste buds may have not yet taken to English or even Middle Eastern food. The sweet bananas on the side further tipped the balance in the sweeter side. When the hostess asked for dessert, I just raised my hand off the table. No thank you, the meal was sweet enough.

With that, I left my half eaten platter and we decided to call it a day. As we got out, a sweet breeze was flowing, which really cheered my mood. As I sat back in the taxi, I decided this was a day spent well. I was finally warming up to Dubai, after all.