Easter in Dubai

The weather in London's has been pretty miserable, so I was really looking forward to our long weekend getaway to Dubai. It's been pretty grim, and even though it's supposed to be spring, it definitely doesn't feel like it.

Dubai is a bit farther than I would've liked (7 hour flight), but it was the closest place that we could wear flip flops and not have to wrap up in a jacket or two. We booked a red-eye and got to our hotel, Le Royal Meridien Resort, freakishly early.

The hotel was booked solid, so they couldn't grant our request for an early check-in, but they did comp us a free breakfast, which they didn't have to do and was really nice of them. We switched over to the tea lounge while we waited for our room to be ready. I quite liked their method of keeping my tea warm - much more effective than a tea cosy!

The wait for the room was totally worth it - the room itself was huge, and they upgraded us to a beach view that we could enjoy from our fab balcony!

We changed into our bathing suits and went off to explore the hotel grounds and the pools (four that I could see). We found a kiddy playground, and I even managed to convince J to hop on the swings with me. It's been too long - I couldn't really get much momentum going and needed J to push me.

After the swings, we saw a path leading straight to the beach, and of course, I had to investigate.

The water was beautiful but cold! I couldn't get over the sight of the high-rises built right up to the sand. Another odd note - Dubai's public beaches have a dress code! Luckily, we were on the hotel's private beach where it doesn't apply, but we did see quite a few ladies in burkinis.

Once we were in our bathing suits, we pretty much stayed in them for the rest of the weekend. We spent most of the time lolling by the pool with the occasional dip in the water to cool off. I can tell we've been in the UK for too long as both of us got pretty bad sunburns despite staying in the shade! I don't even know how that happens!

The hotel service was amazing! There were waiters circulating constantly to bring drinks and food, and others were passing out eucalyptus-scented towels and spritz bottles filled with ice water to cool off. J and I have stayed in some nice places during our travels, but nothing beats the service we had in Dubai.

We did manage to escape the pool a few times to check out the Mall of the Emirates. Dubai is famous for its shopping, but a mall is just a mall. I wasn't that impressed, other than by its sheer size (there's a ski slope in the mall), and we left empty-handed other than with a sun hat for me.

Our visit to the mall was the only time we saw the natives, and I noticed that most of the service people we encountered were from South Asia and the Philippines. I wondered why that is. We also saw a bit of the fabulous wealth of the country with the high-end shops filled with women in burkas and loads fancy cars parked in the valet driveway.

It wasn't really an exploring kind of vacation as all of Dubai seems to be made up of new built high-rises. The architecture there is very different from other major cities, and we caught a faraway glimpse of Burj al Arab, the tallest building in the world. I particularly liked this sign. Tee hee.

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Our weekend ended much too quickly, and J and I are now back in London with smarting sunburns and hopefully, enough sun to last us through April since the weather forecast isn't looking too cheerful.

Babies and Cupcakes

It's seems like it was just yesterday when I was helping to organise a baby shower for my close friend S at Bea's of Bloomsbury at One New Change...



I was the token American, and it was the US apparently that gave birth to the idea of a baby shower so I was responsible for knowing what was supposed to happen. Since this was a first for me, I thought it'd be nice if we stuck to the basic idea that we all show up and bring baby presents for the expectant mother. Works for me! Since we are in the UK, we had a traditional afternoon tea to celebrate.



I guess we had the tea in the nick of time because the baby arrived soon afterwards, three weeks before his due date! I was fortunate enough to be one of his first visitors, and he was either yawning or sleeping during my visit. I had never seen anything so small and so stinking cute!





Since work is slowing down again, I spent Monday playing hooky from the office and visited S and the baby. I missed celebrating S's birthday, so I baked some cupcakes for her to enjoy.



I couldn't send J empty-handed to the office so he got a batch to share with his workmates as well. I wonder what happened to the sixth one??? ;)



It was so nice seeing the baby again, and this time I wasn't too scared to hold him. I've never held anything so small and so breakable before so I was a bit terrified at first but I got the hang of it pretty quick. I had too much fun cuddling him and joggling him, and it was hilarious because he was awake and made the cutest faces if I paused mid-joggle.

Now that my work project is on hold and possibly coming to an end, I suppose it's time to decide what to do next. Find another project? Maybe go to pastry school? Things are a bit unclear at the moment, so I'll probably be puttering around the kitchen and back to running at the park since it looks like the cold snap is finally coming to an end. Hallelujah!

Baking Away the Blahs

We've been having a bit of a cold snap, so J and I have been spending most of our time indoors. It doesn't help that our entire building is swaddled in scaffolding and tarps so this is our view when we look out the window:

So J's been happily watching cooking shows on TV...

While I've been doing actual cooking in the kitchen. Baking the same old banana bread and cookies can get pretty boring so I thought I'd experiment a bit, especially since my little brother's getting married this summer and I was thinking of perhaps making the wedding favours if I could come up with something halfway decent.

I've been watching lots of YouTube videos and here's what I've come up with so far:

Stacked cookies that look like mini wedding cakes...

Piped wedding cookies...

Cupcakes with piped two-tone roses...

J's been more than happy to help dispose of the rejects, and we've been gorging on deformed cookies and cakes, which means I've been spending a lot of time on this...

Christmas Recap

It seems as though winter is never going to come to an end. I thought I'd be able to cope with freezing my butt off and pulling on my woolly coat every day after living in Michigan, but it seems as though my thin California blood is telling me this weather is definitely not okay.



I didn't get to enjoy much of what London has to offer during the Christmas season this year, and I was soon flying into a cold and rainy LA to celebrate the holidays with the family. Despite the disappointing weather, it was really nice seeing everyone and celebrating a momentous occasion - my little brother's engagement! I even got to help pick out the ring and plan the surprise proposal!

My mom decided that we should have a traditional Christmas dinner this year, so guess who got stuck with the cooking? Yup, I did. I can't remember the full menu, but there was turkey, cornbread, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. For dessert, I made some pumpkin pie, cookies, and a Yule log. But first I had to explain what a Yule log was.

I don't think they really understood until they got to eat the finished product. Chocolate definitely makes everything easier to understand.

We also got a chance to see our extended family right before we left. I have so many cousins that I've never tried counting them. This is about half of just my dad's side!



It was wonderful seeing everyone, but I was ready to come back to my own flat in London. In spite of the crap weather.

Having Some Fun, Finally

J has been crazy busy at work lately, so we haven't really had much time to spend together and enjoy all the things that London offers during the holiday season.

We managed to squeeze in a ballet, Sleeping Beauty, with one of his work colleagues.

It was truly the best ballet I've ever seen. The choreographer, Matthew Bourne, is pretty well-reknowned and for good cause. It was a modern take on the traditional fairy tale, and I was more than a bit surprised when fairy-vampires and hoodlums in hoodies made an appearance, but it was a fabulous update. The dancers were amazing, and I definitely want to see the choreographer's other production, Swan Lake.

Things at work finally slowed down for J during the weekend, and he decided to humour me in getting up early on Sunday morning to head to Greenwich Park for a 10k Santa Run. It wasn't that cold, but the the wind was pretty strong. I was already dressed pretty warmly (3 pairs of gloves), but I thought that putting on the Santa outfit would be additional protection from the wind.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too big.

I met up with my cousin for a quick meet and greet before we were off.

I don't know what was up with the course since it was pretty disorganised, but it was either too short or I run much faster when I'm surrounded by twenty thousand Santas.

In any case, J was near frozen while waiting for me so we made a quick getaway so I could shower before we hit up Apollo Theatre to watch Twelfth Night, my all-time favourite Shakespeare play.

It was so well-done and hilarious! J and I both agreed that it was the best play we had ever seen, and we were near about rolling on the floor during the whole thing. I would label it a definite don't-miss. Mark Rylance, the guy who played Olivia, was amazing, and I'm a big, big fan. We're already planning on buying tickets to see Richard III to watch him again.

We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations so we wandered around Regent's Street and Carnaby to check out their Xmas decorations.

We ended the night with a veritable feast of Korean food at Asadal and rehashed the Santa run with  my cousin and her boyfriend. A perfect end to a perfect day!

P.S. Excuse the British spelling - it's spellcheck, not me.
P.P.S. And yes, I did cut my hair again. I'm easing J onto the whole short hair thing. ;)

Sketchy Babies

An American friend of mine recently announced her pregnancy, and I think it's much more exciting than Kate Middleton's baby bump. Unfortunately, she and her husband are moving back to the US at the end of the year, so we had a baby shower afternoon tea at Sketch Parlour this past weekend.

Although the tea was a bit expensive (£34 per person), the setting was interesting and the food was delicious! All of the tea things were an eclectic mix of styles and sizes, and we got both savoury and sweet things to nibble on with our tea. And the toilets are inexplicable - I can't explain, you just have to see it for yourself.



But best of all, we got to buy super cute baby things and watch her open her gifts! There is close to ten million baby clothes shops on my high street, and my favourite is The Little White Company. I swear if they had this in a larger size, J would come home to find me relaxing on the couch in this outfit.



It was a really fun time and three hours flew by as we chatted about all things baby.



And yes, I cut and colored my hair. But it's already different by now. My project at work is on hiatus at the moment, so I decided it's a fun time to "experiment" on a nearly weekly basis. ;)

Ciao, Roma!

We had no particular plan for our last day in Rome. We felt like we had hit most of the "must-sees" of the city, and I had the idea that we could wander around Trastevere, a part of Rome that wasn't quite as touristy as the other bits.

With the encouragement of our concierge, we hopped into a taxi and got out in front of Santa Maria, a basilica focused on the Virgin Mary and built in the 12th century.

It's a bit off the beaten path so we got to enjoy our visit peacefully without the usual crowds we had encountered elsewhere in Rome.

I got a crick in my neck from looking up the entire time - the ceilings were beautiful.

And there is a stunning mosaic showing the coronation of the Virgin Mary.

Once we left the church, we wandered the streets and watched local life unfold.

I couldn't get over how empty the streets were of other tourists! This was the first time I encountered shopkeepers that couldn't speak English, but luckily, I spoke a bit of Spanish, they spoke a bit of Spanish and so we managed to make it work.

It wasn't long before we popped into yet another church, the Santa Maria della Scala. The interior was filled with crystal chandeliers, and we found ourselves completely alone in the church.

I think we were both getting a bit of church fatigue, so J and I and crossed the Tiber on the Ponte Sisto and walked until we hit Campo de' Fiori, a lively market selling all things edible.

I was flummoxed by all the different kinds of pasta that were available!

We had also noticed how common zucchini (courgette) flowers were on Roman menus.

We didn't buy anything, but there were a few things I wished I could take home with me...

Much too quickly, it became time for us to head back to the hotel and pick up our luggage and go to the airport. Our flight was delayed by several hours because of the dense fog in London. Home, sweet home.