Lunch Date

Lyndon and I went out for lunch yesterday, alone, to celebrate our first anniversary.  Our lovely neighbour Karen took Monet for a couple of hours whilst Lyndon and I went to the Shangri-La for our lunch.  

It was so nice there, visiting on a day where it had been raining and everything looked so fresh and clean.  We figured the rain had washed away the sand from the dreadful sand storms we've been getting from Saudi Arabia over the past couple of weeks.

We couldn't make up our mind between the Al-la-Carte Menu or the Buffet.  We decided on the buffet so we got to sample a lot of foods; Asian, Italian, Indian, Middle Eastern cuisines.  Nice.  And I couldn't miss out on dessert now could I?

We returned home a couple of hours later and I collected Monet from a few doors down.  I was greeted with a big hug from her, apparently I was 'missed', but missed quite happily mind you.  

Monet returned home with me soon after and then put on her delightful little dress from our wedding last year and paraded around, showing the neighbours.  Looked rather special with her new shoes I bought her last week...  (sorry, no pic available of her dressing up)

Paper

It is coming up to two weeks since my last post - *I know*.  Suffering from Blogger's Block and to be honest, having a bit of a break.  I know you fellow bloggers understand.

Not too much happening around these parts besides the fact that Miss Monet now has a spacer in her mouth (to stop teeth growing in directions they shouldn't) and Lyndon is in the process of having dental work done too.  (It'll be my go next.  *heehee*)  So we've been keeping our finger on the pulse in terms of teeth around here.  Fascinating stuff really.

But the reason I am blogging today, is to say that today, March 29th, marks Lyndon and my 1st wedding anniversary.  We've come a long way in a year and what an eventful year we have had.  But a year has past and this time last year we had a terrific day.  It was everything we wanted it to be.

Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary Mr. Lyndon.  xx

Lemon Tart

Having always wanted to make a Lemon Tart but never having made one, I thought I would make one.  It was a little time consuming, only because of the pastry but it was worth the effort.  

A hint here, if you don't have cooking beads or spare rice, a good idea to blind bake is to cover the pastry with baking/parchment paper then fill with scrunched cooking foil.  Works very well.

*Taken from The Australian Women's Weekly 'All-Time Favourites', page 44, published 1977*

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour

1/3 cup (55g) icing sugar mixture

1/4 cup (30g) ground almonds

125g cold butter, chopped

1 egg yolk

Lemon Filling

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind

1/2 cup (125ml) lemon juice

5 eggs

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

1 cup (250ml) thickened cream

Method

Blend or process flour, sugar, almonds and butter until combined; add egg yolk, process until ingredients just come together.  Knead dough on floured surface until smooth; wrap in plastic, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line 24cm round loose-based flan tin.  Lift pastry into tin; press into side, trim edge.  Cover; refrigerate 1 hour.

Cover pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or rice, place on oven tray.  Bake in a moderately hot oven for 15 minutes.  Remove paper and beans, bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned; cool.  Pour lemon filling into pastry case then bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until filling has set slightly; cool.  Refrigerate until cold; dust with sifted icing sugar, if desired.

Lemon Filling Method

Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl; stand for 5 minutes.

Serves 8

Irish Stew

This is my recipe - I think I used to have a basic recipe taken from who-knows-where and over the years I have added and omitted ingredients.  This is a recipe I must make each St Patrick's Day...

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 kilo diced leg lamb

3 potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes

10 baby onions, peeled and cut in half

1 sprig of rosemary

1 sprig thyme

2 tbsp HP Sauce

1 tbsp Worcester sauce

3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

220ml can of Guinness (1/2 can)

1/2 litre water

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Cornflour to thicken

Method

In a hot cast iron saucepan, add oil and brown the lamb pieces before adding the rest of the ingredients, bar the parsley and cornflour.  Cover and cook very slowly for about 90 minutes.  Taking a little of the stock from the pot mix in some cornflour then add to the rest of the pan to thicken the stock.  Cook until all ingredients are tender and cooked through.

Serve with crusty bread (or traditional soda bread)

Strawberry and Cinnamon Torte

Yum.  Easy.  How could you resist not making it??

*Taken from a Good Food Magazine '101 Tempting Desserts', pg 160, published 2006*

Ingredients

175g/6oz ground almonds

175g/6oz butter, softened

175g/6oz golden caster sugar

175g/6oz self-raising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk

450g/1lb strawberries, hulled and sliced

icing sugar, for dusting

whipped cream mixed with greek yoghurt, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced).  Butter and line the base of a loose-bottomed 23cm cake tin.  In a food processor, mix the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, egg and egg yold until evenly mixed.

Tip half the mixture in the tin and smooth.  Spread with the strawberries on top.  Top with the remaining cake mixture.  Spread smooth.

Bake for 1 hour - 1 hour 5 mins.  Check after 40 minutes - if the torte is getting too brown, cover loosely with foil.  When cooked, the torte should be slightly risen and dark golden brown.

Cool slightly, then remove from the tin.  Slide onto plate and dust with icing sugar.  Serve warm, in wedges, with spoonfuls of cream and yoghurt.

Serves 6-8

Time for a Catch-Up on...not much really!

The title says it all.

...In the past week I have secured Monet's place a the Nursery School with the registration fee, only to have another Nursery School ring up on the same day to tell me they had a position available for Monet!  (Isn't that *always* the way.  Tried for months to get her into somewhere and then it rains offers!)

...I went grocery shopping with out Lyndon for the first time since being here.  I'll tell you what, having my UAE driver's license has been a God-send.  

...We went to the Le Meridian Hotel on Friday for lunch.  My lunch was delightful. (I swear they were the best wedges I have ever had!)

Lyndon had a couple of pints and I drove home, late Friday afternoon, through city traffic.  Lyndon thought that was wonderful.  (Don't blame him!)

...Spent the last few days  having a swim at the pool.  The water has been rather refreshing and Monet has been enjoying herself swimming around.  

...Took Monet into a Park in the cit yesterday for a bit of a play.  Was rather pretty in there, after finally finding the gate to enter the park.

...Have an old girlfriend from High School and her husband coming here tomorrow for an early lunch.  Both come from my hometown and I haven't seen them both for at least 15 years.  He is a chef who works in Dubai and she is a nurse and is nursing in Al Ain (both in the UAE).  Will be interesting to see them both.

...And finally I will leave you with a drawing Monet did yesterday of her mum and dad.  She was so proud!  Isn't Monet adorable in this photo?  Well I think so, but I am biased. 

Hope you've all had a good week.

Children's Park

If anyone is rapt with me being able to drive over here, it is Monet.  I took her today to a Children's Park we've been eyeing off for quite sometime.  

Playground after playground after playground.  And she was the only child around.  A well maintained park there was plenty of gardeners and maintenance guys around making sure that the park was looking nearest its best.  

We went mid-morning and were there for a good hour or so, but it started to heat up and left when I began to feel too hot.  

(The Big Pineapple, UAE style)

To see more photos of the Park, click here to see my Flickr photos.  (If you wish to be invited as a friend please let me know so I can invite you to see more photos than you would if I haven't invited you!)

From there I drove to the Carrefour Hypermarket which is located quite close to the playground.  Bit strange to be there without Lyndon, I must admit.  

Leaving the Hypermarket and to get home a little quicker I took a short cut, which (unfortunatley) you have to go right around one of the largest round-abouts located in Abu Dhabi.  And as luck would have it, I encounted the lunch-time traffic.  I got around, with two cars beeping me (nothing unusual for cars to beep over here, trust me, everyone does it!)  We made it home safely in one piece...

In other news, it was with sadness yesterday that we learnt that Lyndon's beloved Grandpa died after a long battle with an illness.  He has been in our thoughts since we moved over here and was hanging on for so very long.  We feel a very long way from home this week....   Rest in Peace Normie, you'll be missed. xx

Two Steps Forward

It has been a great thing, getting my UAE driver's license.  I actually hit the main road today, in full-on traffic as I made my way up to Monet's new Nursery School!  Not that she has started yet, but I didn't want to jinx myself by writing about finding Monet a position (which are as rare as hen's teeth over here) until I was absolutely certain!

The Nursery School is about a 10 minute drive away from our home and very direct.  (Gotta love that!)  I was met by the Nursery director, an Australian, who assured me that they were very pleased to have Monet attend, beginning next term. (April 19th)  A well set-out Nursery with lots of rooms (Art room, reading room, singing room, indoor gym, reading nook plus a huge grassed area in the back along with a gigantic shaded play area and a sandpit about the size of a small house!) and it was a relief to see it for myself with Monet in tow. 

I have been ringing nursery schools since mid-January only to be told time and time again that the 4 year old positions were full to the max.  I was about this close to getting onto a nursery school a few weeks back but it seemed like I just missed out on a position.  (always the way!!)

Last week I thought, feck it, I'll ring around again, you just never know.  Well, that is true.  You just never know what will come up.  I *knew* when I rang this nursery (one I really wanted to get into because of its proximity to here and was told it was quite good) that something could be available because the woman on the phone said, how old is your daughter?  can I ring you back in like 20 minutes?  Well, it seems like I was meant to ring at that particular time because, as fate would have it, a child Monet's age was exiting at the end of this term and they had just been notified of this.  

*one weight lifted off Melody's shoulders*

We went in today, to have a tour and a meet and greet and fill out some forms.  Copies of passports, visas, vaccinations, birth certificates were handed in and I have to return with some passport photos of Monet along with the (hefty) registration fee.  (Nothing to do with the fees for the term which are due in the week Monet begins!)

But we are happy.  Not only is Monet all ready and happy to go to Kinder, I am happy to be out and about on the roads with confidence!

No Stopping Me Now...

On Wednesday we *finally* went and lined up for two hours to get my UAE driver's license.  It was a case of handing over 220 Dirhams, getting an eye test, showing my Australian license, telling them my address and phone number and Bob was my uncle.  

I couldn't drive straight away, due to having to give the car rental company proof of my UAE licence.  We did that today.

My first car drive was around the villa compound, then a drive to the little Spinneys supermarket.   

I have been a passenger for the past three months so I have a pretty good idea of what it would be like to be driving on the right-hand side of the road.  It was like I always have driven this way, seriously.  

I offered to take Lyndon to (and from) the Shangri-La so he could have a beer.  (You can never drink and drive over here.  The UAE have a zero alcohol tolerance.)  I did rather well, but will need to get a little practice in heavier traffic around round-abouts before I get too cocky!

I wonder where I'll head off driving to tomorrow?  It is a great feeling now I know I have a little more freedom!  

(Photo below taken at the Shangri-La Pool Bar, which is where we were today...)

Another Year Older...

It is my 36th birthday today.  

I baked myself a cheesecake last night, which is quite yummy, even if the cinnamon is a *touch* over powering.  It was worth the effort of making which is what counts.

Lyndon and Monet spoilt me with a bottle of much wanted new perfume, which smells lovely (Lyndon did a good job picking it out!)...

...followed by lunch here.  We have been there a few times now and each time we say that we can't wait to come back and try something else.  And they serve *the* best non-alcoholic drinks on the planet there.  Not only is the restaurant good for the novelty or the food, but so worth it for the drinks!!  So refreshing.

We came home from lunch via Spinneys where Monet and Lyndon went in and chose me this mini Black Forest Cake for my birthday cake.... (Don't you just love the curly-wurly candles?)

Lyndon is on permanent night shift (starts at around 3 or 4pm and works for a good 10 to 12 hours) so no going out for dinner tonight.  It may be another lunch date tomorrow for us instead.

A couple of our lovely neighbours dropped in early this evening and presented me with some gorgeous flowers.  They left with grins on their faces as I presented them with a slice of both cheesecake and cake each!

Another year older...

Hot Thai Beef Salad

A nice, quick recipe for a warm day.  Mind you, I found it quite spicy with the use of one chilli; I could only get my hands on the bird's eye ones so that might explain it!

*Taken from Margaret Fulton's 'Margaret Fulton's Kitchen' pg 158, published 2007*

Ingredients

500g rump or sirloin steak

freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup torn mint leaves

1 large red onion or 2 large spring onions, thinly sliced

2 red chillies, sliced (I used 1)

juice of 1 large lime or 1/2 lemon

2 tbs fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

a handful of mixed salad greens

1 cup cherry tomatoes

a handful of rice vermicelli

vegetable oil, for frying

2 tbs roughly chopped roasted peanuts (omitted)

1 red chilli, halved (omitted)

lime wedges for serving

Method

Season the steak with the pepper and cook on a hot ribbed griller or under a preheated grill for 5 minutes on each side or until done to taste.  Remove and leave to stand for 10 minutes.  Cut steak into very thin slices and place in a bowl with any meat juices.

Meanwhile, combine the mint leaves with the onions, chillies, lime or lemon juice, fish sauce and suger.  Stir well and add to the beef slices, tossing.  Combine with the mixed salad greens and cherry tomatoes and set aside.

Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, testing the heat with a few strands of vermicelli.  It should swell immediately of the oil is hot enough.  Fry the vermicelli, scooping out with a wire strainer as soon as they puff and turn pale golden.  Drain well on paper towels and cool, then arrange in a bowl.  

Pile the beef salad on top of the crispy noodles.  Scatter with peanuts and chilli and serve with lime wedges.

Serves 4-6