Dr Muna Tahlak in Latifa Hospital, you can deal with her as private patient and she will deliver at Latifa, which has a great and reasonably priced NICU.
Order food from outside. Tawasy and Gazebo are awesome. Gazebo won't deliver Friday lunch (I have tried!) but you or DH can pick up from their nearest branch after 1.15 or 1.30. I feel your pain, my FIL, MIL, crazy wife of BIL created lots of drama and stress for me, some of which I have vented about on this forum, but I decided my role was to help maintain peace in DH's non-professional life. As long as DH recognizes and appreciates what I do, esp for his relatives, then I will continue to bear it.
I have the slight advantage of an Arabic-speaking DH, so he just walked across the street from FIL's home and talked to the guys in the hajj n umrah agency. A lot of non Arabs organize their hajj and umrah at the Dnata Holidays office on Shiekh Zayed Rd, they have a dedicated umrah n hajj section. May be worth getting a quote before researching the Urdu option ;)
I saw a wedding invitation shop inside Mazaya Ctr, close to the entrance of Homes R Us, maybe they can help? There's a whole block of wedding invitation shops in Sharjah, between Mega Mall and New Gold Souk. Not sure if there's a similar area in Deira or Bur Dubai.
Lulu Al Barsha has some gems hidden among the tatty girls "party frocks". Monsoon has a shop in the Outlet Mall, and a better stocked branch of Monsoon Children is in Mercato.
a bit of a different genre, We are all made of glue by Marina Lewycka... I love Marina Lewycka's writing style! She's like the Ukranian version of Sue Townsend :)
I recently finished "Among Others" by Jo Walton, and enjoyed it.
Another good Amy Tan book is "Saving Fish from Drowning", about tourists who visit rural China and Burma. Just when you think the story is getting predictable, Tan gives you the POV of the Burmese.
"One True Thing" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is really good, as is her series which starts with "Sister of my Heart".
Kind of an oldie, but "The Road Home" by Rose Tremain is a great story.
"The Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert was amazing (sooo much better than what "Eat, Pray, Love" demonstrated...)
"Once upon a Secret" by Mimi Alford was a great, juicy read.
"The Cuckoo's Calling" by Robert Galbraith/ JK Rowling was amazing.
I've used Bar B Q Delights (Pakistani food) for a biggish party, I asked for mild food since half the guests were non-South Asian, and they obliged :) The rest of the guests were veg South Asians, and everyone left the party happy. Food was great, price was right, and they were very professional. For that event, I requested and they provided: a buffet set up, lots of chairs and tables with cutlery, crockery, napkins, 2 staff.
For a smaller party, I used Tawasy (pan-Arab food) and the food was amazing, the portions were beyond generous, price was right, their customer service was great. I ordered Mansaf and Chicken Mosakhan, and was a little nervous since one of our guests was an older Jordanian lady who has cooked and eaten both dishes all her life, and she took repeated servings of both.
I love boys clothes from Next, H&M, Mothercare (the clothes are cute up to 12 months), Gymboree, their diffusion brand Crazy 8, Gap, Zara and Naaritje (South African brand that is similar to Pumpkin Patch). Also love the Jasper Conran boys clothes at Debenhams and the new boys' range at Monsoon (best selection is in Mercato Mall, first floor). All of these brands wash well. My only gripe is with Baby Gap, they cut their sizes really small, similar to designer baby brands like Guess, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, so it's best to buy 1-2 sizes up. Gymboree has the most generous sizing. Have fun shopping!
Sorry ladies, but I hate the Ford Explorer. I drove it as a rental car in the States, and it was like driving a heavy, bulky van, complete with the sticking-out gear shift attached to the steering wheel. My legs would hurt after driving that car. There's a car in the States called Toyota Highlander which the rental company gave us recently, and it is sooo much nicer to drive than the Ford Explorer. Just sayin'.
My recommendation would be the Mazda CX9. It drives very zippy, you feel the road, it's a 7 seater, has a decent boot, and comes with great add-ons. After sales service is quite good, and very reasonably priced.
I test drove VW Toureg, Lexus RX, Mazda CX9, Volvo station wagon, Mercedes ML, Nissan Prado and BMW 5 series, and the only ones I liked were BMW and Mazda CX9.
My cousin drives a Honda Odyssey and she has two kids in car seats, and she likes it. She says the best thing is that she can do carpool with the neighbors, or bring her kids' friends along, and the boot space is great.
I have crappy insurance, but I took my kids to Dr Roze at The Childrens Medical Centre for their proper dental visit. She was amazing with my two squeamish boys, she even had them sit side by side together on the dental chair, handed them a stuffed dragon with dentures and showed them how she would count their teeth, examine with mirror before she did same on their actual mouths, all the while making very calming noises and reminding the boys to brush their teeth after all meals, esp sweet foods. My kids didn't like the overhead tv screen so she asked assistant to shut it off. After all that, I was fine paying completely out of pocket.
b) eat many (I notice nobody has actually given that answer yet.)
For anyone with small kids, there is an episode of "dragon" where he bakes cookies for is friends, then eats the ugly ones, then the smaller ones, etc etc until there are not enough left so he just eats the rest. That is sort of how it works with me too. Although there wouldn't be enough for a tray in the first place because I would have already eaten half the dough before baking it....
so OP, are there any biscuits left now? That's how I eat the non-chocolatey cookies :) I stopped eating the dough a couple years ago.
Anon, I wear bike shorts, or thin cheap cropped leggings from Splash, underneath my suit. I bought a bathing skirt bottom and tankini top from Target in States, but the skirt doesn't cover my thighs at all :(
So Izzy, did you get some milk for yogurt? Where do you buy local organic milk from? How local is it? Al Ain? Saudi? Oman? Honestly, I am curious. Two years ago, I bought organic cow's laban from Mazaraa' farm in Abu Dhabi at the Baker n Spice Friday farmer's market, and it was good. Much tangier/ funkier than Al Ain drinking laban, DH and kids liked it. Haven't seen much organic local dairy since.
Hi SalsB, thanks so much for recipe!
I use frozen berries. Carrefour have 500g punnets of frozen raspberries and "forest fruits", and 300g bags of their own brand frozen blueberries that are very good value and great quality. Frozen strawberries from Egypt are comparable to frozen strawberries my family buys in Texas.
Hi Norak, pls put up your email and I'll share my experiences with Kindle and ebooks... I have a bit of software on PC called Calibre which helps manage my ebook collection. You can get the Kindle app for iPad also. I have a Goodreads acct, but I forget to update it.
BTW, did you try Carrefour for the sour gummy worms? They have sour gummy strings.
Either E) or F) happens in our house, depending on the cookie baked. Triple chocolate and chocolate chip are hoovered by DH and kids. Any other type is greedily devoured by me :)
salsB, pls share your raspberry blondies recipe. I dont care much for white chocolate either but I have a packet that needs to be baked.
Ok send her my way then. I need some tlc! I currently rely on Feet First for my tlc body massages. 60 min of bliss, with a 15% discount (I've got a loyalty card for the mall it's located in).
No, but I would follow the guidelines suggested by a recent thread about attending local Emirati weddings, ie get your hair done at a salon, watch some youtube videos on eyeshadow application and really go to town, carry a nice clutch. No gifts for the couple. If the event isn't in a hotel ballroom, you could wear a fancy embroidered Arabic jalabiya. Kashkha in Dubai Mall, Al Yashmak or Al Jaedi in Beach Ctr (upstairs) have good options. If the event is in a hotel ballroom, or similar wedding hall like Al Boom, then you could opt to wear a long, formal gown.
If nothing else, get your hair done (great inspiration from Oscars and Emmys), sparkly hair accessories optional, and apply great smoky eyeshadow with some color added.
We too were followed last October with our Harrods bags, onto a train and when we reached our destination they got off too, so instead of walking the 2 mins around the corner we waited in the station office for a cab. In future I will always transfer any shopping into Sainsburys bags before leaving the store. Although we may have been followed for longer than I realized.
Good observational skillsthe maid spotted them first...
edited by CrashingWaves on 23/04/2014 Loyal maid :)
tuna, celery, mayo and lemon juice, a layer of potato chips on top
Bega or Tillamook cheddar cheese and fresh spinach leaves sandwich in a sandwich maker
keema sandwich in a sandwich maker, served with lots of ketchup on side.
Cream cheese, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, avocado, baby spinach.
No, you can go to e-gate queue, but you have to show your egate card, passport, baby's passport to the stationed airport employee so he can waive you through. Possible to also do this with toddlers.
The one I used got fined and deported, sadly, but I read in last week's Time Out that Home Spa is a licensed business that offers at-home, post-natal massage; their website is home-spa-dubai.com
I'm sure they feel nice but they are definitely not necessary. I've certainly never had a post-natal massage and neither have my babies.
Are you Indian by any chance? I have to disagree. I had 30 days of post natal massage done after the birth of second baby, and it really helped me cope better with sleep deprivation, mood swings, extra demands of older child. Further, I truly believe the regular, alternate day deep tissue massage helped my body recover from the pregnancy and natural child-birth. I tend to tense my neck, shoulders, back when under normal stress. I had knots of tense muscle all over, and by day 20 I started to feel more like my normal self, physically and mentally ready to mother my kids, train a new maid, and everything else.
Oh - i got the cuisinart one; so if anyone cam tell me where i can buy rennet i may try and make some camel cheese :D
edited by IzzyOnTheSeat on 21/04/2014i've seen but not bought, veggie rennet in home baking aisle of Choithrams opp Safa Park. Maybe also Park n Shop Wasl Rd? Earlier reports from Morocco, found via Google, suggested that camel milk doesn't make good cheese, yogurt or ice cream, but certainly worth a shot :)
What a shame, I prefer the Patchi arrangements that are a mix of brown and gold foil wrappers. If the price difference isn't great, you should consider Chocoa. I was given a gift from there recently and they've improved their quality and flavors. The arrangement was a mix of brown and turquoise foil wrappers. My fave flavor was the dark Choc w salted caramel and a quarter of a walnut. There was also a whole hazelnut variant.
Damas in Satwa for curtains and wallpaper I was a loyal customer of Damas until about 6 months ago when we asked them to replace broken curtain pull-cords. They insisted on replacing the entire track and cords. The replacements are of inferior quality: the pull-cords have snapped and the tracks have curtAins stuck at random points and the curtAin hooks keep falling off and out. We tried a second set of replacements but sadly same poor quality. A real shame.
DXB to Houston gets tough about 6 hrs into the flight, it's a struggle to get 5 yr old to sleep, or even eat much on the plane. Easiest to pre-program a couple of shows/movies in their seat's playlist, and sleep until they wake parent up for potty or water or change the tv show! My kids don't like watching movies on the plane so they watch the childrens tv shows repeatedly. Personally, I find meal times the worst, the minute the meal tray appears my kids want to do potty, vomit, remember the toy/book in their backpack in overhead locker, it's a circus :)
Houston to DXB was so-so, the kids were excitable for 5-6 hrs before they fell asleep.
SF to DXB is easier due to it being an afternoon flight, the kids get a lot of sleep after the 4-5 hr mark.
I've had great recent experiences on Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. Next year DH's company wont pay for our annual tickets home so we're planning our trip on Turkish Airlines rather than Emirates..
Here's an easy method I use without yogurt maker, if anyone has any better ways, then please tell. Irooni how do you make it?
1. Boil full fat creamy milk in pan (1 litre)
2. Place pan in cold water
3. When you can put your little finger in the milk and count up to 15 secs it's ready
4. Put in 3 tblspoons of yoghurt (with culture) and mix
5. Put lid on pan and wrap in towel
6. Place on balcony overnight
If you like it a bit creamy, add couple teaspoons powdered milk at stage 4.
edited by Alismum on 20/04/2014
Wow, very similar to what my family does :) At stage 6, they place the pan in a very low oven overnight.
Yes v easy to make yogurt at home w/o a maker, you need an oven with relatively constant low temp setting. During her stint as an expat in Jakarta, my aunt was able to set yogurt by placing the bowl in the garden, the outside temp was warm and humid :)
Since children entered the picture, I haven't left DH on his own. He comes with me! It's fun traveling with him since we truly collaborate to care for kids, shop for and prepare meals, and do cleaning and laundry. DH isn't great with gadgets so I figure out the washing/ drying machines, the microwave, TV/VCR, do a google search of nearby laundry facilities prior to arrival, compile iPod playlists for the long drives, etc.
4 May 2014