I’ve started to go more vegetarian with my food choices recently, in an attempt to become more healthy and clean. And since I love aubergines especially when teamed with rich tomato sauce and baked in the oven – yes I’m talking about that delicious Italian starter – parmigiana.
Today’s recipe isn’t exactly Italian, but it’s a very tasty and authentic one that I got from BBC Good Food ME magazine and decided to try out.
Here’s the recipe from the magazine:
recipe from BBC Good Food ME magazine
I decided to get spaghetti instead of the type of pasta recommended in the recipe, because I wanted to go for the whole grain choice…
ingredients
The main ingredients:
You start by cutting your aubergine into bite-sized cubes:
Then chop the tomatoes and onions…
Start cooking the onions, aubergine and oregano…
Then add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and 200ml water…
While this colorful mixture cooks on low heat for 20 minutes, you can start cooking your choice of pasta…
Once your sauce is thickened in the other pan, and the tomatoes reduced and softened, you can add the vegetables to the drained pasta…
And voila! there you have it!
Note: I skipped the red chilli in this recipe – not because I’m not a fan of spicy food – but because I could only get a pack with tons of it and I didn’t want to buy a whole army of chillis…However, I must admit that the chilli is a main ingredient in this dish and skipping it will greatly influence the taste of the pasta. It still was OK, but I could tell that there was something missing. So I highly recommend that you add the chilli to give this dish the zest and rich flavor it deserves 🙂
I don’t know if some of you had to face the situation of looking for a place in Dubai for a short-term stay, because you were still job hunting or unsure about your future plans for living in the city….but I was there when I first moved to Dubai and so are many people that I have met. I even had someone ask me for advise about where to stay for a short-term period recently. Obviously, not everyone likes to share their private space with others. So for all of you individual souls out there, I have a new property that you can consider moving into if you were in town and were looking for a short-term rental place. Four Points By Sheraton on Sheikh Zayed Road actually has apartments fully equipped with a washer, fridge and other essential facilities. And most importantly, the hotel is located on a prime location only a few minutes walking distance from Financial Center Metro Station.
What’s more is that the hotel has a number of cool restaurants, in addition to a roof top lounge – with the best views of Sheikh Zayed Road….I can’t believe I’m letting this secret out! Honestly, I found out about the roof top location when I was looking for a spot to take a photo for my University photography course. And this is what I was able to get:
Slow Shutter Speed Photography Technique on SZR
A few months later, I get to try out the Iftar menu at the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge at the Four Points By Sheraton SZR. What makes this venue worth a try is its authentic Moroccan fare presented by a purely Moroccan chef 🙂 Check out their Iftar set menu for AED 175:
Iftar Menu at Four Points By Sheraton SZR
Starters
The traditional Moroccan harira soup was absolutely divine…the taste was just right and it wasn’t too heavy like what you get at some Moroccan concepts. It definitely didn’t fill you up to the point that you can’t have your main course or any more food.
We had two types of salad: one was made with eggplants and the other with capsicum in a rich tomato sauce. Again, the salads were light, healthy and full of flavor.
Main Course
The infamous Couscous was made to perfection, complimented by the vegetables traditionally added to the healthy dish. To add richness to the Couscous, there was a wonderfully cooked lamb Tagine. The tagine had some nicely toasted almonds and glazed prunes for a more healthy and rich taste.
Couscous and Lamb Tagine at Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge
Dessert
Continuing with the healthy and nutritious take on Moroccan food, we had a mildly sweet rice pudding and some fresh fruits with ice-cream on the side.
Moroccan rice pudding and sliced fruits
Moroccan Rice Pudding
Dessert at the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge
What’s so special about the Moroccan Restaurant and Lounge?
It offers a healthy, light and nutritious Iftar set-course menu, created by a real Moroccan chef!
It doesn’t allow over-eating like what usually happens with the typical buffet-style Iftars all around town.
It’s a well-balanced meal at a comfortable setting. Not too formal or glamorous like most hotels in the city.
It’s easily accessible by car or by metro as it’s within walking distance from the Financial Center Metro Station.
Final Notes
The Four Points By Sheraton is a Four-star property under the Starwood hotel group.
It’s suitable for both the business traveler and families with kids on vacation or a short trip.
It offers short-term or long-term stays with fully equipped hotel apartments.
So there you have it, three hidden gems in one place!
You can opt to stay at the hotel rooms or apartment rooms, visit the roof top to take amazing photos of the city streets and lights (after getting permission from the PR team), or dine in at one of their cool and top-quality restaurants and lounges!
When I’m not blogging, commuting to the other end of town to attend a lecture at University, working on my school projects, complaining about being single to almost anyone who would listen, or doing anything that will add some value to the world and the human species, then I can be found doing something of major relevance: day-dreaming about being a house-wife who spends the day trying out different recipes, watching repeats of cooking TV shows, going for Pilates, yoga or other fitness classes, catching up with friends, and writing on this blog in the evenings.
OK, maybe my life isn’t that far fetched from my imaginary one…the point is, that I absolutely love and truly enjoy doing my own thing! Ever since I was young, I would plan out my day into different slots – each with a type of activity. At the time, they could be things as silly as watching a certain TV show, or doing rounds around the house! Yes, I used to be a very weird teenager 🙂
Hopefully, if I continue to work hard towards my dreams, one day I will meet prince charming and those day-dreams of mine will become a reality 😀
I would still like to write my biography though….so that would be one activity that I would dedicate some time for 🙂
Enough ranting about my life, let’s move on to talking about this recipe post…
As many of you know, I was feeling a bit under the weather last week. And since I live alone, I decided to cure my cold and make myself a home-made soup from scratch! I must admit, I do feel much better now, especially after trying to eat more freshly made salads at home and try to eat less at restaurants.
My previous recipe post – if you missed it – was for a super healthy and nutritious smoothie. You can check it here.
I got the recipe for this tasty and wholesome soup from a food blogger’s web site. You can get the ingredients and the recipe from her blog here.
I’ll take you through the steps of when I made the soup with pictures.
1st, the ingredients:
The Ingredients
This is what the soup looked like while it was being cooked 🙂
Et Voila! A healthy and tasty home-made soup 🙂
Having coconut milk in soup adds a new dimension to the flavor. It also gives the soup more richness and so it becomes more filling and could also replace a meal.
If you don’t like the taste of coconut milk in soup or in food in general, then I would suggest that you simply skip that ingredient and just make the soup without coconut milk.
I’m really excited to try out more recipes (that include solid food!) when I get the chance. I also plan to get my friends involved and have them make their favorite home-inspired dish or appetizer. So, stay tuned to the blog and the Facebook Page for more ideas, inspirations and healthy lifestyle posts 🙂
Here’s a simple recipe for a highly nutritious and healthy smoothie. Coconut milk can be replaced with regular cow’s milk or any other type of milk you prefer (soya, nut milk, almond milk).
The ingredients as shown above are:
One ripe banana.
One cup of fresh strawberries.
One handful of berries. The original recipe uses Goji berries, but I couldn’t find them. So I used raspberries and Mexican blackberries instead. Which makes for a delicious combination.
One can of coconut milk – I used organic coconut milk.
Step One:
Place all ingredients in a blender. I used a blender that has a juice/smoothie setting.
Step Two:
Blend the ingredients on a medium to high speed setting. Or use the smoothie setting button on the blender if you have one.
Superfood Smoothie
Note: The above ingredients serve two persons (two large glasses).
Hope you get to try making this uber healthy and refreshing smoothie….and look out for more UD recipe posts coming soon to this blog!
It’s been a roller-coaster ride with this blogging journey…with so many ups and downs. But I think that I’ve finally reached a decision about what I don’t want to continue doing on this blog. Unless I get invites from friends, I don’t plan on doing as many reviews as I did in the past. A change of strategy can’t be a bad thing, right?
I might write another post about what I plan and don’t plan to do with this blog. But for now, let’s try to keep my last reviews as honest and positive as possible.
For those of you interested in knowing how blogging works in this region, in the beginning you don’t really get any invites to review anything. So in my case, I was doing most reviews on my own expenses. Why? I simply enjoyed it, writing is my passion and blogging helped me improve my writing style and build up an online portfolio.
How did I get to review Sushi Art? I simply won a Facebook Competition with a prize of a Black Box Deluxe worth 395 AED 🙂
Note: No one asked me to review the restaurant. I voluntarily chose to write the review.
This was sometime in December of last year…but soon after that, I took a month’s break from blogging. Then I got busy with other reviews and invites and I didn’t have the time to write this post until now!
As you can see, accepting invites to write reviews can sometimes be time-consuming and hectic. Especially when combined with a full-time journalism undergraduate course! So, It’s time for new challenges and other types of blog posts.
What’s in the Black Box Deluxe?
The Luxe Black Box includes 54 pieces of mostly cooked sushi rolls. These are:
2 pieces jalapeno sea bream sushi
4 pieces scallop yuzu sauce sushi
4 pieces salmon sushi
4 pieces cucumber cheese tulip
4 pieces lox & cream cheese sushi
6 pieces French touch rolls
6 pieces shrimp spring rolls
6 pieces maki like tabbouleh
6 pieces shrimp tempura rolls
6 pieces dynamite rolls
6 pieces chicken Caesar rolls
How much does it cost?
395 AED
The Black Box Deluxe at Sushi Art Dubai
Miso Soup
Edamame Beans
close-up of the Black Box at Sushi Art
Savannah and I at Sushi Art’s DIFC Branch
For more information, check out Sushi Art Dubai’s web site here. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Sweet Olivia and I at Brunch at Ocean View Hotel JBR
If you asked me what I did on a typical Friday afternoon, I’m not sure if I would have a definite answer. Many people spend their Fridays visiting family or having brunch with friends, or just lounging by the beach on a nice sunny day. Being single and living alone in this city, I would say that I put more effort into organizing going to concerts or parties with friends, attending art or community events, or just simply going out for a casual dinner, movie night or walk at the Marina promenade.
This Friday though, I got invited by friends to the brunch at Le Rivage Brasserie at the latest addition to the JBR walk hotel scene: JA Ocean View Hotel.
If you decide to head out there for brunch, I would strongly recommend that you sit outside. There’s a nice terrace area with a very chilled vibe. You will still be able to hear your all-time favorite hits being played by the live band inside. So don’t worry about missing out on that. My friends and I all agreed on the fact that the live band playing at the brunch was actually very good! It was so entertaining hearing them play every time we went indoors to fill up our plates from the extensive buffet.
The brunch has a wide range of International dishes to satisfy all your moods and preferences. It also features live cooking stations, which I must admit that my favorite was the eggs Benedict one 🙂 The sushi station offered a good selection of various sushi roll options – another favorite of mine.
One thing you don’t want to miss at this lively yet relaxed brunch is the wheat grass and Andalusian gazpacho shots. They were incredibly refreshing and we couldn’t help but go back to the buffet for more!
Of course, no brunch is ever complete without dessert. And this one will keep you wondering whether to stack up on fluffy freshly made waffles, divine date pudding cake, or just indulge in fresh fruit skewers dipped in chocolate syrup and pistachio or almond flakes!
What can I say…next time I get an invite to go to a brunch, I will not think twice about over-eating! It’s only a once a week affair, right? 🙂
Dessert Options at Le Rivage Brunch
Waffles and Date Pudding Cake
Check out my previous posts on the JA Golf Resort and Spa – my favorite destination for a mini getaway in Dubai 🙂
I was delighted and honored to be invited to a social event hosted by the lovely Anita Buys at the newly opened Katsuya restaurant in Dubai Mall. The dinner event brought together 15 career-driven women from alternative areas and saw us conversing over many interesting and media-relevant topics. I must say that my favorite topic of discussion that evening was the one involving comparison between journalists and bloggers. Being a blogger and journalism student myself, I constantly face the dilemma of choosing between being a full-time blogger or journalist. As I’m still unsure which one of those career paths will open more doors for me. Listening to views from more experienced media professionals and bloggers definitely helped give me an extra insight into both worlds.
Anita and I would love to meet more inspirational women from the media industry and hear more success stories in Anita’s future events. So if you work in PR/events/print media/online media/blogging or any other relevant industry and would like to join us in the next Media in the Making event, please contact Anita on her e-mail address:
anitabuys2020@gmail.com
Have a look at some photos from our wonderful and inspirational evening at Katsuya Dubai Mall…
Nada from Undefined Declarations Blog and the lovely Anita Buys
A Blogger’s Essential Habit: Taking Pictures!
Beautiful Outdoor Terrace at Katsuya Dubai Mall
Amazing view of the Dubai Mall Fountain and Souk Al Bahar
Refreshing and Tasty Mock-tails!
Delicious Canapes
Hollywood Rolls – SIMPLY DIVINE!
Cod Fillet in a Teriyaki Sauce
Interesting and engaging discussion at Media in the Making dinner
Nada from Undefined Declarations Blog Enjoying the Evening at Katsuya
Prior to this amazing evening at Katsuya Dubai Mall, I have been to this Japanese dining hub with my American friend from LA. My friend who is a big fan of Katsuya and has been to many of their U.S. branches, has been waiting impatiently for the Dubai Mall branch to open. So once I found out that it was officially open, we went there for lunch on their first official opening day. I’ll be writing a review on that great lunch that I had with my friend Nia on that first opening day soon. So stay tuned for that.
In the end, I would like to thank the lovely and dynamic Anita Buys for organizing and hosting this event. Special thanks to the friendly and welcoming team at Katsuya Dubai Mall for their warm and generous hospitality that evening.
Signing off with a note to say that all dreams are achievable and that everything is possible with a little bit of determination, hard work and optimism. Add to that: a lot of patience 🙂
I’ve been checking out quite a few new eateries in Dubai in the past couple of weeks. Since I adore change and get bored pretty easily, I find it always good fun to try fresh dining concepts and catch up with friends over a nice meal. My most recent review was of Mo’s – a new casual American dining spot in Jumeirah’s pristine cozy Citywalk Mall. You can read that short review here.
Today’s review is about another intimate space in my side of JLT!
Since my area doesn’t have that many eating outlets, I was so excited when I read a review from a food blogger – The REAL Geordie Armani – on a place that’s located just across the lake from where I live 🙂
Once I saw the review, I made an instant decision to have lunch at Marta’s Workshop the next day. Yes, that’s how desperate I am for a simple solution for my daily lunch dilemma :p
Now for the sake of keeping this review short, since it’s past 1 am (I made a commitment with myself to blog daily this week), I will get straight to the point and tell you what I had for lunch.
The Terrace at Marta’s Workshop
I was offered a complimentary shot of gazpacho upon arrival….I opted for the fresh juice and meal option. Which costs AED 60.
My watermelon juice was so refreshing and sitting out on a terrace in December in Dubai only made the experience better.
Fresh Watermelon Juice
Meal Options at Marta’s Workshop
There were three options for the main course to choose from. I went with Renier’s (Marta’s head chef) suggestion for a tapas selection plate. The dish had crab cocktail bites, a bowl of sweet and sour shrimp and two “beef surprises”.
Tapas Selection at Marta’s Workshop
What was special about those shrimps – as the chef explained to me – was the fact that they were cooked in a sousvied machine in water for 25 minutes only. As opposed to being sauteed or wok-fried in a pan.
My beef surprises were healthily baked in the oven for 10 minutes, after being stuffed with some leek, carrots and beef tenderloin.
My Personal Opinion:
Marta’s Kitchen started out as a food catering concept and has just recently opened its doors for the people working and living in the surrounding area…It was my first time to try Marta’s creations, although I’m sure that I’ve heard of her many times before.
Honestly speaking, the tapas tasted a lot like home-made food – a rare commodity in the city. So that element scored great points for me. The space has a very homely feel to it, the ambiance is so relaxed and the setting is so warm and welcoming.
On the other hand, the portions served in my “meal” were too small for someone who is looking to have lunch and not just a light snack on the go.
Now I’m sure that Marta has a good explanation for the size of portions in that tapas plate, or maybe it was only the tapas that was served in bite-size nibbles. I mean, luckily on that day, I wasn’t feeling too hungry. Because if I were, then that meal wouldn’t have been sufficient. I’m also not sure what kind of clients Marta is aiming to target with her newly opened eatery, as the portion size may not be an issue for certain expats. I can only speak for myself – a Saudi lifestyle blogger with a hearty appetite! I think I can also speak for the wider GCC community as I stated in my Top 10 List Post about the Gulf Region how we tend to eat big meals for lunch AND dinner….If you missed that post, you can read all about it here.
I’m sure that Marta can also justify the prices that she set for each meal option.
I might check out Marta’s Workshop on another day to try out a different meal option and measure the portion size in relevance to my ever-expanding appetite 🙂
Fore more information, check out the web site here.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Mexican cuisine, so I was very excited when my Mexican American friend Nia suggested to make some authentic dips at my place.
Nia’s recipes for the traditional salsa and guacamole dips are authentic ones, that have been passed on from one generation to another. It’s so generous of her to share with us these original and one-off recipes that only real Mexicans know how to make!
Let’s start with the ingredients for the salsa and guacamole dips:
Avocados: choosing the right type of avocados is essential to the success of this recipe. You need to look for Mexican or U.S. avocados that are: smaller in size, dark green in color, and tender at touch.
White onion
Large tomatoes
Cilantro
Lemon
Fresh green chilli peppers
Fresh garlic
How do I make Salsa Dip?
Fry four whole tomatoes in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
Fry the tomatoes in a pan!
2. Add the fresh chilli peppers and garlic to the pan, and fry them along with the tomatoes until the tomatoes are soft. You need to make sure that you toast the tomatoes until they become soft and you are able to mash them with the spoon.
Add the chilli peppers and garlic to the pan
3. Once the tomatoes are soft, put all the ingredients in a blender. Add chicken stock powder (Nia brought this from the States), salt, and cilantro.
Put all the ingredients in a blender 🙂
4. Blend the mixture until it turns into a liquid. This salsa is meant to have a liquid texture, so turn up the blender speed to the max 😀 Luckily, my blender has a “Dip” setting, so we used that. We also used the standard high speed setting to bring the dip to the texture we wanted.
Nia blending away…
Et Voila! You’ve got your authentic Mexican Salsa Dip!
Mexican Salsa dip is ready!
How do I make Guacamole Dip?
As I mentioned earlier, the main element in making a good guacamole dip is choosing the right type of avocados. Trust me, I’ve once tried to make guacamole with very hard and dry avocados and the result was not edible! So make sure that you:
Get smaller avocados that are from Mexico or the U.S. only.
Choose the ones that are dark green in color, but not too dark because those are too ripe and will not be OK to use.
Touch them to see if they are tender and soft. Because that’s how they should be.
2. You start off by scooping out the avocado from the peel into a medium size bowl.
Nia scooping out avocados for our guacamole 🙂
3. In a bowl, you add the avocados to the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped cilantro, some salt and lemon.
Adding the ingredients for the guacamole dip
4. Bonus Tip:
When mashing the mixture, separate it into two bowls. In one bowl, you can mash it all you want until it turns into a “dip” texture and all the ingredients have been mixed together. You can leave half or less of the ingredients in their solid, whole texture to add them to the mashed mixture. This will give your dip an extra edge as it will have some crunchy pieces that give it a fresh and wholesome texture and taste 😀
Lastly, present your dips in some dip bowls or any other bowls that you might have. We added ready-made sour cream to our third dip bowl 🙂
You can have your dip with sour cream chips, regular corn chips or fresh cucumber and celery sticks for a healthier snack 🙂
I hope that you will try and make this recipe one day, as it was truly tasty and so fresh! I even used the left-over salsa to make a Mexican-style shakshooka the next morning!
A big thank you to my sweet and adorable friend Nia for the recipe and the kitchen work….Hopefully we’ll cook up an authentic Mexican meal one of those days….Stay tuned to the blog for more recipes from our cozy kitchen X
When my coolest Saudi friend Memo was in town and we were planning to meet up for lunch, I suggested to take her to Mo’s; the new American casual dining place at the brand new Citywalk mall in Jumeirah.
Since Mo’s is part of the group that brought us Caramel, me and my BFF had high expectations for the food, like very high 🙂 Caramel at DIFC is one of our favorite hangout places for a fun night out or a casual lunch. The music they play at Caramel always makes us sing along since we are 90’s girls and the food was never disappointing. Except for the last time I was there for Thanksgiving dinner with my American friend who like me wasn’t so impressed by the turkey or the pumpkin cheese cake slice that were part of the set menu.
Memo has also expressed to me how she felt that Caramel was no longer offering exceptional dishes like the ones we were used to on our first visits to the hip American diner.
At Mo’s, the menu options are not the same ones offered at Caramel. We decided to go for the cheese quessedillas for starters…
Cheese Quessedillas
For the main course, I had the chicken Asian salad. This one was similar to the one on Caramel’s menu. However, there wasn’t anything special about it. And I wouldn’t order it again.
Asian Chicken Salad
Lovely and sweet Memo had the fried chicken salad. The chicken pieces were humongous and my friend only sampled her plate before ordering a caramel latte.
Fried Chicken Salad
Latte: the safest choice at Mo’s
Will I go back to Mo’s and give it a second chance? I highly doubt it. There are way too many new places to check out and even the all-time favorites like The Butcher’s Shop and Grill and The Noodle House have outlets in this cozy mall. So I wouldn’t be out of good eateries to lunch or dine at on my next visit to Citywalk.
What’s your favorite American eatery in Dubai? and how would you rate it to original American cuisine?
If you are a Western expat living in the Arab region, make sure you stay tuned for tomorrow’s post: Top 10 mostly used Arabic words.
