Our V-day Celebration

Feb 14 this year fell on a Monday so hubby and I, with the little one in tow, celebrated after work. We didn’t make any special plans nor gave each other gifts this year. We thought we’ll be spending our money more wisely starting this year. We just trooped to Dubai Festival City, and from there, we decided on where to eat because they have the most variety of restaurants we can choose from. We opted to go to the marina area to enjoy the cool breeze of that young February evening. Dade enjoyed seeing watching the birds by the water.

Our celebration was plain and simple but heck fun!  Because we food lovers had a gastronomic feast at Jamie’s Italian! (that rhymes, haha!)

the newest resto in town

Everybody knows how much of a fan my husband is of Jamie Oliver so you can just imagine how much it was of a treat to him when we stepped in to the rustic, laid back restaurant of his favorite chef. Good thing we arrived early because apparently, later during the evening the resto was on a 45-minute waiting time.

leaning over the table.  love their red Stokke high chair!

interesting chandeliers

other section of the resto

We ordered nibbles first -- bruschetta with chargrilled ciabatta rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil and topped with oven dried tomatoes cooked with basil, garlic and creamy ricotta.

Next, antipasti – crispy squid with garlic, chilli and really garlicky mayo.  Anything with garlic for us is LOVE!

I ordered pasta for myself, and oh, did I order the most divine pasta dish there is!  Their Prawn Linguine (pan fried garlicky prawns with tomatoes, chilli, rocket and fennel) is to die for! i am not too fond of rocket leaves and I always set them aside when eating salad, but with this dish, I finished it (with Dade) in no time. It was yum-o!!

perfection in a plate

Hubby, on the other hand, ordered their Burger Italiano -- British beef pattie with melty fontina cheese, crispy salami, soft lettuce, tomato salsa, dill pickles, chilli and crispy fried onions, which is delightfully gooooddd!!

Unfortunately, V-day this year was a dry night in Dubai owing to Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.  Nonetheless, I received a special mocktail drink from their bar.  Hubby had to make do with fizzies (read: softdrinks in can, haha!).  Before we left, I snatched him an apron from the store for keepsake.

After dinner, we went off to have dessert at Yogurberry.  We wanted to have Red Mango yogurt but for some reason, it was closed.  We ordered the largest tub they have and had strawberries, raspberries, kiwis and lychees for toppings.  Dade, as usual, had the most share of the frozen yogurt, as well as the fruit toppings.

yogurt love

All in all, it was a LOVE-ly evening for us.  How was yours?

The Wee One's New Buddy

Dade has a new friend. His name is Chip.  He is an adorable monkey who tags along with Dade whenever we’re out and about.  He helps us keep Dade safe especially now that he frequently skips the use of his stroller and prefers to walk instead.  Next to Ernie, Chip is his favorite plush toy to lug around.

sorry for the blurred photo -- this kid is just too fast for us!

Chip in a Box

Chip was a birthday present from Ninang S, my dearest cousin who adores him so much. Whenever we use this harness at the mall, we always get asked where we got it from. Unfortunately, Eddie Bauer harnesses are not locally available here.  My cousin got it from the US when she did some online shopping for her baby (she’s due to give birth anytime soon, by the way).

Hubby and I love Chip but it is Dade who loves him the most.  He hugs and kisses him whenever he sees him inside the car and he’s always so excited to wear him.  He thinks it’s more of a toy than a harness to restrain him, which is good for us.

Thank you, Ninang S for this great gift!

Dade’s First Storytelling Experience

(Not that I don’t make an effort to sit with Dade and have our storytelling sessions before going to bed!  This one was his first with other kids around.) 

I cannot believe I actually forgot to blog about this!  I was looking at my P&S camera photos when I suddenly saw these pictures taken last September.  Expect to see a lot of super delayed posts from hereon, lol. 

My friend H handed me over an invitation from Ralph Lauren to come and attend their storytelling session at Dubai Mall last September (sounds like ages ago!).  The storytelling was done in time for the opening of classes. We went after Dade’s Kindermusik class (which I have to blog about, too!), and boy, was it so much fun!  My little munchkin was the youngest who came and he did charm everyone in the store. Here he is being carried by the Marketing Manager of Ralph Lauren who was so enamored by him:

watching the short RL clip 

Apart from the storytelling session, there was also some sort of a treasure hunt game where the kids would need to find stickers shaped of an apple, a baseball glove and a dog paw. Once completed, each kid would get a goody bag with a storybook inside.

map for the treasure hunt

freebie!  a Ralph Lauren story book 

My little boy enjoyed his time immensely.  He walked around the cozy store with a happy smile, waving hello to everyone who was passing by. He particularly liked this chair and kept coming back to sit on it for like every 5 minutes. 

sitting comfortably like a boss

Because I was so busy, I didn’t get a chance to sample the canapés and mocktail drinks served for the parents. Daddy Ryan didn't join us inside because he was guarding the stroller with our stuff outside. Oh well, my toddler, like any other, is truly a handful so that was expected already. what’s important is that he had loads of fun.  I bet this picture will prove that:

My Stress Buster

Friends, let me share with you one of the things that help me unleash my creative side and relieve my stress from the juggling act that i do on a daily basis.

I humbly present my nappy cakes -- given as baby shower and just-given-birth gifts:

the Sarah Jane cake

the Amara diaper cake

the Zoe diaper cake

the Reese diaper cake

I've long wanted to take a stab at creating nappy cakes but never got the chance to finally try it until i came here to Dubai.  For one, diapers are way cheaper here than from back home so buying a huge pack is not as heavy on the pocket. It's a good thing baby items are also abound and a lot more affordable, too.  The downside though is that there are very limited ribbons and decors to find here.  That's my challenge.

Here is the first ever nappy cake I've ever sold to a colleague who asked me to make one for her when her friend had her first baby.

I hope to be able to make more and play with more colors.  I want to make a rubber duckie-themed nappy cake one of these days and I hope someone gets preggy so I'd have an excuse to assemble one, hihi! 

Level Up

God is so good indeed! After surviving 3 waves of redundancies the past year, I was promoted to a much more challenging post.

So last Saturday, we went for a little celebration at Outback Steakhouse in Festival City.




The first month of the year has just finished, and so far, so good.  I am officially claiming 2011 as my year!