One dreary workday and an hour of endless traffic later, I came home to these gorgeous blooms from A Better Florist. A beautiful bouquet is like a spiritual cheerleader on a dreary day, and these gorgeous blooms uplift even the most forgotten corner of the house.
I am insanely jealous of all the UAE residents who get to hibernate off to exotic locations across the globe just when the summer heat starts spiking up. With no holidays clocked up at work, I have to make do with the weekends. But hey! Living in the UAE, we are spoilt for choice with some of the best hotels and resorts.
Ringing in the end of July, my little fambam and I packed up the four-wheeler and headed to the greener pastures of Al Ain. I feel a sense of calm just driving into Al Ain. It must be the lush greenery and the absence of towering, tall buildings that city dwellers like me silently crave.
We were invited for a staycation at Danat Al Ain Resort. The Danat collection of properties expands across the UAE, and this includes the Tilal Liwa Hotel we had visited around this time last year. I for one love a property that reflects the cultural vibes of its adopted home country (unlike the very commercial run of the mill properties that look identical regardless of where you are). Every property under the Danat collection has been accentuated with a touch of Arabesque charm.
From the outside, Flow appears to be yet another chic urban café, complete with a smorgasbord of enticing goodies at the front and deli-style fonts scribbled across its expansive white-washed walls.
I set foot into the newest foodie venture at Emirates Towers on a hustling work day, and the place was packed with lunchers. The café has an affiliative vibe and is flooding with natural lighting, and the staff (despite the grueling rush-time) seemed genuinely sweet and enthused with what the menu had on offer.
A celebrity tattoo artist turned beauty maven, Kat Von D is a girl after my own heart #girlcrush The highlight of my week was receiving an entire stash of the brand new Kat Von D Everlasting Lip Liners. From basic nudes to perky reds, passionate purples and absolutely craaay colors only Kat can do, the range has something for every kinda girl out there.
I was going to swatch all the colors for you (will do… keep watching this space), but this morning I was hit with an absolutely brilliant idea… what better way to honor the Queen of Tatts than a tatt inspired swatch? A dried rose in my vase got me inspired to have a play. Scroll down to see what I came up with…
Highlighters are here to stay, and surely you have quite a few shades of gold, bronze and champagne in your stash. But have you ever considered hues outside this color spectrum? Move over ordinary highlighters, the Kat Von D Alchemist Holographic Palette is a total game changer!
If you’re following me on Instagram, you might have noticed my overflow of Insta Stories from last weekend. My wee family and I were invited over for a staycation at Media One Hotel, and I have to say this has to be one the most Instagram-worthy hotel stays I’ve been to in Dubai!
Media One Hotel had us click-happy for a number of reasons. First off, its so refreshingly different from the staycations I’ve been to in the recent past. Media One Hotel makes suave, ‘run of the mill’ sophisticated, uptight interiors look so cliche! This 4 star property can best be described as an artsy boutique concept and has, so far, been a well-kept secret among Media City coworkers.
Because the standard Ladies’ Night at a pub with a few diluted drinks is so cliché… treat yourself and your besties to a laidback session of pampering and massages at Fairmont Dubai. Every Tuesday, from 2 to 10 pm, The Spa at Fairmont Dubai offers a highly discounted package inclusive of a leisurely lunch by the poolside, an hour-long session of yoga and meditation, access to the sauna and steam room, and a rejuvenating treatment of your choice. And how much would you expect for all this at one of Dubai’s finest hotel establishments? Hold your breath… it costs a mere AED 349 per person! Envy us boys!
We’ve dined at Barbecue Delights a number of times with family and friends. Their very first branch near Lamcy Plaza is great value for money, with an authentic Pakistani buffet that costs AED 65 per head. However, I’ve never been to the newer branch that has opened up on the suave, sophisticated hub of Downtown Dubai.
I was invited for a review there last week, and was pretty blown away by the stark difference in the two branches. While Lamcy’s neighbor is rather old-school, bordering shabby, the Downtown version is beautifully spacious, and artfully decorated with quirky-cool relics from Pakistan. They even have lounging sofas at the front for when the weather is kinder.
Matto translates to ‘crazy’ in Italian, and this much-hyped new restaurant in The Oberoi Dubai, has worked hard on living up to this theme. The ambiance here is more in tune with a gastro-pub; the lighting is dim, a DJ revs up tunes from an amputated scooter, and a dominating wall displays this stunning graphic of a man swallowing a fish.
We walked in with our little 6 year-old, and felt a little out of place. This is not a family-friendly space, and given we got there on a Thursday night, the tables were filled with boisterous co-workers and doe-eyed lovers ringing in the weekend.
I envy the people working in Bay Square, they are so spoilt for choice with foodie options. I’ve found myself revisiting this urban hub a number of times in the past few months, each visit for a totally different cuisine. Recently, we were invited to Masala Pot, a familial name that screams of fiery curries, biryanis and other subcontinental delights. They have a few branches scattered around the UAE, but I have never been and wasn’t sure on what to expect.
The restaurant has quirky-cool interiors, taking inspiration from newspaper cuttings. The walls are marked with tongue in cheek Hindi-English quotes relating to food, and everything here has a pale orange halo, so in tune with curries and the saffron hue of Indian patriotism. The restaurant looks more like a chic café, and the pricing here is definitely in line with this. A meal for two at Masala Pot will suffice under AED 150 easily.
