As requested by Preggie-Nelly . . .

Tell me about the Food!

Most people know Dobby is positioning itself to be a major tourist destination in the short-term future. Already, loads of tourists come here for shopping and general luxurious times. In addition to beach and sand dune-related activities, fancy hotels, and the ubiquitous copses of high-rise towers, these visitors (and us lucky locals) enjoy a large variety of restaurants with cuisine from all over.

Beginning with the low end of the food-enthusiast evaluation scale: looking out our hotel-apartment window I am greeted by a 12 lane freeway and then a long row of high-rise office buildings. And what could be a more friendly sight than the red and white stripes of Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky-fried chicken (known as dejaj kentuky in Arabic). It is nice to know the most greasy, least-healthy of all the US brand chain restaurants has a place here in the desert! Of course, next door is T.G.I. Fridays, with Applebee's down the road a bit, so the competition for the bottom spot is a little stiff. Add Micky-D's, Hardee's, Dairy Queen, Dunkin-donuts and Pizza Hut and you might just overwhelm yourself with choices for ingesting grease.

But this is only the low-end -- moving on to the mid-price/super good stuff I am presently experienced with ! (Since Harry is the only one of us to be wined and dined in the five-star hotel environment....)

So far we have eaten Indian food, Arabic food (hummus, labneh-a thin yogurt drink, baba ganouj-eggplant and tahini, grilled meats-lamb-mutton-beef-chicken), mall food (Hardee's and weird spinach pita), a traditional Iftar buffet (which means Lebanese food--lots of salads with eggplant and tomatoes and parsley, meats in sauce and grilled, slightly weird desserts with gelatin for thickener), Irish pub food, English pub food (only places to get booze during Ramadan), Hamour fillets (a popular local white fish), Iranian food (rice with "stuff" and grilled meats), "American diner" "food" (yikes), and really delicious stuff from the local super-market like kebabs, kofta (minced meat with spices added), TABULEH, fatoosh (green salad with olives and tomatoes and fried pita with lemon juice), chicken sausages (pork is available, in a small separate part of the grocery store), zataar bread( thick flat bread with olive oil and spices), "grilled" veggies like eggplant, pumpkin, mushrooms, zucchini (marinated in olive oil--which is on everything actually), OLIVES, and of course fresh pita. Yummmm!

I must say, my favorite has been the Indian food restaurant, which was practically a re-birthing experience, I almost want to cry writing about it -- marinated grilled meats and fish, biryiani cooked with fish in its own clay pot (rice and spices--the traditional way), aloo saag (potatoes and spinach), parathas (stuffed flat bread), mango lassis (sweet yogurt drink). This particular restaurant is supposed to be the best around and happily delivers to the neighborhood where we will be living! (which I have named Little India due to the gazillion Indians living there). I have also had the pleasure of eating "proper-Andra food" with our relatives here (Harry's part of his home country), in addition to making a Mexican food meal with some fab-u-licious guacamole. Pretty good coverage for only two weeks eh?

Which is why, my sweet Nelly (who is having a baby in three months and needs to eat alot), not only is Jazzercise essential at the moment (as I write I am observing my tummy spilling over my belt buckle in a manner not possible pre-Dobby arrival), but further measures are required--including less eggplant "grilled" in oil (completely soaked in oil is more appropriate), more elliptical trainer, and finally getting my butt back in ballet class!

PS: we have not yet tried sushi and any traditional Emirati dishes other than dates. But up coming will be Philippino food, Vietnamese buffet, food from Goa, and more Andra food. Also, for those Starbucks fans out there, Starbucks here (which is twice as expensive) has a DATE frappicino!

PPS: A few tidbits--delivery is big here--groceries, stuff from the convienance store, even Burger King are all available by delivery in most areas! And the grocery stores seem to have prepared Indian, Arabic, and Chinese food--all for cheap. Meat and coffee are also cheap, but spices are handled differently--case in point: I have been trying to buy black pepper for a week, but only saw the pepper corns, not the ground pepper (I don't have a grinder handy yet). I finally looked closely and discovered that most of the spices are in whole form, not pre-ground, but there is a grinder built into the bottle. This goes for pepper as well--so silly me, I spent a week irritated about pepper when all I had to do was look more closely at the bottle and buy the stupid thing.