Caila's Trolls Themed 8th Birthday

Since my sister treated Caila (and the rest of us) to a luxurious weekend stay at the InterContinental Dubai Marina as a gift for her 8th birthday, I knew I couldn't top that... material-wise, at least.  Thankfully, my eldest daughter had already told me how she wanted to spend her actual birthday and it didn't include a big party so we didn't have to dig too deep into our pockets this time. Whew! 

However, it did include giving away goody bags to her close friends and classmates at school.  It would have been an easy task (just buy treats and put them in bags, right?), but since she was so used to having a theme every year for her birthday, she insisted that there be a theme as well this year...yes, even though it would just be for the lootbags. This time it was Trolls. 

#GPinCanada: Get-Together with Friends, Krause Berry Farm, and Me-n-Ed’s

Another highlight of our Canada visit last July was reuniting with old friends.

On Friday, we borrowed my brother’s car and, using his trusty GPS navigator, we managed to find the Ohoy’s (the couple’s term of endearment to each other ☺) home in Surrey without any problems. JB flew in from Calgary for the weekend and was playing with the Ohoy’s new baby when we arrived. Jason, Jean and their 2 girls (whom we saw at Whistler a few days back) followed a bit later because Jean got off work a bit late.

with good friends who migrated from Dubai

My Fresh Adventure with Barakat

I often buy Barakat juices whenever we're at the supermarket, so when the opportunity came for bloggers to visit their factories and see firsthand how all their products were prepared, I immediately accepted the invitation.

We met up at their Fresh & Easy cafe located along Jumeirah Road on Saturday morning, where we were each given a special Strawberry Refreshment, made only for My Fresh Adventure. By this alone, you could tell that exciting things were in store for us.

While sipping the refreshing drink that had real strawberry bits, I looked around the brightly colored shop and was glad to see that, true to its name, everything was really freshly made. From the juices, sandwiches, and salads, to the cookies, and ice cream too!

A while later, their General Manager Mr. K.S. Santosh gave a small speech to welcome us and tell us a few things about Barakat, which means "prosperity." They call their employees "Barakatis" and their commitment is to provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and juices...bringing to their customers that feeling of home-prepared meals, that have the same love as a mother.

We then boarded a bus that would take us to their Juice & Fruits factory. On the way, we listened to an inspiring story of how the company began by a single man's humility, hard work, and efforts.

At the factory, we were welcomed by their CEO Mr. JR (the humble person who started it all) and Chef Mike Wunsch.

And right after that, we were given green insulated suits, hairnets, face masks, and blue booties for our shoes in preparation for the tour.

Inside the factory, we saw where all the fruits were stored, how they were individually checked, the juicing machines, and everything else up to the packaging where they end up in bottles or salad containers to be distributed to the supermarkets, cafes, and their other clients like Emirates Airlines and Starbucks.

You should have seen how fast the Barakatis manually peeled and cut the pineapples and melons in a matter of seconds.  They were so unbelievably fast!

Of course a factory tour wouldn't be complete to test the products, and that's what we did. We got to try a variety of their juices and smoothies that were all so delicious.

It was my first time to try their Muesli Smoothie, and I liked it right away. I even asked for a refill!

And since we couldn't stop raving about how much we liked what we tasted, just before we left that factory, one of the Barakatis gave a few of us a bottle each of our favorite flavors. Yaaaay!

Our next destination was the Veggies factory, where again we donned our cool outfits. Chef Mike then gave us a live show of how we can prepare tasty dishes just by adding a few spoonfuls of Barakat soup to their vegetables that come in microwavable bags. He also taught us how to make smooth tangy salad dressings with the use of Barakat juice!

We were then shown around the rest of the factory where each particular group of vegetables were washed, peeled, cut, and packaged.  And almost all of these painstaking processes were being done manually, by hand! Even the onions, which we all know is one of the hardest vegetables to handle. Wow!

The room where they make ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yoghurt was the last place we visited in the factory. Except in their Fresh & Easy café, these aren’t easily available in the market yet. But you can place an order of any flavour you want, and they’ll readily make it for you. And when I say any flavour, I really mean ANY FLAVOUR. From the usual chocolate and vanilla, to the special ones like Honey Wasabi, Balsamic, and even Cigar!

Finally, we were led to a room where a spread of mouth-watering food was waiting for us. The onion soup was so creamy and tasty, many asked for seconds! =)

We enjoyed sausages, quesadillas, rolls, salads, fresh juice (of course!) and a variety of their ice-cream. Yummy!

Before leaving, we were each given their veggies in the microwavable bags and stationery items that are particularly useful to bloggers: cute notepads, a paper cube pad, pen, and USB.

So we not only learned how the Barakat products are made, but we got to enjoy the quality results as well.

Thank you, Barakat for a truly Fresh Adventure!

To Hoard or Not to Hoard

Saw these Combos packs at Zoom at Deira City Centre Metro Station and I couldn’t decide whether to buy just one or more.

Reasons to Hoard:
• They’re delicious!
• They’re not always available; ordinary supermarkets don’t sell them
• Usually my favorite ones (Cheddar Cheese Crackers) are the first ones gone
• They're much more better than potato chips
• They’re really delicious!

Reasons Not to Hoard:
• They’re not cheap at Dhs12 a pack

Heck! There was no need to think about it. TO HOARD!!!! Not that much, though. Just around 6 of them…enough to satisfy my cravings for a couple of weeks =)

If you pass by and decide to hoard as well, please leave a couple of those dark blue packs for me.

Day 33: 23 April - Omelette Paratha

A very affordable, yet filling breakfast

not spicy...just the way I like it

Day 31: 21 April - Yummy Breakfast

Yummy breakfast to start my workweek

almond croissant and hot chocolate

Day 22: 13 April - Dilis

Back to basics: dilis for dinner 

I so missed this!

Day 21: 12 April - Boodle Fight at Asian Flavors

My first boodle fight

And everything was super delicious and super sulit!

There were 4 different boodle fights to choose from, which are good for 4 to 5 (or 6, depending on your appetites) people, and they all include drinks and dessert…for only Dhs199.

And fortunately for me and Hubby, they allow take-away if you have leftovers.  You didn't think the two of us managed to eat everything, did you?! =)

Asian Flavors

Baghdad cor. Damascus St., Al Qusais

Phone: 04-2359690

Day 19: 10 April - Indian Goodies

Received a bag of goodies from India from a work colleague

fresh jackfruit, bananas, mangoes, jackfruit chips

Day 14: 5 April - KFC Fellowship and Performance

Our morning yesterday was spent at Mamzar Park with the rest of the other Parent Coordinators, PSTs and their children of our KFC cluster. As the newest PSTs were the ones in charge of the fellowship, the only things the rest of us had to bring for the picnic were disposable cups, plates and utensils. It was a big spread of sinangag, menudo, bacon, scrambled eggs, tortang talong, dinakdakan, fried lumpia (which the kids hoarded by themselves), dinuguan, fresh mango and bagoong, banana bread, kutsinta, and I can’t remember what else. Everything was so delicious! And when Marlon and Jhan arrived, they brought with them homemade siomai! Happy tummies again!

As soon as everyone had had their fill and rested a bit, the kids and their daddies or nannies walked to the pool area and enjoyed swimming and splashing around. During that time, the mommies had a meeting to discuss our monthly activity. We didn’t let Sophie swim, but she kept herself entertained by chasing the birds and butterflies that she saw flying around the park.

Yesterday night was the CFC Community Mass and Assembly. We reached the venue just as the KFC kids were singing the last few lines of Seasons of Love, making Hubby and I panic and rush to the stage wings because our performance (the one we had been practicing for last Thursday night) was next. I was supposed to be with the group who entered from the right, but because we were in such a hurry, I ended up joining the other group who entered from the left and just blended in with my original group. Good thing I was in the back so I don't think many people noticed. And because of our nervousness, there were a few steps some of us…ok, a lot of us…forgot. By the time Pharrell Williams’ song "Happy" ended and we had exited the stage, we were all laughing at ourselves and from relief that it was over.

Day 8: 30 March - Family Time at Home

Before leaving for work in the morning, Hubby and I sat down to pray together.

We received a delicious cake when the General Manager of Riviera Hotel came to the office for a meeting.

After so many evenings of being busy and going home late, Hubby and I finally had a free night to bond with our daughters.

Caila led the prayer again before going to sleep. She asked Papa God for the same thing (to give her a good dream), but it was longer and more elaborate.

Day 4: 26 March - Hungryness and Sharice Kulit

My order of a 6-inch Subway Seafood Sensation finally arrived at 1:40pm.

When you’re really, really hungry, that’s when you really, really appreciate and enjoy that first bite into your food.

And because I was so hungry, I didn't take a picture of my sub =)
In the evening, while I was busy sorting out the clothes in my closet, I heard a giggle behind me and saw this:

surprise snack

if only i liked spicy food, then i would have really appreciated the free pack of chips.
thanks anyway, coffeöl!

pc's at cc

1 september 2013
instant get-together
kfc cluster a parent coordinators
treat

cronuts at mellow yellow

Up until last week, Hubby and I had no idea what a cronut was or that it even existed. Fortunately, we received an invitation from our friends to dinner in Uptown Mirdiff so we got the chance to sink our teeth into the latest pastry craze.

Upon entering Mellow Yellow, my first impression of the café was “cozy.” It would be a great place to sneak away to for some quiet me-time with a good book, or somewhere to hang out at to chat with close friends. I especially liked that they had a shelf full of books and games that could be borrowed by the diners to enjoy.

So anyway, when we asked for a menu of the food, there wasn’t any. Instead, our server pointed out to us the realistic-looking models of their dishes that were displayed. Since we were the only diners in the café, we didn’t have to wait too long for our orders to be served. I had the Turkey Wrap, Pia had the Chicken Quinoa Salad, and Hubby and Eugz each had the Roasted Chicken (or was it Turkey?) in Focaccia Bread. They were ok; nothing outstanding, but not disappointing either. What amazed us were the vegetable sides. Looking at them, I thought they were a serving of Pinakbet which is a Filipino dish that’s made up of lots of vegetables. But to my surprise, they tasted like air-fried vegetables that were really crunchy…parang chichirya. They were pretty tasty and I actually finished mine off.

Finally it was dessert time and our cronuts were served. Hubby had the one that had a cinnamon glaze and mango cream filling, while the rest of us each had the one glazed with chocolate and coffee cream filling.

Okay, we’ve never tasted a cronut before so we didn’t have anything to compare them to, but they were really delicious!  A flaky pastry oozing with glazes and fillings that were just right, making us bite into our cronuts practically nonstop.  Yummmmy!  According to our server, what made theirs different than the ones by Chef Dominique Ansel (the genius behind the croissant-donut hybrid) was that they bake their cronuts while the original ones are fried. However, being the pioneers (or are they still the only ones?) in Dubai to sell cronuts, you can expect the price isn’t too cheap. Imagine, they cost Dhs10 each!

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening filled with great conversations with our good friends. Mellow Yellow is definitely a place I’d love to visit again, and you can be sure I’ll order their cronuts when I do.

Mellow Yellow
Uptown Mirdiff
Phone: 04-2591500