A Dubai Food and Travel Blog
I have a pet hate of misnamed brands. I’ve had a go at Jones the Grocer for this. There are others that spring to mind – The Meadows – a region without meadows, Arabian Ranches with no cowboys, and now, The Farm. Where the livestock have pelts of Massimo Dutti and Chanel, and graze on…
Trebbiano is one of the highest yield grape varieties you can get. So it’s always pretty cheap. Would it help if I called it Bombino Bianco? That sounds better than common cheap white, doesn’t it? And it should – this is a quite explosive little number. The equivalent in Italy of a cheap grassy Antipodaen…
I played wine options with my husband on this wine. He first picked it as New World (as against old), and then as Spanish (rather than French or Italian). He finally got the grape variety (I offered him a choice of Barbera, Sangiovese and Merlot). He was way off on vintage. But he’s a fairly…
It’s amazing where your best recipes come from. This was my son’s maths homework. His male, non-cooking teacher sent home a recipe that was to be used to practice multiplication. He sent home the ingredients for 6 cupcakes, and asked students to make him 12 or 18 at a time. With my kids being on…
The intensity is a little disturbing. It’s not often I get wrapped up in dance, but I suppose it’s more than that. She stamps her feet like a child with a tantrum, shakes her fists, slams her hands on her tiny little hips and makes the earth quake. I cower into my sangria. The music…
Well this one’s a surprise. During wine training I remember someone telling me a good Italian Pinot Grigio would taste like bananas. 15 years later, and I’ve finally tasted one. This is not your typical insipid crowd-pleaser, but a full and serious wine. It’s jammed with flavour, and yet still finishes dry and neutral with…
This is a wine that is hard not to like, at least for the first glass – exceptionally fragrant, and yet deceptively dry. But it’s also like a beautiful woman wearing a stunning perfume, just a little too much of it. The fragrance (lychee, jasmine and ripe, ripe pears) can overwhelm all around it, and…
Mumm (pronounced on the short side of mewm, not “mum” as many say it) is on the gentle side of the spectrum. It’s just sly of dry, seeming to have a higher dosage than many of the other big names. The acid is a little lacking for moi – but with Champagne, many would say…
It’s silly season again, that’s why. Only time for silliness, nothing else. In the midst, I have been preparing some Christmas recipes for Ahlan Gourmet. They are a twist on the original, and bring a little of the Middle East into the traditional English recipes.The first is Batheeth pies – a replacement to mince pies,…