This is part of a series of posts – to get in the mood, you might want to backtrack a little… This morning began with pork. Are you sensing a pattern? We fueled our day with Cumberland sausages and scrambled eggs at the Fleet River Bakery (Don’t go the bacon sandwich – too much sandwich…
Food shopping secrets in Dubai
Well, I guess they’re not really secrets for those in the know, but I’m often asked where to get particular food items in Dubai. I’ll get a little tweet: “hey @the_hedonista – I know it’s the middle of winter, but where can I get zucchini flowers?”, or a food-obsessed mate posting up on our Fooderati…
Where’s your slice of South West Sri Lanka? Part 1
I’ve been to Sri Lanka a few times now. It’s one of the only countries I find I can never get enough of (along with France and New Zealand). There’s always something I didn’t get to see, or didn’t have time to do, a dish I couldn’t find in a restaurant, a festival I just…
Armchair food travel
Different people travel for different reasons. Some like adventure – they seek adrenaline injections at mountain pinnacles, ocean depths, at the end of a rope or the start of a fall. Some need nature. They desire trappings that cannot be found in their common abodes, and instead search for mossy hollows, sweeping savannah, craggy rockscapes…
Sweets in the Emirates – what and where to buy in Dubai
I miss sugar. I’ve left it like an alcoholic leaves a drink. Precariously, I walk this sugar-free tightrope between poisoned pleasure and healthy pain, and every so often I fall. Arabia is obsessed with sugar. I see it every day in a multitude of disguises – each one more entrancing and beautiful than the last.…
French Country Markets
It’s 6:30am on a Saturday. You might think this was the beginning of the day, but the small rabble sitting on the next table are having wine with their lunch. There is a small amount of time for them to breathe. The cafes are open, but the market as yet is not. In half an…
Shopping for groceries at Jones the Grocer
I’m a fairly literal person. As far as I’m concerned, if you are going to call yourself something, it must reflect what you are. Otherwise it causes disappointment for everyone on the receiving end of your name and your offer. A wine called “The Chocolate Block” must be big and rich and sweet. A hotel…
Souk, Souq, Suq
I can smell it as the abra touch-parks at the riverbank. The aromas lead me stumbling up the gangplanks and into a throbbing intersection. I ponder for a moment – safe stroll through the subway, or manic death-wish rush through Deira traffic? I opt for the road – the thought of darkness, dankness and urine…
Dubai in 48 Hours
Two days – it’s not long. If you were in Paris, you would have enough time to visit the Eiffel Tower, Musee d’Orsay, and possibly Notre Dame, maybe with enough time for a little cafe au lait and croissant before jumping on the metro, and heading back to the airport. In my home town of…