We celebrated Steve’s birthday the week of April 14. Maria and the girls prepared a wonderful steak dinner and made and decorated a birthday cake. We've been watching Star Wars on t.v. lately so I thought that would be a good theme for the cake. Anna and Kate decorated the cake with the Death Star, spaceships and stars.
Most of the beef in Dubai comes from Australia, and like high-end grocery stores back home, Dubai has many opportunities to spend a lot of money on high-grade beef. We took a pass on the 400 Dirhams / kilo aged, Australian beef. That’s ~ $50/lb! The dinner was terrific and we opened a bottle of red wine. Our alcohol license is in process (it should be ready in a month). In the meantime, we enjoy the few bottles we are permitted to bring in from duty-free at the airport.
Later in the evening we heard a knock on the door. Maria told me it was our “car washing person”. But it turned out to be our friends Nael and Deanna for a surprise visit. And, they brought fresh kanafeh from a shop in Al Sharjah. It was delicious and brought back fond memories of Jordan.
Nael’s birthday is April 21, so we decided to celebrate Steve and Nael’s birthdays together on Friday, April 18. Maria made reservations for cocktails at the famous Burj Al Arab and Deanna made dinner reservations Pierchic, a seafood restaurant at Al Qasr, one of the beautiful hotel complexes at Madinat Jumeirah. It is built on pilings about 100 meters off the beach.
For those that don’t know, the Burj Al Arab is one of Dubai’s icons – certainly the one that is currently recognized the most. It was built on a man-made island 280 meters offshore, and at 321 meters it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel – although the new Rose Tower in Dubai reached 333 meters and will eclipse the Burj Al Arab when it opens this year. It is a 7 Star hotel and serves dignitaries (like President Bush) and the world’s wealthy. Starting at about $3,500/night, it is not for everyone. The high rates are understandable considering it cost an estimated $650 million to construct.
We dined Dubai style – drinks at 7 p.m. and dinner at 10 p.m. The kids slept at Nael and Deanna’s home until we picked them up to go home at about 2:15 a.m.
It was a memorable birthday.
Later in the evening we heard a knock on the door. Maria told me it was our “car washing person”. But it turned out to be our friends Nael and Deanna for a surprise visit. And, they brought fresh kanafeh from a shop in Al Sharjah. It was delicious and brought back fond memories of Jordan.
Nael’s birthday is April 21, so we decided to celebrate Steve and Nael’s birthdays together on Friday, April 18. Maria made reservations for cocktails at the famous Burj Al Arab and Deanna made dinner reservations Pierchic, a seafood restaurant at Al Qasr, one of the beautiful hotel complexes at Madinat Jumeirah. It is built on pilings about 100 meters off the beach.
For those that don’t know, the Burj Al Arab is one of Dubai’s icons – certainly the one that is currently recognized the most. It was built on a man-made island 280 meters offshore, and at 321 meters it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel – although the new Rose Tower in Dubai reached 333 meters and will eclipse the Burj Al Arab when it opens this year. It is a 7 Star hotel and serves dignitaries (like President Bush) and the world’s wealthy. Starting at about $3,500/night, it is not for everyone. The high rates are understandable considering it cost an estimated $650 million to construct.
We dined Dubai style – drinks at 7 p.m. and dinner at 10 p.m. The kids slept at Nael and Deanna’s home until we picked them up to go home at about 2:15 a.m.
It was a memorable birthday.
Steve
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