Ding dong merrily on high....

So as I think I had mentioned before, my new lady of leisure friend and I have been shopping for christmas decorations since the beginning of November. We spent numerous shopping trips around Dubai finding new bits and pieces to create our Christmas caves of wonder. I began singing "ding dong merrily on high" on November 1 and haven't stopped since-the giant is loving it. From IKEA, to The Daiso to Lu Lu Hypermarket to ACE Hardware, we had the Christmas decoration market covered. I have found my arts and crafts soul mate. I love that we split up in a shop and come back with an array of raw materials such as a clothes hanger, a stick of glue and some spray paint and tell each other of the creative masterpieces we plan to make of it. Each time the other is amazed, blown away because we both rate out arts and craft skills quite highly. But one must be careful not to give away too many trade secrets. One must always keep a few ones close to one's chest. One time in IKEA when I came back with a trolley of raw materials she asked "what are you doing with that?"... "never you mind", said I. And the game was on, and still is on. So the plan was, on the 1st of Decemeber, to create our respective Christmas cave of wonders, have an Idol type judging panel and an ultimate winner (this bit wasn't planned, but we should have done), but I had to go and get a job and ruin all the fun.

However on the 1st of December, the giant and I did put up our tree and decorations to boot. I now have 2 advent calendars- my Marks and Spencer Christmas tree one to the left of my front door and my High School Musical one to the right. On Christmas day the last door opens over Zac Efron's heart.

I made the mistake of not only showing my new lady of lesiure friend my wreath (pictured above- and on an angle again-the giant will love that) which I crafted with these very own midget hands complete with battery operated IKEA fairy lights and matching flowers on the tree and wreath, I also showed my Belarussian neighbour. A rookie error to frivolously show off my craft and before I could patent or copyright any of my intellectual property, my original material hit the black markets of Dubai, and "copy" wreaths were everywhere on level 8. I did however make a red version of my own for my American friend on my floor (photos to follow) as you will soon learn, she's into the real deal. Respect. Although I must admit I do get a little sense of evil joy when I walk past my Belarussian friend's door (pictured to the right)and see her wreath half falling off. (Just joking my Belarussian friend, you need to get a 3M extra hold hook!). Sge is now aware of my competitive streak and that I take my craft very seriously!


Last week for Thanksgiving, I turned my IKEA trolley full of raw materials into a genuine masterpiece. In response to my cocky email entitled "stick that in your pipe and smoke it" containing pictures of my table setting masterpiece, I got an email from my new lady of leisure friend putting me in my place with 5 words-"nobody likes a show off". She's right, I must learn to be more humble. So just before leaving the house to attend her Christmas canape soiree last night, I printed out a picture of my decorated tree to give to my friend so that when I saw her tree I had photographic evidence to show that my tree was still in the game. I was so very proud of my tree. That was until I arrived at my new lady of leisure friend's house for the long awaited Christmas canape soiree..


But before we actually arrive at her place, a minute needs to be taken to quickly document the drama that took place on the way to the forum. We arrived at my friend's building, walked confidently past security, who are notoriously difficult, and straight to the lift. What level was it again? 9, 11, 12, 15? Then I remebered it couldn't be much more than 8 because fire engine ladders can only reach 8 levels which is why they used to live on my floor, level 8. The giant, bless him, was holding a bag full of everything, and wasn't aware that we were about to go on a ride up and down this 32 floor building. I know that when I come out of the lift her place in the right hand corner- but we soon learnt that its in the right hand corner when you get in the lift on the left side of the building, not the right. So I got out at every station looking for signs of the counterfeit wreath (pictured above), no joy. With no luck, we then returned to the foyer, however the security had no list of tenants, nor a phone. Guess who had no battery in their phone either, but guess who also had their charger and a converter in their Mary Poppins bag? So I searched behind paintings and couches in the foyer until I found a socket and plugged that baby in. But of course there was no reception. So I left the giant seated in the foyer and thought I'd give it one last shot in the lift. This time I got in the lift I usually get and the penny dropped why I couldn't find her place.

So we finally arrived to a Christmas wonderland, the smells of fine culinary delights and an offer of some mulled wine. The giant and I happily accepted, and there shall the giant remain for many cups more until the pork came out. Then I saw the tree. The beautiful tree that put by 100 Dirham ($30) Karama ("cheap cheap" "You want Gucci? You want Prada? Bling Bling?" area of Dubai) tree to shame. That can't be real- get out. As Australians we'd never seen a real christmas tree like it. A real tree that looked like a fake tree- its something we'd only seen in movies, and still we thought 'that's Hollywood'. The ones that we had were like the runts of the litter, the skinny torpedo like trees that looked more like a squashed Tuscan pine or deformed overgrown weeds than a Christmas tree (so glad I finally found this picture to the left as I was trying to capture the image for the Brits all night). The giant and I were baffled. The giant of couse examined it and questioned its species and origins throwing empty horticultural questions in the air that were met by blank stares and "got it from Satwa" (the Indian fabric and tailoring area- apparently they're branching out-nice). Come on all ye Australians- ever seen anything like it?



Another mulled wine perhaps? Yes please. So as we know, I do fancy any type of food in canape form. In fact, I do like to refer to myself as the canape queen. However, I think I misjudged the capabilities of my new found 'lady of leisure friend' who can also now be officially referred to as a "Jumeirah Jane", "North Shore Mum" (only for your mini food making and craft abilities), "Prue and/or Trude" and "BD" also known as the "hemmer" for those few in Aus who are catching my drift. She put my mini feta and bacon pies to shame. She even had a run sheet including baking times and order of service for her canapes. I relinquish the title- you deserve it.

This morning, I went back to my friend's house to drop over a Four N Twenty pie which I had promised her Kiwi friend last night. We sat down over some left white chocolate strawberries and white chocolate and cranberry busicuits and a cup of Nespresso Arpeggio to discuss, classify and grade her canapes. Firstly the dips and appetisers- the mini quail eggs with salt in a zig-zag cut half egg shell- brilliant (or should I say "brill-i-ant") The crab dip rated number one on the Terence of Arabia charts with the blue cheese following swiftly after (ate it by accident for those of you keeping track of my cheese intolerances). The freshly baked turkey breast with cranberry sauce and stuffing spread (don't know if it was, but it tasted like it) on fresh baguette was a clear leader, followed swiftly by the halloumi bake. The turkey curry served in mini condiment dishes (sourced from the Spice souk- points for effort and more points for going to the left of Sheikh Zayed road) rated a solid 9.5 out of 10, but what blew the giant and I away were the pork sausages wrapped in streaky bacon. There's something about not being able to readily have something that makes it so appealing. I have never eaten this much pork in all my life. In fact, according to my allergy prick test, I am allergic to it, not like cat allergic, but allergic. Upon entering his mouth, the giant went to find the hostess to pay his compliments and respects. Not only did he eat more than his fair share, was he was also now wearing the pork sausage on his left breast. 5 stars, 10 out of 10. And then there were the sausage rolls. I saw them, I knew them, seen them in Spinney's before- but no they weren't. Those babies were freshly made. Run me through who makes a freshly made sausage roll? Socks- blown off. It didn't stop there. Rocky road (solid 10 out of 10), meringue and berry shot glasses and mini puddings that were incredibly impressive. And to top it all off, a goodbye present, a bomboniere of sorts- handmade ginger bread cookies. Well done.

So, as nothing in my bag was charged up, I plugged my phone and camera to document and start "blogging". That means, taking photos of things to remind me what to write about the next day. This photo in particular was to remind me of the day when my Belarussian friend rang me and asked me to urgently come to her place. Worried and a little bit frazzled, I quickly ran out the door, took two big strides and stood on her front door mat. She opened the door, led me to her living room and in a worried tone said "there's something missing isn't there?" as she pointed to her Christmas tree. I understood. Sometimes these thing are emergencies and especially because her fiance was due home soon. See without even saying a word she also had the Christmas cave idea. I brought her over to my house and showed off a bit with all my decorations. She saw my little reindeer form Lu Lu that I have covered in Ikea lights, fell in love and suggested a trip to Lu Lu immediately. I was keen, as I only bought the small one and had every intention of getting its bigger brother. Perfect. So we got to Lu Lu, she found her little reindeer and went to the light section to get some lights- "What are you doing" said my competitive streak. "No, you can't and you're no allowed to put him out your front door either". I take my crafting so seriously and after my wreath had been exploited I wanted to hold on tight to this creative concept. A little taken back by my tone, she suggested that hers will keep mine company and she will put a plate of food and water out for them both at night. I was instantly sold on the idea and agreed to her plans. In the end there were no more large ones at Lu Lu, so I will be baby sitting these two (pictured above) while my friend is in the UK. I will be sure to make a calendar with pictures of them in front of the Burj Dubai as her cleaner once did when she babysat her cats. Cute.

Another photo to jog the memory was this one. That is a bauble in her hair, yes. This crazy young lass (in a good way) brought along a lovely friend from Trinidad. She was a really sweet wee lass with short strawberry blonde hair and freckles - kind of reminded me of Strawberry Shortcake. We had a great long chat about this, that and the other. This is one of the things I love about being in Dubai. You meet people from all over the world and it just opens your eyes to so many things. I have never met anyone from Trinidad before in my life and had truly no idea where it was. I only worked out, when I was trying to place her accent, that it must be in the Carribean. This was also confirmed when she pronounced the Carribean as "de Carr-a-bee-yun". If you closed your eyes I swear you could have been talking to Sebastian the crab from the Little Mermaid (see everything in my life has a Disney reference). When I was first speaking to her I had to excuse myself politely as I couldn't quite keep it together, took a moment to gather myself in the kitchen and continued a fine conversation into the night.

So overall a brill-i-ant night full of brill-i-ant food, brill-i-ant arts and crafts, brill-i-ant decorations and lots of fun. Afterall, even though we're in the desert, 'tis still the season to be jolly. Great- now I've got that one in my head.