Fun Evening and 300 Posts

I can't believe this is my 300th post on HouseInsideOut. Thanks to all of you who have been reading this since the beginning and many thanks to my new followers.

Last night we experienced a highly decadent and truly enjoyable evening. We spent all morning going through the guide books and Time Out Dubai and researching restaurants online to find the perfect waterside restaurant with steak and seafood and enough options to make everyone in our party of 6 happy. We finally settled on Pisces, a hip restaurant in the Madinat Jumeirah Resort complex. They seated us outside on the terrace and it was a perfect and comfortable 80 plus degrees with a slight breeze coming off the water.

Above is my steak tenderloin; perfect medium rare atop a crispy potato cake. I paired it with an Australian Cabernet. We started with South African Sauvignon Blanc that was crisp and refreshing.

My asparagus spears were delicious also.

Here is Trevor's entree of pan seared Wild Sea Bass with mushrooms and a potato puree. I am glad there isn't a restaurant like this at home because we would go broke because I would want to eat there all the time.

I didn't get a photo of dessert because everyone dug into it so fast, but my sister's Peanut Butter Mousse was topped with a peanut covered in gold leaf!

The Madinat Jumeirah resort is a sprawling complex with a man made waterway that carries people on Abra rides to other places in the resort. When you are inside, it seems smug and intimate but it is actually quite sprawling with dozens of restaurants and endless little boutiques. My sister took me to a little tea shop where you pick out gourmet teas and buy a special tin for them. Needless to say, I bought about 5 tins. I will do a whole posting later of all the tins I have purchased on this trip.

All of the cafes and restaurants have outdoor seating and many have a nice view of the Burj Al Arab, the sail-like luxury hotel. The scale is deceptive; the Burj Al Arab is as tall as the Eiffel Tower and there is enough room inside the atrium to set the Statue of Liberty. (Note: Burj means tower in Arabic. Hence the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa.)

Here's a little closer look. I just love the palms covered with lights. We have not gone inside the Burj al Arab as there is a $100 minimum per person just to go in the bar and as my sister and her husband don't drink, we would be hard pressed to fill that bill!

Afterwards, we dropped my dad and nephew off at the house and my sister and her husband took us to smoke shisha and have Moroccan tea along the new marina in the Media City area of Dubai. The shisha comes in a lot of flavors. I chose double apple which means there is a little less tobacco than normal. You definitely get a little buzz from this if you are not used to smoking, but the water pipe mellows it out quite a bit. It's a fun novelty but I don't think I could do this with any frequency.

This whole skyline and waterway behind Trevor is brand new and has only popped up in the last few years. There is only a tiny bit of waterfront property in Dubai naturally so they have engineered miles and miles of canals within the newer districts of the city. It's impossible to see in this photo but there are lots of over the top yachts out in the water.

I like the people watching. Lots of young men hanging out, trying their hardest to act cool. When we left there were Lamborghinis seemingly on every other block, cruising and revving their engines and showing off. We did a quick drive by the Buddha Bar, but the valet parking was packed; no chance of getting in.
This is a late night cosmopolitan town. We left this cafe after midnight and it was just starting to get really busy.

I slept in today and this afternoon we are going out for Chinese and maybe a movie, an all in all mellow day compared to the excesses of yesterday.