New Rule

It's time for the inner child in me to break free once we move house. I fully intend to spend time designing and decorating a playroom cum bedroom for my little Z.

Time to leave this tiny apartment and find somewhere with more space especially storage. I am getting tired of stuffing things in corners of the house or under beds. My living room looks like a childcare center and that has got to change.

My little bunny is turning 7 months and by the summer when we move, he should be crawling and need more space. I plan to make a playroom just for that purpose so I am seeking inspiration on the blogspheres and getting rather excited at the prospects.

Wouldn't this be a scream ?

( via swiss-miss)

A Legowall ! Of course it is excessive but I could do a small section of the wall up to a metre high. 

Or this totally unreal and gorgeous Floating bench by satoshi itasaka and takuto usami via here.

Just dreaming of course.

Peter Bristol's Training Dresser is insanely cute.

Or these skyscraper dressers from Kast Van Een Huis, so darling.

When I was a kid and I am sure many of you did too, drape blankets over our parents furniture to build secret alcoves or tents for play. I think Z would love a teepee for the same reason and when he gets older, sleep in it.

These one are quite classy without being too kiddy.

I found someone in Doha who will make one for me at QR500, personalized too so I get to pick fabrics and decide on design appliques for each panel.

These cardboard toys are amazing and would be so much fun to put together and decorate.

Too bad it's quite heavy so shipping costs will kill me. The toys alone are not expensive, this rocket is only GBP 33.

Party Favours

The Write Stuff designs are being used in some of the children's parties Doha. I did a simple dots and stripes theme for a birthday party recently and here are some photos.

Here are more photos from the party.

Old New Look

Saw this photo on Apartment Therapy today and it grabbed me.

A persian rug in the kitchen? Yet it is really a rug, only that it is synthetic. Liore Manne's LAMONTAGE rug is woven with polyester fibers and so is water resistant. Perfect for a kitchen or outdoors and even the bathroom.

I prefer the rug in the top photo because it looks like the persian rug in our living room but I would never waste a good rug in a place like the kitchen but a beautiful lookalike that is durable would be perfect for an outdoor dining room for example.

On a different but similar note, I found these Arabesque-inspired tablewares at a mall in Dubai recently. Made with PVC, they marry practicality with style. The designer Peggy Raphael Dabar puts a contemporary spin on the traditional.

Images D'Orient

I was tempted by the whole range and there were so many but bought just the one bottle coaster for now.

 

The soap dishes are stunning.

And even these tea boxes.

How does one decide?!

The hunt for bread

The hunt for good bread is officially over. A few months ago after we moved to Doha, I complained that there was no place to get a decent loaf and so made some home loaves from watching videos online.

Results were good but I soon got lazy. Then just one day, while having brunch in La Cigale Hotel, we chanced upon giant loaves of bread that were baked fresh that day. Since then, we always went back there whenever we ran out.

Two days ago, I found yet another bread heaven and this time, it was in a Belgium cafe Le Pain Quotidien. A chain with numerous outlets scattered across the globe unfortunately nowhere in Southeast Asia.

Rows of crusty brown goodness stacked high behind the counters. Yeast free, explained the manager. Arrives in Doha frozen and baked on site.

We ordered some open sandwiches to try and they brought us a platter of some warm breads to try.
I had the cold tartine of egg and T had the hot steak sandwich with melted cheese.
 

My humble egg sarnie had a sprinkle of capers and a hint of sweet cucumber relish with hardly any mayo, it was a perfect lunch. Will try to make it at home, I brought a boule of brown bread home too.

Snake oil salesman or just old school?

Now that the bikes are in Doha, we now face a new challenge of getting a bike license and registration plates. Getting the bike license was simple enough but it involved paying a small fee of QR 200. The registration of the bikes was a lot more comical.

All the forms were in arabic so in the past, we got someone from T's office to fill them in for us as a favour. Only recently, we found out that there was a simpler way of getting things done. Whenever we went to the traffic police, we were always swamped by men offering "help" with our forms. These guys operate out of a small building outside the traffic police. With a couple of old typewriters and a photocopier machine, you could get them to fill out the forms for a small fee about QR50 negotiable of course.

 This kind looking old man started working on our forms. Who knows what he actually filled in the forms but that's the risk one takes I guess.

Then came the question of getting insurance as the police said we needed to buy some before we could get the bikes registered. This old man finished typing, looked up and offered us some insurance! How handy!

He was serious apparently.

His mate had a stash of insurance policies in his rickety drawer and would sell us some for QR 400.

This is his mate with the insurance. During the conversation with T, he was rocking back and forth on his plastic chair, with his bare feet tapping on the floor. When we commented that 400 sounds awfully expensive for insurance from who again? He slammed shut his drawer, sneered and said that it was the same everywhere.

T shrugged his shoulders and dutifully paid the 400. Insurance from the back streets of Doha.

Life cannot get funnier.

Dream Ride

I blinked and a whole month passed without a single blog posting. My life hasn't been too interesting and I just returned from 2 weeks of visiting family and friends in S. It was so nice being back after a year and little Z loved everyone. In spite of being introduced to new faces on an almost daily basis, carted around to strange places and sleeping in different locations every few days, he took it very well and I am a proud parent.

Back in Doha and temperatures have climbed to over 40 degrees now. Summer is upon us and I promise to blog more now that I am spending more time indoors.

During April, we did do something quite magical.  It was more T's triumph but I am staking my claim too. When we first met in 2003, T used to cruise around on a bike. I always enjoyed being on the back of one. It beats being in a topless car.

After we moved to KL, I bought him a 1967 vespa and that was fun. The little bike remains in a carpark in KL when we moved and is in the care of a loyal friend.

Now that we are here in the desert, we often talked about buying a second car because cabs are so expensive and one needs to drive everywhere. Either by luck or cunning planning, T found the perfect solution here.

A classic that made its debut in the last century, the Royal Enfield is lustworthy. Made by the English, then bought over by India and now re-released with updated Euro specifications. A quick check revealed a distributor in Dubai and they were willing to ship them to us at minimal cost.

Question is, like the many I have asked myself during retail therapy.... which colour ?

Classic 350 in claret?

Classic 500 in teal?

Or the Bullet in black?

Or the bullet in military?

They could not decide and so, we had to go and look at them. So a day trip to Dubai was hatched and before long, we were picked up at the airport by the dealer Nelson who took us to the garage.

The showroom wall had a incredible photo collage and the historical graph from the 1900s.

I was particularly intrigued by the side car.

Big scarf and sunglasses with hair blowing in the wind, I can already see myself in one of those. The miltary classic 500 was stunning but the teal just looked like a mistake.

T hopped on for a test drive and disappeared for a good 10 minutes. When he returned, he could not stop smiling.

Sold, sold and sold. Both the boys got one each, T the black and A the military. The bikes arrived a few days ago and I have never seen such glee in a bunch of middle aged men.

Nelson not only sells the bikes but runs bike tours in India, Middle East and the Himalayas. The registration for the Himalayan Odyssey 2011 just closed and the photos from last year's trip are breathtaking.

The 2 week journey may be heaven for riders, but I rather sit by a pool thank you very much. 

Fish Market

Next door to where we live, is the Doha Cultural Village or Katara. Previously, I blogged about it hosting the Film Festival. The village lies on the coast and has a reasonably long stretch of beach which was laid empty for several months until now.

A beach club has opened offering deck chairs, umbrellas, sea sports equipment that one can rent hourly like windsurfing boards, paddle boats and kayaks. For the land bound, there is beach volley ball and soccer goal posts. Entry is from 9 til 5pm daily and 100 riyals per adult, free for kids from 1-7 and for kids up til 25, they only pay 25 riyals. There is a ice cream parlour and cafe for snacks plus a small shop selling toys and snorkels.

Today is a work day so the beach was empty but there were a few families lounging on the chairs. I am definitely coming here soon with little Z and am keen to try out the massive bouncy castle slide on the water. The guides there said no two piece bikinis were allowed , just one piece swimsuits but guess that is only fair.

Further along the beach as you approach the cultural village are some fancy restaurants. We came across this one called Iwzaar, Fish market. 

It was bustling so we were decided to walk in and see what the fuss was about.  Through the glass doors, a long counter of fresh seafood greets you. There were mud crabs, lobsters, giant prawns, fresh scallops and tons of fish. Pick a seafood and they will prepare it any way you want. Grilled, fried, curried, steamed, sashimi-ed. Then you can pick a side of fries, rice, noodles or salads.

The restaurant was very big and decorated with shimmering blue mozaic tiles, punctuated by columns that were aquariums that had exotic lion fish and multi coloured corals.

We were seated and a waiter appeared briskly with a basket of raw vegetables with some dips and warm breads. Everything was fresh and juicy. I chomped on a lettuce while milling over my choice of fish for lunch.

The veggie basket had spring onions, big green chillies, romaine lettuce, juicy tomato, I could just eat that along with the hot bread they served.  Still, the fresh seafood was hard to miss out on, so we trotted to the counter to have a look.

Barracuda, tuna, king fish, sea breams, bass, too many choices. 

I told the guy that I was after some curry and he recommended barracuda. It turned out well, the curry was less spicy that I liked but the sauce was creamy and rich. 

T had the blue fin tuna grilled but only slightly because he likes it raw. It was served simply with a sprig of rosemary and a wedge of lemon. It was divine, I must have that next time.

The salad bar which was only 35 riyals per person for all you can eat, had a large array of arabic dishes. 

T had the salad buffet too so I sponged off his plate and everything was tasty. The kids menu was small but had everything that they would want including jello.

 So for two mains, a bottle of water and a salad buffet for one, came up to 97 riyals. Not bad at all. I shall be returning very soon.