Irina came to visit from uni during her break between the spring and summer sessions, which was great because I was getting bored and missing her anyways. As is her way, she decided to go on a diet as soon as she arrived in Dubai, despite the abundance of tempting dining options to be tried here. Still, we managed to go out to eat a few times--and really enjoyed our meals!
Because I had a 3-1/2 day weekend the week before my birthday, mom and dad had a dinner party, then we left the next morning to all spend the weekend at the Cove Rotana Resort in RAK. The party was nice, if not a little boring and crowded with people I didn't know, mostly because of the Indian food we had catered. I naturally overate, savoring the pillowy-soft fresh tandoori rotis, dum aloo, paneer kadhai, kheer, and gulab jamun. As for the mini-vacation, we usually don't do resorts, so it was a lovely and relaxing little vacation. We had great food, and stayed active by taking advantage of the infinity pool and fully-equipped gym. Dinner at Basilico, the resort's Mediterranean restaurant, turned out to be one of my favorite meals ever. After talking to the kind Italian chef (which I've decided I like doing before ordering at restaurants) mum and dad ordered different kinds of pastas (I liked mom's better, with eggplant and other mixed vegetables), Irina got the Greek-influenced, goat cheese-stuffed chicken breast (tasty, but I found it a bit dry),
and I went with the hammour with saffron cream sauce, roasted baby potatoes, and vegetables. 
The fish was nicely light but filling, the roasted potatoes melted in the mouth like butter, and the saffron cream sauce bursted with incredible flavor. We finished by sharing an airily creamy tiramisu with deep, decadent cocoa undertones. The next morning we went to the only all-day dining option at the resort, Cinnamon, which offered a buffet or breakfast a la carte. Dad went for the buffet, Irina and mom ordered eggs with a bread basket, and I ordered pancakes (which I've decided to avoid ordering when out for breakfast) with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate chips, assuming that meant it would all be cooked into the pancake. I'm embarrassed to say I had a small tantrum when the brought my stack of 3 pancakes (even though they told me it was only 1 pancake when I asked) sans banana and chocolate chips, with only strawberries on top. I ate about a third, all the while complaining and whining, until finally we asked them to bring me 1 (ONLY 1) other pancakes with BANANAS, STRAWBERRIES, and CHOCOLATE CHIPS cooked inside. They arrived minutes later with 2 pancakes with the fruit inside...but no chocolate chips. I ate both, but by then breakfast was ruined by my outburst and the bad service. Overall though, we spent a wonderful, relaxing weekend at the resort, and I left wishing we could stay longer than one night.
A few days after returning, I set out to use the "Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes" dough that had been sitting the fridge for over a week (apparently the flavor improves as it slowly rises in the fridge). Although I managed to shatter a Pyrex dish in the process, I created FROM SCRATCH my first loaf of bread with a lovely crackly crust and soft inside. Delicious when warm out of the oven--we ate the whole loaf in one meal!
For my birthday, we decided on the tried-and-true mOre brunch, through the course of which we lounged while drinking tea and coffee in the modern-styled, bright, lively atmosphere of the cafe for about 4 hours. I exercised some restraint and ate a bit less than last time, getting a few salads, half a croissant,
an amazing half-order of eggs benedict (a soft, shiny bun topped with spinach, a perfectly poached egg that when cut yielded a cascade of yolk to coat the bun, just enough hollandaise sauce, a sliver of smoked salmon, and a dollop of sour cream),
and a bit of ravioli and lamb... followed by just about every dessert offered, the best of which was the chocolate mousse cake and the cassis berry and something-or-the-other gateaux.
A while after Irina left, we had a family (relatives of some sort on dad's side) over for dinner and ordered a fruit tart from Gateaux, a pastry shop in the Marina, after trying their deliciously light and fresh fruit cake at a potluck. Little did we know our guests would bring an assortment of 10 cake slices (we gave about half of the slices to friends and visitors--I didn't like them much) from Mister Bakery in Karama. We served the tart for dessert, and (fortunately for us!) there was about half left over, which I carefully cut and arranged in a container to keep in the fridge to be savored almost each of the following several days.
