Great week! Chili cook-off + Dubai

We kicked off this week with a little bit of Houston in Doha. Our Houston friends have been hosting a Super Bowl chili cook-off that we've gone to for the last 3 years. Last year I entered my standard chili that I'd normally make for dinner and it got one measly vote - from a guy whose chili tasted just like mine (hey, he has great taste!). This year in Doha the Super Bowl broadcast live at 2:30am and something would not have felt right if there wasn't a chili cook-off. We invited a bunch of our friends for a football-free cook-off and had 5 entrants and a ton of other goodies. We tested the capacity of our kitchen (it fits a ton of people) and virtually ever pot was tapped out. My chili won!

The contenders...

Half of the stuffed kitchen...

We finished the week with a quick trip to Dubai... We got in on Friday morning and went to brunch with one of Kevin's former co-workers that now works in Dubai. Friday brunch in the Middle East is the equivalent of Sunday brunch in the States. We were taken to Pai Thai at Al Qasr Hotel at Madinat Jumeirah. This is a huge multi-hotel resort area, so large in fact, that we had to take an abra boat from hotel reception to the restaurant. The meal was outrageous. We were presented with a welcome drink, then five starters, soup, five mains and dessert. Everything was outrageous. Though Kevin is a Thai addict, I am not a huge fan and usually stick to pad see ew, which is a tame sweetish noodle dish. The brunch's presentation of starters and mains allowed me to try a bunch of dishes I normally wouldn't try. My favorite was massaman curry with the tenderest of beef chunks and sweet potatoes. After a few web searches, this is the type of dish you devour and try not to think about the nutrition label! On the abra ride back to the car we jumped off to take a peek at the beach area and got a great view of the iconic Burj Al Arab. We then dropped in on the Dubai Marina area and saw some of the remains of the Dubai economic crash... many buildings and construction projects paused or abandoned due to funding.

That night we saw Amy Winehouse as part of Gulf Bike Week. We had our doubts that she would show, but paparazzi reports from Thursday night indicated that she had indeed departed Heathrow for Dubai. She started a little late and ran through a handful of songs before taking a siesta to let her background singer Zalon do 3 songs. She then reappeared for a few more songs and a super quick encore, of which she walked out on about halfway through "Stagger Lee." I think most of the folks paid to see what a train wreck she would be (and the folks around us were quite vocal to that regard). Sure, she forgot some lyrics, rolled her eyes with boredom and looked like she had a serious "itch," but she made it through at least 13 songs and for the most part her voice is there, whether she pushes it through or not.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that shows how she did...

Fortunately the concert was right next to an IKEA (of all places) and we picked up 8 lamps for our upcoming move to the new lampless compound.

The next day was spent shopping our hearts out as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival. We took the Metro from Dubai Mall to Mall of the Emirates for some delish P.F. Chang's and Marble Slab. They also have a Crate & Barrel, where I found more than my suitcases (now full of 8 lamps) would handle. There's always next time! We Metro'd back to Dubai Mall to see the huge Aquarium viewing tank and the Burj Khalifa. We stayed for the first Dubai Fountain show of the night and headed home.

Here's a little video I took of the show next to the Burj.

I think Kev really enjoyed his first time in Dubai. It feels a lot larger than Doha with more "city" to it and a ton of Western brands, which you begin to miss after a while.

Check out more photos here on Facebook.