dulichthegioimoi

1st day of the new season and a youtube channel

06:00

Eating Out : Iftar at 3in1

08:58

Last weekend we had our first ever Iftar experience with little L in tow. We dined at the casual yet chic 3 in 1 in the Vida Hotel Downtown. The thought of taking my toddler out for a meal past 5pm is anything but appealing to me, however Iftar always has a far more relaxed, family atmosphere, so we risked a few tired tantrums and headed to Vida for 7pm.

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We sat indoors with a nice view of the outdoor pool area, had it been a little cooler we would have opted to sit outside on the terrace, where you are surrounded by views of Downtown Dubai.

A variety of traditional Arabic appetizers with a twist including; salads, dry fruits & also desserts were on offer. The main meals were a set menu of traditional Arabic cuisines, served to us directly from the kitchen; our favourite being the ouzi Lamb!

As it was late in the day for the little guy, he wasn't really up for eating eating other than watermelon, but it kept him happy; that along with an iPhone, a dummy and some extremely child friendly restaurant staff! ;-)

As well as Iftar, 3 in 1 also offer 'Suhoor under the stars'.

Tasteful Iftar at 3in1

Date: Available throughout Ramadan

Time: From sunset until 10pm

Price: AED 160 per person for adults

AED 80 (children between 6 and 12 years old, complimentary for children below 5)

50% off on Shisha

Suhoor under the stars at 3in1

Location:3in1 Restaurant

Date: Available throughout Ramadan

Time: From 10pm till 3am Price: A La Carte menu pricing

To make a reservation you can call 04 888 3444 or visit their website below.

vida-hotels.com

Picture People photoshoot

08:56

Garden in March

23:25

So it's spring already (well though we don't have distinctive 4 seasons here in UAE I still like to follow them). I walk around my garden daily and just enjoy it. I enjoy that I get to eat fresh, organic, home grown veggies daily, enjoy the view, enjoy the scents, enjoy the birds singing, enjoy seeing the bees and other flying little creatures hovering over the flowers, and just plain enjoy it. I feel at peace in my garden. I feel like the little problems in life don't matter, they seem insignificant compared to the beauty of the nature. It's so relaxing.
Anyways here's a little update on the garden.

Beets perform so well in UAE. I love them. I grow 3 varieties: Detroit Red, Egypt, and Golden.

This is Swiss Chard. I believe the variety is local. It's performing amazingly well.

Napa style Chinese cabbage. I finally got a head :)

Another Chinese cabbage, Bok Choy. I cut the leaves when needed and it keeps growing.

Like I mentioned before. I finally got the Ruby Swiss Chard to grow. I just LOVE it.

Lettuce. I lost my chart so don't which variety it is (I'm growing a few red colored lettuces). Considering this year wasn't the best for lettuces in my garden, this one is doing great. At least I got SOME lettuce.

They say good things come to those who wait . They're right. Finally, in my 6th year of trying I got the leeks to grow. I had actually given up on them growing this year. I replanted them a few times this year and I stopped checking for growth. The bed they're growing in wasn't performing very well and I even stopped checking it much (to avoid frustration). It's behind the house and only receives 4 hours or so of sun daily so I though I wasted time and money on those beds behind the house. But I was WRONG. Look at these beauties.

Same for onions from seed (except spring onions last year but those didn't grow much). They're in the same bed. I am sooooo excited.

And same goes for celery. Afterall these beds behind the house are perfect for some things.

This is a date palm tree. This one is special because my middle daughter grew it. From SEED. It was a couple of years ago and among the many that kids had planted this one made it through. I don't know if it's a male or female (yes date palm trees come in both) but whatever it is I love it.

These are carrots. They're growing in one of the beds behind the house that recieves around 4 hours of sun like I mentioned before. And though they're in the shade most of the day they still give me some of the biggest carrots from the garden.

This is Pakistani mulberry. It doesn't grow much but it gives me the most delicious mulberries. I wish it'd grow bigger.

Shahtoot. Local variety of mulberry. I need to prune these. When you prune them they grow huge fast and put on a lot of fruits.

My pomegranate. Alright this one is a surprise. When I first got it it gave us a few little fruits that didn't grow much. I thought they were the small yellow/green variety and didn't expect much from it. Next year most flowers fell off and we got maybe 2 fruits. This year look at it. Big pomegranates that actually turned red when they're ready. This year lots of flowers fell off but we got around 10-15 fruits. I just hope we get more next year. Oh by the way they taste amazingly yummy.

The same tree from afar.

My mango. I got it as a small sapling. It's been growing very well (despite struggling through it's first summer) and I hope we will see fruits soon. It's grafted, I was told, so should give us good tasting fruit. All the trees on this side of the garden are edibles.

A lovely dwarf nasturtium. I thought I could get overwhelmed with the climbing one so I planted the small ward variety to attract pollinators and make the vegetable beds look pretty. I'll plant more next time Inshallah.

If you read my previous posts (from last year) you'll remember the Kangkong that was planted in this spot in only ONE square foot (30x30 cm) and how it went insane in the summer. Well it's a year old now and it's still going strong. I don't even wanna pull it out as I had planned. Just let it be. It looks cute.

I totally forgot I had planted flowers.

This is mustard greens plants that bolted (in other words started flowering to later set seeds). I left them in place cuz bees and other pollinators and flying cuties go crazy about them.