Dinner date

Been a little while since iv blogged. As iv been a proper grump for the past couple of weeks iv thought it best to lay low to avoid any miserable blog posts. Had a lovely night out last night in the city with my flatmate Jemma so I thought I'd share some snaps of the night :)

We rendezvoused down by the pool at lunchtime to mull over where to go for dinner. One thing Doha does have, besides ridiculous 40 degree weather, is an abundance of restaurants of all cuisines to choose from. It makes picking a dinner spot extremely difficult. Do you go back to the amazing restaurant you went to last time because the food was so good and you know it won't dissapoint? Do you try somewhere new and risk it not being great, in the hope you'll find a new culinary gem? Do you head to a hotel restaurant to have wine and a cocktail with your meal, or do you go to one of Dohas more traditional areas and have an alcohol free dining experience? Decisions, decisions!!

We quite quickly decided that we wanted to try somewhere new, and have a cocktail or two in the process. It fell down to a toss up between Prime, an American steak house at the Intercontinental city hotel, whose rave write up in Time Out Doha's Best Restauraunt guide left us curious and keen, or Nusantao at the Four Seasons - a mix of a little bit of most cuisines.

We opted for dinner at Nusantao, and hopped in a taxi to the W Hotel to take full advantage of happy hour before our meal.

Being the little city that it is, we standardly ran into a group of guys from work in Wahm, but also made a few new Dutch friends who have invited us out into the desert to sunbathe, swim, drink and BBQ with them next time they go. New motto...say yes to more things!

We headed over to the Four Seasons and were lucky to get a table outside - such a lovely setting for a date (if you're lucky enough to get to go on those...) Que moment of pining for PW. Ok I'm done.

 

We had prawn tempura to start, along with chicken, shrimp and black truffle dim sum.

Jemma had teriyaki salmon for her main, and I opted for an Indonesian prawn dish which absolutely blew my head off (chilli..too.much.chilli) to the point where the waiter sent it back to the kitchen and got them to make me a milder version. Top man.

I was clearly in too much chilli fuelled distress to take any more pictures of anything. We basically filled our boots with food, and then headed home to bed. Lovely evening all round :)

Now to think of where to dine out next time!

 

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In case you are wondering where I am (I'm sure you are not) and why I have gone silent on the blog front, it is because PW and I are no more, so I'm in a not so great mood. I'm being an absolute girl and hibernating in my room with Netflix and chocolate for company.

I'll get over it, just not just yet.

 

 

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Home: Part Three

I've landed back in the desert after two weeks at home.

It was amazing catching up with all of my family and friends, and having a complete break from claustrophobic bubble of Doha.

Mum and dad took me to the airport yesterday & we all fought back tears. It's a really emotional time for us all right now with everything that is going on with my dad, and to crown it off we had to say goodbye to our fourteen year old bear Weenie on my last day in England. I like to think she held on until I came home before she was ready to go. She was my favourite little bear so I'm heartbroken that she's no longer with us but have to keep reminding myself that she had a very long and happy life.

PW came and met me at the airport when I landed in Doha - it was so nice knowing I was getting off the plane and going home with him because I didn't want to be on my own after such an emotional day.

I spent my final weekend in the UK with my two best friends from University Megan and Charlie (helloooo Megan!) and Charlie's beautiful daughter Evie.

 

 

Pictures courtesy of Charlie's lovely bf Hass who looked after us so well, supplying us with crisps, dips, and wine before we headed out to dinner and he took over babysitting duties.

We went for dinner at Jamie's and had a good old catch up. The thing I love most about these girls is that no matter how long we haven't seen each other for, we always pick up right where we left off.

 

Next morning, we curled up on the sofa with Evie and watched Aladdin (Evie was more interested in playing with her Disney princesses, whereas I was like a giddy child getting excited about Aladdin - what a great film!)

We said our goodbyes and I headed home for my final night in with my family, and one last infamous Judy roast dinner!

I don't know how I feel about being back in the desert, but I'm going to make the best of being here, as I have a lot to be happy about. The weather is ridiculously hot now, reaching the low forties in the day time. The evenings are lovely and warm so I'm going to finish unpacking and hop down to the pool for a swim :)

 

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Paris

Maldives

Thailand

Dubai

Venice

Santorini

 

 

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Home: Part Two

I met up with two of my very best girl pals on Saturday night. It's been eight months since iv seen them - infact I haven't seen any of my friends since my leaving do, as when I came back for Matt & Hollys wedding in September there was literally no time to catch up with any of my friends.

I picked up Dani and Laura, and after some epic reunion hugs, we set off to St Albans for dinner at Prezzo. It was so lovely catching up with them, and made me realise just how much I have missed my genuine friends. Doha is full of people out to bitch and backstab, so it's hard to tell who is a genuine friend or who is going to go on to spout about your business to the next person they see. We chatted about anything & everything, and finished off the night with Prezzos awesome honeycomb cheesecake

Sunday was the day of my dads 70th party. All of our closest family & mum and dads friends gathered in our lounge, dining room, conservatory and garden to eat, drink & celebrate Raymondos birthday.

Mum outdid herself with the buffet... Sushi, prawns, smoked salmon, and more cheese than we even have at Christmas!

Mums friend Joan made dad a cake with '70' sparklers, which we lit and sang happy birthday and raised a glass. Dad looked so happy :)

Someone couldn't hack the pace of the party...

On Monday night, my best friend from ITV Vicky had arranged dinner and drinks in London with some of my old friends from ITV/Al Jazeera.

We met at Studio 6 like old times, and tucked into a bottle of Prosecco. We were joined by some of the guys, and met Carla and Alice at Thai Silk, shortly followed by my old manager Amy. Lots of good food and cocktails were had...and a few selfies were taken!

 

 

 

Was great to see everyone, but I definitely did not miss getting the last train home from London!

Last night I met up with two of my other besties, Sean and Crissy, at Pottys Pankcake house. Crissy brought her retro Polaroid camera so a few pictures had to be taken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say I ate too much food. This was always going to happen, and I'm slightly embarrassed to say that both of the next two pictures are of just MY dinner. Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup followed by a Nutella Oreo pancake. Piglet much?!

 

 

Took my dad for lunch at the Gally Hall pub today. We sat outside in the sun as we had Weenie bear with us. I ordered the largest fish and chips iv ever seen, which I unsurprisingly couldn't finish (that's what daddy's are for..to finish what I can't!)

I wore my snazzy new chav trainers which I mock but secretly love a lot

 

(River Island current stock, in case you secretly love them too!)

I can't believe I only have a few days left of my holiday at home. It's gone way too quickly. I'm so nervous about going back and leaving my family and animals all over again to go back to the Big Brother bubble that is Doha.

The only things I'm looking forward to when I go back are the weather (40 degrees of glorious sunshine, yes please!) and to have a cuddle with PW who I may have missed a tiny bit while iv been home.

Half tempted to just stay here & not go back!

 

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Home: Part One

Greetings from not so sunny Hertfordshire!

It's Sunday night, and iv just crawled into bed after an all day drinking extravaganza to celebrate my dads 70th birthday. Shattered!

Rewind 5 days, and I hopped on a Qatar airways flight from Doha back to my hometown of Herts. Mum, dad and the dog met me at Heathrow, and it was such a huge relief to finally be home and with my family, especially in light of everything that is going on at the moment.

I spent the afternoon catching up with the animals over a cup of tea and one of my mums infamous cupcakes

 

 

Before heading to the pub down the road for a burger and a glass of wine in the sun

 

 

The first night, my brother and my sister in law came round for a big family roast dinner - iv missed mums cooking!!

Next day, mum and I headed to Westfield in Stratford for some shopping, drinking and lunching.

We had a belated Mother's Day lunch at Jamie's Italian..

 

We both went for worlds best olives on ice to start, along with butternut squash and ricotta bruschetta (for me) and crab and avocado bruschetta (for mum).

 

We were both disappointed in our mains, so no photos of those!

Lunch was followed by more shopping, a Pretzel break for dessert, and a cheeky cocktail before catching the train home, loaded up with goodies.

 

Thursday I met my old boss Mossy for a catch up over a glass of vino and a pint at the local pub. He's jetting off to Abu Dhabi with his new company next week and is stopping by our offices in Doha to visit on his way back, must be mad!

On Friday I had a long overdue hair cut and colour with my beloved hairdresser of many many years, Jane. After one disasterous and one slightly better hair cut in Doha, it was a relief to finally have my hair cut by someone I know and trust. I'm back to being a proper blonde now, no more roots!

Friday was my dads 70th birthday. We'd been at the hospital with him during the day..no news yet..but come evening time we were ready to go out and celebrate so we headed to Sheesh, a popular Turkish restaurant in Chigwell.

The restaurant is gated, as a lot of celebrities eat there (the car park is full of ridiculously expensive cars). Once inside, the restaurant itself looks impressive from the outside - a big courtyard with vintage cars and cosy heated outdoor seating.

 

 

We ordered drinks in the bar, before heading down to our table

 

 

 

 

The food was amazing. We ordered various starters - olives, cheese pastry, mushrooms, calamari, halloumi, and ended up dipping into each other's..

 

 

 

 

Without nearly enough time to get over our starters, the main courses arrived...

Enormous kebabs piled high with salad

 

 

I went rogue and ordered a speciality chicken dish with creamy mushroom sauce, Cinammon spinach and the best chips I have ever ever had

After dinner, I got pretty excited when Mark Wright from The Only Way is Essex, his entire family (big mark, Carol, Nanny Pat!!) and Arg came and sat a metre away from me at the next table. Love a bit of towie!!

I was too excited to eat dessert, but the family ordered profiteroles and strawberries

 

 

Really amazing meal, couldn't recommend Sheesh enough!

Will do another post soon with the rest of my home goings-on...right now I need to sleep!

Zzz.

 

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