DOHA DIARIES: A CATCH UP POST #20

I have been pretty inconsistent with my Doha Diaries posts over the past month or so, and as a result there are a couple of days/evenings out that I took pictures of but never blogged about, so I thought I'd include all of these in this weeks Doha Diaries post even though they aren't all necessarily from the week gone by...

DINNER WITH THE GIRLS

We had a lovely meal at Market one night after Jemma finished work, opting for a quiet meal instead of a night at a bar. I am so addicted to the sushi at Market, in particular the prawn tempura rolls which are seriously divine. I could eat these all day every day!

SWISS BRUNCH

Marion's friend Gloria was visiting from Germany, so a brunch was in order! We didn't actually realise that this was a themed brunch until the night before, so were a little disappointed to learn that it wasn't the usual spread that the Hyatt normally offer. That being said, there were still some some very lovely traditional dishes that I was able to try, and it was a paradise for cheese lovers with fondue and a whole station dedicated to cheese!

The Grand Hyatt are unbeatable with their themed brunches, even from the moment you enter the Grill, as there are always themed props for a photo opportunity! The general manager Christoph and his lovely family always lead from the front in their themed attire, and even the menu is tailored to whatever that weeks theme might be.

Fellas, please take note: If a group of girls ask you to take their picture...there really is no need to kneel down in the bushes to take the photo! From eye-level will be just fine ;)

ROOFTOP BAR AT THE ST REGIS

After brunch, we spent the early evening having drinks at the St Regis rooftop. It was the perfect evening to be outside. As is always the way with this tiny city, we ran into some of our colleagues and joined them for a few drinks before they set off to the Sundowners beach party at Sharq Village. The girls then went on to the Reggae beach party whilst I was in granny mode and went home for an early night!

DATE NIGHT AT PAPERMOON

I suggested a date night at Papermoon as Matt has never been. The food was delicious (can you guess what I had?!) and the staff were absolutely lovely. They had changed the menu since my last visit with Jemma, so the spinach gnocchi with Gorgonzola that I was looking forward to had been replaced by gnocchi in tomato sauce, but the chef very kindly made it up with a the Gorgonzola sauce for me anyway :) Matt opted for the light choice of sea bass with roasted vegetables, and we both decided on dessert. Not hard to guess who picked the chocolate lava cake with coconut ice cream and who picked the fruit sorbet...I really need to get to the gym more often!

SAYING GOODBYE

It was the funeral for my Auntie Jan on Friday. It was so hard to decide whether or not to travel home to attend, and in the end I decided that I would stay in Doha and mark the day in my own way, as I had travelled home to surprise her in April when it became clear just how poorly she was, and seeing her and saying goodbye in person was the most important thing. I bought a bouquet of lilies, tied with a white bow, and set these up in my bedroom with heart shaped candles, and attached my Cancer Research daffodil to the bouquet. It's still so hard to believe she's gone. My Dad and brother told me that the funeral service was really lovely and touching, and I wish so much that I had been there.

That brings us up to date, and I will try and be back on track with these weekly Doha Diaries posts going forward.

I hope that you had a lovely week, wherever in the world you are reading from :)

DOHA DIARIES: MY WEEK IN THE DESERT #18

Let's not even mention the fact that it's now Monday, and this post is two days overdue, as the past week has been super busy even up until today and I genuinely haven't had a moment to sit down and write until now!

The week started out quietly, just work and some 24-watching in the evenings with Matt.

On Wednesday, the temperature had turned right up. Matt and I both had the day off so a pool day at the St Regis was on the agenda.

The St Regis seemed to think it was a good idea to install three giant Oryx statues around the hotels property...two at the entrance and one by the pool...I'm really not sold on them and think they are pretty terrifying, what do you think?!

We sunbathed and swam, and were handed some refreshingly cold, fragranced flannels by the pool attendants. I laid mine over my face and my delightful boyfriend decided to have a little fun!

Some might say a vast improvement ;)

After a few hours down at the pool, we decided to take a walk to Le Vesuvio at Katara for some lunch - they have a deal of 3 courses for 75QR which sounded pretty good to us. We had been to Le Vesuvio before and despite the incredibly slow service, we enjoyed our meal, however after the experience we had on Wednesday I doubt we will be hurrying back.

The restaurant was quiet, with only a handful of tables and plenty of staff, but once again the service was painfully slow. None of the staff acknowledged us when we arrived, so we hovered awkwardly at the entrance waiting for somebody to seat us. When they did, we were seated with barely a smile or a welcome of any kind. We sat outside in the shade which was lovely, as the restaurant overlooks the amphitheatre which is stunning.

I decided against the three course meal deal as I didn't really see anything that took my fancy. Standardly, I opted for the gnocchi, which was nice but slightly overdone so a bit on the soft side.

Matt ordered the shrimp salad to start, which he enjoyed, and the fruit platter for dessert which he also enjoyed, and which was very nicely presented. His main course, however, was an embarrassment, and I am pretty surprised that they feel happy to serve it to their customers. He opted for the fusilli pasta with turkey ham, and as soon as it was put in front of him I knew he wouldn't like it. The fusilli for a start didn't look (or apparently taste) like fresh pasta, which you would expect from an Italian restaurant. It was coated in a watery tomato sauce, with a few slices of processed turkey ham and a few pieces of broccoli. It looked like a student meal knocked up by somebody who can't cook, and tasted like it too (heck, it looked like something I - Worlds Worst Cook - would make!! Not what you would expect from a restaurant like Le Vesuvio.) Safe to say we won't be hurrying back, and I would highly recommend steering clear of the fusilli if you do eat there (but the gnocchi is good, provided they cook it properly!)

That night, we stayed in watching 24 and were very surprised to look out of the window and see that a sandstorm had descended upon Doha! It was so eerie, as you literally couldn't see anything out of the window. Normally we can see the Pearl, and Katara, and all of the lights of Doha but the view was 100% obscured by the sand, almost like the world had ended...creepy!

Marion's lovely flatmate Amelie had landed that night (luckily before the sandstorm blew in and caused havoc with flights!), and the next evening we all headed out to Strata for a girls night. My iPhone camera doesn't do it any justice at all, but the view from the 55th floor of the Intercontinental hotel is pretty amazing, and the perfect setting for a few cocktails, with the DJ playing some great music from his decks behind the bar.

The next night after work we headed up to Rooftop at the St Regis. The weather was perfect to be spending the night up on a roof top bar. Unfortunately Jemma couldn't make this night out as she was producing a late night show, but Marion, Amelie and I met up with Marion's colleague and his friends, and Matt joined us later on.

We reunited with Jemma the next night at La Spiga at the W hotel. It wouldn't be a Doha Diaries post without some food snaps, so without further ado...

Jemma and I opted for the Insalata di Spinaci Novelli (spinach with goats cheese, mushrooms, sun dried tomatos, and caramelised walnuts, to you and I!)

It was enormous, and probably not something I would order again unless I was sharing it. The caramelised walnuts really made this salad, and it's a shame there wasn't more of them as they were so delicious! Without them, it really was just a big bowl of spinach leaves with not enough of the extras (mushrooms, goats cheese, tomatoes, walnuts) to really balance it out. Marion and Amelie shared the Insalata Mista, with carrots, tomatoes and fennel.

Onto the main event...let's start with me as I am SO predictable. I'll give you three guesses...

The gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella was cooked to perfection. Please forgive my blurry photo, I think I was so excited to eat it that I didn't take much care over photographing it!

Jemma opted for the mushroom risotto which I don't seem to have taken a photo of, whilst Marion went very light and healthy with the salmon tartar...

Last but not least, Amelie chose the calzone, which was pretty epic!

The restaurant manager Dennis was once again so accommodating, and yet again spoilt us with some complimentary desserts, one being the Tirimasu which wasn't too overbearing with the coffee flavour this time so I managed to enjoy some, and also the strawberry and Chantilly cream millefoglie which was really lovely.

Such a lovely, fun evening full of laughter and good food with these gorgeous ladies, and the perfect end to a really fun week!

As always, I hope you had a great week wherever in the world you are reading from :)

DOHA DIARIES: MY WEEK IN THE DESERT #17

I must confess the past week has left me exhausted, and I've been a little un-enthused about blogging. I'm sure all other bloggers know exactly what I mean by this - as much as I love my blog, sometimes life just takes over and writing has to take a backseat.

Despite my 6-day week at the office, I have still had a few lovely evenings and one lovely day off.

Monday night was this weeks date night, and Matt and I set off to La Spiga at the W hotel on my request.

Clearly somebody couldn't wait to get stuck in to the bread basket! Whilst this in no way compares to the bread basket at the Anvil Rooms, they do have this amazing bread that is almost pastry-like, and tastes just like sausage rolls from the bakery.

I had been craving their gnocchi for weeks, so I was hugely disappointed when it arrived and was absolutely tasteless. I had asked for it with a white sauce instead of as it comes on the menu (I had this when we came to La Spiga to celebrate Jemma's birthday and it was incredible), which they prepared with absolutely no problem, but it just didn't taste of anything at all. The gnocchi was, as always, cooked to perfection but I just wish the sauce had had some flavour.

On Tuesday night I woke up with the makings of a cold. Luckily I had the day off, so Matt and I headed down to the pool for a few hours of sunshine. I had my first swim of 2015, and I'm looking forward to starting swimming regularly now that the weather has warmed up again!

When Matt went off to work, I popped upstairs to grab my laptop and brought it back down to the pool to work from home in the sun, before getting my head stuck in the new book I'm reading.

That evening, we took a walk down to Katara to check out the bazar that has popped up out of nowhere this week. It reminded me of the Ideal Home exhibition in the UK, filled with stalls selling various items - ornaments, Arabic coffee pots ('dallah'), honey, nuts, hair accessories, abayas, jewellery etc.

We only walked down one aisle of stalls and already I couldn't cope with all of the sellers calling out at us so we made a quick exit and headed next door to the temporary stadium playing host to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015.

This is one thing that I love about Doha - there are so many sporting events on, particularly at the start of the year, and so many are free to attend (although absolutely chaotic to get to by car - the road to Katara has been absolutely gridlocked all week due to the bizarre bazar and the beach football.) Luckily my apartment is in walking distance, so it would have been rude not to go and check out the event for ourselves.

The Iraq team arrived just ahead of us, and we all made our way up into the stands to get a view of the action.

The evenings match was Lebanon vs Thailand, and the teams took their positions on the pitch and sang their respective National anthems.

Despite the stadium being nowhere near full, there was a good atmosphere as fans cheered and children blew into horns that the stadium attendants were handing out.

The whistle blew, and the action started!

There was a lot of overhead kicking and rolling around in the sand. We left after half an hour or so, and took a wander to Chac'late at Katara as I had a craving for their hot chocolate (I will say this again, the Swiss hot chocolate is the best hot chocolate I have ever had. FACT!)

Such a pretty route to walk for a hot chocolate fix.

I had it to take away, and we wandered back towards home, stopping en-route for Matt to have a Nutella crepe, which didn't last long enough for a photo! I did however take a snap of my beautiful home - it looks amazing at night. I was recently contacted by one of my readers and asked why I chose to live where I live over anywhere else in Doha, and this could possibly be one of the reasons. It really is a stunning property.

On Thursday night, Marion and I took a trip to the Pearl for some food and chats at Shakespeare & Co. I had only been here once before with my mum when she came to stay with me, and it's such a lovely casual dining spot. The inside of the restaurant is gorgeous, with Parisian decor, however it was a lovely warm evening so we sat outside overlooking the beautiful marina.

The Pearl is such a lovely, informal location for lunching and dining, and somewhere that I would love to explore a little more as it's only a short drive from my apartment. With it's abundance of cafes, restaurants and waterways, and not to mention the marina, home to so many stunning yachts, it is a definite 'must-see' for any Doha visitor.

I stayed in on Friday night after work and made soup to ward off my cold, and Saturday night was a very early night in bed with a book due to a 7:30am start in the office today. Rock and roll weekend!! I must say I actually loved being awake at 6:30 this morning, standing on my balcony and watching the sun light up the city. Such a beautiful view to start the new week!

I hope you had a great week, wherever in the world you are reading from, and here's to another!