Yo! Sushi in Festival City Center - Dubai

A two days weekend plan out of nowhere to go to Dubai !!

would never be faced by a No despite the tough midterms coming in the way
I took my books, laptop and packed my bags and drove all the way to Dubai to get out of the sick routine and try a new thing or two

While first day went nice between shopping, indian food and italians I wanted to try something extraordinary something as unusual as the Japanese food and so I asked my little sister who's more open to new options when encouraged

"How about SUSHI ?!"

sis: "ummm I'm not sure, I like shrimp and fish but when its raw .. I'm afraid we won't like it.."

me: "ya me too I mean I tried raw fish before but hey japanese restaurants has cooked options too and I mean come on have a look at the food rail !! and ... I miss eating with chopsticks lol !"

and so we went for it.

YOOOOO SUSHI !



the atmosphere was really great I loved the purple lightings and the japanese dolls

the eating policy was as simple as pick a dish moving on the rail and based on the colour you pay the allocated price
the prices ranged from 13AED for vegetables sushi rolls to 23AED for a combination of raw fish sushi

we were like "ok so we will pick the most good looking dishes and consider the pricing !"

Making the discussion for the first try took us more time than estimated for a regular lunch and there was no much time left to catch up the movie lol !

on each table you would see the most famous spice of japan ! WASABI !
I learned how to mix the wasabi with soy sauce in small plates back in Korea so I had something to amaze my sis with ;p



if you go to yo sushi make sure you take a slow eater who enjoys each and every bite !
the plates are really small and has around 3-4 pieces filled with different flavours which I wouldn't dare to take my other sister to altho she likes Japanese culture a lot!

Crab Onigiri my fav !

and there is this thing about asian food in general; is that few bites are enough to make you as full as someone who just ate a whole chicken !
I still hasn't figures out why yet but maybe its the secret for eating less and looking slim in asia hahaha~

if you've been to any asian restaurants nearby feel free to share the experience
I look forward to go for Korean and A REAL Chinese one in Dubai next time !

Peace,
Amna 

Book Review: Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

On mother's day I passed by the bookstore for a new book

and there it was on the shelf the book I longed to read ever since I heard the story of the first arabian princess to run away to Europe 

Princess Salme bint Saeed a.k.a Emily Ruete of Zanzibar 

her book titled "Memoirs of an Arabian Princess"

مذكرات أميرة عربية ترجمة الدكتورة سالمة صالح

I read the translated version

Zanzibar was a familiar place in my childhood, there were songs and jokes about Zanzibar but I was so ignorant about anything more beyond the name of Zanzibar. I later knew it was ruled by Oman in the past but now is under Tanzania's

In her book she gave us a golden chance of going back in time to know the extremely detailed picture of how life looked like not only as a Zanzibar citizen but as a part of a royal extended family

specifically speaking around the time of 1880's 

Salme stated that she never wanted to publish her memoirs before but instead wanted them to be a cultural reference to her kids who never knew anything about the Arabic environment she came from, and because her physical and psychological condition were in bad shape that she never thought she would live to tell her story.
This book is an interesting addition to my entertainment list, at some part of the book I could relate to the lifestyle and understood the luxuries they experience as a ruling family and at another I was reading new stuff. Every time I read a part I would rush to my mom and told her about Salme and ask her opinion or if she remembers similar stuff were done the same way by our ancestors. 

Through the book you can sense how bright salme was. She knew how to speak Arabic and Swahili then bravely learned how to write when all women were not allowed to learn more than how to read! Not to mention that the book was published in german language at first which means that Salme mastered it later in her life.

The most beautiful thing is that this lady never talked bad about both worlds she lived in; however, she did serve a great comparison of the beauty in both sides. She became a german citizen and changed her religion to christianity but never talked little about islam teachings nor arab traditions. She was literally a sophisticated woman. On the other hand, she described the wonderful friendship she made in Germany, the difference in lifestyles, weather and education that amazed her in Europe at that time. I enjoyed swinging back and forth with my imagination trying to see Germany and Oman back in time.

My mom was so happy my talk about Salme finally came to an end haha but I was so sad she didn't write much more details about her personal life in Germany, I bet it was so exciting and scary at the same time to be on your own in a foreign country and far away from your family after losing a husband.. 

A bow to every mother who shined in the dark sky and fought back the hardships for her children

R.I.P Princess Salme, you were a true legend

Peace,
Amna

Cooking: Smoked Salmon Creme Pasta

As a big fan of pasta I've been trying different types of pasta everywhere I go, few months back I discovered my love for smoked salmon and it was never perfect until I tried it with my favourite white sauce pasta !

Recently I've been watching an old drama (not so old from 2010 :P) with my little sister called "Pasta" I've already had a history with food cravings whenever I watch a korean drama and this one was the worst as my weakness is Pasta itself

to fulfil my craving I had it planned to have smoked salmon pasta for dinner and head to carrefour to pick up the ingredients !

so here is my simple recipe made for four servings:

Ingredients:

- 50g butter
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 230ml or 1 cup of skim milk
- 2 tablespoons of Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1/2 cup of frozen green peas
- 1/4 cup of mushrooms
- 150g of smoked salmon diced

- 250g Linguine 

- a pinch of Parsley

- 1/4 red or yellow bell pepper

- Salt & Black Pepper to taste  

Steps:

1- First we should cook the Linguine in a salted boiling water for 8-12mins, add one spoon of olive oil to avoid pasta sticking to itself.

2- In a skillet melt the butter then toss the onions and stir till tender

3- Add flour & garlic powder to the skillet and mix. Gradually add the milk and stir. Leave the mixture to boil then its time to add the cream cheese and mix until the sauce gets thick and smooth.

4- Now its time to add the veges ! add the peas, mushrooms, parsley & bell pepper and cook for few more minutes on a low heat. you can add salt & black pepper as much as you like here !

5- Add the smoked salmon and cook for 2mins or until the salmon turns light pink.

6- Divide your pasta in plates then serve the sauce on top and have it warm :)

*hearts hearts*

I hope you like it as much as my family did :)

peace,

Amna

Tofu and Skin Care

Yesterday I spent couple of hours surfing the internet fulfilling my curiosity about skin care remedies 

moving from one page to another not being convinced enough to try home treatments I thought to myself who is a role model of silky fair skin? 

If you seek google help all you will get is a bunch of lost answers and others depressing and giving it back to something we don't YET have control over "Genetics" 

I'm not a beauty expert but I can tell when something is not good for the skin and so this is what I noticed :

■ The genetics of korean people plays a huge role in making their skin the way it is however, it doesn't mean they have better skin than other people either. if you don't take care about your skin you will have a bad one whether you are a Korean or not

■ Food differs a lot from what we eat here. Most of the time the skin is a mirror what you digest.

I really adore the Korean diet, sometimes without noticing you eat more than 5 different kind of vegetables in one meal! 

Not just vegetables even relying on seafood that provides the skin with fatty acids plays a big deal.

and of course you know how koreans are soooo into

■ relaxing in Jjimjilbang(찜질방) public bathrooms with multiple rooms from heated to ice cold ones all help the skin remove its toxics ! :D

■ and theres also water consumption, most important tip I usually forget about :/

anyways on one meal a beauty secret was revealed from a male colleague - yup shame on me as a girl lol -

Its asia's most famous vegetarian dish

Tofu 두부!

I did know what tofu is before going to Korea but never cared enough to look for it nor try it at home
Tofu is bean curd; all natural from beans to beans
a very rich source of protein that has many health benefits including reducing ageing and giving elasticity to the skin, low calories and fats ! seems interesting huh ?

I remember going to a Korean village and watching the long process of making Tofu and participating a little which made me appreciate this food more! :D

I was determined to eat tofu again and thus I went out looking for one in my small city of Al Ain
and luckily I found three packets only in carrefour from which two were in bad storing conditions :/

hahaha ignoring the rest, here is the tofu from the imported food section !

for people used to rich spices Tofu might be weird and dull so you don't have to eat raw tofu you can simply add it to different recipes or simply season it with spices like the Koreans

so ya thats basically it for now I will be having spoons of tofu daily for a while and see how it goes :D

Have a good day !
Amna