Tag Archives: Mums in Dubai

Travel

The Residence Maldives by Cenizaro | Dining Options

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The Residence Maldives is run by Cenizaro, a Singapore based company, and that made me curious as to what the daily menu at the resort would be composed of.  I was thrilled to know that the head chef is from Indonesia with much experience in Asian and Western cooking.  Then, the next concern was if the children would like the menu  – every parent’s worry.  My children are not fussy eaters in general but out of 4 children, one is bound to disagree with something the others like.  For more about their special offers see below.

Asian Delights

When I discovered Pad Thai, Mee Goreng, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Nasi Goreng, Char Siu Wonton Noodles, on the menu I was delighted, and even more delighted that the authentic tasting dishes were prepared well.  The pool side restaurant where we ate at almost everyday served all the mentioned Asian delights as well as good quality pizzas, burgers, pastas, and sandwiches.  One of my husband’s favourite request in the Maldives is Spaghetti Alio, Olio e Pepperoncino using the extremely hot Maldivian chilli.  This was made to perfection.  If you are into spicy food do ask to try the flavoursome Maldivian chilli, perfect with Pad Thai and Mee Goreng but heed my warning – they are very spicy!

Breakfast & Dinner

Breakfast and dinner is usually served in the open-aired main dining room.  Breakfast has a wide variety of options from deli meats, pancakes, chinese porridge, pastries, yoghurts, fresh honey comb, sushi and so forth.  Perhaps the only missing thing was more organic options but the children loved every meal regardless and lapped up   their food at meal times. Dinner is an a la carte menu with different curries varying from Maldivian to Thai or pasta with crab as well as vegetarian options.  On occasion when we chose in-villa dining, the food was also of excellent quality, and we were excited for meal times.

Formal Dining at Fulhumaa Restaurant

For formal dining options, the hotel has its signature Fulhumaa  Restaurant nesting itself on a pier where you can hear the lapping of the waves over the reef, and guests dine under the stars on a clear night hoping for no evening showers.  The dishes are thoughtfully creative in line with any fine dining restaurant and we tried the tenderised pork dish and the tasty wagyu beef served on a bed of Himalayan salt cooked to choice.

The Residence Maldives also caters for other dining options but we didn’t have time to try it all including a dinner at the Sunset Grill, a private dining option, and a picnic on a deserted island.

Fishing

Our deep sea fishing expedition led my son, Lorenzo, to catch a large local fish called the Wa Hu, and can be described to be from the same family as the Barracuda.  The kitchens then prepared the fish in a variety of ways including sashimi, Thai curry and grilled.

To check out our family’s review click here.

For more information visit www.cenizaro.com/theresidence/maldives-fm 

Summer Island Savings with Seashellsonthepalm. The Residence Maldives is offering 50% off Best Available Rates, complimentary room upgrades and USD 100 resort credit per day.

Exclusively for Seashellsonthepalm.com, The Residence Maldives will offer an additional 5% discount on Best Available Rates (Total 55% off BAR Rates), along with the room upgrade and USD 100 resort credit.

Quote “EBO 5%/SeaShellsOnThePalm” and send enquiries to sales-maldives@theresidence.com

Health & Wellness

Cooking for my family | Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup Supercharged |Using my Greenheart Organic Vegetables

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Did I mention how much I love Greenheart Organic Farms who are based in the UAE already?  This week I thought to share with a receipe that I use with the children using butternut squash and pumpkin!  It’s the LONG weekend so here are ways to get inspired to cook with the kids.  We have blended the concept from two well-known cookbooks, Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daugher, and Honestly Healthy by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson.  My son, Luca, is crazy about cooking so although he isn’t a fan of this soup, it is a way of making him like appreciate the ingredients and enjoy his ‘own cooking.’

The health benefits of these supercharged ingredients in this pot of soup are countless from high levels of Vitamin A in pumpkin, pumpkin can also reduce cancer risk, fresh turmeric can help with inflammation, butternut squash delivers ample dose of dietary fibre, has significant amounts of potassium and vitamin B6.

Ingredients

2 onions chopped

2 Cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of garam masala (or curry powder)

Half a large butternut squash chopped

Half a pumpkin chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 red chilli de-seeded

Fresh Turmeric

2 pints of organic vegetable stock

Coconut oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: Sprinkle with chia seeds before serving

Instructions

Sweat the onions in the coconut oil, then add the garlic, garam masala powder, fresh turmeric, carrot and chilli and fry until fragrant.  Then throw in the butternut squash and pumpkin and ensure that all the spices are mixed in well, and when they start to soften gently pour in the vegetable stock to ensure all the root vegetables are covered.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, and cool for 15 minutes.  Then simply blend, and left overs can be frozen.

If you are cooking for children 6 months – 1 year, this can be mixed with brown rice, with no salt or chilli added.

Greenheart Organic Farms Opening Hours: 11:30am – 5pm except Fridays

For more information visit the website www.greenheartuae.com

Children's Products

Billieblush Dubai | One of Sofia’s favourite clothing brand.

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Billieblush Dubai | Summer is fast approaching and Sofia and I were lucky enough to be introduced to a lovely brand called Billieblush, and having had a look at it’s Spring Summer collection we are both hooked.  This is Sofia’s mood board that she put together herself, and it looks like the perfect wardrobe for our family’s summer holiday.

The clothes are designed with children in mind, but parents will be happy that the clothes are stylish too especially if we have strong headed children who insist on dressing themselves, and the results are not always what we hope for (I am sure most mothers have a story of what their kids chose to wear to the birthday party).  With these clothes you can mix and match them, and still look cute whilst wearing age-appropriate fashion.

The brand is a fabulous fun girls wear brand that offers pet-a-porter fashion at affordable prices.  The new collection has enough sparkles and lace to keep all girls happy.  They have thoughtfully designed t-shirts, leggings and dresses that Sofia struggled to narrow her selection to just these items as her favourite items from Billieblush.  Sofia’s sequin t-shirt cost retails in the UK for around GBP18, and a dress costs from GBP30 and up.  They are great outfits for children to wear to birthday parties as well as being great to give as birthday gifts for children and family.  Most importantly, Sofia thinks the clothes are comfortable.  (What a relief)

Stockists in the UAE:

Lollylop- Dubai Mall

Courcelles- Dubai Mall

My little Angel- Abu Dhabi

Tryano- Yas Mall

Children's Products

My favourite artwork for 2016 | Arkham Creative | Tariq Sharif

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Quote ‘Seashellsonthepalm’ to get your discount.

37 year-old Artist Tariq Sharif was born in Bahrain, but grew up in the UK, and he is creator and owner of Arkham Creative, who was previously a marketing manager for a telecom company in Bahrain.  Tariq recently moved to Abu Dhabi and discovered his creative talent to essentially make portraits from ‘shredded paper’.  We talk to him about his newfound talent that has been very popular with family portraits.  They make beautiful gifts for birthdays, Mother’s Day, and even a perfect present for grandparents.

What inspired you to start the first piece of your incredible art work?

It all started from a printing problem I had back in 2013, there was a certain color I wanted for a print but couldn’t get match I was looking for, so I took the colored paper that I wanted and decided to cut out what I wanted with blades and to my surprise, it turned out better than I thought, then I was rushed to the hospital because I have cut myself a couple of times and had some blood loss, blades are very sharp by the way.

Can you share with us if you could pick 5 celebrities in the world to create your paper art on?

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Michael Jordan, Robin Williams, Emma Watson & Femka Jensen

Name three of your favourite artists?

Gary Larsen (comic artest), Todd McFarlen (Spiderman & Spawn Comics) Jim Lee & Frank Miller ( comic book artists)

You also do children’s portraits, how long is the process if a mum is interested in ordering one?

The process begins with the mum selecting her favorite picture of her child, I will revert back with a demo of what the image will look like, after that it will take about 2-3 days, the time lapse video will also be sent at the same time

What is the best way to get in touch with you if potential clients are interested in the art?

Potiential clients can contact me direct on my Instagram channel @arkhamcreative or they can email me direct Arkhamcreative@gmail.com but if you really want to get a discount contact me through Seashells on the Palm to take advantage on getting your hands pieces of art that a truly personal.

Watch Tariq’s creative art from The Links on Youtube