Staycation: Day 1

Joe took this week off from work to spend some time with me and Colin. Our anniversary is February 2nd and Colin's 2nd birthday is February 3rd. After dinner and a birthday cupcake, Colin and I will be headed to Atlanta for a few weeks. 

The first thing we did for Joe's vacation was head down to The Walk at JBR. We had coffee, tea, and a cheese tray at a popular French restaurant called "Paul." The weather is beautiful here, so it was great to dine al fresco and enjoy the breeze.

The Dubai Shopping Festival is in full force. It's the equivalent of Christmas at home in lots of ways! But without Jesus, unfortunately. They hang lighted people and shopping bags from the light posts...like the snowflakes and poinsettias in downtown areas in the US. Giant red SALE signs adorn the store windows. Common areas host events, fireworks, and you guessed it...more shopping. The booths outside on The Walk have increased in number and we were able to browse around and buy some souvenirs! 

Down on the beach they had a carnival, so we wandered that way to check it out.

Colin had his first ride on the carousel. He looks a little unsure in this picture, but he rode like a champ!

We put him in this little quarter car, but he wasn't too impressed with it.

He was, however, amused by the jazz band  :)

In(a)cense

If you're reading this, you either found the link through Facebook or you tried to read our other blog. I've moved the Dubai portion of the blog here and will keep the other blog private. Over the past 6 months, I've had visitors from:

Canada
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Australia
Brazil
India
Sri Lanka
Slovenia
Finland
Germany
Indonesia
Phillipines
Taiwan
Japan
Pakistan
Poland
Sweden
Morocco
and a few more that fell off the radar.

Can you believe that? Wowzers is all I have to say. Anyway, I felt like it was a good idea to limit the details we post, the first being our last name!

As for the name of this blog, it has a few simple meanings:

1. A play on the word "incense," as in the aromatic oils which originated in the Middle East and fill your nasal passages upon entering any Dubai mall.
2. "Innocence" as in Colin growing up.
3. "In a sense" as in considering a situation in a particular way...which is pretty much what I do here on this blog.

Thank you for reading!

More Shopping

Ya'll...look what we found at Lulu's on Friday. It's the first time we've seen it for sale in Dubai! Look what else they have here....ALL.YEAR.LONG. Good thing I'm on a diet....

I decided to take more grocery store pictures to show you how things roll around here, so here goes:

This is the delicate detergent for dishdashes and abayas. No idea what it's called....

They also import Seventh Generation products here if you'd like to take out a mortgage for your laundry.

These people LOVE their Tide.

And their Tang. In many ways, this country is about 20 years behind the US.

The whole milk is dubbed "full cream" and they call skim milk "skimmed milk" which is probably more accurate.

Or you can get double cream. Ew. (No, that's not whipping cream, it's milk)

This is one brand of formula - maybe sort of like Good Start since it's made by Nestle. Do you see where it says 5 years plus?

They have a teeny-tiny stash of Jello products, unlike US stores which look like the Tide picture above except with Jello.

At first glance, you'd think this was yogurt:

Nope. It's:

Which is different than cream cheese. The yogurt's over here:

You can get plain or Activia.

They also have a small area with fruited yogurt, but it's not very good. It's over here:

In this section is Butterball meat:

Buitoni noodles...

And Kraft and Sargento cheese which will cost you a small fortune.

They also have frozen pizza, but no pepperoni! Halal meat only!

Plenty of frozen veggies including Green Giant, but no coupons :(

Want butter? It's in the freezer section. I spent about two months thinking they didn't sell butter here because it isn't with the margarine.

Or you can go to the cheese counter and buy it by the kilo.

Speaking of the cheese counter, THIS is the place to get your cheese. Much cheaper and they will shred it for you. You can sort of see the guy shredding my cheese over there. And the wine bottle? It's a tease, in my opinion.

The fresh bread section:

And then there's the produce. I've never seen whole tapioca before, but here it is:

Some Abu Dhabi broccoli:

Beetroot, bread fruit, and chowchow:

They sell coconuts at the coconut booth.

And Dole pineapples. These babies were shipped from Hawaii.

This is the fresh herb section, so you'd better know what your herbs look like before you come!

And these little guys...couldn't figure out their name by the sign. I dub them "Martian Roots."

An odd looking melon-ish fruit:

Not celery. VelleryWhite pumpkins from Oman that look nothing like pumpkins to me.

There is usually a little crowd of Indian women around the bitter gourds, so I think they are a popular part of their cuisine.

They are abusive with their bananas, so they come home bruised.

The name of these makes me laugh :)

Hard-shelled nuts by the gram:

Then they have a counter with shelled nuts....

And behind that counter is about three walls of individually packaged candy.

They have an express lane at checkout, just like us:

And gossip magazines:

And then there's this sign..."Don't trip over your abaya on the way out!"

Then you push your buggy, which they call a trolley, down the magnetic travelator to the parking garage.

And that's what it looks like to shop at Lulu's in Dubai.