We slept in on Saturday and then drove to Deira to visit the fish and vegetable markets. The sights, smells and sounds of this bustling marketplace are captivating! The brightly colored produce was far nicer than much of what we find in the supermarkets, and sold for a fraction of the price. Gorgeous bundles of herbs were selling for 1 dirham (approximately $0.30) a piece. Isaac and I will definitely be making the markets a regular part of our weekly routine. We stocked up on veggies before heading to the attached fish market. The fish were fresh off the boats, with a few still flopping around=(. Poor little guys! The guilt is significantly lessened when selecting from the individuals who have already traveled to fishy heaven. We explored the stalls of the fish markets, politely dodging the pushy fisherman, and left with a couple of kilos of prawns, calamari, and a whole red snapper.
That evening we prepared dinner for 11. Jen's friend, Clint, was visiting from Virginia, and they both joined us, along with the Harts, the Russells, and Dan and Ashley. Mom patiently stood over a spitting and crackling pan to create a well-received calamari appetizer=). Isaac manned the BBQ and the fish were grilled to perfection. A heaping bowl of lemon spaghetti, Teryl's beautiful salad, and some fresh bread made the ideal accompaniments. And though we ate until we thought we'd pop, no one could turn down Allison's scrumptious peanut butter brownies- yum! After dinner Dan brought up his shisha pipe. Mom tried the shisha and we had a great time giggling and watching her as she attempted to blow smoke rings. Before the evening was over we had pulled out Scattegories, and whooped it up. Such a fun time with such great people. Oh, and did I mention we pulled off this dinner party without a refrigerator?! On Thursday we discovered our refrigerator was defective, so we stashed as many perishables in Dan's fridge as we could, and have been living out of the cooler all week. We've been told they will return our "repaired" refrigerator tomorrow, inshallah. Oh well, not the best thing to have happened, but at least we don't have to pay for the repair!
Vegetable market
Numerous men push wheel-barrows through the markets, and will carry your purchases for a few dihrams.
Assessing the freshness of a piece of palm
Welcome to the fish market!
Not everyone is happy to be here...
Some sharkies
Weighing our prawns
These guys were such hams... they all wanted their pictures taken
Check out the old scales... AND our snapper!
Taking a break
Nearby mosque
Negotiating the cleaning price of his fish
You can have your fish cleaned and scaled here too
Mom trying shisha...
... and her cute son-in-law showing her how it's done=) ha!
Bella absolutely LOVES Auntie Allison
She loves her Nana too=). Bella helped her play Scattegories
Bella made her rounds this evening=) She's just too cute not to snuggle!
2 comments:
Looks like so much fun!! Wish we were there!
Ok, I gotta ask, how many pictures have you guys taken since you've been there? You have an impressive collection. I'm digging the picture of Isaac smoking.
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