Dallas, Texas

Nothing like lounging by the pool on a beautiful sunny day after a great day of shopping! 

Pool & hot tub combo. Can a girl ask for more? I corazon Dallas for shopping. I always get such great deals here. Helps that it's almost 4th of July here so there are tons of sales around too. 

Such gorgeous weather. Will try & post more pics when I'm back in Dubai if I get a chance.

Moscow, Russia

Ah my first trip to Moscow was a chilly one in September 2008. It certainly was memorable. The crew went out exploring as soon as we got to the hotel. The captain met a Russian businessman in the hotel who offered to take us out exploring.  Out we went excited, with our wallets full of our crew allowance...

Umm?!?!

I was worried at first when I saw this then thought "Heck at least I'll be prepared if anything happens!"

 So after walking around we told our "tour guide" that we wanted to have some traditional Russian food. He then took us to a restaurant and told the waitstaff we wanted a traditional meal....

Mmm rolls

Smoked fish

Salad?

More fish?

 

 

Another course? What's going on?

Yum. At this point our side of the table were wondering how much this was going to cost. The flight deck told us not to worry as the meal was on them (Free flowing alcohol at the table too)

Still worried but feasting on the meat

Happy for now...

Mmmmm blinis with whipped cream

 

 

So after our 10 course meal, the bill arrives......

Regardless to say we left the restaurant with our entire crew allowance GONE! In fact we spent more than the allowance and had to pay back the flight deck on the aircraft with whatever currencies we had.

 

Always find out how much something is. LESSON LEARNED!

Back to hotel....broke! :(

 

 

I still need to go buy nesting dolls from there. Luckily our flight was in the early afternoon so we didn't have to starve too long. Hahah!

 

 

Off to Dallas in 9 hours. Going to try and squeeze a nap in. Adios Amigos!

The steeping room - Austin, Texas

Earlier this month my good friend took me to The steeping room for a light dinner before we went to see the bats of Austin. She was worried that I might not like it or that it wouldn't be filling enough but it was absolutely perfect. 

We had the scone set, rice paper rolls & the mezzo platter. I enjoyed it so much as it was such a nice light veg meal that I was craving it recently. I decided to recreate it yesterday and here's how I did:

Their rice rolls were super stuffed with lettuce, carrot & tofu. 

My version were smaller with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, avocado & vermicelli noodles. I added some shredded chicken as well only because I was trying to finish up the handful I had left. 

Their mezze platter.

My mezze platter. I added a roasted red pepper soup as I wanted this to be substantial enough for dinner. 

I think I did a pretty good job, don't you think? 

 

I was going to make scones too but as I am off to the UK soon for my sister-in-laws graduation, I figured I would just enjoy them there....with clotted cream. Yum!

Debating making sushi today vs. grocery store sushi. Decisions decisions...

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Vietnam. Land of rice noodles & yummy spring rolls! LOL. I've only been there once and luckily we had a Vietnamese/American tour guide with us (Captain's wife). She took us out to eat twice so that we could try everything Vietnam had to offer. I don't remember the names of anything as I was too busy stuffing my face to pay attention. Note: All this was for 6 of us not just me!

 

 

 

My usual. Grilled pork over rice vermicelli noodles

 Mmmm Spring Rolls

 



 

 

Previous pictures were of the dinner we had after we had landed from our flight. What a story and a half that was. After that meal where we got to try a bit of everything, the restaurant accused us of stealing. We had paid the bill and left a huge tip. Somehow after they gave us our change they realized they were short of money. They had kept the restaurant open for us and they claimed that before we got there their cash till had balanced. After we ate apparently they were missing money. ?!?!? After arguing for about 30 minutes and showing them repeatedly our crew allowances with a set amount of money and the bill, we proved that we had paid our share PLUS left a tip. NOT a nice way to end the night. Then on our short walk back to the hotel 2 crew almost got robbed by the bikers zooming by on the streets & sidewalks. Luckily they were successful in holding on to their purse & camera!

 

Another crew & I were going to go sightseeing the next day but decided after all of that we would just stick with the rest of the group and just go eat & hang out the next day.  Lunch was at a really pretty restaurant and was really good.

Can't come to Vietnam and not have authentic Pho!

 

 

After lunch we hopped in a taxi and did a mini tour of the city.

A little bit of Canada :)

Poster. Wishing I was there!

Overall a great trip to a new city. I would definitely watch out for pick pocketers if I visited again though. I'd also try to make it to all the other tourist attractions such as the War Museums.