Chunking Things

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Brunch with DH

We woke up on Friday (our Saturday) and decided it would be nice to go out to lunch before doing our weekly grocery shopping. Only problem? It's Ramadan. What's a person to do when they are NOT fasting during daylight hours? Find a hotel. That's what.

Most of the hotels have lots of trapped paying guests and have to provide food for them during the daylight hours. So they have made architectural arrangements. That's right. They have built their hotels in such a way that there is at least one segregated restaurant where folks can dine and the average Muslim faster can avoid seeing them or smelling the good food.

We stayed right in our neighborhood at went to the Green Community's Courtyard by Marriott. There, the Cucina restaurant offered a wondrous buffet brunch. This restaurant is a circular room that juts out over a man-made lake, giving nice views of the water from almost every table. The spread was just glorious. The desserts were legion and we both ate and ate. DH's favorite part? Pizza guy and a stone oven going to town providing pies for the buffet.

We paid too much. Maybe not too much based on hotel pricing, but I think during Ramadan the prices reflect the difficulty finding cooks and servers. None of the believers will be on the payroll during this time. I imagine it's hard to staff a restaurant.

If I'd been on my game, I would have taken pictures of the food. I can tell you that there was a creamy veal dish that was lovely and some grilled vegetables that I want to try and recreate at home. We cheated on our diet and really enjoyed the experience.

Good times.

--Sandee Wagner

4 comments:

Emmylee said...

Yay! I'm glad that there are places you can go during Ramadan!

Unknown said...

Everything is open after 8 PM.

I was told that a lot of the western restaurants will do delivery during Ramadan, just not serve in their restaurants. We might have to try some take out. spw

Marilyn said...

So does the work week run Sunday through Thursday there?

You're having adventures, Sandee -- collapsing governments, getting evacuated, trying to get fed in restaurants . . .

Unknown said...

Marilyn,

Truer words were never spoken... My life is an adventure.

Yes, the work week is Sunday through Thursday. Everything is usually closed on Friday. It takes a little getting used to. Bert has to rush home from work so we can get to church on time!

But he reminds me quite regularly that everyday is like being at Disneyworld, my life is an adventure. spw