Picasso at Emirates Palace

Dylan and I got ourselves a little culture and checked out the Picasso exhibit (which is FREE) in Abu Dhabi at Emirates Palace with a few friends. Brief side note on Emirates Palace...it's comparable to Burj Al Arab in decadence, but unlike the Burj, it's completely modest. You can drive right up and valet. At the Burj, you have to have a reservation to even get through the gate.

It was actually pretty cool because the exhibit had little "walkmans" that you could walk around with and hear the history of a painting. Before the exhibit, I hadn't been much of a fan of his cubism period, but after hearing the work that went into it, I had much more respect. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the gallery otherwise I'd have more than me with some cake!

The best part was the cake and tea at the litte cafe outside the exhibit. I'm guessing that's supposed to be Picasso on the cake! It was absolutely divine!

D Dog Picasso'd out on the drive back to Dubai!

Seasonal Affective Disorder in Dubai

Since the beginning of January, there has NOT been one drop of rain. Every day this is it...

Sunny days - idyllic right? Not after 5 1/2 months and counting. I am desperate for a cloud, for a good old Texas thunderstorm in the late afternoon, for anything that appears overcast (except a sand storm). So, you can imagine my excitement when I checked weather.com and there was a 60% chance of rain on Wednesday (before then, I haven't seen anything higher than 10%)! I was thrilled, elated, on cloud 9 (hee hee). I started planning what I would do during my morning of rain - a book, a movie, (actually I was planning on swim suiting it up with D and doing a little dance outside, but the first two sound much more sane).

I've been checking weather.com every hour since last night and giggling like a drunken sorority girl. This morning I pulled up the website again hoping for a spot of cheer, since I woke up to yet another sunny, impossibly hot day.

TueJul 29
Partly Cloudy
102°94°
0%

WedJul 30
AM Clouds / PM Sun
100°90°
10%

ThuJul 31
Partly Cloudy
102°90°
0%

FriAug 1
Mostly Sunny
104°90°
0%

SatAug 2
Partly Cloudy
107°90°
0%

SunAug 3
Partly Cloudy
105°91°
0%

MonAug 4
Partly Cloudy
106°91°
0%

TueAug 5
Sunny
108°91°
0%

Yep, it went from 60% to 10%. Great. Guess it's another day at the pool. 2 1/2 months until the blissfuly unpredictable weather of Hoston.

The Suspense is Over..Here are the Balls

I know you've been waiting forever, but I've been busy! After bunco and cooking for 12, I had to take a few days off! Could have had something to do with the wine, but I'm using the cooking excuse.


Ok, grab a box of cake mix and a bottle of wine and let's make some balls.

Here's what you need:
1 box of cake mix (whatever flavor you fancy - in this demonstration I used a french vanilla cake mix)
1 tub of frosting (again, whatever flavor you'd like - I used strawberry)
Roll of wax paper
Chocolate bars (I used Lindt 70% and I mixed in some semi-sweet chocolate chips as well)
Decorator icing tubes or the rest of the tub of frosting

1. Make the box cake mix according to directions in a 13x9 pan.

2. Mash it all up (with a fork or your hands).

3. Put the crumbled cake in a bowl and make sure there are no big lumps.

4. Put HALF of the tub of frosting in the bowl with the crumbled up cake. Mix it into a dough with your hands. Mayonnaise is an optional ingredient - just kidding! Don't know how that got into the picture.

5. Roll the dough into balls that are about an inch in diameter. The smoother they are, the better (hee hee). Put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (put a heat safe bowl on top of a pot of gently boiling water). If you melt the chocolate directly on the stove in a pot it will separate and not be pretty. I have a stainless steel bowl on top of my pot.

7. Drop the balls (a couple at a time) into the melted chocolate. Using two spoons, roll them around until they are completely covered in the chocolate.

8. Let some of the excess chocolate drip off and then place the balls back on the wax paper covered cookie sheet.

9. Put the balls in the fridge until the outer shell is hardened.

10. Decorate with the tube icing or melt the remaining tub of frosting in the microwave and drizzle over the balls. After it's melted, I would put it in a plastic baggie and cut a tiny hole in the bottom corner and drizzle that way, so the lines are really small. I decorated mine like dice for bunco night.

You can break off some of the excess chocolate once it's hardened, but be careful. One cake mix makes around 40 - 50 balls depending on their size. Obviously, these need to stay in the fridge. They taste great the next day! My friends have also used coconut, nuts, and sprinkles to decorate the tops.