Cafe Ceramic

Crumbed veal, ratatouille topped with melted mozzarella

Rating 8/10

Snacking @ the Hayatt lobby

I love a good coffee and a high quality gormet snack

espresso machiato

Smoked salamon on bread

Arabic mezzah

Entertaining at home

I loooove having people over, especially because I love to cook.

Everytime we have people over I will post any dishes/snacks we make :)

Here are some breakfast pix:

Turkish coffee

mihyawa in chappati, cheesy scrumbled eggs

assorted cheeses, veg and pickles

mutabbal, foul, feta with zaatar, hommus

fruit bowl with a side of honey and yogurt

Afternoon tea @ Al Bustan Palace Hotel

Words can't discribe it...you have to try it yourself

Rating 10/10!!!

Spa Review: Bamboo Spa

Ok so as a birthday gift my beloved sister has booked me a treatment at Bamboo Spa (BS). I have never been there before.
Ok I am a spa junkie…I have been to sooo many spas in Muscat and all around the world. But I honestly tell you now that I have never been to a spa like this one!!! This has officially become my favorite spa ever!!! The location, prices, ambience, customer service and treatments have all gotten A+++ from me!!!

I have managed to sneakily take a few (bad) pictures of the place so forgive me BS for the pix are not doing the place justice!
Ok, so knowing nothing about the place made me go there with no expectations, which was great. And the element of surprise was there…and man the surprises kept coming!

Upon walking into the small and cozy spa I was greeted by the very lovely receptionist who was the owner’s niece, which was adorable because it gave it a friendlier vibe. And she was extremely professional for her young age. She asked me to have a seat and served me cold water, a cold towel and a nice spray mist! She also handed me a form to check my medical and allergy history. This is a very important element to me because most spas don’t check for that!! And I have heard of many horror stories of women having allergic reactions from products. Anyways they gave me a great first impression :D

After that, I got to go to my private room. The room was magical!! For a small place like BS I did not expect that each client gets to have their own fully equipped treatment room. The room had a huge bath, a message/scrub table, a locker, a toilet and shower, a foot wash chair, a trendy sink with a hair dryer handy!!

Inside the locker there was disposable underwear (and BRA!!!) I have never been to a spa ever where they offered you a disposable bra!! I found that really neat especially when I feel uncomfortable staying topless! Inside there was also towels, slippers, jewelry box and get this! A contact lens case and solution!!! In case you forgot your own!! Is that not immaculate attention to every little detail? I couldn’t think of anything I would possibly need and not find in there!!

Note: in most spas I went to (even very expensive ones) lockers were shared which doesn’t make them special

I changed to my disposable gear, wore my bathrobe and sat on the chair to get a foot wash with special soap.

After that I walked out to a small and dark steam room (except for a candle) where I stayed in there for 10-15 minutes. Usually I hate steam rooms because I find it hard to breath, but I guess they thought of that too!! They gave me an icy cold glass of water and a cold towel to take inside. The cold towel over my face helped massively with my breathing and I for once enjoyed the steam room.

Note: if you are claustrophobic or feel uncomfortable in the dark skip this part!

After that I went back to my special room where I lay on the bed and started my body scrub. Guess what I was scrubbed with!? Coffee xD being a coffee addict the first whiff of the delicious coffee smell put a huge smile on my face. The staff member was so sweet and professional scrubbing me good with that coffee.

Here is a tip on how to make a coffee scrub at home: http://azspagirls.com/blog/jacked-up-on-coffee-scrub/

I then hopped in the shower for a quick rinse and got ready to receive my hot shell message!! This went for I believe over an hour. It felt amazing! The hot shells felt great on my body finishing with a good scalp massage.

After my treatment I walked to reception again to be greeted with a glass of lemon water, green tea and a plate of fruits accompanied with yummy muffins from who other than Samar’s Delights!

Make sure when booking you ask about special offers and packages available. Also ask to use the steam room.

And if you wanna try something unusual try the 24 Karat Gold Facial by Kuush or the Signature Caviar Facial by KFI.
For bookings please call: +96824640222

To download a price list: http://www.bamboospaoman.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bamboo-Spa-The-Elements-of-BATH/190441184331634?sk=wall

This is a must visit in Muscat, I am definitely going there over and over again!

My rating: 10/10!

It's My Birthdayyyyyyy

So I turned 20....ehm something today yeeeeeeeey!!

I just want to thank everyone who called me domestically and internationally....the million facebook and BBM messages!!! You really made this day special!!

And most of all to my bestest of friends...without you it's not complete....you know who you are!! 

I leave you with the pix...they speak for themselves:

The first pix are gifts from my family

And the second are from lunch with my girlfriends (@ GBK yummm!)

My collegues surprise party at work!! I love you guysssssss

the amazingly sweet thing is that if you see in the pix above they thought creativly to incorporate all the things I love: Coffee, Ladybugs, Spa candle, online shopping book and ofcourse PARIS!!


Gosh that brought tears to my eyes!!! :(

I want to be re-born a domestic cat!!

I really do!!
This is the heavenly life that I always wished for...
You get fed, cleaned; your belly rubbed....and get to sleep wherever you want!!! Who wants to be a princess when you could be a domestic cat!!!!

My friend’s cat Beyonce….the epitome of luxury living!!!

Bad News!!!!

Ok so I have decided to take a food allergy test in order to find out why am I always tired and weak :S even with all the healthy food I eat...the test is done on a drop of blood by a small prick on your finger then taken to a lab to be tested against 113 allergens.

I was sooo excited to find out the results not knowing that the results will change my life!!!!

Well it turned out that am allergic to cow’s milk and wheat…you think that’s simple right? Wroooooooooooong!!

Here is a small list of some of the things that I can’t have:
Milk!!
Cheese
Yogurt
Ice cream
Lattes :'''''''''(
Pasta
Bread
Cookies
Cakes
Pizza
Sandwiches
Eat out in general!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Etc etc etc

Thank God that this is a common allergy so there are plenty of substitutes out there….but it’s a big hassle because there are not many restaurants that cater for gluten free dairy free foods…

As soon as I found out I went and got: gluten free pasta, goat’s cheese, soy bread etc.
Well what I miss the most is bread, because I looooooooove bread in all types, shapes and forms and can’t find many substitutes in Oman.
Here are some pix of my new diet!
p.s: I looove veggies and I always had salads everyday so this was not much change.

Soy Caramel Freppe...

 Goat's cheese

Gluten free pasta

Salad


Oh well I guess the good thing is that this will help me lose weight ya? :D

Samar's Delights

Ok so me and my sister's have a dream of opening our own cafe...so meanwhile waiting for a location we have started catering from home.
we cater for small parties and personal orders.

Here are some pictures from Samar's delights...you be the judge!!

Soooo what do you think?