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This December marks a dear occasion to all of us here in the UAE. The nation’s 40th National Day is on the 2nd of December. Celebrations around the UAE has already begun, and you’ll notice that Emiratesque is already in a celebratory mode with the new UAE flag colors’ logo in the header. This December also marks Emiratesque’s 2nd anniversary. We are proud that our anniversary and the nation’s fall on the same month, and are only days apart. There have been many developments in the website, such as the look and feel, but most importantly is that our lovely readers are growing, and so we are. Your support and encouraging words, whether here, by email or Twitter, is what keeps us going. Thank you!

In the spirit of celebrating these two special occasions, we’re feeling a bit generous, and you – our awesome readers- deserve it! We happen to have an extra cool gadget, and we happen to love to share. 


So, we’ll be giving away an iPad 2 (Brand new: 16GB 3G+wifi) for one lucky Emiratesque reader.

Participation is simple; there are no rules. There will be a random draw and the winner will be announced on the 2nd of Dec - on National Day. You’ll automatically enter the draw once you leave a comment, although a relevant comment to either occasion would be great. The winner should contact us – see contact page – within 48 hours of announcement to arrange for delivery.

Anyone is eligible to participate as long as you are in the UAE, or, have a delivery contact in the UAE.

Happy National Day in advance fellow Emiratis, and to everyone who lives on and loves this wonderful land!

- Official site of UAE’s 40th National Day.

First of all, the name of the store couldn't be anymore product-approperiate. Chocolates and desserts are indeed a blessing for a sweet tooth people, and Blessing shop does a great job to live up to its name. 

There are a lot of chocolate stores around, but not all offer a variety of selections, not to mention interesting ones, and to provide inclusive services. Blessing; however, offers an unusual selections and exotic flavors of chocolates and desserts such as the Strawberry Cheesecake filled chocolate, and mini chocolate covered vanilla cupcakes – two of my favorites – to name few. In addition, they accommodate special occasions – like UAE National day- with personalized chocolates, elegant invitation cards and gifts. The keyword here is elegant; none of that tacky stuff you see elsewhere.

Dali’s Triumphant Elephant sculpture

My first encounter with surrealism art is when I was around 10. One of the first watches I had was a funky looking Dali-branded watch, and was shaped in Dali’s signature ‘melted time’ clock.  I never wore it but it left an artistic impression on me. Fast-forward 15 years later, one of the first museums I visited in Paris was not the Louvre, it was Espace Dali’s at Montamartre. A bizarre little museum you shouldn’t miss when in Paris.

Lucky for you, you don’t have to travel thousands of miles to Paris because 40 of Dali’s exquisite pieces are displayed, for a short period, at The Dubai Mall.

Treasures of Dali exhibition is located on the ground floor of The Dubai Mall, between Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdales, and will be running from 2 – 29 November. The exhibition is open for free viewing.

A little cultural activity while shopping won’t hurt, and when it’s Dali you know it would be a really interesting one.

I know there are a lot of Burger Fuel fans in the capital – excluding me – who’d be happy to know that it will open a new joint near them soon under a joint venture agreement with Bin Hamoodah Group. The location is unknown yet, but if you know where it will be landing in Abu Dhabi let us know. 

Burger Fuel is a gourmet burger chain from New Zealand that are famous for their Aioli sauce, spuds (potatoes), fresh ingredients, and their smartly designed folding cardboard burger holder. BF has already opened three stores in Dubai; at The Dubai Mall, Merdif City Centre, and JBR. 

It’s great that finally the capital is getting some burger action. Waiting for the rest to join. The ones I like.

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I am a skeptic when it comes to restaurants' menus containing dishes from different cuisines; an Italian and Japanese combo for example, or worse, international menus, and international menus I never trust. They loose focus and end up offering mediocre dishes.

Atayeb's menu, however; contains 4 different cuisines: Moroccan, Syrian, Lebanese, and a small Emirati menu. An Arabic theme in general, but each of the four cuisines has distinctive characteristics nonetheless, so combining them all in one menu should be a challenge, but it wasn't for Atayeb.

I posted before how disappointed I was several times in restaurants at Yas Island. However, Atayeb has restored my confidence in the fine dining experience on the island. We tried traditional dishes from several cuisines at Atayeb and we were impressed by taste, presentation, and the generosity of portions of each dish every time we were there. We like restaurants that are consistent in their service. One of few restaurants that's worth the 20 minutes drive to Yas island.

ThinkUp, the UAE based virtual social club, featured Emiratesque recently on their website, and they had these nice words to say:

ThinkUp is an ambitious initiative, founded by Saleh Al Braik, with a mission to promote talent and inspiration in our community and share it with the world. Basically, they search for inspiration in our community, hence, being an inspiration themselves. Now that’s a great, and an inspiring initiative by itself.

To the wonderful people at ThinkUp, thanks for considering Emiratesque an inspiration; we’re humbled.

Be inspired, check out ThinkUp.

Park Hyatt Hotel and Villas is the latest edition to Abu Dhabi's 5 star resorts, and is the first hotel to open on Saadiyat Island. The hotel opened last night, and I happened to be in the area to check the facilities out. 

Park Hyatt is located adjacent to Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, and is said to be the largest Park Hyatt property in the world. Of course, it's Abu Dhabi after all! 

The resort is strategically located on a serene, natural, and environmentally protected 9 kilometers stretch of sand beach, just minutes away from Yas island and Abu Dhabi's Corniche, and less than 30 minutes away from the airport.

I was taken for a quick tour by the courteous Marketing Communication Manager, who was kind enough to show me around on such a short notice.