Real Estate & Investing

Dubai is a vibrant city with a progressing and continually growing arts scene. Some aspects of entertainment have been incorporated into the culture, as is standard for most areas in the world. Some of these events are locally based and a not known by many people from outside the region. Others are larger and more diversely celebrated. Some of the festivals in Dubai are extremely attractive to tourists and since tourism has become one of its primary economic resources, they are more publicized for tourist participation. Guests staying in a 5 star Dubai hotel are often eager to experience as much of the local culture as is possible, and participating in one of the festivals is a great opportunity to do so. The Dubai Shopping Festival and Eid ul-Fitr are two popular events for locals and tourists.

The Dubai Shopping Festival began in February of 1996 and was originally intended to stimulate the retail trade. It was a huge success and has since become a main attraction for tourists. It is now an annual event that lasts all month and draws nearly 3 million people to Dubai for its offers. Fireworks light the night sky as retailers offer great deals, discounts and raffles to eager shoppers during the day. There are also many entertainment venues and performances that take place during this festival.

While the Dubai Shopping Festival is geared toward purchasing and attracting tourists, Eid ul-Fitr is an extremely important religious celebration in the United Arab Emirates. It is often refered to by the simple abbreviation of Eid and is a Muslim holiday. It marks the end of fasting and the holy month of Ramadan. The holiday’s name can be translated as Eid, meaning festivity and Fitr, meaning to break the fast.It is a three-day celebration that begins on the first day of the Muslim month Shawwal. Muslims finish their fasting at the end of Ramadan and recite the Ta kbir throughout the Eid ul-Fitr.

I’m having trouble believing it’s been year’s since I’ve participated in Cookie Carnival . Things like free time really have gotten away from me. Ever since I visited a friend staying in one of the Hotels New York USA and then moving to New York and starting a job in a little but busy bakery in Brooklyn , I’ve realized that I haven’t looked up to take a breath.

I found work to be a bit more repetitive than what I’m used to when I was a chef in restaurants. But, despite the repetitiveness, so far, so good. Apartment hunting, which I’ve also been putting a lot of legwork into has prove futile. There’s not much out there right now, in or around the neighborhood I want to live in, so I’ve taken a short-term lease in the Financial District until after the holidays. After a full day of standing at work and then running around looking for an apartment, well, I just want to chillax with a fresh plate of chocolate chip cookies and watch reruns of Seinfeld . So, that’s where I remembered about this month’s Cookie Carnival.

Probably, just like you I’m sure, I’ve made tons and tons of chocolate chip cookies recipes, but this particular recipe is from one of my favorite baking books, Regan Daley’s ‘In the Sweet Kitchen’. A splendid cookbook. Daley calls the chocolate chip cookie ‘the ultimate’, but I truly can testify that I’m a bit finicky when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. Terrible finicky. I mean, I’ve read an article about how obsessive people can be over the cookie, but for me, as long as they’re freshly baked, have a good heap of chocolate chips and still have some warmth in them, I’ll eat them thin, crisp, fat or cakey. I’ll even eat the raw dough; my raw cookie dough I keep wrapped in plastic in the fridge. Just ready for me to scoop out and bake, when not eating raw, a few each and every night. Fifteen minutes to warm cookies and a total chillaxing munch.