A new kind of dreaming spire: from Oxford to Abu Dhabi

It's been six weeks since I left Oxford, and unbelievably a month already since I upped and moved to the UAE, and I'm feeling nostalgic and introspective. I had a wonderful year at Oxford, and although it's pretty much the opposite in every way, I've had a wonderful month in Abu Dhabi too, and I'm feeling like I could make a home here. There are things to hate - but there are a lot of things to like here, especially in the "winter" (hahahaha) months while it's "cool" (hahahaha) enough to comfortably be outside (30C). I'm enjoying the blend of surprisingly familiar and new strange experiences. It's hard to imagine what I'll be doing a year from now, but I'm feeling optimistic. I came here ready for change and adventure, and change and adventure is what I'll get.

Here's some photos from my Abu Dhabi adventures so far!

Farmers' Markets, Happiness, Summer Salads and Apple Peach Mojitos

This is the story of how I woke up this morning, went out to buy milk, and accidentally stumbled on a farmers' market, where I bought ALL THE THINGS. And then I turned them into apple juice and peach mojitos, and an elaborate salad, and enjoyed pure bliss on a sunny evening.

Clockwise: I got a giant loaf of sourdough from De Gustibus, a mango and lime cupcake and an apple and blackberry loaf slice from Barefoot Kitchen, the world's largest avocado, a dozen doughnut peaches, a black sesame seed macaron and an orange, chocolate and ginger macaron from SaraO Macarons, and half a clochette of goats cheese from the Oxford Cheese Company. Aka happiness.



To make the peach mojito, you'll need:

• Peaches (I used three of the doughnut peaches)
• 1 lime
• Some fresh mint leaves
• Sparkling or soda water
• Apple juice
• Dark rum
• A couple of teaspoons of demerara sugar
• Ice 

I mashed the peaches with a fork, squeezed in the lime, shredded in the mint, sprinkled in the sugar and muddled it all together, then threw in the ice cubes before topping up the jug with equal parts sparkling water and apple juice, and stirring. I used four shots of rum - you could vary this drastically. It was still delicious with no rum, and will get you summer day drunk excellently fast if you put in lots of rum. Adjust the levels of lime, mint, sugar etc to taste. I got four glassfuls from this jug, but I drank them all myself.

I had it with this miraculous avocado, goats cheese, chorizo, peach and rocket salad, alongside a healthy (read: monstrous) hunk of sourdough. 

Peach or chorizo would probably have been sufficient, but I don't regret it. I enjoyed the combination, and I never promised you restraint.

I was ALL ABOUT this black sesame macaron. Beautiful. The nice lady from SaraO let me try a lot of samples.

Barefoot Kitchen makes undoubtedly the best brownies I've ever had. This mango cupcake was also good,  but I won't be choosing it over their salted caramel squishy rectangles of brownie perfection anytime soon. 

I am happy to report that the North Parade Farmers' Market, Oxford, where all of these goodies fell like delicious rainbows from the sky into brown paper bags in my hands before I even knew what was happening, is now going to be on every two weeks! This was the first mid-month market, which was why it was an unexpected delight on my morning milk run. The next one will be on Saturday July 26th.

Hanging Out In: Brew, North Oxford

Tiny, delightful Brew on North Parade combines many of my fave things about coffee shops, including quirkiness, fancy cakes, and being a very, very short walk from my house. 

Since, as pictured, it is hipster as hell, in the name of objective blogging, I went undercover to explore.

Accessories for dressing up as the kind of person interested in buying hand-ground Sumatran coffee from an indie retailer with a record player include: plastic glasses (selectspecs.com), gap yah scarf (ASOS), antiqued gold-ish deer head necklace (Primark), ironic expression (model's own).

Just kidding, these are my regular clothes. Hashtag academicjumblesale.

The centrepiece of Brew's decor is this shiny, shiny coffee machine. I have no idea how this makes coffee but it looks like a robot and has all kinds of exciting dials and knobs on it and a bird on top and therefore I love it. 

On the right side of this photo, note a pile of sticky cinnamon buns. From personal experience I can tell you that these are an excellent breakfast food. For your convenience, I am also working my way through all the other cakes, and so far they've all been delish. 

Pro tip: this is also a prime people-watching location. One time I sat next to an earnest tutorial about an Ian McEwan novella during which there was a reference to Daria. One time I came with a friend and we sat opposite a guy who she was 70% sure had messaged her on OKCupid. Almost always there's a swoony beardy guy in a cable knit jumper. 

Upsides to Brew!:

• It's run by two cute guys and is always full of cool attractive people having interesting, eavesdroppable conversations. This is a bonus.
• They have great taste in music and a giant record collection. If you feel like listening to Neil Young, Animal Collective, Neutral Milk Hotel, or some band so cool you've never even heard of them on vinyl, this is where you should hang out.
• They really know about coffee. I mean, I don't understand it, but I'm impressed. Tastes good to me.
• They sell super cute birthday cards and notebooks and things, which I love.
• The sugar comes in tiny jars. Swoon.
• A little bird told me they sometimes host teeny tiny gigs here on Sunday evenings.
• It's super close to a bunch of university buildings, so if you are a student, you get the holy grail of wifi access. (This also means it is in between my house and my tutorials.)
• I have been here for over an hour and a half now and no one has yelled at me. (cf. the nearest Starbucks, which put up a bunch of annoying signs telling students not to stay too long, the cutthroat capitalist jerks.)
• It is so cute I can't even deal. Fact.

Downsides to Brew:

• There are exactly four tiny tables, so if you get there at the wrong time, you are doomed to take away or perch awkwardly on the corner of a bench. Boo.
• The seats are wooden stools and benches. Ouch. Cushions, please.
• The coffee only comes in one size: small. I think this is some kind of function of the shiny shiny coffee machine, but also, I need more caffeine than you can fit in one tiny latte.
• They MIGHT be judging me when I put two spoonfuls of sugar in said tiny latte.
• I just overheard cute coffee shop boy disparaging Harry Potter. Not cool, cute coffee shop boy. Not cool. 

In short: go to Brew, and join me in pretending to be a cool, attractive person. If you can find somewhere to sit.