The many Friday brunch options are one of the bonuses of living in the UAE, but there are two things that have bothered me about the tradition.
The first is the unimaginable amount of waste that must accumulate from all those piles of food. The second is having to sustain conversations while half the party is up refreshing their plates.
Leave it to Gary Rhodes to come up with a thoughtful, civilised alternative.
Rhodes 44 at the St Regis Abu Dhabi (the one on the Corniche) has launched At the Table Friday Brunch with Gary Rhodes. Most of the food is served while guests are seated at this gorgeously appointed eatery: six starters, six mains and an assortment of desserts. And for those who like to get up and wander: there is a seafood counter, laden with juicy oysters, giant prawns and meaty crabs legs; an extensive cheese bar; and a delightful Eton mess station. The food is delicious and perfectly paced in its delivery by knowledgeable and personable staff and the menu will change regularly.
Standout starters last week were grilled mushroom sticks on garlic, crushed tomato and parsley toasts and new potato, quail egg and chive salad with home-made salad cream. As for the mains, we were partial to the pan-fried salmon with cucumber, lemon and capers and rotisserie chicken with lime sour cream, rocket leaves and barbecue sauce. Out of the desserts, I loved the banoffee cheesecake with glazed banana and chocolate sauce – because it was tasty and because it’s hard to get banoffee anything in the UAE.
Don’t even get me started on the trolleys that were rolled by throughout the meal, the last offering tiny ice-cream cones.
• At the Table Friday Brunch with Gary Rhodes is 12.30pm to 3pm, from Dh270, with a children’s menu. Reservations are recommended. Call 02 694 4553, visit www.rhodes44.com/friday-brunch or email restaurants.abudhabi@stregis.com
* Ann Marie McQueen
amcqueen@thenational.ae
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
