The Abu Dhabi Stone

Oh, the Abu Dhabi stone. Apparently, it plagues lots of expats here--the extra weight you put on when you relocate to this lovely little country. I think there's a chance Adam and I will fall prey to it too. That is, if we never figure out how much food to order when eating out here.

Seriously, I will stop solely criticizing the United States for being over-indulgent when it comes to food from now on. Abu Dhabi rivals--if not surpasses--our tendency to dole out super-sized portions at mealtime. I have to laugh at my telling Adam weeks ago, "Oh, yeah, I'm sure we'll both lose weight without changing anything in Abu Dhabi. We're bound to eat less--it'll just be too damn hot."

I wasn't the only one who had this hypothesis and then found it quickly disproved upon arrival. Check out TimeOut Abu Dhabi's recently relocated David Clark's article "Man versus belly," where he shares a similar disillusionment as far as staying svelte in Abu Dhabi is concerned. Turns out the Abu Dhabi stone (FYI: 1 stone = 14 pounds) is well known and embraced among expats. I don't blame 'em--we've had one delicious dining experience after another, but neither Adam nor I are huge eaters, and the huge meals are putting our bellies to the test.

So far, the Lebanese restaurants we've visited win the award for not only the biggest portions, but the most free food given along with your meal. Every one of them--Lebanese Flower, Al Riviera, and last night's Al Saj--have given us a plate of olives + spicy pickles (the main reason Adam has said to me, "I'll eat Lebanese food as frequently as you want") and a pile of vegetables (usually including mint, spinach, carrots, cucumber, radishes, and tomatoes) before we've even ordered anything. Then the size of the dishes is tremendous: a half pound of hummus, a dozen falafel balls, a mound of shawarma, six long-ass kebabs.

The first two times, we went home with stuffed stomachs and leftovers. Last night, we were like, "Alright, we got this. Let's get 1 order of hummus, 1 order of falafel, and 1 shawarma plate." That's 2 appetizers and 1 main dish. And we assumed by the prices: 15AED for the hummus, 30AED for the falafel, and 30AED for the shawarma, that the portions would be small. WRONG. We could barely get through 1/4 of all the food on the table. And I only ate as much as I did to help squelch the flames in my mouth caused by the 3 super spicy chile peppers I was determined to eat.

I'm not complaining about the gastronomic generosity, but I am very much looking forward to getting into our own place, making our own meals, and of course, BAKING!

Our meal at Al Riviera *before* our main courses arrived.