things i'm grateful for: celebrations

so for the valentine's weekend (meaning the weekend prior to v-day), mr t and i decided to stay at crowne plaza on yas island.it saved us the long drive back to dubai coming from the office and and we got a really goOd deal on the hotel.thank you, office.thank you, *connections*.heee.





i decided to surprise mr t with a chocolate cake (courtesy of the hotel).the receptionist killed the surprise when he told us that there was a cake waiting in the room.what the... i think that certain receptionist totally killed it as later on during the weekend, poor mr t had a stomach upset.



we went to kazu at yas hotel for dinner.i know i've said before that i'm swearing off japanese food for awhile, but it's just so good i just have to have them again.since it was a combined birthday and valentine's dinner, we had their seven-course chef's dinner and teppanyaki grill set.

boy, oh boy.everything was yummy and light and perfect.we also had sake to complement the food.we recalled that we bought this really cheap sake in tokyo, that when we tried to drink it, we immediately felt a headache coming.it was that bad and cheap! haha.not this sake at kazu though.it was perfect!

good food just kept on coming!











wagyu beef!



green tea ice cream



interestingly enough, the restaurant just won a best japanese restaurant award from time out abu dhabi.

kazu overlooks the f1 racetrack, but we decided to eat inside as it was a bit chilly.





the next day, a friday, we woke up to these:







we had our breakfast on the terrace and later, mr t went for a swim





we then had a late lunch at noodle box, again at the yas hotel.fyi, crowne plaza is a walking distance to yas.we stopped by to watch a few races happening.

cool car reflection







yas hotel



we had pad thai and peking duck.me and mr t, we are asian food suckers.yeah, we are.







the restaurant has a nice view of the racetrack.there were actually a lot of sports events happening that weekend.





and then, the highlight of the weekend - eric clapton! he played at yas marina on friday night. never mind that the crowd consisted mainly of people in their 50s and 60s, eric clapton was great! he played most oh his hits except for "tears in heaven" (which he has not played for 6 years) and "cocaine" "(for obvious reasons)







i went senti over "wonderful tonight," "layla" and even with "i shot the sheriff." haha.

we left the next day going back to the real world.plus, mr t's tummy was really upset.:-( buzz kill.but it was a blast, all in all.a sweet way to celebrate mr t's birthday and hearts day!