{"id":774,"date":"2016-11-08T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T10:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/"},"modified":"2016-11-08T10:19:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T10:19:00","slug":"sand-dune-birthday-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

So there we were – basking in the delicious warmth of 28-30 degree evening heat, sitting atop a private sand dune overlooking the Arabian desert. Enjoying the sunset and with me still trying to work out how I can possibly be 48 years old…<\/p>\n

And what a view…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3567\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Attended to by a very nice Sri Lankan man who kept bringing us champagne – well, it seemed rude not to accept. Especially at it was a decent bottle of Laurent Perrier - made even better by the fact the hotel manager gave it to us (apparently they charge about \u00a3150 otherwise – shocker!!)<\/p>\n

And then – the food onslaught started. OMG – there was honestly enough for about 10 people. I know they were trying to make us feel special but it got to the point (after the starters!) where there just wasn't much room for anything else… And I was starting to see every form of edible protein float before my eyes…<\/p>\n

There was:<\/p>\n

Bottle Laurent Perrier<\/p>\n

6 starters including smoked aubergine, humous, picked veg , chilli breadcrumbs and nuts, crackers and cucumber and vine leaves, plus Arab breads<\/p>\n

Bread basket<\/p>\n

2 lamb koftas
2 chicken koftas
6 king prawns
4 king fish
4 halibut steaks
4 lamb chops
2 chicken breasts
4 steaks
Grilled asparagus and courgette
2 sauces – lemon butter and pepper
Rice bucket
5 mini jacket potatoes (they'd heard I ordered a jacket potato with tuna for my birthday lunch and were so astounded – most people have caviar or foie gras – that they made just the 5 extras ones in case I fancied more – urghhhh).<\/p>\n

And of course, (and these I did find room for!) a Caipirinia and a Strawberry mojito to top off the champers.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3568\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Funnily enough, we took the very sweet little choccy birthday cake home with us. And a good night was had by all x<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So there we were – basking in the delicious warmth of 28-30 degree evening heat, sitting atop a private sand dune overlooking the Arabian desert. Enjoying the sunset and with me still trying to work out how I can possibly be 48 years old… And what a view…               […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So there we were – basking in the delicious warmth of 28-30 degree evening heat, sitting atop a private sand dune overlooking the Arabian desert. Enjoying the sunset and with me still trying to work out how I can possibly be 48 years old… And what a view…               […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Welcome to Scottys Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scotty Hawkes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scotty Hawkes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scotty Hawkes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\"},\"headline\":\"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":305,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/\",\"name\":\"Welcome to Scottys Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\",\"name\":\"Scotty Hawkes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scotty Hawkes\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/author\\\/scotty-hawkes\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog","og_description":"So there we were – basking in the delicious warmth of 28-30 degree evening heat, sitting atop a private sand dune overlooking the Arabian desert. Enjoying the sunset and with me still trying to work out how I can possibly be 48 years old… And what a view…               […]","og_url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/","og_site_name":"Welcome to Scottys Blog","article_published_time":"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Scotty Hawkes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scotty Hawkes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/"},"author":{"name":"Scotty Hawkes","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f"},"headline":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner","datePublished":"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/"},"wordCount":305,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/","name":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner - Welcome to Scottys Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi","datePublished":"2016-11-08T10:19:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b01bb095071ad970d-500wi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/sand-dune-birthday-dinner\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sand Dune Birthday Dinner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/","name":"Welcome to Scottys Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f","name":"Scotty Hawkes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scotty Hawkes"},"url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/author\/scotty-hawkes\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}