10-08-16 Dusit Thani for Two

Wednesday 10th August 2016

Its a Wednesday evening and this means its South-East Asia night at the Dusit Thani. And this can only mean one thing since Mumma Dora has volunteered to babysit Kingsley tonight: that come 7pm Erroll and I will be gorging on the delightful cuisines of our favourite dining destinations: Japan and Thailand in the form of a slick and tasty buffet at our local five star hotel’s 26th floor.

At 6:45pm husband and wife sneak out, leaving JiaJia Dôra entertaining Kingsley by staging a ‘picnic’ on the quilt over the carpeted living room. She had with her on a tray Greek cookies, seaweed crackers, milk, dates, oranges. He was enthralled with the loot, clearly forgot about our presence and with both their backs turned to us, Erroll and I silently shuffled out…and onto FREEDOM FOR A FEW HOURS!

Once seated at the restaurant we did the natural parent thing by recalling a few cute stories we’d experienced recently involving our son, then laughed at our hands-free status and long-forgotten ability to wander away from the table without the need to run after him. Within minutes we had acclimatized to it being just us, and boy were we in our element! At least a dozen times I got up from my seat – and not to calm a tantrumming Kingsley or to fetch a fork which he had hurled to the floor – no; I was getting up to give Erroll a kiss or to twirl about the dining room or look out a window or shock: to go to the loo all by myself!

Of course I thought of Kingskey even before we set off to dine: in my neon pink Coach handbag I’d popped a Tupperware which was to be filled with a wee treat for him. Well that one treat turned into four, much to the delight of both child and JiaJia for when we returned home, and knocked on the door to be let in, the most excited child greeted us with huge smiles, hugs, stories of his evening (power failure; pitch black; grappling for keys; went down to security; electrician visiting; lights back on). In return Kingsley got his dessert and sure enough, got to eat it before his dinner! A reward for being such a good boy with his JiaJia while his old folks had dinner at the Dusit Thani, for two.

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On our way to dine!

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View of Burj Khalifa and Emaar Square

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View of Business Bay and Sheikh Zayed Road