My Birthday Comedy Special (with Sausages)--by Randy

Wednesday evening, I enjoyed the main part of my birthday present. One of many Canadian couples in our building, Taylor and Tobin, came over to babysit while Christine and I went across town to the Beach Rotanna Resort, where we ate at the Brauhaus German Restaurant (really good German sausage and pork loin, etc...I had a lot of pork! Christine had some salmon that was very, very good as well). We dined outside because the weather has been so nice, so we enjoyed our quiet little spot along the water, looking out on an island that a year ago was uninhabited and now has a few dozen cranes on it and several skyscrapers well on their way to completion. Ahhh, progress. Ahhh, Abu Dhabi.

We have now dined at three of the many restaurants at the Beach Rotanna, but Brauhaus is my favourite now. The seafood restaurant Finz has a nice atmosphere, but the food isn't that great, especially for the price. Vasco's at the Hilton is much better. And they have a Polynesian restaurant called Trader Vic's which is fun but once you've been, you don't really need to go again.

After dinner, we went to a comedy show (in English) called "Comedy Arabia," featuring Ahmed Ahmed (an Egyptian-American who has lived most his life in Los Angeles). He brought with him several other American comedians, Erik Griffin, Bobby Lee, and Sebastian Maniscalco. Apparently, they have been on the Tonight Show, Comedy Central, etc...Sebastian Maniscalco is set to have his own Comedy Central special in the near future. The comedians tried to cater some of their routine to the locals, adding a little Middle Eastern humor here and there, but you could tell they're Americans. Apparently, every comedian feels the need to make an American Idol joke...

The audience was appreciative, though, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were hundreds of people there--Emirati, Lebanese, Egyptians, other Gulf Arabs, and various white people (mainly Europeans). It was a fun evening.

By the way, here's a first. I've made a blog entry without mentioning you-know-who by name. Not even a picture of her!