Le jour de St. Valentine is upon us. Rouge is everywhere. In Travel Gourmande, a romantic getaway would be the most ideal gift. But for those planning a staycation, here are a few ideas for the home.

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

What have you planned?

How was your weekend? Great thing about having family and friends over for a visit is the chance of discovering touristic sights that we, expats, tend to take for granted. I've been living in Dubai for ten years. It was only this weekend that I got to see Dubai Museum. Please allow me to give you an overview of what Dubai Museum offers, with a silent blog. Here goes...

I'm happy to share the snapshots with you, while touring my brother in-law, his wife and daughter around Dubai. They seem to be enjoying the sun very much, upon briefly leaving behind the cold winter in France. December to March is the perfect season to visit. 

I'm going to devote this week to stories about France. The entire in-laws are coming over for a visit this week. While this weekend will be fully occupied by house chores, I'm also worried about getting lost in translation. The family barely speaks English. With some- completely zero. Partly I like that because it motivated me to learn french, but I hope I don't nosebleed. {Nosebleed is a joke, an expression we use at home to describe having difficulty expressing oneself in another language. Excessive thinking will cause the brain to hemorrhage thus leading to nosebleed}.  

During a trip to France two years ago, the husband and I went on a long road trip heading up north passing through French Brittany all the way to the tip of Belgium reaching the border of Netherlands and then down to Loire Valley. I was happy playing navigator with a good old map, as we avoided toll gates and highways wherever possible. We slowly drove  inside narrow roads discovering small villages on the way.  Sometimes, we'd stop at a small supermarket for a sandwich that we could eat outdoors or  if I'm lucky, I get to have a big meal in my favorite cafeteria - Flunch, found in big cities. We stayed in chambre d'hotes, bed and breakfast inns for the night and then we'd start driving again.