Chris Al Tarrant

As we get out and about more at media events, we are beginning to meet the great and the good of Abu Dhabi, UAE and the wider Middle East. At a recent event we were introduced to the guest of honour a certain Mr. George Kerdahi. I’ve made a point of not mentioning names on this blog, but this guy was very popular, and clearly worth bending the rules for and naming!

So I greeted him, told him it was a pleasure to meet him etc. etc sat back down and politely asked our host, who this guest of honour was. He went on to describe this very popular TV quiz show, where you have to answer 15 questions in a row by yourself, however you have 3 lifelines, take 50-50, ask the audience or phone a friend, and can win money. I was asked if I’d ever seen it!!! Well it turns out that Mr George Gerdahi is the very popular (mainly with the ladies) host of the Middle East version of who wants to be a millionaire.

Those of you that don’t recognise him, he’s the one in the middle with the suit.

Do you recognise him now?

Iftar Number 1

Though Ramadan is a giving and sacrificing month, it is also quite sociable. Traditionally when the fast is broken every day, people gather at a variety of places for Iftar, the first meal after the all day fast. Families go to each others houses or out for a meal, and some organizations and businesses use the opportunity to host “networking” Iftars. As we are now being welcomed into the “media” community, we’ve been invited to a number of Iftars at the different hotels around town, and one recently was at Le Royal Meridien.

The invitation says 6.40pm, and at 6.40pm on the dot, guests people are arriving. Strange to see over here as being early or even on time for any kind of meeting is usually unheard of, but then eating for the first time in 14hours is good enough reason not to be late. Even though the fast is traditionally broken by eating dates, the food was fantastic, absolutely everything you can imagine. Soup, fish, grilled meat, vegetables, salads, but my personal favourite, a “whole” lamb sitting in a huge tray carved up for you as you went fill you plate.
Do the Iftars last all night? Not at all, literally as soon as people had eaten, it was up from your seats and out to another event or location. Less than an hour from start to finish! No time to hang around and natter over a coffee! Absolutely fantastic!

Shamed!

I've just received a message from probably one of the best editors and journalists I've had the pleasure to work with and also an all round really nice guy, who, as someone who keeps a very good blog himself, gently to reminded me (and shamed me) to post more. And he's right!

Yet again, I've let slip and not kept this blog as up to date as I planned, can make some excuses, but there aren't any really. It's not like not much has happened, because it has, so expect to see a few posts shortly on the past months experiences and especially how the Holy Month of Ramadan went.