When bananas grow soft and erupt into patches of black over their yellow fibrous skins, I swoop in to their rescue. I wait for bananas to grow ripe, even overripe, much to the disgust of family members who silently endure whiffs of sickly sweet banana as I peel the mushy fruit with gusto. It’s not just ripe bananas – I’ve always preferred soft-yielding fruit over their hard, crunchy brethren, be it moist dates, pulpy blueberries bursting under a baked berry crumble, or velvet-skinned chicos (sapodillas) whose flesh effortlessly melts on your tongue against the wish of every apple-advocating -dentist.
I recently stumbled upon two Saudi Arabian breakfast concoctions that made me reconnect with my love for ripe bananas and dates. Both dishes were childishly simple, and childishly comforting. Nestled in our mini porcelain saucepan of masoub was a caramel-coloured banana and bread mash, spotted with canned cream and honey, and hemmed in by a moat of melted ghee. The banana bread muddle was a taste of childhood nostalgia, of school-day mornings when Mum would transform bananas, milk and sugar into sweet morning fuel that would keep me fluttering around class until lunchtime.
Areeka, on the other hand, replaced bananas with a ground-up mash of dates and two kinds of bread – traditional Arabic khubz and a crispy filo-textured feteer. I spooned up the dense date-bread mixture, strategically rubbing against a splodge of cream and a swathe of processed cheese strands – capital culinary crime for any self-respecting gourmand, but in this specific date-dosed case, the processed cheese played a fitting sour twang to the fruity medley.
Two thoughts nibbled on my mind as I drove back after breakfast, my eyes watering with the sleepy intensity of a double carb overdose. First, that two rich breakfast dishes late on a workday morning was not one of my wisest ideas yet. And second, that when the next batch of squishy banana rejects are flung my way, I might attempt to sneak them back on to our family breakfast table.
• Arva Ahmed blogs about hidden food gems in Old Dubai at www.iliveinafryingpan.com
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
FORSPOKEN
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The%20Legend%20of%20Zelda%3A%20Tears%20of%20The%20Kingdom
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Assassin's%20Creed%20Mirage
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Starfield
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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The specs: 2018 Bentley Bentayga V8
Price, base: Dh853,226
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 550hp @ 6,000pm
Torque: 770Nm @ 1,960rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L / 100km
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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More coverage from the Future Forum
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Fixtures
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How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.