Waiting and waaiting and waaaiting

Ever been extremely hungry and you anxiously await your food in the promised 15 - 20min?

Well so have I! 

Except I think I've been jinxed  to "wait forever!"

Being a Hangry (angry when hungry) type of person, it is probably the most annoying jinx to ever have.

Working up an appetite whilst shopping has been the norm and over the past few days I've been disappointed with every meal I've ordered. I am a fairly patient individual and respect the fact that good food takes time. However, telling a customer that their food will be ready in a certain amount of time and then taking 45 - 50 minutes to present the food, after being asked twice where the order was and have other people who ordered 25 minutes AFTER YOU given their food is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. If you think that's bad enough, my sister was served the incorrect dish! 

Then there are the excuses for delayed orders. Bear in mind that these places are take-out OR sit down restaurants.

• "The restaurant is really busy, sorry for the delay" - oh yes ofcourse! The three families of four are making it SO busy hey?!

• "So sorry Mam, they prepare the orders in number order" - Okay. Is that why 208 already had their order and we are order number 197? Riddle me that! Oh and how long does it take to make a burger?

• The other one is no excuse at all, just tell someone to bring my food when I stare down the cashier.

But the best one this week was from a manager.

Waiter: Sorry Mam,the kitchen messed up,  my manager found a problem.

Me: What was the problem? 

Manager: "Sorry Mam, yours was a big order so it got delayed". THREE FULL MEALS is LARGE order? So I'm meant to come eat by myself to get my food faster? Does my payment have no value? Is it just the number of meals I order? 

I had to practice such self-restraint not to be rude. But saying "innallaha ma'as sãbirûn" in my mind and my ever calmed father helped. 

The best place to order at is Burger King - The Zone in Rosebank. They are ever so efficient, during one of my visits as soon as I'd entered my pin for payment my order was ready!  BELIEVE IT.

Another of my favourite spots is Ninos at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Friendly staff and beautifully relaxed atmosphere makes for a pleasant experience. 

There are others however these two places are the ones that stand out from the rest. May my jinx be over soon and hopefully just hopefully you don't experience the torture of "waiting, waaiting and waaaitng".

That's all for now 😘 

xxx

The UBG 

Saudaa

The Market Tales

Elooooo elooooo 🤗

I'm female as you all know... And one of the things we find most endearing is shopping! What makes it even better is when there's a sale or when we can get ourselves a good bargain 💱.

Being who I am, food plays an important role in my mood. Happy tummy = Happy Saudaa. Hence a combination of these two things and I'd be in a state of euphoria!

I was going to post on the Morning Trade Market but didn't get to fully experience it, so "Market Tales Part 2" shall follow soon enough 😊 for now its:

ROOFTOP NIGHT MARKET - MUSGRAVE

The first Friday evening of every month is where you can find the market in Musgrave Centre on the 4/5th level parking lot from ~17:30 - 20:00pm. This market has what others lack; a secure covered experience from rain and heavy wind (bonus points - you don't have an excuse not to get out of the house in bad weather) as well as secure parking 🅿 so can you can indulge with your mind being completely at ease!

My first trip to the market was with a good friend with whom I spent ~30 minutes in the parking lot trying to find a parking space, listening to what my friend called "Muslim-girl music" aka trance/ EDM kinda music😂.

Since my first visit I've overcome the parking battle and now have my "spot" - thank you for introducing me to this place!

 If you happen to visit the market you may come across a very happy Saudaa, this is because there's a huge variety of food AND the best part is, almost EVERYTHING IS HALAAL! 

I love trying new flavours and foods as well as the whole fancy serving of it. However, I find that many of the scrumptious looking restaurants aren't halaal leaving me without an opportunity to satiate my inner foodie.

So here at the Rooftop Market you can find clothing by local designers, thrift stalls, crafts including a beautiful African art collection and a little pet corner. It also boasts almost twenty food stalls ranging from wholesome foods to purely indulgent deserts. I can say with confidence that all of the stalls were created by cool people, my  reason?  The amazing use of puns in many of the stall names 😂.

These stalls are pop-ups thereby enhancing local SME's and entrepreneurs. Being opposed to brain-drain I fully support the saying "Local is Lekker" and this market allows me to follow through with that ideology.

Sketchy selfies

Although queues are long which lead to selfies (see above 😁), nonsensical comments, good company, AFFORDABLE great food and crafts compensate for it. Encounters range from the most random people of all ages to bumping into Mr India SA (yes, I'm a pageant girl) set against a backdrop of a buzz of all local artists showcasing their talent is an experience not to be missed.

If you're looking for a place to basically chill out at/ meet people/ support local businesses/ artists/ eat/ try something new or simply looking for a good experience in Durban other than the beach, be sure to visit next month (5 August)!

If you have been to the market share your experience with me in the the comments section below and if you see me there be sure to say Hi!

 That's all for now 😘

 xxx

 The UBG

 Saudaa

The Eid Effect

Peace be unto you all - in other words As-salaamualaikum ✌ 

A belated Eid Mubarak for all those that I didn't get to wish and thank you if you did wish me 😘

I'm sure everyone got to indulge and if you don't celebrate hopefully you had a good Muslim neighbour or friend that shared some goodies with you ➡ good company pays off😝

This year I fell into the category of "waiting for my phone to explode with messages" then put mendi/ henna before going to bed.😂 Eid was different this year, rather than it just being us at home it was a full house of family and it wasn't "Eid at the grannies".

⏰ My alarm on the morning of Eid was the sound of pots and pans klanking in the kitchen and mum's annoyed voice saying "Sa'ud wake up! Waaake up! You're going to miss Fajr" 🙈an atrocity not to be committed - losing the glow of the face on Eid, no thank you!! (It's because the morning prayer gives you "noor" (glow) on your face.) Morning prayer done - glow confirmed 🙌 then it was time to get cracking- shower clean up, help in the kitchen and ofcourse pack the plates of biscuits for the friends!

👗 Then it was time for the highlight and a sunnah on Eid: dressing up 🙌

I wore a Turkish style kaftan (that I'd been after for ages) from a store Saudi-Arabia - thanks to mum's recent Umrah trip, black Ajmaan inner (I absolutely love the fit of this inner), black pleather leggings from Winged Girl (CPT), my new favourite black Topshop stilettos, with finishing touches of a Hermes belt and a patent leather black bag from Jealousy (DBN) and a square scarf from ages ago!

 I usually wear my contact lenses on a dress-up day but I decided to play it cool and Wear my glasses 👓 I guess they are new and needed an introduction to the family 😂. 

Then there was the make-up I got to contour my sister's face, did mine and finished off with my second favourite lipstick which is from Avon! 

After dollin' up it was then time to head off to the new hotspot - my uncle's house, where everyone would be meeting for lunch. There's always one item missing and this year it was fire wood so off I went with the_eclectic_hijabi, cousin in-law and nephew to find some firewood. So there I was prancing around in circles to entertain the little-one in the shop with my amazing heels - so amazing that they deserved their own picture 😂

🍲 Back to the food The menu included soji 👌 ofcourse the grand "mutton breyani" drool because it was delish! Coming from me - a person who isn't a fan of such heavy foods you can believe it was divine🙌. 

There were other side dishes but the main attraction was my favourite - Pavlova 😍 since I was told my cousin from Cape Town would be down for Eid and making that for desert it was the only thing on my mind 😂 Only thing is EVERYONE wanted to try and having a big family wasn't cool for this moment because I couldn't indulge as much as I wanted to. I got restricted to only 1 piece if heaven 💔. 

Nevertheless lunch was a treat with the mini uncles and nephews and niece running around. Whilst we "in-betweeners" mingled with the adults laughing as we shared stories. I love the idea of large family gatherings you never feel alone. There's always that warm fuzzy feeling of belonging💗 if you haven't experienced it tell me and you can definitely come join me at our next big "thing" 😀.

On coming home, it was yummy food again soups, steaks and veggies! With visitors 😅 a change to the normal sense of serenity I usually experience at home, but a good supper time nevertheless!

Ofcourse to end my day there was a photo-shoot of selfies and "mum please take a picture of me" 😂

So my lovelies that was my eid! I hope you had an amazing day as I did. No need to feel underachieved on Eid 😊 

Please feel free to share your Eid tales with me or to take me up on the offer if joining me!

That's it for now 😘 

xxx 

The UBG 

Saudaa