(BELATED) DOHA DIARIES: MY WEEK IN PICTURES #11

Monday 9 February 2015

I know, I know. It's Monday, it's two days in to the new week and I am posting my round up of the week before. I hold my hands up to being a slack blogger!

This week just gone had been peppered with worry, after receiving word from home that my Auntie Jan was in a coma following a hospital procedure. She is my mums lifelong best friend, and a second mum to me - one of those Auntie's who isn't a relative by blood but is my closest family nonetheless. To say it came as a shock is an understatement. Similarly to what happened to me in January 2014, she had a stent fitted, and developed septicemia, but the severity of her case led the doctors to put her into an induced coma for a week.

I am so happy to report that she has now been brought out of her coma, and whilst we don't know what the next step is with regards to her recovery, we have entered the new week with hope. It has been one of those weeks that really puts things into perspective.

With worry in my mind, I tried to keep as busy as possible.

Alongside two colleagues, I paid a visit to our Corniche studio, from which we would be broadcasting our upcoming coverage of the Six Nations rugby.



It was a good opportunity to scope out the facilities, and to see where I would need to bring the guests at the weekends over the course of February and March. For anyone who did tune in to our coverage of the Six Nations on Saturday 7th, this was where we were filming from. Such a nice change to have views of the Gulf, and the beautiful city skyline.


Wednesday evening after work took myself and Jemma to La Varenne, to sample their new happy hour Aperetif, which I would highly recommend trying for yourself. I look forward to heading back to sample a new selection of hors d'oeuvres, and to maybe try one of their cocktail options.

Thursday's day off turned into a day of working from home, before heading over to the Four Seasons to collect the prize I had won from the BloggingME event. I had to stop to take a photo or two of the beautiful flower arrangement in the hotel lobby.



This was followed by a much needed date night with my man to unwind. Once a week we have a date night using the Entertainer App, and this week we took ourselves to Isaan at the Grand Hyatt, for what was really a wonderful meal. We kicked off with chicken in pandan leaves and grilled tiger prawns to share. Mains for me was the chicken in panang curry, which is my absolute favourite. Delicious flavours, in a mild creamy sauce, with a subtle kick that is just right for someone like me who can't handle spice at all. Matt opted for the green chicken curry, which was also lovely but absolutely blew my head off with the spice levels!

Friday was my big brothers 30th birthday. I felt very homesick to not have been there to give him his present in person, or his card (thank goodness for Moonpig!), or to go for dinner with him and my family and his friends. I made him a fun video with birthday messages from some of our presenters and analysts with Tottenham connections as they are his favourite team, so it was nice to be able to do something special like that for him as a result of my job.

I stayed late at work on Friday night to meet a new analyst. After Jemma had finished her Friday night show, we took a taxi over to Glo bar at the Mariott Marquis to meet Marion for a cocktail and a catch up. Glo is one of those bars I always tend to overlook, but it is absolutely perfect for an after work drink. The music is brilliant, the cocktail menu is extensive (and not outrageously priced in comparison to some places), and the food is delicious. I have eaten there on two separate occasions and been very impressed both times.

I rounded off the week with impromptu drinks and dinner on Saturday night with some French colleagues from BeIN Paris. Nicholas has been here for the month, working on the handball, and Emmanuel (who I had met during the World Cup) and Cedric had just arrived for a week to work on the cycling.

After work, we made our way over to the W Hotel for happy hour at Wahm before dinner at my very favourite restaurant, La Spiga by Papermoon. I didn't know that there was an outside dining area, so I was pleasantly surprised when we were led to our table outside, and I look forward to dining out on the La Spiga terrace when the weather warms up a bit.


The ravioli with spinach and ricotta in butter and sage sauce for me, and manly pizzas for the Frenchmen, with a bottle of red to share.


It really was a welcome distraction to be so busy, and by the looks of the plans in my diary, this week will also follow in a similar fashion!

Hope you all had a great week :)

2 comments:

  1. Your photo's of the beautiful weather are making me so jealous! It's currently pishing it down here haha. That pasta looks seriously divine too.... I've had a week of torrential weather and packet pasta hahaha! Have a lovely weekend xxx

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    1. Ahh bless you! The rain is rubbish (although it definitely beats the snow - did you have any?!) Hope you're holed up in the warm somewhere! At least you have an excuse to eat naughty comfort food, I should be tucking into the salad but the hot weather isn't putting me off the pasta at all! Have a lovely weekend Jen :) xx

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