Ever since my husband and I bought a book containing vouchers for meals and activities in the buy-one-get-one-free category, we've sworn off paying full price for dinner - in theory at least. I'm not one to complain, though, since I love anything that gets me out of the kitchen for a night.

One of the upsides of having this handy dandy book stowed safely away in our car is that we've been introduced to a whole host of restaurants and cafés to keep us Abu Dhabi newbies busy. We've also become far more adventurous, since even if we do end up having a disastrous meal, at least we can take comfort in that it was half off.

Last night, we were out running errands and decided to grab some dinner as well. Deciding we wanted to go somewhere new, we popped open our book and tore out a few options.

Since being overly difficult and absolutely frustrating is part of my inherent personality (I blame it on my genetics and so reckon it can't be helped) we stopped off at a few places, settled down (after only changing seats twice) and perused the menu only to discover that what we wanted was not being served.

The third time around, we managed to successfully find a restaurant serving what it advertised on the menu. We only changed seats once (to my patient husband's delight) and were ready to order. The food was delicious and, overall, we had a lovely evening.

It was when the bill came that we ran into some trouble. The server had failed to mention that their card machine wasn't working and we would have to pay in cash. My husband had just come from the gym so I was the only one with a wallet. I had a handful of bills but not quite enough to make it.

Giving up then and there, I expected we'd be off to hunt for a cash point with bulging bellies in tow to settle the matter. It was that or wash dishes.

My husband, however, was undaunted - he dug around my change purse and somehow miraculously was able to count out 17 dirhams, fils and all, which was just enough to cover the bill.

Just don't ask about the tip!