journalarabia

We had a fabulous weekend two weekends ago. It’s OK that we’re behind on posting things because I made a new years resolution to be more relaxed and less punctual. Anyway, we went to the Garden Center and after a couple of hours and some great brewed-on-site organic coffees there we finally fell in love with the oddest looking plant that we’ve ever seen and decided that we had to take it home with us. Elizabeth named her Gretel which is an onomatopoeic adaptation of her rugged beauty and has nothing to do with abused children left in the woods and seduced with candy by a witch.

That same weekend we decided to finally try Dunkin Donuts coffee as a little taste of home and a break from all of those fancy cappuccinos and lattes. Elizabeth has had a problem ever since we got here in that they do not sell “half and half” at any of the stores. We have tried stuff labeled “full cream milk” and many other things that are just not quite right. So when we were at Dunkin Donuts she asked them if they had American style half and half. They agreed that it can’t be purchased but said that they make their own right there behind the counter with milk and cream. This was a revelation that has allowed us to share our morning coffee in the house together with equal satisfaction by performing our own bit of dairy chemistry in the kitchen. And the coffee that morning at Dunkin Donuts was delicious!

I had the “opportunity” to travel to Ruwais recently. It’s near the Saudi border if you travel along the coast Southwest towards Qatar. You can’t drive from the UAE to Qatar because Saudi Arabia sometime around 1974 got a 15 mile stretch of coast land from Abu Dhabi in return for guarantees that it would not challenge the UAE’s right to the Buryami Oasis, Al Ain and surrounding areas. But once in Ruwais, I was actually closer to Doha than to Dubai if by land. It is a company town and the company is ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. It’s one of the world’s largest oil companies and the backbone of the UAE economy. I was there to participate in a design workshop as a representative of Yamasaki. Below are some images of the ADNOC executive retreat and residential compound where I stayed and the oil refinery at night.

Beth and I had a 36 hour layover in Istanbul after the holidays. We forgot our camera back in Dubai so we had to pick up a disposable film camera and this is the best we could do with that. It was fun getting film developed again! Sorry this is over two weeks late…
Istanbul was incredible and we really have to go back – when it is warmer and not raining, and when we are not hungover with head colds. We stayed in a great little bed and breakfast just down the hill from the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia.

download the pdf by clicking the image above

We have a tickle-date with these two!
(click on photo for Totolici Photography)

We began our search by checking out the Atlantis. It’s the hotel resort with the huge aquarium in the middle.

We walked around and saw a lot but as it turns out we only saw about 1/10 of it. But we got a great cappuccino at the Brasserie Rostang. The croissants were so good with the orange peel marmalade I got a little barbaric.

But by following Beth’s example of how to act in a world-class resort such as this, I finally got it.

Now that’s a good cappuccino. Afterwards we enjoyed the sun for a while.

Then it was off for a little drive to Abu Dhabi to the Emirates Palace Hotel where you can spend over $10,000 USD per night on a room if that’s your thing.

To build up our appetite for extravagance we decided to check out the exhibit of Saadiyat Island architecture. It’s the new development that features a Cultural District with 6 commissioned buildings by the biggest name players in international architecture. The ones pictured below are by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Tado Ando. I think my favorite is either Tado Ando’s or Jean Nouvel’s. They both really did something great with the opportunity. The others just did more of the same craziness.

OK. Now…

Presentation is good. What’s with the pretty box?

Nice.

Living the high life.

Now off to get our valet parked car…

And off to home where I had to get back to work for a little while to help pay for our cappuccino budget.

The Emirates Hotel charged about $12 per cappuccino, the Atlantis Brasserie only about $8.

This is in another mall near us.
It’s a lounge kept at -6 C. They serve mocktails in glasses made out of ice. People WANT to go there.

Last night we went to the opening at the Jam Jar (see In Situ post below) where our piece, “The World’s Largest Blue Tarp Origami Boat” debuted.

It was a really great show with lots of excellent works. A lot of the pieces had themes inspired by the city and the construction and the nature of transitory lives and the crazy show that goes on here about being the biggest and the best.