journalarabia

This batch was even more successful than the last. The snake fruit made us both think that we’d discovered the secret of the artificial fruit flavor that you often encounter in candies like jolly ranchers. The spiky one had a texture like pomegranate in that the seeds were small and edible within a luscious suspension of sweetness. It had a kind of banana flavor to the green goodness. The best by far though was the little round cherry tomato-like fruits in the light brown husks. They have this flavor that is simply like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. Very complex with changing taste over time from very sweet, to overtones of bitterness, to a savory aftertaste.

While over for dinner at Barbara and Mark’s house in Mirdif the other night, I had a little too much wine. So I decided to take some pretty pictures while Elizabeth was driving us home. I kind of like the effect though so I’m posting them. The light that you can see over the horizon in some shots is the Burj Dubai which when it isn’t blurred at 120k/h is really stunning from that distance across the desert. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera in the car while we were at dinner. I promise the next time that we will get some photos of them and their villa. It’s really quaint and they have a nice little backyard. Their two little girls are incredibly sweet. Barbara teaches alongside Elizabeth at AUD. Mark is an engineer. He’s from Jamaica and she’s from Toronto. Mark makes a wicked grilled barracuda.

Check on our tomato plants.


Beth wakes up looking perfect.


Rob rolls out late looking awful. “Are you sure you want me to ruin this coffee by putting cream in it?” He asks.

Last night after working hard all day and drinking, Beth decided that we should take a cab down to Diera, the old center of the city. Here are some pictures.


See the kitty on the dumpster.


This one is for Pearl.


We decided to take a boat taxi over to Bur Dubai for dinner. Our Bangladeshi driver was great. He showed us photos of his family.
















Yes. Thursday is the new Friday when you are in an Islamic country.


Isn’t she beautiful? Beth picked this up while we were strolling through Diera. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

Our first month here, Elizabeth decided to put together a book that was a compilation of photographs taken from our bedroom balcony every 30 minutes.

Here it is. It’s really interesting to watch the comings and goings of the buses with the workers and the colors are very vivid.

We’ve been inspired by our surroundings and especially by the plight of the people here that are building the apartment buildings that are rising up so quickly around us. We have so many ideas for projects. Another piece is a video from the balcony that I shot at night. Beth put a soundtrack to it of pearl-diving song to a very interesting effect. I’ll put up soon as well. And we have some things in the works that don’t even take place from the balcony. In fact, we are going to have a piece in a sculpture show coming up so stay tuned for that. Tomorrow we are going to the gallery to figure out the space that it will take up.

We have been working our asses of with our jobs but even so, every day feels like vacation. It still feels fun to go to work — kind of like I’m playing a part that I know well. I guess the novelty has still not worn off about the newness of the place.

The image on the right is the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company logo. They are the state-owned oil company of the UAE. I noticed the similarity the week before the election but I didn’t want to say anything that could be used against him. I think it’s just probably a coincidence.

We’ve been working a lot lately, but on our own projects as much as on our salaried projects. While doing so yesterday we were distracted by some very interesting bird calls coming from our bedroom balcony. We sneaked over in time to see two little exotic looking birds enjoying our new balcony. So we took a short break today to get a bird guide book, a bird feeder and some more hanging planters to add to the foliage out there. Another one of the planters we’re using to grow herbs and tomatoes in off the kitchen window.

It started Thursday evening when we had dinner with some new friends. We met up at the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina and the Spice Emporium restaurant where we had some of the best food ever. Our hosts insisted on ordering two bottles of a nice dry white on top of the glasses we had ordered for ourselves while we were waiting. So we had to abandon our poor little Peugeot and take a cab home. We got her early the next morning though, and the cab ride to the Westin gave us a good excuse to have brunch there.

After brunch, Beth drove us home. Now she’s a Dubai driver!

Later Friday night it was time to meet my coworkers at the Deira Iraqi restaurant for some authentic Iraqi fish. It’s slow cooked for an hour on a skewer set about a meter away from an open flame that is burning a particular type of wood. We have never had anything like it. It was beyond our wildest expectations. Whoever visits us will get the best dinner of his or her life when we take you to this place.

This morning we went to the Garden Center and got a Jasmine plant, a Gardenia and some other interesting local flowering plants to turn our balcony into a little paradise retreat.
And then tonight to top it all off, we are now enjoying the first bottle of wine that we legally purchased at the liquor store with Beth’s new license. When we stopped in tonight to see if the license was ready, we were so confused by the guy behind the counter. First he said that we would have to pay 50AED because we didn’t answer the phone when he tried to call us. Then he put a piece of paper in front of us and made Beth choose from a list of liquors on a sheet that had some information about how we could only spend 750AED per month on alcohol based on her salary. She picked Finlandia vodka and then he proceeded to place three bottles of the stuff on the counter. He also pointed out a couple of coupons for a free bottle of wine at the local bar and free coffee at Costa. So for getting our license we got three free 750ml bottles of vodka, a free bottle of wine and free coffees. No strings attached. So we picked up two more bottles of wine and got out of there before they could change their minds.

We’re enjoying some nice stuff from Lebanon right now. It has subtle black pepper tones with a medium dryness.

Last weekend Beth and I went on a search for the perfect bicycle. It had to be just like the one that we see the dock and construction workers riding around on. They have got these sweet old-fashioned one-speeds with bells and baskets. The bike is for our convenient use of course, but it also will have a second purpose to be announced at a later date.
Our search took us to all the little back neighborhoods of Bur Dubai, Karama, and Satwa. It’s easy to find a $1000 Cannondale at Wolfi’s bike shop that caters to the Westerner, but we wanted something more real (and affordable) and a one-speed sounded perfect for this flat city. Here are the photos chronologically from our adventures that day.


The Iranian Hospital is a beautiful building on Al Wasl road on the edge of Satwa. The tile work is incredible.


This one is for my brother Mike. We went in looking for some morals in exchange for some headstrong determination but sadly their stock was down to tactful recapitulations, indifferent acquiescences, and conscientious variations.


Saloons, Saloons everywhere, yet not a drop to drink.
This is the UAE version of what we in the US call a “Barbershop”. Almost every hair cutting operation has “Saloon” written on the sign.




After finding our first tiny bike store in a small neighborhood in Bur Dubai we celebrated by having lunch on the creek. The food was excellent though neither of us was brave enough to taste the pigeon.












Beth’s dream: a large stack of huge sugar packets.




While waiting for the small shop to re-open to see if the cute light-blue bike inside was for sale or just in for repairs, we took a little walk towards the Bastakia but never actually got there. Instead we got a little lost in the tiny streets around this beautiful mosque. The scene at the doorstep of the mosque was an amazing conglomeration of weird things: a beautifully ramshackle shanty apartment, the remnants of a watermelon picnic, a pack of roosters, a sleeping kitty in a planter, and some beautiful flowering bushes.




























The light-blue bike was just in for repairs. We left our number and asked to be called if any old bikes turned up for sale. The search continues on to Satwa…




AND SUCCESS!


For about $75 US, we got the perfect green, made-in-china, one-speed, old-fashioned, bell and basket type bicycle. It’s brand new but it looks authentic.






Isn’t she beautiful!?