A Little Oryx in Qatar: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The One at Landmark

Had dinner at The One Cafe in Landmark. We each got a brie & garlic soup and then split a lemon chicken insalata (69 QR for both soup and salad, 36 QR for soup). I also tried their banana date smoothie (22 QR) which was ok but didn't really taste like date and had coffee in it...

Monday, May 30, 2011

fabio's Pizza & Italian Food

fabio's Pizza & Italian Food
Othman Bin Affan, Al-Aziziyah
Doha, Qatar
+974 4416 5641
http://fabio-online.webs.com/

We called to get directions and the woman gave us great directions that led us right to them! See the Google map below for the exact location:

View Fabio's Pizza & Italian Food in a larger map

pizza

They made the pizza fresh right there in front of us, really cool. I tried the pomodorini pizza. The cherry tomatoes were yummy!

There is only one small table with three chairs inside this little restaurant but the woman said they would be expanding soon to a bigger place.

Contemporary Concepts Exhibition at the Visual Art Center in Katara

Contemporary Concepts Exhibition

Visual Art Center, Katara

May 17-30, 2011

Professional Qatari artists explore conceptual art in a broader scale at the ‘Contemporary Concepts’ retrospective at the Visual Art Centre (VAC) at Katara. The art expo, which was opened by Japanese Ambassador Kenjiro Monji, is a product of a series of monthly workshops started in January for professional Qatari artists, which is a programme of the VAC to further explore various art forms and materials.

What resulted were nearly a hundred mixed media paintings and ceramic artworks that are unique in themselves not only for the materials used but the underlying themes. Burlap and canvas fabrics used in sacks, plastic forks, tea bags, ropes, sands, leaves, newspapers, tissue papers were some of the materials combined with colours to create the paintings.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/152691-conceptual-artworks-on-display-at-katara.html

I'm not a huge fan of contemporary art but these were kinda cool.

I liked this desert teabag people abstract.

This was kinda neat with the flower petals.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sarai at Villagio

mixed grill, lamb kebab, and babaganoush

Sarai at Villagio Mall has a really nice atmosphere inside the restaurant. The fresh raspberry juice was so fresh and delicious that I had to get two! The chicken was good in the mixed grill but this restaurant mostly has lamb dish options. Great place if you like lamb!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Hedgehogs at Qatar University Farm

Life is so funny and somehow I ended up on a hedgehog hunt at Qatar University Farm. I never would have expected something like this in Qatar! The hedgehogs live in a huge trash heap out in the middle of the desert and eat the bugs in the trash. There are loads of them, at least over 100! And they are sooo cute! We even got to see and hold some baby hedgehogs!

pomegranate

Out on the farm there are also a lot of fruit trees, including pomegranate, lemon, olive, and date. I hope to go back in August when the dates are fruiting.

date trees

dates

the trash heap off in the distance

The hedgehogs only come out at night so we had to wait for dusk before beginning the quest.

Naturally, there were also many bugs out and about.

The first catch was a baby hedgehog! He was so cute but scared and just kept his eyes closed the whole time.

I got to hold him and he was just so tiny!!

After we had the full photo shoot, off he went right into the trash! They can move really fast!

baby hedgehog returning to the trash

and he's running up the trash pile!

hard to see him now but he's in there

Then we caught a bigger one.

He was also super cute and a great model! He seemed to really enjoy having his photo taken.

What an amazing experience!!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Dubai: Dubai Museum

Finally convinced my friend to go to a museum right before my flight! We decided to go to Dubai Museum. At first it seemed really small and just the fort part but actually there is a huge underground part to it that just kept going and going! We were so surprised with the size and quality of the museum. A really great place to visit in Dubai and only 3 Durhams to enter.

Dubai Museum (متحف دبي‎) is the main museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is located in the Al Fahidi Fort (حصن الفهيدي‎), built in 1787 and is the oldest existing building in Dubai. The museum was opened by the ruler of Dubai in 1971, with the aim of presenting the traditional way of life in the Emirate of Dubai. It includes local antiquities as well as artifacts from African and Asian countries that traded with Dubai. It also includes several dioramas showing life in the emirate before the advent of oil. In addition to artifacts from recent discoveries as old as 3000 B.C.

There were some nice pearl diving sections. The whole museum had figures in dioramas.

Below was a really neat diorama with a video of a man doing carpentry playing in the back behind a somewhat opaque screen. It looked like there was really someone in there and some of the children were trying to talk to him! A really fantastic use of technology. Unfortunately the photo didn't really come out too good and you can't see the video.

After the museum we walked around the area for a bit and got some shawarma before I had to head to the airport.

Dubai: Dragon Mart

We drove so far to this really cool mall, called Dragon Mart, that has so much cheap stuff and good shopping.

DragonMart provides a gateway for the supply of Chinese products in the Middle Eastern and North African Markets. The 150,000 square meter dragon-shaped structure has 3,950 shops engaged in the wholesale and retail trade of a variety of Chinese products including home appliances, stationery, office appliances, communication and acoustic equipment, lamps, household items, building materials, furniture, toys, machinery, garments, textiles, footwear and general merchandise.