Episode 3: Food, Food, Glorious Food!

You only have to say FOOD, and that brings everyone together. I have enjoyed sharing my meals with other passionate foodies. My Tour de Feast begins @7 Pearls to the fancy 5* Hotels @West Bay, and then from Al Saad to the villa compounds of friends and beyond; my food journey in Qatar has been a gastronomic feast of flavours and aroma. My Fridays are spent either on my own or in the seat of friends' cars going on the makan (eating) trail - whether it's visiting regular haunts or checking out new ones after reviews from friends who will tell you it's a MUST TRY makan place. Aside from the restaurant fare, there's a good deal of home cooked food to rave about. You have to have friends who know of other friends who are excellent "house-chefs"! And a meal is only good if you have others to share it with. Will most definitely miss the company more!

Till next time.

Episode 2: BASANTHA, WHERE'S MY CAFFEE

...bellows my colleague to the Tea boy. Every workday morning, Basantha faithfully infuses the air with the aroma of coffee. He's on his feet, pacing the corridors of our rooms, making sure that we have enough of that black liquid to keep us going.

I shall miss my regular order of Basantha's "Special" tea - ceylon tea with evaporated milk. By about 10am, David, Laurie and myself will nip down Salam Tower to visit Bava in his 5foot container of tidbits/snacks, drinks and shwarma egg rolls.
How I will miss my tea-time delights with my workmates. The idea of sitting in our chairs for 8 hours is a torture both mentally and physically. So we find some form of reprieve by leaving the confines of our "prison cell" to have our tea time at Bava's. I shall miss these people who have made a difference to my work day.

Here's a quote I like from J. Paul Getty:
Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train. Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you're just sitting still?
...and I pose this question to myself every workday.

Till next time

Episode 1: Fetch Rover, Fetch Kia

Here's little boy blue and the quicksilver dude
travelling here, there and everywhere.
From a city that's mad to the Max to
West of the Bay,
Helping happy travellers to their journey
Far and beyond

Go Rover, Go Kia
You take me from the pearly gates of seven
rolling steadfast and true
meandering and cornering
over paths of rock, sand and dune

Roll Rover, Roll Kia
wandering with cautious care
at round-a-bouts with your senses all aware
as you greet your metallic crew
of Cruiser, Posh, Lamb and Jag

Park Rover, Park Kia
basking in the sun
ever watchful and waiting
for a spot in the shade
and a blessed shower or two

Good lads, Rover and Kia
little boy blue and the
quicksilver dude

May 23, 2010 - 'Camelicious Camel Burgers'

DUBAI - 'DON'T miss yummy camel burger' reads the Dubai restaurant's sign, putting a Western twist on traditional fare to entice adventurous tourists into giving camel meat a chew.

Camel meat is eaten throughout the Gulf, but Dubai's Local House restaurant targets visitors who may never have bitten into this edible form of desert transport.

'Most of our guests are tourists from different parts of the world,' says Ramesh, a 44-year-old Indian national who has managed the restaurant since it opened in 2004. He says the restaurant was the brainchild of the owner, a local from Dubai who grew up on camel meat and milk. 'With this restaurant (the owner) wanted to (introduce) that to the world as well. That's how it all started,' said Ramesh, who gave only one name.

Camels, sometimes called 'ships of the desert', are a big part of culture in the Arabian Peninsula. In the United Arab Emirates, there are camel races, camel beauty contests and competitions for the tastiest camel cuisine. Camel meat is cooked many ways and sometimes served as a 'shawarma' - grilled meat wrapped in flat bread.

Local House prides itself on its novel burger, but the menu boasts an extensive camel-based offering. 'We have...camel soup, camel salad, then we have the camel burger, camel kebab, camel steak, then we have camel briyani - that is a mixture of rice and camel meat,' says Ramesh, as he rattles off still more menu items.

The restaurant also offers a camel curry dish, grilled camel ribs and the camel special, which is cooked in oyster sauce. 'Camelicious' brand camel milk, milk chocolates and milkshakes made with camel milk are some of the other offerings. The burger costs 35 dirhams (about US$9 or S$12.6), while other dishes range in price between 20 and 72 dirhams (about US$6 and US$20).

Local House customers described their first taste of camel meat as positive. Alanen, a 60-year-old from Finland visiting Dubai with his wife, described the camel burger as 'good'. He tried it because 'my friends say that this place is the only place where we can eat a camel burger'. 'Excellent,' says Anna, a 38-year-old Canadian who tried the camel soup. Karine, 39, a French national living in the UAE, tried the camel briyani and said: 'It was nice. The texture is like mutton, a bit...without the strong taste of the mutton, but it's a bit hard.' --AFP

Home sweet home

I am such a slacker. I have not been updating my blog so friends, near and far, have asked if I would take up my pen to write again. My answer to that is....why not...I have much to share with my friends, and anyone else who wants to know more about (my on-goings in) Doha.

But my offering to my followers of my blog will be for a limited time only as I will be leaving behind the sun, sand and dune in about 11 weeks time! So, no more tuks and birkhas or Starbucks or Carrefour - I'm returning home to my hawker centres, teh alia tarik (ginger-milk tea) and NTUC supermarkets!

While I am over the moon with having made the decision to return home, I am also sad, that I shall be leaving behind a small group of friends. To these people - THANK YOU for keeping me sane and alive!

To all my followers, stay tuned weekly for a 10 episode run (every Sunday) of the final installment of livedoha.blogspot.com.

To get things started, I shall start with this news article featured recently in the International Herald Tribune. Visit the link to view:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/middleeast/14qatar.html?scp=2&sq=doha&st=cse

....and I thought only Singaporeans complained about foreign talent!

Till next time....