kangayayaroo

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Complicated Plant

June 25, 2010

Posted by Kanga.
Previously, I had seen a very large version of this plant that sent up a giant stalk and then put out tiny and rather silly looking flowers. So, when this one appeared in front of the library, it gave me a change to document it’s reproductive process.

First, it sends up this tall stalk and clumps of buds.

The blooms are mostly just pestles and stamens and it blooms up the stalk.

Then come the seed pods, which fall to the ground.

You might think, as I did, that this is the end, but NO. There’s more.

There is a secondary bloom stage in which leaves and blooms come out of the same clusters that produced the first blooms.

Posted in flowers, plants | 1 Comment »

Signs from the ‘Hood

June 24, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

A creatively named restaurant. Hmm… wonder what they serve here.

Now you know what the royalty is up to.

Here’s an image I never expected to see in the Middle East. (This is actually in a mall not in the neighborhood.)

“Spur People – People with a Taste for Life”

Chicken Tikke so good even a chicken will eat it!

Chinees Food, speaks for itself.

We first saw Rio More tuna in a commercial during the previews at a movie theatre. Then I saw it plastered all over this taxi. The image of tuna in olive oil (greenish goo) is not very appetizing.

Posted in chicken, restaurant, signs, taxis | 1 Comment »

Summer

June 19, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

Well, my summer plans were looking something like this: read a lot, sew a lot, laugh at the cats antics a lot, watch a lot of Bollywood movies and go outside as little as possible. I was also going to do a lot of blogging – book reviews, movie reviews, cat antics and get caught up on the wacky toys videos. I was also going to get brave and explore some social issues that have been in the press lately.

However, on the 30th of June, I turn in my work laptop computer which is in great need of some maintenance work, and will not have it again until I return to work at the end of August. I expected to have a MacBook Pro before this, but that has not worked out. So, blogging is not to be. I will still be reading, sewing, laughing, etc., but any writing I do will be in a paper journal which only I will be likely to ever read. I will still be on Twitter, Facebook and email, because my iPod Touch is very useful for those things, but typing more than a few words is not practical, and loading pictures, forget about it.

We are not travelling anywhere exotic this summer, so maybe no blogging is not such a big deal. We are each travelling to the States at different times and to different destinations. This tag team travelling allows for the cats to be cared for without having to enlist a cat sitter and should be far less exhausting than last years 7 week odyssey.

I will endeavor to get caught up on some not yet posted pictures before June 30th. I’m sad that I won’t be able to take advantage of my time off to do more in depth writing.

Posted in books, Movies, USA | Leave a Comment »

Classical Movies

June 17, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

While in a local store looking for more Bollywood movie DVDs we happened upon this section.

Among the Classical Movies are three Streisand movies – On a Clear Day, The Main Event, and What’s Up Doc.

And, of course, Shaft. (Which is selling for 43 AED – just under $12.00)

I never cease to be amazed at what you can get here. We did not stock up on Barbra Streisand/Ryan O’Neal movies. DaddyBird did, however, find a little gem – “Ten Inch Hero” – a fun little ensemble piece with a young Jensen Ackles (currently Dean in Supernatural).

A couple of scenes were obviously censored, which was funny and fine with me. I got the jist without whatever it was they cut out. It is actually rare for DVDs to be censored this way, because it has to be done before the discs are created. VHS tape can be cut or erased after the fact.

We also purchased 10 Things I Hate About You, a fun romantic comedy that we saw on one of our plane flights. The rest of the purchase was Bollywood movies, with any luck I will be reviewing for you this summer. I’m learning to appreciate the value of having song and dance in every movie. Kinda miss it when I watch American films.

Posted in Movies, Shopping | 2 Comments »

Oliver’s New Bad Habit

June 11, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

First, let me assert that I did not allow this to happen. I just grabbed the camera and took the pictures.

He isn’t doing this just because it’s cool. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) He is in search of curry leaves which are usually kept in that drawer. And, if he can’t get to curry leaves, maybe the spinach in the container above would do.

I’ve had cats with unusual food preferences before. Oliver thinks cat food is okay. Cooked meat, not so interesting. Raw chicken seems to be high on his list, however, and fish, which he can’t have for medical reasons. But, the biggies are bread and green leafy vegetables. I discovered this when I gave him a broccoli leaf thinking he would play with it and he gobbled it down. If we give him a slice of bread he tosses it around like it’s a mouse. He chews on it, too, and it is soon spread all over the floor. Messiest toy, but entertaining to watch. It is even better if he can steal something (remnants of being a street cat), so I discovered chili peppers all over the floor recently.

He keeps us on our toes and entertained.

Posted in cats | 2 Comments »

Two unrelated signs

June 9, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

The name of this company caught my eye. I’m not certain if it is amusing or actually a very good choice. Turf definitely needs some tender loving care here. It does not exist without it.

The warning sign at the bottom of this picture says “Caution – Glass Window is transparent – Please watch out – followed by nine exclamation points. This is a display window in a mall. I don’t know if they have actually had people walking (or running) into the wall or if they are being funny because, obviously, people would be rushing to worship this sports car.

Posted in signs | 1 Comment »

New Restaurant

June 6, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

Well, we’ve discovered yet another excellent restaurant. Soofi Restaurant on Muraqqabat street has opened within the last year. The atmosphere is quite pleasant – wood/upholstered chairs and linen table clothes. The food (Persian) was delicious and reasonably priced.

Flat bread, vegetables and lassi (yogurt drink) were complimentary. It was my favorite type of flat bread. Yes, there are several types of flat bread, but the subtleties of flat bread are not easily described. You have to experience it.

Above is the “Soofi Royal Kabab” entree. The menu says this feeds two. Combined with the mixed appetizer (baba ghanoush, hummus, two green salads), this can easily feed four for $35.00. Not knowing this, I ordered the clay pot lamb pictured below. It was so tender, I hardly had to chew.

We also tried two soups and found them delicious. This lovely meal was topped off with tea, which came with lime, anise, mint, sugar, and ginger.

Our party of three ate well, with some left overs to take home for $57.00. We found absolutely nothing to complain about at this restaurant and highly recommend it. You should, however, get there before the tourist bus arrives and unloads a crowd of hungry tourists.

Posted in food, restaurant | Leave a Comment »

Life is Beautiful

May 27, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

So, I was standing in line in the small neighborhood grocery behind a woman who was clearly high maintenance in her tight dress, high heels, raven black hair and eyebrows plucked to non-existence. First, there was a problem with the barcode on a couple of small juice bottles, so the clerk typed in the code manually. The woman immediately reached over and grabbed the second bottle before he could enter that one and tossed aside as no longer wanted. Then came the veggies…I have to explain here that the procedure with fresh veggies is that after you choose what you want you take them in plastic bags to a weighing station in the veggie section to have them weighed, sealed and labeled. –Well, she had three bags of veggies, only the first of which had a price label on it. When it became apparent that the second bag of veggies had no label, she grabbed it from the clerk, shoved it at the security guard who happened to be walking past the check stand and indicated that he should get it weighed and labeled. After he left, with veggie bag in hand to do just that, the third bag was discovered to be label-less also. She, herself, grabbed the bag from the clerk and off she went to the veggie section to get it weighed. The clerk then looked at me and said, “Life is beautiful. [pause] Life is still beautiful.” The woman then returned with only the third bag of veggies in hand , weighed and labeled, followed shortly by the security guard with the second bag, also weighed and labeled. Her transaction continued without further ado.

Today, I learned a little something about owls. Westerners consider owls to be symbolic of wisdom. “Wise ol’ owl or wise as an owl.” However, if a Pakistani calls you “a son of an owl” this is actually an insult that equates to “you idiot.” In the Middle East, owls are considered stupid, apparently because they look stupid. So, now I’m going to have to investigate other animals and insults.

Posted in culture shock | 2 Comments »

Iconic carts

May 21, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

A common site in Dubai is the cart. Actually, let me clarify, it is a common site in Deira and Bur Dubai, the older parts of the city.

The quintessential sighting we had was as we came around the corner heading for our apartment building, we passed a guy pulling an empty cart down the left side of the street (our lane) while talking on his cell phone. Unfortunately, we did not have time to get a picture of that. DaddyBird was too busy trying not to crash into him.

When we first arrived in Dubai, one of our fellow “newbies” described Dubai as “first world meets third world.” That’s a pretty accurate description and the use of carts is one excellent example of that.

It makes perfect sense to see these in the souk areas because the souks are pedestrian traffic only, so a hand cart is perfectly suited to the task of moving goods around.

Naif has car traffic, but you will still see many carts here because it is the easier way to move things from place to place.

It is not uncommon in Naif to see a family or group of women who are shopping with a cartman following them with a cart full of their purchases.

This video shows two cart-men negotiating the crossing of a busy street.

The most amusing use of carts is for moving.

Posted in Dubai, Dubai traffic, Naif | Leave a Comment »

Safe Driving

May 14, 2010

Posted by Kanga

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived back in Dubai last August was the seemingly sudden appearance of signs on the back of commercial vans and trucks stating something along the line of “Am I driving safely? If not, please call…” These have existed in the States for a long time, but they were a new sight on Dubai streets. Why is this of interest? Because of the standard “sign phenomenon.” The first few we saw suffered from creative spelling and grammar. “Pleas” instead of “please.” “Safle” instead of “safely.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get those first few on film and then correct signs started to appear. We have, however, collected 22 (to date) showing various variations on the theme.