The Big Tree: Food and Art

These first few pictures are for my brother, Aaron, who asked that I post more food pictures (sorry, Aaron, I'll try to get on that).

Take-out from "Take Away Restaurant" (actual name) and real wine. We have here a pizza-type food with lamb, a falafel pocket, humous and pickled vegetables.

Last's night's dinner: street meat at Souk Wakif: chicken with bread, arugula and limes, yum!

While Tanis and Natalia caught up on sleep and Laura worked, Diana and I started off with a visit to the Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art yesterday, an enormous building on the outskirts of Education City (I'll talk more about that later). The building feels spacious and calming as you walk inside an enormous room painted entirely white. Being on the outskirts of the city, walking through the museum is such a relaxing experience because you don't hear all the traffic and construction you do in other parts of Doha. Also there was nobody there when we went in the middle of the day on a Sunday (which is like a Monday here). A free shuttle bus (with free water) takes people to and from Mathaf to the Museum of Islamic Art, where we headed next. That collection is housed in a breathtakingly beautiful building along the Corniche, a public space along the harbour where people gather to walk or jog in the evenings. There are quite a few runners here in the evening, my running friends will be happy to know. There is even a half marathon here in January/February. Back to the MOIA. Even from a distance the white, angular building is striking against the cloudless blue sky.

What's really cool is that the very top of the building (above) is meant to look like a niqab, the traditional head dress that many of the women where here (below). So, it's sort of like woman is watching over the city.

Once inside, well just see for yourself because words can't do it justice:

An enormous window gives you a perfect view of the harbour and the city skyline.

I think the entire building must be made of marble and sandstone! Spanning 1,000 years, the bulk of the collection included ceramics, glass, metalwork and tapestries from what is now Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, India and China. I was really impressed by the ceramics, especially the tiles. It's amazing how well preserved the paint is, even after 500, 600 and 700 years!

This is a 15th-century drawing from an anatomy text book. I know it's a woman only because I can make out a very tiny fetus. I guess people had rounder heads back then? What's nice is that much of the collection includes everyday items like water jugs and perfume holders, elaborately and painstakingly decorated for their wealthy owners. The sun was just setting when we left the museum so we took advantage of the soft golden light.