As an avid tea drinker, I was intrigued when I stumbled upon a variety of sources that promoted the eco-friendly use of tea bags, outside the teacup. Arthur W. Pinero, an Englishman, of course, said, “Where there’s tea, there’s hope.” That’s definitely true. Brewed tea bags can provide a pick-me-up in ways you’d least expect. [...]
Not even zaatar gurus can spot a fake that easily. Although it pains me to say it, I might have to think twice about buying zaatar items at the next Middle Eastern bakery I pass: It could be the case that there are harmful additives in the spice mixture. Zaatar, the unique combination of such [...]
The first thing I did after arriving home yesterday evening was, naturally, to open the door of my fridge and peer inside. I got nothing, I thought to myself. But then I spotted a tub of Fage Greek yogurt in the corner of the bottom shelf. I was able to locate a bottle of honey [...]
If you’re looking for some light reading from the Middle East, something peppered with the region’s wit and satire, then look no farther than Abu Dhabi and Sultan Saeed al Darmaki, presently a businessman running the construction-based Al Darmaki group. He has published his first official book, entitled Leave the Birds Alone. It was a [...]
Loggers get $5 a tree in Syria now that the heat of conflict is on, and the cold winter has set it in. In Darkush, Syria, civilians must turn to their environment for the basic need of warmth. Day after day, freezing temperatures prevail, and tree after tree is cut down. The national park to [...]
A 90-minute yoga class in the great outdoors? Piece of cake, some yogis will say. But with Bikram yoga, a form created by Calcutta-born Bikram Choudhury, there’s a catch: class is conducted in a studio that’s heated to 105°F or approximately 40.6°C. When you are doing yoga like this in the Arabian Desert there is [...]
Of my most prized possessions is a new blender I recently purchased, the Vitamix. Mine is a model called the TurboBlend VS. The Vitamix is advertised as “more than a blender,” as its high performance quality enables the user to blend the toughest of ingredients to produce the widest variety of food creations. It’s the [...]
Sugar wax, sugaring or Persian waxing, whatever you want to call it there is a old, tried and true way to wax, naturally. Many beauty regimens do more harm than good as many products contain harsh chemicals including toxins, hormone disruptors and even pesticides! That’s why we have scouted out an ancient Arabic beauty regimen that does [...]
The Sahara. It’s the world’s hottest desert and almost as large as China or the United States, so travelers have good reason to be wary of wandering into it alone. But adventurer Tom Thumb has organized another retreat in 2013 for those who want to experience the Sahara. The Road Junky Sahara Retreat will be held [...]
Dubai learns some new moves with the Flying Steps. Red Bull has made the promotional move of contracting the four-time world breakdancing champions, the Flying Steps. We can’t recommend Red Bull as a wise choice for a drink, as it has proven to do more harm than good, health-wise, but I certainly can vouch for [...]
Not like Istanbul’s historic Grand Bazaar, the famous Emirati souk hosted by the Artisans of the Emirates, or ARTE, is a baby – only seven years old. But it has quickly grown from its humble beginnings of about 30 “artisans” or craft exhibitors from the United Arab Emirates in the network to over 3,000. ARTE “markets” [...]
People usually associate a flea market with old, dusty clothes and other “junk,” consider it a sort of yard sale collision. In Amman, however, Souk Jara is deemed a flea market and is a far better cry than that notion. A sort of upscale summer flea market, Souk Jara lets guests feast their eyes on [...]
Developing a new ecosystem for multi-disciplinary design? Will this need high-end design hub earmark space for sustainable design? If you think Ikea has got the top modern décor, you should check out some of Dror Benshetrit’s designs for products, interiors, architecture, art installations. The studio named after the innovator will be relocated to SoHo this [...]
Learn about Arab greetings, the evil eye, funeral traditions and the habit of pigeon-keeping in these colorful books from Jordan. On my first free Friday in Amman, I walked to the downtown end of Rainbow Street and turned left to find the merchants of Souk Jara just beginning to set up shop. Souk Jara is [...]
Release some inner and outer light at Jordan’s lantern festival in the desert. The Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival is sure to be a feast for the eyes this fall in Wadi Rum. As if the dramatic mountain scenery weren’t breathtaking enough, sky lanterns will rise like one thousand moons over the vast expanses of [...]
I considered myself an entrepreneur at the age of 15, when I set up shop on the cobblestone streets across my dad’s apartment on the island of Lefkada, Greece, to sell stones I collected from local beaches and then decorated. Although it was a great idea, and surprisingly lucrative, it probably wasn’t groundbreaking enough to [...]
Try something a little different than plain-old tomato sauce on your pasta. Try tahini! On my first night CouchSurfing in Haifa, Israel, in the cozy apartment of a young married couple, the three of us sat down, along with a local friend, at the table on the balcony to eat dinner – which, surprisingly, the [...]
A quick tutorial on how to make your own low-impact light graffiti, in the desert or anywhere it’s dark. Although I can appreciate the artistry of good graffiti, I don’t necessarily support it because of graffiti’s potentially harmful effects on Earth’s atmosphere and because of its borderline vandalistic properties (see our post on Sheikh graffiti [...]
Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature didn’t name its eco-tourism division Wild Jordan for no reason; there is plenty of adventure to be had in the country’s great outdoors. But now yoga has merged onto the scene, offering a softer and more meditative alternative to the action-packed fun. The Yoga in Jordan project [...]
Kelly learns to cook like a local (vegetarian) Jordanian at Beit Sitti in Amman. For all those tourists in Amman who want to gain authentic Arabic cooking experience to bring back home and impress their dinner guests, or for the local Jordanian who wants to throw a unique rooftop party in the area, Beit Sitti, [...]
Swedish NGO uses Hayatuna – creative arts to provide new perspectives to kids in the Middle East As a Dance and Anthropology double major and an Arabic minor at Montclair State University, my interests slip right into the mission of Spiritus Mundi, a Swedish NGO that sees the arts as forces in social change and [...]