Compulsive reading – Lee Miller: A Life with Food Friends and Recipes

December 04, 2023 by Lisa Reinisch in art, anecdotes, books, food, history, photography, recommendations

When this book arrived on my doorstep, I held off on unwrapping it until the day’s work was done. I waited until I could finally take it all in, everything the promotional blurb had promised: a whopping 350 pages containing “over a hundred of her recipes and material from the cookbook that Lee Miller was secretly hoping to publish at the end of her life”. That evening, I, bona fide Lee Miller fangirl and collector or cookbooks, greedily devoured the book. Here is why I couldn’t put it down until late, late that night.

Follow the mangoes: Masafi's Friday market

December 10, 2017 by Lisa Reinisch in anecdotes, food, history, local culture, recommendations, travel, UAE

Two rows of open-front stores line a short stretch of the E88 where it cuts in between two cinnamon-red mountain ridges, somewhere along what used to be the main route to the East coast. To the uninitiated, the Friday Market, or Souq Al Juma’a, may look like nothing more than a collection of random roadside junk shops backed by low-slung tenements. The question of driving on certainly hangs in the air on first approach. But then, invariably, cars slow down as the people inside take in the scene and, metre-by-metre, become intrigued.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi opens in two months and I'm still here

September 07, 2017 by Lisa Reinisch in Abu Dhabi, art, architecture, construction, design, events, history, journalism, launches, master plans, UAE

Having followed the twists and turns of the Louvre story for eight years, I found myself walking into yesterday's press conference, at which the museum would reveal its opening date, in a state of giddy anticipation. As they addressed an auditorium full of journalists, publicists, curators, officials and dignitaries, the speakers seemed to share the sentiment. When the first address, by HH Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, was over the opening date suddenly appeared on a large screen. An awkward, short ripple of applause went through the crowd. 11 November 2017. On deadline and just over two months away. And so, voilà, just like that, le chat was out of the bag.

All booked out for summer

June 01, 2013 by Lisa Reinisch in books, history, journalism, literature, local culture, media, UAE, women's rights, recommendations, lists

I just noticed with horror that my last blog entry dates back almost a month. All the way back to the day after Abu Dhabi Book Fair, to be precise, which was also the day before a European holiday and about four weeks after the day I discovered the What are you reading? podcast. So there you have it, an explanation of sorts. As it turns out, the combination of fair (book launches!), trip (proper bookshops!) and podcast (book recommendations from interesting-sounding people!) has had a pretty disruptive effect on my blogging morale. To make it up, here is a snapshot of the month’s loot, a stack of brand new books now languishing seductively on my desk.

Archive finds: Elvis loves Arabs (Al Shorouq Magazine, 1970)

March 10, 2013 by Lisa Reinisch in history, UAE, UAE media history

Here is one of the more bizarre clippings I've come across recently with the help of my colleagues. More than forty years ago, Al Shorouq magazine used the King of Rock and Roll for a gibe against American support for Israel and the values 'hidden' in foreign pop culture. It's tongue-in-cheek and can't be taken too seriously, but there is a certain tragic to the thought that this kind of media coverage seems to be making a comeback.

Saadiyat: closer than you think?

February 08, 2013 by Lisa Reinisch in Abu Dhabi, art, history, architecture, master plans

Most days I drive past this billboard on Saadiyat Island showing Jean Nouvel’s design for the Louvre Abu Dhabi under the slogan “Closer than you think” and “Opening 2015”, and I can’t help feeling a pang of irritation. After all, my being in this city has something to do with this grand cultural vision and somehow I take the delay of its realisation more personal than I probably should.