Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Corner View 2




The theme for this week's Corner View is breakfast. Well, to be perfectly honest I am an Englishman living abroad, and my breakfast is a rather conventional one of Weetabix, orange juice and coffee. The first part - just about the only part actually - of my breakfast ritual is to grind the coffeee beans in an automatic coffee grinder. But, as I live in Oman, I thought I'd try to show you what a traditional Omani breakfast looks like. I asked a colleague of mine, Ahmed, and he shrugged and said he just had tea. I must admit he is rather thin. I asked him, "Anything else?" He thought for a while and added, "bread." That is the local type of bread in the photo. Six loaves cost 100 baisas, which is less than 50 cents. You need to buy it hot and fresh and eat it immediately as it dries up very quickly. In the Arab world the father or one of the sons will go to the bakery first thing in the morning to fetch the bread back. After further discsussion with Ahmed, I was able to add two further items: dates and laban (buttermilk). These are really more typical for people who live in the desert.

Bread, dates and buttermilk are not exactly the most exciting breakfast in the world, so for my main picture I have two camels looking for their breakfast. You may think that camels just graze in the desert and don't need to be fed, but you'd be wrong. Camel herdsmen drive out into the desert with 50kg bags of animal feed to keep their animals fat and happy. They usually deliver this in white pick-up trucks. This means that whenever camels see a big white vehicle approaching early in the morning they start walking towards it looking for their breakfast! These two came up really close and looked at me appealingly through the window of my white SUV. Sometimes they'll lick the sides of the vehicle hoping to find salt deposits. Camels are lovely animals, but I have to admit I have eaten camel's meat and drunk camel's milk. I've also seen a camel race with nearly a thousand camels in it, but that's another story. Their meat is rather tough and flavourless. I only eat it when I have to at a wedding party. The milk tastes like cow's milk diluted with water. So, this morning, as usual, I had cow's milk with my cereal and coffee.

For those of you who don't know about it, the Corner View project is a group of bloggers around the world, who once a week post photos with a related theme. It was started by Jane in Spain who is first in the list of links below. This week's theme is breakfast; next week's will be modes of transport and the week after that's will be shopping. If you want to join in, you are more than welcome. Just post your photos and let us know your link.

These are the current participants in Corner View. Take a look at the wonderful world of breakfasts:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie,esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, erin, dianna,isabelle, amber, girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy,jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, mon,

50 comments:

  1. what a great post....i have seen camels in morocco, but only from afar, and through the window of a train - i love seeing these guys up close - they look amused. were you making a face?

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  2. how interesting! We were just learning about exotic animals yesterday and learned a little about camel. :) I enjoyed reading your blog. Kind of like an exotic tour. :)

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  3. The breakfast really looks familiar to me. Life is different at different places. It is good you can experience them all.

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  4. *__* oh geeeee, cute 2 camel staring at me when the first time I saw your blog, definitely follow you ~ <33

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  5. Great post!! Ian don´t kill me- I thought you meant for the post after lady-bug´s-When I posted about breakfast I asked her to go next (I´m going in order of the list) I asked her if she would go next - next week´s is modes of transportation and then yours. SORRY for the confusion- I thought you knew- Now Daniel wants a camel... now I think I want a camel...

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  6. Jane, no problem, like all men I love my car more than my local supermarket or even my camel.

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  7. The envy that I'm feeling right now makes me want to cry a little. Partially because it's a disgusting emotion but mostly from self-pity.

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  8. I'm jealous because my whole life I've been desparate to travel and I've yet to get on a plane. A road trip to Mexico, yes. I just think that it's great that you're doing what you're doing.

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  9. I love this post and it is so fun to see the camels!

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  10. This is a great post! Learned some new things here. I could have that breakfast, without the milk. What an interesting exciting life you live!! Thx for the view, C.T.

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  11. great photos. especially of the camels. someday i'd like to meet a camel or two.

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  12. thanks for the camel ride ... I enjoyed it !!

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  13. Hey there Ian. I'm just joining in on this.

    With all the camels I saw in Egypt, I never knew they had food taken out to them or that the owners carried so much. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. It's always been exciting to me to explore different cultures and see how others are living in another part of the world... and tasting the local cuisine is such a delicious way to experience it. Great post.

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  15. good morning...you are all early..
    the pancake look great...I better have some breakfast now

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  16. But, as you said Alex, you are blessed, and long flights and the security checks at airports nowadays are not a lot of fun.

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  17. Mon, thanks. I've just added your link to the list.

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  18. The camels are hilarious! Thanks :)

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  19. those are called pita breads around here! and yes, you need to eat them fast or they become really boring. the camels look cute, but (attention jane! they fart and burb big time and generally smell really bad. as a pet... don't go there.

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  20. Great post!!
    Camels always look so funny to me! jaj

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  21. Such a simple looking breakfast but it must be satisfying.
    Nice pictures and the camels are a nice addition.

    And oh yeah I like the Oriental Hotel and you're right the buffets are yummy!!

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  22. wow wonderful blog, its amazing your post is nice, keep going.
    comment back please at http://gotraveller.blogspot.com

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  23. You live in Oman ?! How exciting !! I'm so enjoying seeing all these unique breakfasts from all over the world !!! Neat !!

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  24. I would pick the dates from your plate!
    and the fresh arabic bread I like as well -

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  25. Good gosh Ian, you're amazing!
    I've done just 2 countries, maybe a few steps into a third...
    Wow, the world needs more like you...

    Cheers!

    www.sanjeevsaikiaart.blogspot.com

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  26. Hmm I think if I were to choose between the local breakfast or yours of cereal I would go with yours, but still very interesting.

    Also thank you for showing those darling camels. Once at the zoo one spit at me, this helps me realize he was probably just hungry and when I didn't feed him he probably just decided to show me his disgust? :)

    Thanks for sharing your corner breakfast!

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  27. just me - back to look at the camels again - very cute!

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  28. WEll not sure I would want to eat that for breakfast but if there wasn't a choice, it probably would be good.
    The pictures of the camels are fantastic.

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  29. Ian, you're such a gentleman! Thank you for your understanding about the kaki fruit = persimmon. I honestly thought absolutely no one would ever understand what I was talking about. pffiieeuuww....It's fun isn't it, all these views!

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  30. hey !!!
    thank you for coming and following , and also for encouraging me , i really need it currently ^^

    (im now following your blog )

    see you soon !

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  31. I would like to have my breakfast with all of you... and see camels in the morning...

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  32. bread and dates sound mighty fine to me.

    visiting your blog is like taking a tour around the world in itself! thanks for the tour...

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  33. Camels for breakfast? Oh my!

    I love dates! Sometimes I made date syrup for breakfast to drizzle over vegan french toast.

    Thank you for adding me. :)

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  34. People here are crazy about dates. Every supermarket has a special date section, which is usually equal in size to the entire fruit & veg section. You can get green dates, dried dates, sticky dates, gift-wrapped dates, buckets of dates, but not hot dates as this is a muslim country.

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  35. Oh, I love these photos! Camels make me smile too!! Lovely blog!

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  36. Buttermilk... wouawou ! Great post and nice pictures !

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  37. I assume that bread is made from potato? In my country, the typical breakfast is very simple, porridge and pickles. Does the break of Oman taste good?

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  38. No, it's made from wheat flour. To be honest, I wouldn't say the bread tastes especially good here. The best pitta bread I ever had was from a small hole-in-the-wall bakery in the town of Yazd in Iran.

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  39. Oh, love this post!! And especially those photos!!

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  40. How very interesting...maybe not the most exciting but hey, you don't need to jump around about everything. Besides, I wanted to say that the break kind of looks like pancakes which what i thought they were at first. I really admire you for trying new foods...I usually only try new foods that smell good...strange? maybe...hehe

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  41. wow,great post!i haven't seen a camel except in the movies.your breakfast looks fine but i thought what you had were pancakes,lol.i would have wanted to participate in your tag but my breakfast isn't really interesting.i'll keep track of your other posts here.

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  42. Thanks for adding me your blog is doing great I am also following among the 124 brilliant people. And the the 125 person. Something special isn't it. I am from India. You should also spare your time visiting India. Especially in south India a state called Tamilnadu is famous for its culture and practices. The southern tip of India, kanyakumari. Every traveler at least must have heard about it. Here we have many foreigners visiting daily. If you are visiting inform me.

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  43. Hi Ian,

    I thoroughly enjoyed the read. What a wonderful cultural experience. I love the photos of the camels!!

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  44. I really enjoyed this post. The bread looks a lot like pita; is it similar?

    xoxo
    Cyne - (Cynergy Diva)

    P.S. I found your blog in blog catalog

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  45. I am from Philippines working in Salalah, Oman and i found this blog very interesting. I like to write and read articles (anything under the sun), and also love to travel to different countries for me to know and appreciate different culture. Hope to see more pics and articles from you. More power!!!

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