Some lovely things

A lovely Sarahs bag clutch from here, made in Lebanon.

 

Liwan Sandals from here, also made in Lebanon

' When I opened my door next morning, a girl with perfect features was standing there, dressed in the complete panoply of all that a young woman of Hajarain can wear, and her face done up to match. A thin scarlet line marked her plucked eyebrows, like laquer on the yellow varnish of her face: her nostrils, too, were scarlet, and a green design like a 7 came over the left eyebrow down her nose: her lips: perfectly chiselled, had a blue tattoo line on the upper and a pattern of dots and dashes below, and her dress, richer than that of Do'an, was short to the knees in front and trailed behind her, with bands of spangles from the shoulders and a spangly star just in the middle of the back, which a judiciously swaying walk could show off its prominence to best advantage. She had amulets in silver cases like a crown round her head and a cap of coral strings above them: and each ear under the many plaits was heavy with seven ear-rings. In her hand she carried a wooden platter, with eggs and some pancakes of  bread soaked in oil for my breakfast. '

from The southern gates of Arabia: A journey in the Hadhramaut

by Freya Stark

Henna - A family ritual

Henna, mixed with coffee and an egg to be left for an hour, a conditioning hair mask.

Sweet Basil Pesto











I have been a little lazy in the kitchen lately falling back on the same old dishes so I decided it was time to try harder especially as Ramadan begins in a couple of weeks. I tried making a pesto with the sweet basil (Rayhan) we grow in the garden it turned out well, but next time I

think I will add more basil. I used a bunch of basil, 2 cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of toasted pine nuts pounded together in a pestle and mortar.

Does anyone have a recipe I could use sweet basil in they could share with me?

I love....Black and white photography




Image by Sherif Omar

 

Maison Rabih Kayrouz

via Corinne Martin

I really like this dress and the picture from the Spring 2012 collection.

I wonder if the reason I like this image so much is because I would so love to be paddling in some cool water right now.

Seeking out green.

Dusty days