Category Archives: Blog

While at a Sufi iftar for Ramadan in Beirut, I was served this delicious dessert prepared by the dervishes. Atayef (kataif or قطايف) are thin stuffed pancakes filled with either a cheese or nut filling (or both). The yummy atayef above were filled with walnuts–and then drizzled with syrup. If you want to try to make atayef at home, here is a recipe and video to help you along–sahtein (bon appétit)!

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a lovely Ramadan iftar at the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut. It was a wonderful experience to join my Indonesian friends and the Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon for a fantastic holiday feast of Indonesian cuisine. I haven’t practiced much Indonesian since my Fulbright last year in Java, so I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with the Ambassador and his wife in Indonesian. I’m really looking forward to returning to Indonesia sometime soon…

Look closely at this photo–can you see the faint footprints disappearing up this enormous dune? While wandering in the Gobi desert in Mongolia, I felt very grateful for the opportunity to explore its legendary dunes. Though I’ve had my fair share of dunes in the Gulf and Sahara (I feel right at home in the desert), I can’t remembering seeing dunes as colossal as these in the Gobi. If you travel to Mongolia, make sure to budget at least an hour into your schedule to make the challenging hike up these shifting sands…

When I was taking photographs of graffiti in underground spaces in Mongolia–some of which I recently shared in the Huffington Post–I stumbled upon the ballet dancer above. Seeing this graffiti reminded me to get tickets for Giselle–which was being performed by the Mongolian State Academic Theater for Opera and Ballet on the other side of town. The classical arts were introduced to Mongolia during the communist era. Today in the capital, this Soviet legacy is just as strong as ever. Ballet schools are booming. In addition to their classical repertoire, the Mongolian State Academic Theater for Opera and Ballet also performs operas and ballets with national or regional themes, such as “Tears of a Lama” by Kh. Bilegjargal, “Three Hills of Misfortune” by J. Mend-Amar, and “The Skilled Khas” by J. Chuluun. So if you’re planning on traveling to Mongolia, why not reserve some tickets to the ballet?

I was grateful this summer for the opportunity to return to Mongolia to conduct research, and I’m very happy to share my new Huffington Post article, “Street Art and Gender in Mongolia,” which includes photographs I took of street art in Ulaanbaatar.

I couldn’t help but hug Mongolia, while on the hunt for dinosaur eggs in the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi Desert…

I’ve been spending this week exploring the Gobi desert in Mongolia–a true adventure in every sense of the word!

I’ve been enjoying photographing spectacular samples of graffiti in Ulaanbaatar this week, while wandering through Mongolia…

Over the coming days and weeks, I have so many Silk Road adventures ahead of me that it doesn’t look like I’ll have much time to post on this blog. For the moment, I’m closing up shop to devote my full attention to the souls and sites in my direct vision. It’s time to wander very far off the beaten path–sending all my best from the Silk Road!

As an Egyptologist, I tend to run into pyramids wherever I go–including in the capital of Kazakhstan at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. I wish I had known about this prime example of Egyptomania while teaching my Egyptomania seminar at Harvard–time to add it to the syllabus!

It’s been a true honor and joy to conduct disability workshops this year in Lebanon–so I’m very glad and relieved to see the issue finally getting some overdue media attention to raise more awareness about disability rights…