Holy Bread (Qurban)

  This sweet (holy)  bread is just good! According to Chef Ramzi, in The Culinary Heritage of Lebanon, this recipe is at least 100  years old; how about dating  back to the  Byzantine period? In the town of Deir el Qamar in the Shouf where  our family originates,we  would buy...
Read More »



Giveaway result

  I think it was the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet) who emphasized that one’s children are their own people and will fly out of the nest like birds do, or something to that effect; I don’t know why but this thought of his stuck with me !  He...
Read More »



Tangerine Sorbet

  My parents used to entertain frequently at home while I was growing up in Beirut; my mother would often serve this dessert  when tangerines were in season; she would carve the flesh out of the fruit, make a sorbet  and  fill the fruit with it. Yesterday,  I stopped by...
Read More »





Happy Hour sandwiches

Did you know that a Lebanese man invented the iPOD? The Swatch? Conquered the Seven Summits?   These are sandwiches for a cocktail or happy hour. I have two different fillings to propose. One is simply mixing some blue cheese with labneh and the other is a tapénade, or a...
Read More »



Kibbeh with citrus sauce (Kibbeh Arnabieh)

If you ask a traditional, die-hard Beiruti, one whose family has  been residing for generations in West Beirut (called Ras Beirut, the oldest and original part of the  city), what  their favorite dish is,kibbeh  arnabieh would be in the top three. This dish is one of the great classics of...
Read More »



Cheese Cigars with beet greens

  A quick version of a delicious but  time-consuming  recipe. I found these pre-cut sheets of a very thin, phyllo-like bread in the freezer section at the middle-easern store and grabbed them. They are imported from Turkey and evidently used in Turkish cuisine. In our cuisine, we have a pastry...
Read More »



Ginger Tea (Chai Zanjabeel)

  A delicious tea made with simply a piece of ginger. I have been drinking gallons of it this week to help me with a cold. Ginger is supposed to help with nausea and a host of other problems. It is so easy to make a pot of ginger tea....
Read More »



Beet and Orange salad

I  was watching Chef Elie on Soufra Daymeh, the daily cooking segment on LBC; he made a similar salad.  Beets are so healthy to eat, since they almost cure you of all major diseases (anemia, cancer and the like); I vote to have all American public schools ban tater tots...
Read More »