Cupidons (chocolate/honey caramels)
These are chocolate caramels that are homemade in Beirut and offered to visitors. They are so good that a former neighbor started a home-based business selling them from her home. What is special about these is their dark chocolaty flavor with the honey aftertaste. I was craving thesecupidons(little cupids)...
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Wheat berry salad
Yesterday I was invited to lunch at Tawlé , the latest “in” restaurant in Beirut. The food there is cooked by different chefs every day who cook the specialties of their village. You never know from one day to the next what to expect. The food is served buffet-style,...
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Mulberry and Milk Pudding
My parents eat four meals a day at a set time; even when five-ton bombs are landing everywhere, the schedule is respected. At four o’clock they eat fruits, puddings and pastries; I saw my mother consuming supermarket puddings filled with sugar and additives. Shou? Quoi?I will not allow it!...
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White broad bean salad (Salatet Fassoulia)
I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to worry about today is cooking something elaborate! A simple and delicious and healthy salad of fassoulia or beans is the ticket! Just boil the beans or buy them canned and quickly whip up a lemon, garlic and...
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Christmas lunch in Beirut
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BEIRUT! My beautiful cousin Isabelle invited us for Christmas lunch. She is a great cook and a fabulous hostess. I was thrilled to go and relievedas well. Firstly, the tables were set up inside and outside on the balcony. We had a few courses to wet...
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A tribute to Old Beirut
Old Beirut versus New Beirut. Old Beirut is rapidly sinking and it is very sad to me. Like they say, on n’arrete pas le progrès! (one can’t stop evolution) and money talks. It was reported in the papers today that Beirut has seen an increase in the value of real...
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Christmas goodies in Beirut
You can safely say that when it comes to food and confections everything in Beirut is over-the-top. My preference however is for the simpler, homemade, delicacies that are available year-round and bear the signature of charitable associations that help needy families. The photo above is a sample of their...
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Quince and Apple compote
Beirut is an extremely social city; at holiday time, the family gets flooded with confections and pastries. Every day a new package lands at the door of my parents’ home in Beirut. So anticipating eating these goodies throughout the day and night, I decided to make a simple,...
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Grilled Halloum cheese
In the summer of 2006, I was in Beirut visiting my parents, when Lebanon was (once again) the victim of a bombing operation that lasted 33 days and left the southern part of the country with a carpet of 3 million unexploded cluster bombs. As an American citizen, I...
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