Meatless Monday

I will be making open faced sandwiches with my homemade bread, spread with goat cheese and toppings that will leave you perplexed... salty / sweet depending on your mood. Come, it's great fun!

Baking Pizza "en Famille" at the Beirut Street Food Festival

Caramelized onion and fresh mozzarella made in Lebanon

"Mourou, this is my happiness. How can people not see it?"

"Mami, it's OK, if everyone knew it, there would me too many of us." — Albert, my son at the first Beirut Street Food Festival on the day of his 18th birthday, May 17 2015, while baking flat breads (pizza).

This was such a special evening for us as a family. It reminded me of the "restaurant" years with my own family in Florida.

I'd like to thank the organizers of this event  for doing such a great job namely Zeina Halawi and Youmna Mteiny. The only problem they had was that the festival was so in demand to so many that food stalls could not deliver so much food to such a crowd. Lesson learned .... next time will be even better. You have my full support.

It all started with Lea and the balloons

And then it suddenly filled up like mad

And we had hundreds of people waiting to EAT

And we we were very hard at work

Lea and Sarah became perplexed on the crowd's demands

Mia finally showed off her talent

Albert baked like mad

A moment of tenderness with my youngest daughter Sarah

We watching in awe the crowd and giving thanks. This will be a memory someday.

Miou and me

Papi (dough, cut cheese, bring cheese) ... Our constant support

It was a memorable day.... 18 years ago today, I had given birth to my first child. It had been one of the happiest days of my life... Today, the happiness continues. I am lucky to have such a supportive family at my side. It's definitely my strength.May we always cook, eat and share our food together and with those who want to share it with us...Can't wait till the next one...

Beirut Street Food Festival - Some Thoughts

To the ones who cook, cheers!

Beirut is having an awakening and it has to do with food! I'm so glad and have dreamed of this moment for a long time. It takes people who have traveled the world to come back and make a difference. So I am grateful to all those who are contributing to this amazing initiative, those who are cooking and to those who will come and taste the food. It does not matter if we make money or not. All that matters is that we live together this experience which in turn will bring many more alike. I have a feeling...

And this is what we are doing!

This Sunday is an important date for me too personally because it is my son's 18th birthday. What a coincidence that he will be cooking at this festival on his birthday, especially that he is going off to Lyon next fall to study culinary arts. Things happen for a reason in life and we just have to accept the good and sometimes the painful to finally become better people. This is an amazing experience for me... to be cooking with my son on his birthday with all of Beirut. It's really amazing. Beirut I love you!

The future...

Beirut Street Food Festival

Barbara (that's me) and Albert Massaad @foodyoulike  (my son) will be participating at the Street Food Festival this year representing Slow Food Beirut. We will be making flat breads with all kind of toppings: call them pizza, call them man'oushe, call them bread cooked with love. This will be a special occasion for mother and son, before Albert goes off to university at Lyon to study at Paul Bocusse to be a chef / restaurateur. Not only that but this will be a special day for Albert as he celebrates his18th birthday! Also on the agenda, the newly formed Slow Food Youth Network Lebanon will be cooking soup with vegetables which would have been dumped otherwise. Keep posted.

  
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