The Book Mouneh is Coming Alive

After a few trials and what not... the book is coming alive... I'm so pleased to see it all coming together... Years of work, research, and worries will now all go forgotten when the book will be printed. This weekend Mirna Hamady, the graphic designer working on the layouts, and I met to discuss the changes and alterations needed to make the book SHINE! Last night, she sent me the result... I was so happy! It's starting to look like an actual book. What is so exciting is seeing the words and photos come together in an artistic way. We are presently conquering the winter months (December-January-February). I can't wait until we work on Spring, my absolute favorite season. This is how the book starts because this is when life starts... Trees start blooming with spectacular ranges of colors. I will ask Mirna to give me a spread so you can get a glimpse. If you know of anyone who would be interested to buy a quantity before I start printing, please let me know, as this would help me to decrease printing costs.... How unromantic to talk about that!!! I am thinking of doing an Arabic version too. I want all the producers and farmers to read every single word of my book for it is their book too. I could not have done it without them. I appreciate all their advice, their hospitality, their generosity, and more importantly their friendship.

I must stop writing now, for I have to write about Hadi Sayegh, the pine nuts (snoo'bar) producer. He has left a job in construction to work in nature in the midst of pine trees and forests... I envy him... His story is quite interesting... I shall develop it for you in the Mouneh book :)

A relative of Hadi who owns a production plant which produces mass quantities of pine nuts.


Hadi and the Sheick... when I met the Sheick at first, he was very cold with me... thinking I was a foreigner, who knows... at the end of our meeting, he invited me to come with my family to spend a summer day with his family in this hut to have a picnic. He insisted that I visit him again. Meeting him was definately memorable and I learned so much from him.

The Women's League Event - A Lecture on Culture at AUB

Yesterday, I was invited to a lecture at AUB in the West Hall organized by the Women's League on Beirut's cultural influence in the area. It was raining and pouring and the streets were flooded, but my great aunt, Nina Djidejian a famous author who has written books on archeology for the past 40 years, insisted we go to this lecture. You can't never say no to dear Nina! I just love her so much and she inspires me with her continuous efforts and strenght. Actually, it was the ride to AUB that gave us the chance to discuss events of the past that dated to Nina's and my grandmothers childhood. I'm always intrigued to hear stories of our ancestors.

We arrived safe and sound to AUB. The lecturer was the minister of culture Tammam Salam. He gave a 15 minute speech on culture - defining it, discussing Beirut's influence in the region, pointing out our pride in major sectors concerning different cultural aspects. He was going on and on about many important cultural characteristics achieved in Beirut, but for a while did not mention FOOD CULTURE - AHHHH!!! But then he mentioned the influence of Lebanese restaurants in Arab countries and how Lebanese restaurants were franchising all over with very competitive results. OUF! It was brief, but at least he mentioned what to me is a major cultural influence that should not be ignored. I spoke to him after the lecture and asked if he knew about my book, he didn't!!! His wife, on the contrary, knew about the book and complimented me on the man'oushe's portrayal. So, something must really be wrong if the minister of culture of Lebanon does not know about my book... I shall send him a copy today, I really hope he reads it and appreciates its content. It might even inspire him to discuss the food culture of Lebanon more extensively during his next speech....

Aredna - Another Visit

Today I wrote about how to preserve apricots in the morning, then I got really tired... Too many more recipes to go dealing with apricots, so I stopped. I decided to go and visit Aredna again. You can't get too much of a good thing. I passed by every single stand asking them what they produced, where they were from, and how I could join them later. I intend to go and visit each and everyone of these producers in my life time. I did learn again something new... Zaarour jam, Zaarour syrup... a plant from the wild with red berries... usually the leaves are dried and used in the mixture to make zhourat. Also, I tasted a new jam made with pomegranate seeds. I found it very sweet, almost overwhelming, not very good. The producer explained that the seeds were cooked in syrup and put in jars, so basically what you are eating is sugar. It's too bad because I did get excited to learn about making this new jam, but was disappointed to taste it...

I also met Aaron, a radio journalist, who came with his wife and two adorable children. We carried out our interview, discussing why it's so important to focus on our Lebanese culinary heritage, which I believe may disappear with the future generations to come.... Aaron, an American, doesn't believe that there is a threat of that ever happening in Lebanon. I'd like to share his opinion, but I fear the opposite. That was our debate! It rained outside, cleaning all the pollution that was stagnating in Beirut - a new page is turned, winter is arriving, at last!

Restaurant Training - Day 3: Dough for Sambousik

On the 3rd day, I arrived and examined how vegetables were being cut up for the basic preparations. Vegetables included: radish, rocca, za'tar, purslane, mint, etc. I quickly went downstairs to chat with Imm' Tony, we discussed the making of sambousik. I quickly asked her the basic recipe of how to make these wonderful pastries.

Ingredients:
1 kg of flour (type o)
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I use Slim, it's the lightest in the market)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of yeast diluted in water.
enough water to make dough... (I'll measure and tell you)

Stuffing:
meat, onion, parsley, and labneh

I'm going to make some today and tell you exactly how to proceed... I'll write later....

Pumpkin Soup

It's pumpkin season, always reminds me of Thanksgiving in the States! Today I have some friends coming for supper. I have made a wonderful soup that I would like to share with you. Choose a pumpkin from a reliable source. And why not an organic pumpkin to make the soup even more special? First cut open the pumpkin, scoop out all the membranes and the seeds. Cut the flesh into even cubes. Put on a baking tray with 1 or 2 whole garlic without peeling. Take apart the garlic to have individual cloves in between the cubed pumpkin. Take out the olive oil and splash it on to baste the cubed pumpkin. Add a dash of coarse sea salt all over. Turn on the grill of your oven. Let the pumpkin and the garlic roast and become charred. When you finish, put all in a large casserole. Add chicken stock to cover the pumpkin, cook until tender for about 25 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves from the soup. Puree in a blender. Top with freshly cut parsley. If you are feeling adventurous, cut up some fried bacon and serve. Voila!

Largest Tabbouleh in the World - List of Ingredients

According to the booklet given out at the Saifi Exhibition the tabbouleh weighed 3000 kg. My goodness! Check this out, wonder who can't beat that?

Ingredient:
parsley - 1600kg
medium onions - 420kg
lemon juice - 450kg
salt - 24kg
fine burghul - 60kg
olive oil - 300 liters
ripe tomatoes for decoration - 1500kg
lettuce for decoration - 250 heads

Easy Jalapeno Pickling Recipe

As promised, I will let you know how to pickle your jalapeno peppers. First get 2 liters of water (not from the faucet, I use drinking water). You will need 1 1/4 cup coarse sea salt. Bring to the boil the water and salt and leave to boil until the salt has completely dissolved. Turn off the fire and leave to cool. When the liquid is cool, add 1 cup of white vinegar with 5% acetic acid. Mix thoroughly. Pack tightly the jalapeno peppers in chosen sterilized jars and fill with the prepared brine. Close the jars. Boil them in a water canner for 10 minutes at least to sterilize them. There you have it, this is the base to pickling ... now you can be creative by adding dried leaves, seeds, or any condiments to your pickles. Don't use ground spices as it will make the pickles very cloudy. Bon Appetit!