Monthly Archives: August 2010

Rice cream and rosewater jelly with nuts (Moubattaneh)

Kamal Mouzawak was describing a dessert his grandmother used to make, a sort of pudding made of rice and covered with walnuts and syrup. He was getting so lyrical about it, I was fascinated. I was picturing a grandma, wearing a  bun and an apron, stirring and stirring rice in a big pot until it [...]
38 Comments

Lentil salad with eggplant

“I need a little peace and quiet“, I said  to my daughter  as I drove the 30 kilometers into the Chouf mountains and the village of Deir el Qamar. Enough of the high voltage  hustle and bustle of Beirut. Enough of traffic and cars and noise 24/7. I am not a fan of team sports; [...]
60 Comments

Hawthorn Berries (Zaaroor)

Here is a lovely fruit that appears in Lebanon around the month of August; in North America there are apparently more than 800 varieties of this tree (aubépine in French) and yet I have never seen anybody eat the fruit! The hawthorn tree gives out pretty white flowers around May; a few months later they [...]
32 Comments

Wines of Lebanon by Michael Karam

I am a wine ignoramus; it just so happened that  I had lunch with Kamal and his guests at Tawlet recently; a man with a British accent sitting on my left was introduced to me as  Michael Karam, author of a book on Lebanese wines. In the course of the following  months, both my English [...]
14 Comments

Radish greens salad

This post was originally published on June 7, 2009. Marie-Therese, who was French and married to a Lebanese,  told me one day (that was probably 35 years ago) that she was helping their family cook, Amira, who was so poor that she had to eat radish greens. I remember this conversation because of the dramatic [...]
38 Comments