MAGGI
I have had the opportunity to collaborate with the brand MAGGI the past year and a half, and feel compelled to report on this very positive experience. MAGGI is a division of the Swiss food giant Nestlé and has been firmly implanted in Lebanon (and the Middle East) for as...
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The Good Thymes
Anyone who has grown-up in Lebanon will attest to the fact that zaatar is as essential to a Lebanese as milk and cereal to an American. Most of us also recognize that we will not get the best zaatar from a supermarket’s shelf. The lucky ones could count on...
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The Fallacy of the Calorie
This is a bedside book, a “Bible” for anyone interested in health, nutrition and food and learning how they are intertwined. It’s an arduous book, dense with scientific facts and lingo, yet it is an entertaining one as well; Dr Michael Fenster never forgets to be the teacher. He knows...
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Château Ksara
The Ksara winery is a Lebanese success story. Lebanon’s most famous wine producer, Ksara was founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests. It is Lebanon’s oldest and largest winery and the third most visited tourist attraction. When the winery was founded, Lebanon was under Islamic Ottoman rule; the Ottoman masters in Istanbul...
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Veggie gratin
I am luckier than most in that I am spending my Summers in the Chouf Mountains in Lebanon and all the veggies are local or homegrown in our kitchen garden. In any case, here is a simple dish using a bunch of veggies and a MAGGI soup mix for a...
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Lentil soup
This is a lentil soup that I had fun making. I love lentils, and lentil soup, but truth be told, lentil soup does get a tad, well, boring. This one is not. Its super easy to make but it has lots of textures and (compatible) flavors. I got inspired...
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Grape molasses cookies
I have been meaning to try making these cookies, simply because I consume a ton of them. They are popular in the Chouf mountains where folks like to boast of their ancestral traditions and love for their land. Grape molasses is made by taking lots of grapes (the sweetest variety) to...
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Labneh Indian-style
I was given a bag of MAGGI Masala spice mix (Indian spice mix) and the idea occurred to me to try it with labneh as a dip; labneh and Lebanese zaatar is fine (we grew-up on the pair), but it does get a tad monotonous after 50+ years! To my...
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Butternut soup
Well, today was one of those days…After a twelve-hour storm came a flurry of hale, then some light snow and finally a continuous drizzle of rain. Don’t mean to bore you with a weather report, suffice it to say that I was thinking SOUP. Luckily, I had a bunch of...
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