Pine nut and garlic sauce

  Brought back a stash  of pine nuts with me in my luggage, dutifully declared at customs. Pine nuts in Lebanon are so good! They always bring back fond memories of entire summers spent in Ain Zhalta (Shoof area) treasure-hunting these delightful snoobar. We’d grab a pine cone that seemed...
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Jellab drink

One  thing I can’t wait to experience when I go back to Beirut: drinking a jellab! Back in the sixties and seventies, we used to order it at the Riviera, one of the  many beaches that studded the coastline right outside of the city. A waiter would approach and present...
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Apricot jam, solar

  Words cannot convey  the heavenly perfume emanating from these abricots, locally picked in the Chouf region (about 40 km south-east of Beirut) . If I could invite everyone to dip their head in the basket and inhale. What an experience! Designers would start selling apricot fragrances.  I would love...
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Semolina and coconut cake (Basboossa)

  Basboossa is the equivalent of the Arab world’s pound cake. Very rich and dense, delicious, yet simple to make and requiring only four basic ingredients: semolina, yoghurt, sugar and butter! It is a dessert that elicits a sigh of longing when it is  mentioned   to  Egyptians like my...
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Lemons in Lebanon

  Got  some lemons today. Their fragrance  was reaching my nostrils one foot away…. I asked ” men weyn? (from where?) …”from Saida” I was told. They must have been freshly picked.  I brought a leaf up close. It was heady with lemon perfume. OK. Here is the deal. In...
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Apricots stuffed with cream

Talk about an easy and delicious dessert! I had it in Beirut at a fancy restaurant and my friend Hoda vowed to try to  make it at home.  So, a few days later she invited me to come over to her place in Mosaiytbeh in West Beirut. She assembled it...
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Tamryeh

  Almost everyone you meet in Beirut comes from a specific village outside of the city. My family is no exception. On my mother’s side, our roots are in Deir el-Kamar, also known as the City of Emirs (Princes); in my own prejudiced view, it is the most beautiful small town...
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Muhammara

  Originally served alongside kibbe balls, now muhammara is served as a dip or part of a mezze, with some toasted bread. I think it is originally from Aleppo, Syria. In any case, like hummos, it is a very personal and subtle combination of flavors and spices and you will...
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Mayrig (Armenian restaurant)

  Mayrig means “little mother” in Armenian. It is also the name of a fabulous restaurant in the neighborhood of Gemmayze in Beirut. Tucked away on Pasteur Street, inside a small courtyard, the authentic Armenian restaurant is housed in a magnificent old house, with stained-glass windows and painted concrete floor...
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