Cooking Class

While in Leb some friends and I had the opportunity to take some cooking class from Chef Afif, a first-class Lebanese chef who runs the culinary school at the Lebanese-American University.  He taught us how to make Mutabal, or Baba Ghanoush as it's more commonly known.

Chef Afif's kitchen was industrial grade. 
It has everything needed to large quatities of tradition Lebanese food..

Baba Ghanoush starts with eggplant roasted on an open flame, then peeled and chopped. 

Chef Afif said I had the best chopping skills.  Apparently it's in the wrist. 

Kerry and I trying to plate our dishes.  I felt like I was on Food Network. 

Sweet, but completely the wrong shape. ;o)

Robert and I peeled garlic for the garlic sauce. 
We needed a lot so it took awhile.

He looks like a natural. 



Chef Afif was a great teacher. 



So, getting Lebanese food into the right shape in the dish is harder than it looks.
Let's just say it took us awhile. 



Chef Afif thought it turned out alright. 



Baba Ghanoush

 Want to make Baba Ghanoush?  You can try this recipe, adpated for American kitchens and measurements:  http://www.food.com/recipe/baba-ghanoush-the-best-in-the-world-67570

Found in Beirut!

That's right, Kroger-brand Peanut Butter is avaliable in the 24/7 convience store around the corner. 
Also spotted in a shop:  Kroger- brand Pizza Sauce. 

Tripoli

Sorry to have not posted in a while, but I've been busy... traveling back to America!  I'm just started to get over my jet lag and thought I would go ahead and finish some posts I started when I was in Lebanon, so you can expect a few more Leb posts to leak out over the next week or so.

Our last Saturday we went to Tripoli, the second largest city in Lebanon.  Tripoli is known for many things, but it's famous in Lebanon for its sweets. I wanted to post a picture for you, but I didn't take any and apparently no one else did either.
I have a confession to make.  I'm not that cultured.  I'm not a super picky eater, but there are some things that just aren't on my pallet, and baklava and these types of sweets are some of them.  It's doesn't help that I don't like nuts.  Have no fear though!  I still found some sweets for me.  Cooper (the 2 year old) and I split a kiddie cannon, which is a ice cream sundae served in the shape of a cannon.  We both loved it, which only reinforces my suspicion that I don't act my age. 

Tripoli also has ruins from a castle. 

The castle was once held under siege so there is a tunnel that runs underground from the castle to the sea.  Of course I had to go through it, because we all know that crawling in 1000 year old tunnels is just my thing.  It doesn't go all the way to the sea now, but we went as far as we could.  Worth it!

It starts with this inconspicuous doorway.

From there we headed down some stairs.

Past the crumbling room...

Then we ducked in a doorway and went down these spiral stairs. They went
several stories underground.

It was very dark under there!  We ended up using
our camera flashes as a light to navigate the eroding stairs. 

Above ground again we climbed some scaffolding to get some pictures of Tripoli.  The scaffolding wasn't quite finished though...

What could've made daring the scaffolding worth it?  That mountain in the back is Syria!  Or so I'm told...

This was my first time in Tripoli but it's easily one of my favorite places in Lebanon.

Arabic

During my time in Lebanon I set my mind to learning Lebanese Arabic, which feels a little like fighting an angry hippo with a Q-tip.  I am taking a few Arabic classes while here, but a couple hours 4 weeks a year weren't getting me very far.  After realizing there is no casually learning Arabic, I invested in a few books on the Lebanese dialect and a few orthanography books on the Arabic language.  I am about halfway through the Arabic alpabet, and I can ask you your name, your friend's name, and if it's time for a break.

Arabic class is good, but we always leave tired!  There are just so many sounds in Arabic that we don't have in English.  Not only are they difficult to pronounce, but it's hard to even hear them apart.  We love our Arabic teacher Nivine though.  She really wants us to learn Lebanese Arabic, and she makes class fun. 

It's Laundry Day!

One convenience that is pretty unique to America is clothes dryers.  Most other places in the world air dry their clothes, if not wash them by hand all together.  Americans are some of the only people in the world who are so impatient for their clothes to dry that they would spend money to own and run a machine to speed up the process. 

I however, lack not only a clothes dryer but also a clothes washer here in Lebanon.  Thus is instituted the weekly ritual of laundry day.

My friends Mikey and Cindy came with their baby Cooper, so they have a lot more laundry to do than I.



For convienence Mikey does laundry in the bidet. 
Don't worry, they don't use it as a bidet, and Cindy thoroughly cleaned it. 



I'm an old-fashioned girl; I do my laundry in the sink.

 

Byblos

One Saturday some friends and I traveled to about 45 minutes north of Beirut to Byblos, the oldest continually settled place on earth.  Byblos is home to a castle, a Crusader's church, some ruins of Roman rule, and a market where they sell everything.

The Crusader's Castle

Outside of the castle, there are ruins from the Phonecian era.
The Phonecians invented the first alpahbet. 

The Market



The Crusader's Church- It was decorated for a wedding this day.

 Although Byblos is the oldest city on earth, somehow modernity has a way of sneaking in.  Many things in the market have cause me to scratch my head, including a Tupac backpack, a George Bush backpack, and an NRA poker set.  How they got there I have no idea, but right now I'm wishing I would've gotten pictures. 

Tonino's Crepes!

As I walk along Bliss Street and across from a 200 year old wall surrounding the AUB campus, I pass many great food booths, but none so wonderful as Tonino's, a crepe stand. 

In any other part of the world crepe would sound like crape, ryhming with grape.  But in Lebanon it's pronounced crep, rhyming with step.  It's very important that as you read this post say crepe proper accent. CREP. 

My favorite crepe is the white chocolate Nutella with strawberries, but you can get almost anything on them. You can mix and match the entire list of ingredients, including Nutella, Kinder, Hershey's chocolate, butter, sugar, strawberries, bananas, nuts, cookies and cream, peanut butter, etc.


The Sweet Crepes Menu



Just a few Tonino's ingredients.



The White Chocolate and Strawberry Crepe=My Favorite

Tonino's is owned by Kareem, who was born in Canada and lived there until he was 17 and his father, who is Lebanese, decided to move the family back to Lebanon.

Tonino's has served crepes forby AUB for 12 years, and is an essential part of an authentic Hamra, Beruit experience.  I highly recommend it for whenever you're in Beirut.

Lebanese Lira

One fascinating (and convenient!) thing about Lebanon is that it uses both the Lebanese lira and the US dollar as currency.  From the day you step off the plane until the day you leave you can spend your US dollars anywhere.  In addition, you may pay in dollars, and get back lira and dollars, or pay in lira, and get back dollars and lira.  You can both pay and get change in any combination. 



Lebanese Lira is so colorful it looks a little like play money,
which makes it very easy to spend!


The going ratio from lira to dollar is 1,500 to 1.  So 3,000 Lebanese lira = 2 US dollars.  This makes for some interesting math when you're trying to pay for something and count your change. 

To make things even more complicated (or fun if you like math, which I do), restaurants do not split checks.  So when we're in a group of 10, we may get a bill that says 50,000 Lebanese lira, and then we have to figure out how to pay and get change for every one's individual purchase and combination of dollars and lira, plus the tip.  I enjoy figuring out the money when I'm out with my friends because every time it works out perfectly, I feel a little victory boost in my day.

Some friends and I eating lunch at BarBar

Our whole bill was 62,000LL.  That's right, we're high rollers. 
That's about $40 total.  For 10 of us. 

Take Away!

One of my favorite things about Beirut is every restaurant delivers.  From the ice cream stand to Krispy Kreme, from traditional schwarma stands to sushi restaurants to Applebees, they will all have your food at your door in about 20 minutes.  I'm always impressed that they can even get it here that fast, but I guess that's what a small fleet of mopeds will do for you. 



BarBar's (a food and ice cream stand's) Delivery Moped

 My friends and I added up all of the take-away menus we had in our rooms (nearly all restaurants have them) and we have over 50.  That's right, 50 different restaurants we can call to have any food, drink, or dessert brought to our doorstep.  Most restaurants are open to at least 10, and many into the a.m. hours.  No wonder the Lebanese say that Americans gain weight when they come to Lebanon!



Some of our Take-Away Menus

 Last night my friend Emily and I recently ordered from Taco Loco.  Twenty minutes and 6,500 LL ($4.66) later I was delivered this:



We ordered the Rice and Beans Platter.  Anything that says
platter here comes with all kinds of extras stuff and can usually be split. 



East Eats West

esYou may have heard that Lebanon is an East meets West kind of country.  There is truly no place on earth that has it's mix of cultures.  Upon visiting Beirut, you might be surprised to find that along with the call to prayer played 5 times a day and great Mediterraean cuisine (amoung many), there are many many American restaurant chains.  I've pictured a few below for your viewing pleasure.

Restaurants not pictured (that I can think of ):  KFC; Chilli's; TGI Friday's

And just in case food isn't enough, Beirut also has many American retatilers ready to let you use your purchasing power to feel right at home. 



Not pictured (that I can think of ):  the Apple store