Parking meters around Beirut all allow free parking after 5 or 6 PM except in Solidere! As you can see in the below photo, free parking is only allowed after 11 PM (Monday to Saturday).
In addition, as shown in the below photo a flat rate of 3,000L.L applies between 8 & 11 PM (Monday to Saturday), and to my knowledge it doesn’t exist anywhere else, even in the busy Hamra street.
So what’s so special about Solidere to set the parking meters in it that way?!
While surfing Naharnet today I came across this dangerous news:
Lebanon in War with Israel but this Time on Falafel
Director General of the Lebanese Industrialists Association Saadeddine al-Owaini is urging Arab countries to participate in the campaign launched against Israel for “stealing the region’s dishes.”
Owaini announced that he will start contacting the region’s ambassadors to urge them to take part in the campaign after a tehini-filled falafel marketed under the Ta’amti brand won the prize for the best food from Israel at the Kosherfest food and beverage trade event, held in New Jersey last month.
The trade fair is held once a year in New Jersey under the slogan “Where trends emerge and traditions continue.”
Owaini further complained that Israel is exporting the boxed falafel to make huge sums of money and without having played any role in the appearance of such a dish in the region.
Owaini said he will send a letter to the Lebanese economy and trade ministry to urge it to complain to international authorities. To retaliate, he vowed to prepare the biggest falafel and enter the Guinness book of records to remind the world that falafel is not Israeli.
It seems that the Israelis are really enjoying this food fight! In brief, an Israeli company is marketing a tahini filled Falafel under the name of Taamti, and they won a prize for it being the best Israeli food. Now guess who started complaining! Mr. Saadeddine Owaini.
But since we, the Lebanese people, are known to quickly respond to any threat, and since setting a world record became a piece of cake to us, Mr. Owaini decided that we will be making the world’s biggest Falafel to enter the Guinness book and remind the whole world that the Falafel is indeed Lebanese.
I wonder how is this big piece of Falafel going to fit into a sandwich? Or are we going to also make the world’s biggest Arabic bread?
By the way, how about a better idea other than setting records to defend our Lebanese cuisine? I suggest “striking” the Jewish cuisine and start exporting some of their cooking as Lebanese products. That would be cool! 😉
The Falafel photo is via Flickr.
The trade fair is held once a year in New Jersey under the slogan “Where trends emerge and traditions continue.”
Owaini further complained that Israel is exporting the boxed falafel to make huge sums of money and without having played any role in the appearance of such a dish in the region.
Owaini said he will send a letter to the Lebanese economy and trade ministry to urge it to complain to international authorities. To retaliate, he vowed to prepare the biggest falafel and enter the Guinness book of records to remind the world that falafel is not Israeli.
Via IndyACT’s blog:
“The man in the Cube” is a project organized by The League of Independent Activists – IndyACT aiming to raise global urgency on the critical dangers of global warming and to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action against climate change in Copenhagen this year.
‘The man in the cube’ (Rami Eid) represents “the last man on earth” enduring a fierce struggle for survival against climate change effects. He will be living in the a transparent cube on Ein El-Mreyseh for 3 days starting 16 October 2009.
The “last man” simulates the possibility of a dim future for mankind where we failed to act against climate change when we had the chance.
So I went last night to see that man, who’s called Rami Eid by the way, and watch how is he managing to live inside a cube (in addition to taking photos of course!).
The area in which he lives doesn’t exceed 4 square meters, with a chair, a small laptop and a connection to the internet via a MOBI device. Needless to say there was a LOT of annoying people around him, especially kids tapping on the glass and trying to make fun of him. He even reported via twitter that one guy threw a cigarette butt inside the cube!
As you will see in the photos, the water level was at around 20 centimeters, and I assume it will increase as time goes by. (simulating one of the climate change effects)
You can follow the man in the cube via his blog and twitter.
I just came across a news that made it for me! Our minister of interior affairs Ziad Baroud issued a statement banning motorcycles between 6:00PM and 5:00AM as of October 15th 2009. In addition to making it clear that motorcyclists gatherings are forbidden.
بارود يصدر قرارا بضبط سير الدراجات النارية ابتداء من 15 الجاري
أصدر وزير الداخلية زياد بارود قرارا ً بضبط سير الدراجات النارية في الأراضي اللبنانية المختلفة اعتباراً من تاريخ 15/10/2009، وطلب الى المديرية العامة لقوى الأمن الداخلي التشدّد في تطبيق القرار.
وسمح القرار بسير الدراجات النارية المسجلة أصولاً لدى هيئة إدارة السير والآليات والمركبات والمستوفية لجميع الشروط القانونية، اعتباراً من الساعة الخامسة صباحاً وحتى الساعة الثامنة عشرة، ويمنع سير جميع الدراجات بين الساعة 18.00 والساعة الخامسة من صباح اليوم التالي.
By the way, every time I see a motorcyclist performing stunts on the highway, I get the urge to hit him and watch him rolling on the asphalt! Yes that’s how much I hate you Lebanese motorbike owners!
Photo via flickr
I was at Idriss Supermarket (Hamra) few days ago when I noticed a new soft drink on the shelves, and the brand name is “Kazouza”. I’m sure you have heard the word “kazouz” before, referring to carbonated soft drinks, so here you go a Kazouza!
I personally liked the name and the design of the bottle. However, the producers claim to have existed since 1941, do you have any info about that? Darine from Identity Chef blog is also wondering about it!
Usually you have 1001 reason to leave this country! (Electricity, water, mobile network, slow internet, Ammar Houri, etc…) But for some reason I find myself attached to it, and more precisely addicted to its capital Beirut.
Below is a nice short video found on Twitter promoting Lebanon and showing how charming this country is despite all its problems!
It’s been 27 years now since Bachir Gemayel has been assassinated, and every year I can’t help but wonder what could have happened if Bachir lived and remained as a president for Lebanon..?
Israel wouldn’t have invaded Lebanon, the Lebanese civil war could have ended earlier than 1990, a Beirut – Tel Aviv highway could have been created (similar to Beirut – Damascus highway!)… and for some reason Rafic Hariri could have lived!
What do you think?
The small town of Ehden in north Lebanon gained an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records on Saturday for producing the largest ever kebbe — a dish of minced meat and cracked wheat.
To create the giant circular 20-square-metre (215-square-foot) kebbe they had to mix 120 kilos of mince, 80 litres of olive oil, 80 kilos of cracked wheat, five kilos of salt and a mere kilo of pepper.
Via AFP
My favorite restaurant in Ehden is “Al-Ferdaws”, they make the best Kebbe there! Although it’s full of fat and cholesterol, but very tasty! 😀
What’s next? World’s longest Markouk & Labneh sandwich in Chtoura?
Ramadan Kareem to all the readers! 🙂
Photo is from Sunken Treasure 6 blog.
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.
There are actually two toastmasters clubs in Lebanon, one is in Beirut and the other in Tripoli. And I got introduced to Toastmasters Lebanon a while ago via Nour’s blog “Sunken Treasure 6”. Nour is a member of Tripoli’s club and she posts frequent updates on her blog about what goes on in the meetings and sometimes shares with the tables topics that she’s going to be speaking about.
Per my readings of her blog posts, Toastmasters evaluation system helps the individuals identify the weaknesses in their communication skills and of course work on improving them. One thing I have been wondering about though is when do members decide that they got enough practice and no longer need what Toastmasters offers and thus choose to just stop attending. I think Nour can answer this by commenting on the post!
Anyway, you can get to know more about Toastmaster Tripoli through the below reportage by Mounzer Al-Merehbi which was aired on TeleLiban few days ago.
