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.

Source

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.

Is it the Lebanese Forces? Is it March 14 coalition? Is it the Free Patriotic Movement? Is it March 8 coalition? Is it the “الزحف الشيعي على جامعة بشير الجميّل” (also known as Hizbullah)? Mickey Mouse maybe!

If you check both of the FPM & Lebanese Forces websites (Tayyar.org & Lebanese-Forces.com) you notice that both parties claim they won the election, and to my amazement none of them tell it was a close competition! They both claim they wiped their rivals!

And to amaze us ever more, the FPM people went to Michael Aoun’s place in Rabieh late last night to celebrate their victory, and the Lebanese Forces people did the same thing at Samir Geagea’s place in Maarab!!

I recall the same thing happened last year in USJ, so I think it’s becoming a ritual there. Few thousands students casting their votes, and it takes forever to come out with an accurate final result. Fuck whoever is responsible for that.

Here’s how the Tayyar.org website looked today morning:

… and here’s how the Lebanese Forces website looked like at the same time.

Amusing eh?

And while you’re their, you can get to enjoy homemade cookies by the COOKI3MAN who has been creating a buzz around the Lebanese twitterverse with his delicious choc chip, M&M, and Kinder cookies!

After breaking the world records for the longest Dabke chain and the largest Kebbe plate, the Lebanese people decided it is time to set a new world record, making the biggest Hommos and Tabbouleh! And this time the event IS for a purpose, it will be a part of the campaign to reclaim ownership of the 2 traditional dishes after Israel started to export them as Israeli.

The event is going to take place at Saifi Market in Downtown Beirut on October 24 and 25 and will also include various other entertaining activities. The dishes are expected to spread over an area exceeding 5,000 square meters, I wonder where are they going to get THAT MUCH parsley and hommos from!!

Last but not least, and while talking about world records, the people of Arnaoun (A northern Lebanese village) thought it would be cool to break to world record for the longest bridal scarf! Check this article for more details. It seems that we have nothing to worry about nowadays other than breaking world records… w habal.

P.S: I bet some Israeli is going to read this post and laugh really hard at it. At the end they’re still exporting their goods, and we’re still busy thinking of a way to reclaim ownership of a couple of dishes…

Sorry to disappoint you if your expecting some street photography but I actually preferred to take a panoramic photo of Jounieh bay from the road leading to Harissa. So far this is my best attempt in making a panoramic photo, and I am quite satisfied with the result, although I know there is room for improvement. (I’m relying on Antoine’s comments!)

(Click to enlarge)

For those of your who are interested in more details about the photo, it’s actually made up of 3 photos each exposed for 6 seconds, and merged using autostitch.

Stay tuned for the next episode, it’ll be featuring Batroun at the end of the summer season.

“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.

Nike Human Race is a worldwide sport event that is going to take place in 35 cities around the globe, including Beirut, on October 24th 2009. It’s basically a multi-city event for celebrating the report of running by giving runners everywhere the opportunity to run together.

In Beirut it is going to take the form of a fund raising event. Those who sign up and upon paying the registration fees ($10) will have to mention under which association name are they going to race, and at the end of the event Nike will be donating registration fees to the Association which will gather the biggest number of runners.

It’s just a 10K fun run event with no ranking or winners, however all participants who will reach the finish line will get their Nike Human Race Beirut Medal souvenir.

Registration forms are available at all Nike stores – ABC Ahrafieh, ABC Dbayeh, Verdun, Kaslik, Tripoli and Downtown Beiru. Don’t forget to write the name of the Association you will be running for.

Click here for more details on Facebook.

Today I won’t be writing about what the climate change is and its bad effects on our planet, I’m pretty sure you lately came across several articles about that (just in case you didn’t, here’s something for you). This post will be more about what we as individuals can do in our not-so-ecofriendly country, also known as Lebanon.

Photo by Antoine Kater

1. Carpooling on a daily basis is hard I know, and our transportation sucks big time that’s for sure, but I know that I can leave my car home at least twice or more each month and reach my destination either with a friend or in a bus. And so can you!
2. Do turn off lights when you don’t need them! That’s the least you can do to help the environment. (and to reduce your electricity bill of course!)
3. Recycling! If you do work then let your boss know that Sukleen CAN collect recyclable materials upon request. So contact them as soon as possible and let them collect your paper trash for recycling.
4. Think twice before you print, do you really need that document in hard copy?
5. Plant a tree if you can, the environment will love you for that.
6. … and the list goes on…

I know my post alone might not convince you to make a slight change in your lifestyle to help reducing the effects of the climate change, but just wait until the end of the day and see how much blogs will be talking about the same matter! Then you’ll know how serious it is! Oh and make sure to also check this shocking post from Travel Blog Magazine.

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

Balaa is very famous for its 250 meters deep natural sink hole that  has been carved by water 160 million years ago! According to Mireille, a magnificent waterfall can be observed during winter and spring with water vapors rising up to the surface, so I’m definitely going to revisit Balaa again.

Moving to the photos…

There’s a distance of around 300 meters separating the sinkhole from the main road, and yes you have to walk to get to it.

And we’re gettig closer..

And here we are! The photos actually do no justice to the location. What appears like a shade in the middle is actually is small waterfall.

As you can see, the place IS dangerous, the edges are a bit slippery and you really don’t want to risk falling down.

The bridge in the middle is reachable, and the below photo is taken from its top.

Yep, 250 meters deep!

The location is suitable for a picnic by the way, but camping is forbidden as per the ministry of environment.

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