12 February 2010

The Village of Beirut, December 1970























I live in Hamra, the neighborhood adjacent to AUB. I have been told I am a "Hamra snob" as I don't like to leave its grid of streets...I am okay with that.  I was sent this great description of the community and culture. So much of this hasn't changed in 40 years. (thanks Haitham for the link)

The Village of Beirut by Paula Stern

Pecha Kucha Beirut 7

















Very excited to be presenting at Pecha Kucha Beirut 7...
I will be sharing the Pallet House project that I worked on with The World Hands Project.

11 February 2010

Lamb & Kebbeh!


















Of course the food is great here...one doesn't even have to ask that. This is one of my favorite finds...simple and so good...ground lamb and eggs...wow...( I need to find the names for these...Haitham...any help?)
































As some of you may know, I grew up with Lebanese food, or at least a version of it that had been adapted after 100 years of living in the states. I grew up eating kebbeh nayeh. Think "beef tartar" with grains of wheat...smashed with a fork, smothered in olive oil and salted and peppered...(and yes, they do that here too dad!) I was eating that stuff before I had teeth and my mom has mentioned that she isn't sure she would do it again knowing all the issues with the meat industry in the states. But, I survived and hadn't eaten it in a long time - it was heavy...But here the kebbeh is made from goat or lamb...and its light...really good...You can see a bit of it in the first kebbeh photo..the reddish ball on the side of the dish.

The images above are examples of kebbeh that has been baked, fried or stuffed. The top is a patty and the bottom one rolled and stuffed (again, not sure of names, any help would be great). The book "Rural Taste of Lebanon" by Yazbeck has a section on kebbeh and gives the following recipe found in northern Lebanon... kebbeh zghortawiye: made of lamb or goat, mixed with burghal. The meat is shaped in big balls and stuffed with animal fat, pine nuts and chopped onions. And another one that is like a casserole, spread in a dish with saute onions and pine nuts and oven baked.

And there is so much more...of course there is kebabs of all types...rolled and pinched on skewer sticks...you get choices of meat mixed with nuts, pomegranate, etc...

07 February 2010

Things that made me go...hummmmm

Nothing gives you a perspective on life like relocating it to another city, another continent, another culture. Some of the little things we take for granted just can't be expected, and living here Beirut is no exception. Below are the little things I have found that have made me question, made me laugh and in some instances...just hurt! (Remember I am an architect)



















The marble threshold: usually located in a position to border off a "wet area" (like kitchen or bathroom). I have found these toe-breaking room dividers to be an interesting addition. I have one at my door to my bathroom and at the divider of my kitchen and living room. I believe its used to keep the water in the room while washing the floors... It gets my guests every time!



















This floor drain feature complements the marble toe-breaker above. Located in those defined "wet room" spaces are these floor drains with metal lids. When you wash the floor you just take of the lid, throw down a bucket of water and slosh it around...kinda brilliant. Why was our version of this those domestic central vacuum systems from the 70's?



















Electricity: The power distribution in Beirut isn't constant. Parts of the country are without municipal power during the day, and in Beirut, parts of the city are out of power for 3 hours a day. This rotates daily, and on my calendar I have a list of the times (6am-9am, 9am-noon, noon-3pm and 3pm-6pm). I am fortunate enough to have a generator with a switch shown above (the box to the left is the breaker that i also use quite often!). I have to remember to switch off any heating elements while on the generator, hot water heater off and have to decide between washing clothes or running the heat. But really it has become apart of my routine here and the appreciation one has for electricity grows ten fold. (And what a great excuse to just sleep in till 9am when the power is out in the morning?) domestic/small scale energy production is actually a bigger discussion topic (pollution, access, oil, etc) and I will blog about it later.

04 February 2010

Called to Prayer




Call to prayer from outside my balcony.
(audio only)






Friday's Service...