Lebanon

If Allan forgot and didn’t carry one of our small children through customs, we would turn around and he would be gone. My children learned the reason early: being born in Lebanon will guarantee you extra questioning when returning home from any international trip. Even so, Allan is proud of his birthplace and one of the things we enjoy the most is the food.

Lebanese food is a family thing. When Allan and I were dating, Allan’s friend Scott would pick up Lebanese food from Mrs. Razzook when we headed out for the mountains. Mrs. Razzook also provided the mana'eesh and spinach pies for the wedding reception the Darnells held for us in southern California. If I want catering, I always go to Najwa's in Loma Linda. For a family dinner, we go to Mr. Kebob's in Redlands. To pick up food on the way to the beach or to sit down for a meal on the way home, we go to Byblos on Chapman in Orange. Recently, to try something new, I picked up flatbreads at Al Amir Bakery in Claremont. Allan asked for the Closed Cheese (one with just the cheese, one with spinach and mushrooms) and six of the mini zaatar. I’ve ordered spinach borek and swiss chard lentil soup from The Diplomat in Monrovia to eat on the road to NorCal. Tahini in San Diego has great Lebanese street food, including really good pita. But I had never eaten at a Lebanese restaurant with a friend, so Amy and I went to King Kabob in downtown San Bernardino earlier this month. Amy had the chicken schwarma, rice, side salad, hummus, and pita. I had the vegetarian plate: tabouli, Greek salad, grilled eggplant, super cute heart shaped falafel, a samosa, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba ghanouj, and extra pita. If you aren’t quite sure what all these things are, this video on Lebanese street food will show you just how amazing this food is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSwpV85OXNs

The hard part was learning how to prepare the food! When we were first married, Allan asked me to learn to make hummus. Allan's mom said, "Oh, I put in a little of this and a little of that. I don't measure." The Internet wasn’t yet developed enough for me to find a recipe online and there was no Costco where I could buy big tubs of it. I finally found a recipe in a Gourmet magazine. It was similar to this one: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

Hummus is the easiest thing. It takes less than five minutes to throw some ingredients in the blender. The hardest thing is stuffed grapeleaves. My version takes ten to twelve hours including prepping, rolling, cooking, and allowing the finished product to sit in the pot for eight hours for the flavors to meld. I found a shorter version online to share https://zaatarandzaytoun.com/vegan-lebanese-stuffed-vine-leaves/

I usually buy my baklava at the Arabic market on the corner of Iowa and Blaine in Riverside, but it is one of Kristen's favorite things to make. I remember the year we made batch after batch to give to her professors. Here is a recipe for that: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/how-to-make-baklava/

So in all the years we have been married, I have learned about the food, but I hadn’t read the poetry or wisdom literature, even though Allan’s parents told me how beautiful Arabic poetry is. Allan’s copy of The Prophet sat on the bookshelf since we married without me taking the slightest notice of it. I finally read it this week and yes, it deserves all the accolades and yet, I had to change my pace to read it. I slowed down. I considered the ideas. I noticed the beauty of the language. These are the times that I miss Allan’s dad. I loved those deep conversations about literature and ideas. I would have enjoyed discussing Kahlil Gibran with him. Project Gutenberg is a great place to pick up several of his works if you don’t happen to have a husband from Lebanon! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gibran+Khalil+Gibran&submit_search=Go%21

I decided not to watch war stories this week – Allan has enough of those – so even though they are highly rated, I skipped West Beirut and Al Hayba on Netflix and Under the Bombs on Kanopy. I could have watched 1982, a coming of age story, or Mona Hatoum, about an artist, both on Kanopy, but I chose What Did I Mess on Netflix instead. It’s a romantic comedy with a twist. It was fun to watch and did you notice all the English and French mixed in with the Arabic? Apparently that kind of code switching is common in Lebanon. I remember that when I met Allan, he knew all three languages, but his French and Arabic have gotten rusty. I'm just grateful for the subtitles.

When looking for more information on the mix of languages, I came across this site which includes a sample video. The subject of the sample video caught my attention. It is a conversation with historian Chloe Kattar. I am so impressed with her ability to deconstruct ideas that have led to the conflict in Lebanon that I ended up watching the whole hour and a half: https://www.quora.com/Is-Lebanese-Arabic-similar-to-Spanglish-as-both-languages-seem-to-be-a-mix-of-two-languages

Allan tells me Fairuz is the Elvis Presley of Lebanon. We listened to her music at the Lebanon Lawn Program at Balboa Park when some of the dancers were diagnosed with COVID and had to cancel. Even today, after a career spanning 70 of her 86 years, many Arab radio stations start the day with one of her songs. Here is one of her concerts from 1979: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VCrHj_tQQQ

Some unusual things I found from Lebanon include:

· Graphic literature: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/graphic-lit/a-subjective-history-of-lebanon

· An interview with the graphic artist: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/this-catastrophe-that-is-called-lebanon-conversation-mazen-kerbaj

· A video about abstract artist Saloua Raouda Choucair https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/global-vanguards/global-vanguards-lebanon/v/saloua-raouda-choucair

Some of the best places to visit in Lebanon are noted here https://www.adventurouskate.com/places-to-visit-in-lebanon/and yes, Allan would love to go back and I would love to go with him! I am looking forward to a time when we can travel again and hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Lebanon and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Marc Veraart https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcveraart/5951621211/