I know I have been MIA for long again, but it is for a good cause, at least for me 
. I have been doing some tourism. I got to visit Las Vegas and part of the California North Coast, the Redwoods and Fort Bragg. It was filled with fun and food. I did not really take pictures of the dishes but I have a couple of recommendations for our readers.
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Posted in Specials
Tagged Firefly Restaurant, Fort Bragg, Las Vegas, Mendocino, Moody's Cafe, North Coast Brewing Co, Rainforest Cafe
I know, I know… I have been MIA for a long while, but I have my reasons! I swear I do…
I have been kept busy, really busy… See I had Visa papers to assemble and interviews to attend. Also I had to prepare for a move across the world and a wedding… I still had to go to work among all that too.
All those who have moved before, realize it is no easy task to pack up your life, let alone pack it in a couple of suitcases that you have to carry across the world -literally- and then start afresh.
Dear readers, now I do not live in Lebanon anymore, I moved to Nor-Cal and married my fiancé and co-author Clint. I am far from being done with paperwork though: now after the wedding, starts the paperwork for my change of status and my settling in here. It is a long slow process, in which I am basically home stranded for a few months. Work would not be allowed before an authorization. You might think it is a nice vacation, but you can get claustrophobic running around all day in an apartment, no matter how much you have to do.
I just wanted to let our readers in on the situation, so you guys would not think we abandoned you. But I hope that when I am properly settled in, I can go back to blogging regularly again.
In the meantime enjoy yourselves and I will be back soon hopefully
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Posted in Specials
Dried mint is widely used in Lebanese cuisine. It can replace fresh mint when not available or just be a condiment used in many dishes or as garnish on Mezzeh such as Garlic Labneh.
When my friend Clint visited me here in Lebanon, we had lunch at a local Italian restaurant called Olio. They served us a Caprese Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella, served in such a beautiful way, that it looked like a flower.
Today, The Taste-Buds blog blows its first candle. I seriously cannot believe a year has passed since that first post.
A lot has happened in the meantime too and it all brought me closer to my co-bloggers and friends. After all I got to meet one in person, since Clint got to visit me last summer and you can read all about it here and here.
A special occasion calls for a special recipe, don’t you agree? I have been meaning to make Panna Cotta for a while now. I have made it a couple of days ago actually, but decided to leave the actual posting for the blog-anniversary.
Posted in Desserts & Sweets, Festive, Recipes, Specials
Tagged Blog Anniversary, Chocolate, Dessert, Panna Cotta
The Lebanese villagers, in the old days, had the transportation means pretty rudimentary. The mountainous landscape and narrow road made it an extreme sport to get through the snow to get to another place to get supplies.
Most of the villages counted on the ambulant salesmen or “mkary” as they call them locally, to get all kinds of goods. Those traveled on donkey back and were the adventurous people who faced the odds, whether related to climate or to politics. They actually played a great part in smuggling provisions to the villagers, under the Ottoman Empire and during the World War I.
Marhaba! Kifkun? Recently I took a two-week vacation to Lebanon and I can tell you this was the best thing I have ever done! The trip made good sense since fellow Taste-Bud (and good friend) Viviane is one of the Lebanese natives. I had the chance to have a Taste-Bud-guided trip to an exotic place where many foods saw their beginning and where history is everywhere, so I thought why not?
Tagged Arak, ashta, Falafel, grape leaves, hommos, hommous, hummus, kabab, knefeh, labneh, Lebanese, Lebanon, Mediterranean, middle eastern, tabbouleh, tabbouli, Tahini, Vacation, Wara Einab
I know we are guilty of abandoning this blog for a little while, OK… OK… it was a long while (Hangs head in shame!). But I have an excuse, I really do! It was a really hot summer here in Lebanon, temperature climbed to incredible heights and humidity was not a bad competitor either. You don’t believe me? You can ask my T-B Clint. Yes one of my Taste-Buds visited me actually! How cool is that! We can officially scratch the part that says we all never met. It was such a nice experience to meet a long time friend and a recent co-author. You can of course guess that a lot of food was included in the trip. After all this is Lebanon, where most revolves around food, and we are two food bloggers. We did the regular sightseeing too but this post is mostly gonna be about food!
My parents grow a special kind of roses in our mountain garden. These roses are used to distill rosewater.
Usually the distillation is not made in an apartment, but since my parents have still not gone to the mountain for the summer and the roses already bloomed and were picked, it was a must to make the rose water, before the flowers perish.
So the distilling device was borrowed from my uncle, and it was rose water making Sunday.
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Clint
meray3
Viviane
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