I’ve been taking refuge in the kitchen and those are the results 🧚🏻
2. Whipped goat cheese, confit leeks, braised purple carrots & candied Kumquats 🍊
3. Caramelized fennel
Parsnips Radishes
Spinach
Pine nuts
Lemon zest
In butter with a side of smoked fish 🍋
4. Tomato sauce from scratch spaghetti with burrata di bufala 🍅
5. Shaved endives
Bresaola
Mozzarella
Toasted Pine nuts
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar ⭐️
6. Peaches poached in mulled red wine that contained:
Fresh vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks, anise star, fennel seeds, cardamom seeds
On burrata garnished with fresh mint leaves 🍷
7. Green peas butter purée
Fried egg
Fresh Mozzarella
Bresaola 🥚
8. Mama’s Bazella w Riz (Green pea stew) 🫛 ❤️🩹
9. Ratatouille 🐀🇫🇷👩🏽🍳
10. Mulled wine hot tub ✨
11. Satisfied Sisi 🌅
A letter to teta Geneviève,
I was sitting in bed, trying to remember the voices of the people I love.
And it came to me that I couldn’t clearly remember the voice of my grandmother.
She died when I was 15, it’s been too long.
Then I tried remembering the last time I saw her alive in her home. It was as if I opened a drawer that had been closed for so many years, I didn’t even know it existed until I actively reached for it.
And in that moment there she was, waving from her balcony, in her floral dress one last time.
Then the house came alive around her,
her favorite couch beside the pearl Venus,
the embroidered wallpaper, velvet brown couches, the summer room with Japanese-style furniture, her bedroom with the white oak vanity, lipsticks lined up in the same elegant shade of orange. The scent of her perfume when you entered her room. On the right, a poster of how she liked her hair to be cut and brushed. On the left, a big window with pine trees outside.
In the hallway, a coat hanger. At the end of it, a bathroom with one of the biggest bathtubs I have ever seen, or maybe I was just small. I had to climb into it. The toilet seat with the string you pulled to flush. The flush, the best plumbing system in Beirut. So strong it felt like it could suck all your sins away with it.
In the other hallway that led to the kitchen, there was a beautiful sink on the left, in case you needed to wash your hands in passing.
And then the kitchen, oh, that kitchen left a print on me. That woman had such great taste. Picture this: Marble worn smooth by love. Orange cabinets like her nails and hair, everything meticulously labeled and placed exactly where they belonged. Bless you.
This small thought that crossed my mind opened an entire world I had buried under mundane todo lists.
It stopped me. It split me open. I burst into uncontrollable tears. And I realized how much we store, how much we keep, and how we pretend it’s no longer there.
I love you, habibti teta. I love you so much. I would give anything for one last orange cake and Tang with you.
I wish I had been more present.
I promise, in the next life 💌
Balance, lately, hasn’t meant standing still.
It’s meant holding my arms open while everything shifts.
Letting some things pull, letting others go.
Just present enough to stay upright.
💌
Went back to feeding myself and others 🫀
1. A thick daurade that became fish broth and fed me for two days
2. Soft boiled egg marinated in the hot sexi chili jam overnight on toast with smoked bacon dijon mustard & greens
3. Chillies that would become a hot sexi chili jam
4. Feta in the oven with balsamic basil simple
5. Umami shitaake soup with bok choy soba noodles, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, ruce vinegar lots of simmering
6. The broth
7. Crispy chanterelles with garlic, coriander, lemon juice with a side of apple, spinach salad and an old compté
8. Whipped feta with mind and pistachio, garnished with mint oil, cherry molasses, dill and radishes
9. Kafta fingers
10. Crispy leeks
11. Tomato sardines with guacamole for the sunset
12. Porridge the English way
13. Mint tahini base with glazed carrots and pistachios
14. Labneh made with love topped with pickled radishes
15. I don’t remember but it looks like creamy scrambled eggs
16. Me 💌
Everything was perfect that one afternoon in Chiarita’s van. We had finished working. I had already taken a nap, and the second I woke up, I went straight to Chiara. We opened a cold beer, and the sun was hitting the van it felt warm and lazy. Moments later, Vero joined us, and it felt as if we all lived in the same neighborhood. It felt like childhood again, when we used to just knock on a friend’s door and spend the afternoon together, no plans, no messages. Just a knock and a good time.
