Beirutista

As a Lebanese-American who called Southern California home for two decades, access to anything from the motherland half a globe away was absolutely sacred. My brothers and I would squeal with delight whenever we’d visit the Middle Eastern stores in Anaheim and Orange County. Scanning the aisles, I remember ogling products that had been crafted in Lebanon and exported to communities across the world dense in the Lebanese diaspora. One of my first and fondest recollections is the pistachio halawa by Al Wadi Al Akhdar . That circular tub with the forest green lid is forever seared in my memory. My parents always had two or three stocked in the pantry, alongside bottles of Al Wadi’s fragrant orange blossom and rose waters that Mom reached for regularly throughout the year, whether for baking maamoul (stuffed Lebanese semolina cookies) or concocting lemonade from scratch. Al Wadi Al Akhdar’s pistachio halawa is crafted from 100% pure sesame seeds tahini, sugar, and halawa extract. In 20...

These days my anxiety is through the roof. I mean, whose isn’t? We’ve got a global pandemic raging, and though we’re starting to witness a drop in the number of cases in areas where vaccination has been launched full-scale, most of the world has yet to be graced with needles of elixir by Pfizer, Moderna, and the likes. In fact, a third wave is upending whole populations in dense countries like India. Couple that with a trifecta of crises in Lebanon – political, economic, and fiscal – and it takes an inordinate amount of self-delusion to stay sane. We’ve literally been living on our own proverbial island, inside the four walls of our flat in the northern suburbs of Beirut. On weekends we escape to family’s chalet for a glimpse of that moderating Mediterranean and some fresh air. And if we really want to go wild, I’ll take the kids to a mall five minutes away where there are more shops than shoppers by a stretch . (Did you know that The Gap ducked out of Le Mall in Dbayeh? Subway, too....

A few weeks ago, I confessed to thoroughly enjoying housecleaning . Well, “thoroughly” might be a bit of a hyperbole, but let’s just say the act of scrubbing, mopping, ironing, and polishing instills in me a fair measure of satisfaction. Not only is the process therapeutic, requiring me to work with my hands whilst granting me time to daydream, but I in turn feel renewed and cleanly. And I was impressed to find many of you aligned with me! A poll featured on my Instagram stories revealed that 5 out of every 8 surveyed readers insist on cleaning their own homes rather than hiring outside help. Even in this part of the world, where housemaids charge minimal fees for a few hours of elbow grease, a considerable chunk of us prefer getting our hands dirty in the endless effort to achieve “cleanliness is next to godliness” status. I promised you I would proffer a list of my favorite household cleaning products, but why preach to the choir when I can perhaps enlighten you and in so ...