The world is just fine...

But my TV screen is bleeding...

Lebanon unrest, the country on the brink of civil war (again!)

China earthquake: 22,000 declared dead so far. 7,000 schools flattened!

Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis leaves 15,000 people killed....

And 60 years on, Palestine is still under the grip of the Zionist occupation...

Lebanon...bleeding

The streets, the trees, the clouds, the human limbs.

Lebanon tearing itself apart from within...

There is no escape this time...

Lebanon is bleeding ... I can hear the blank screams...

on a child's face

the innocence violated

one more time

again

and again

Where are we going this time?

Why do you destroy a place where my ancestors once lived...

A country of beauty, of love, of family, of eternal culture.

I love Lebanon, always...

SoulSearch

2.0.0.7 - The year that was

With the New Year just around the corner, I need to look back at what 2007 gave me and the world...
I love lists, so I composed one:

In 2007:

1. I turned 29, the last year in my twenties.
2. My kids turned 5 & 3, I need serious parenting tips.
3. I set my mind on getting a new job, and I did.
4. Didn't get a new phone yet, I wanted a Nokia N95, (I heard prices went down to BD 170???)(What happened???)
5. Iraq is still a burning war zone.
6. Gun-totting disturbed teenagers continue to massacre people in schools colleges.
7. Dubai continues to build taller buildings - aka Burj Dubai.

8. Tripoli, Lebanon sees clashes led by the brainfarts, so-called Ansar AlIslam
9. Discovered I have mild reumatism.
10. My best friend Nishani has a new baby boy - Ameer. Wish you both best of health.
11. My brother Hamood gets a new job after waiting for 4 years. Good Luck Aeuturnus!
12. Attended congress in Dubai. Jumeirah.
13. Israel continues to use Palestinians as target practice.
14.No solution for the Darfur problem yet.
15. Clashes in Bahrain during the National day holidays. 1 person killed.
16. No fireworks lit Bahrain's skies this year either.
17. Construction work continues on our house. First stage completed. Finishing in progress.
18. We still use loads of plastic bags. We need to be more environmentally aware.
19. Lost 3 kgs this year.
20. Just heard Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in Pakistan.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous year ahead.

May 2008 be better year for the world.

Peace and Love,
SoulSearch

Lebanon...

The tears of a child, her blood stains the rocks of Qana, rockets and craters destroyed her playground, her home destroyed.

Remembering all the victims of the brutal Israeli war machine...

Thanks to Al-Jazeera News Channel (both English & Arabic) for their outstanding coverage and their insightful reports that clearly and realistically portray the destruction that Lebanon suffered last year... www.aljazeera.net/english

To Lebanon, with love.

peace,

soulsearch

The Bumpy Road to Peace...

The region is on fire, to whose benefit is that? Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon? People are dying, children torn apart by bombs, death, hunger and disease, what's happening?
Is there any hope for the future, how long will this fighting continue?
While the Arab leaders work to attract as much investments into their countries and subsequent pockets, people in these sorry situations continue to die, and cry.

... We watch in silence ...

... Hopelessness ...

... Despair ...

...Insecurity...

...Crimes ...

... What a Sorry Arab Situation ...

Peace,
SoulSearch

Beirut Burning again...

I weep for Beirut, my lovely country. I weep for the destruction that evil has bestowed upon it last night and the last few days.

Some wackos calling themselves- Fateh Al-Islam, who are basically a bunch of criminals released into Lebanon as part of a bigger plot to destroy Lebanon, have been sent to wreak havoc in the country by planting bombs and terrorizing and killing innocent people. Check out the BBC news on the latest fighting in Lebanon here.

What is worse is the number of army personnel killed by these supposed "Palestinian Refugees" who placed snipers everywhere and killed 31 Lebanese soldiers in 2 days?!!! That is astounding!!!

That would only point to one thing that these people are trained army personnel or ex-soldiers who have recieved army training and have a purpose in destroying a country that has had enough of their reign of terror!

One thing that amazes me is that there is so much speculation about whether these guys are Al-Qaeda and about who is their main instigator, whereby the truth is blatantly out there. That instigator is otherwise known as Syria!!!

What is going to happen? Do more innocent people have to die to prove that Syria reins powerful over the whole region? Does the country have to fall back into the abyss of civil war to appease everyone's anger?

People needs to come together and understand that they eventually have to live together, whether they were Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Maronites, Druze, etc. etc,

I pray for peace, and for evil to lift its grip off Lebanon.

Peace,

SoulSearch

My Knefe Recipe

There's nothing like a taste of Lebanon every once in a while, and no other desert is more representative of Lebanese cuisine as Kunafeh, or Knefe as the Lebanese say it. To those who asked for my special Knefe recipe, well, here it is, I hope you enjoy it :)

Ingredients:
The Knefe dough (from supermarkets) (separated as best you can)
2 cups of sweetened milk or 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 a cup of cornflour
1 cup of room-temperature water
5 tbs of Ghee

For the sugar syrup:

2 cups of sugar
1 cup water
a squeeze of lemon
2 tsp of orange blossom water (mai zaher)

First, you will need to separate the kunafa dough and place it in pyrex pan or a non-stick pan.
Separately in a small saucepan add the milk (whichever you choose) and add the cornflour, stirring constantly, add the water and continue to stir until the mixture is firm and boiling.
This will be your cream between the two layers of the Knefe.
Then sprinkle some ghee (or butter) over the dough, spread the cream over it and add another layer of dough on top of the cream. sprinkle more ghee over your knefe and place it in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until it is slightly golden.

For the syrup:

Place the 2 cups of sugar and one cup of water in another saucepan. Bring to the boil. Allow to cool slightly then add a squeeze of lemon juice and some orange blossom water (mai zaher) and pour over the hot Knefe.

For Decoration: Sprinkle some ground pistachio in any pattern you like!

And Voila! you are almost a Lebanese chef.

If any one tries my recipe, be sure to come back and tell us about the taste ;)

Peace,
SoulSearch

Weekend Desert

Because my dad is a chef and specialized in Lebanese cuisine, I've always taken it for granted that we have tabouleh, stuffed vine leaves, chicken fata for lunch, and kunafah, baqlawa, and basboosa for desert.

However, I went into a lebanese cooking frenzy in the past few months, and decided to cook all things Lebanese, that have always been there on the table but very difficult to attempt cooking.

I made tabouleh the other day, and the last weekend I made Kunafah. My dad was all smiles, proud of his offspring, at her first attempt at real Kunafah. And it was a major hit, my husband loved it, my brothers downed it, my cousin almost finished it, and of course my dad and mom were like proud parents at their eldest child's graduation.

I'll leave you with my Kunafah!

p.s. the little bite on the side was Amoona. She couldn't resist but take a bite!! =)

A World of Hopelessness

Hope for Life. When I started this blog, I hoped I could write about my concerns as an Arab citizen living in the Arab world.
But today, I feel I have reached a dead end. Killing, wars, conflicts, suicide bombings, in many parts of the Arab world; is this the spiral to our destruction?

So many questions on my mind; is it our fault? or governments'? our leaders? our inaction? our slumber?

Or is it fate, is it our destiny to watch people around us die for no reason.

Iraq is one fire,
Palestine is still occupied,
Lebanon is a political time bomb,
Morocco is shook by a bloody attack,
Algeria follows...

Who's next? Is it Al-Qaeda? Is it Israel (very conspiracy theory, I know)? Is it the US?
Does Al-Qaeda even exist? or is it just a fabrication of the media by a superpower who created this bearded monster extremist monster to blame all the BS going on in the world, for economic and political gains?

Where are we going? What is happening? Do we just go on living our lives? Do we just work, and take aour children to school? and go have lunch somewhere? and then come home?
What about the destruction around us? What about the future? What about progress?

Is this normal? Is anyone out there?

Peace,
SoulSearch

Beirut Burning...again

It was just another day in the life of many Arabs, your usual dosage of Iraqis killed, Palestinians made homeless, and along comes the latest carnage in Beirut. Two intelligent Arabs decide to have a swing at each other, dragging the rest of the country and the entire Arab world into mayhem, confusion, and every other aspect of fear and insecurity. I watched in confusion my country on fire. Stupid young men wrecking their country, burning tyres, smashing cars, and burning them while they're at it, and planting fear and instability to a country that has yet to rise from the crippling 33 days of intensive Israeli air raids.

We were getting ready to go out to dinner, my folks were excited that we would sit down and have a meal together in a fancy restaurant when we switched to Jazeera and saw Lebanon being pulled to more sectarian carnage. Dinner was cancelled, frenzied telephone calls to my aunts, my uncles, and my cousins, who all live in Beirut. All they could say was we're all fine, what else could they say. We watched in shock the brave Jazeera correspondent and his entrepid cameraman who documented what happened between the two main parties of Lebanon.

Hizbollah and Future movements both trying to hold the reins that will pull the cart. Both leaders appealing to the youths to get off the roads.

The result 5 people killed, 3 of them soldiers trying to prevent this war from spreading.

300+ people injured and in pain, scarred for life.

More people leaving the country, more people will not visit the country for fear, while tourism is the bloodline of Lebanon.

The result: instability, fear, shock and more tension on the bumpy Arab road.

We need to realize that sectarianism is a pit that can swallow us whole. We need to understand that Sunnis and Shiites need to put aside their differences and stop categorizing themselves by sects. In a country such as Lebanon, the society is a complex web of sects and releigions. We need to live side by side, and realize that at the end of the day, we are all the same, we all want the same thing, we all have the same needs, dreams, fears, and ambitions.

To Lebanon,

may peace prevail,

always,

Love,

SoulSearch