Breakfast and food talk with Suzanne Husseini

Opening my very culinary weekend, BookMunch partnered with TV chef and cookbook author Suzanne Husseini for a cozy breakfast event, as part of its "Cook the Book" series. A long table was spread with a wide assortment of Levantine breakfast nosh, straight out of Ms Husseini's books on the region's characteristic cooking traditions. We eagerly tucked in as Fairuz played in the background.

I am not a huge fan of the bread-ish Lebanese foods, so I passed on that tray (left); I did make an exception for the star-shaped biscuit thingy with fresh zaatar, though. Other interesting items in the first wave included labneh balls rolled in nuts and spices (right top), and the dips (right bottom), including a delicious hummus made with yoghurt, and three labneh dips that were each shot through with a different added ingredient.

I was a little skeptical about how well a slimy-textured vegetable would do in an omelette, but the aubergine omelette was really good. The climax of the breakfast was the fatteh hummus, which Ms Husseini provided as a DIY kit to assemble the most fresh and customized FH I have ever had. The yoghurt topping for this had the perfect consistency and taste, and the pomegranate seeds made a huge (and positive) difference.

I saved her spiced and sugar-sprinkled take on scones for last, and they were absolutely scrumptious with soft butter and BookMunch's in-house berry jam. Perhaps I should try this for my next scone tea.

Apart from describing what we ate, Ms Husseini also shared her food philosophy, especially her advocacy of home cooking, eating with family and keeping food traditions alive, as well as her stance against processed and fast food. I chimed in with opinions in favor of instilling cooking skills in the male lineage (with which I think she agreed), and against restaurants having those god-awful "children's menus" (with which she very much agreed). A great morning of food, fun and Fairuz, surrounded by books.

UPDATE: The event was also covered by Kayf TV. Highlights here.

Punch poetry open mic at BookMunch

Zeina Hashem Beck

Punch, the newest group to appear on the country's burgeoning spoken word scene, returned to BookMunch for a second open mic on Thursday. BookMunch had already served as a venue for a few poetry reading events since many months ago; it was much more densely packed this time than at the last poetry event I attended there, especially for a Thursday night.

Some of my favorite performances:

(L-R)  Hiba Rasheed; Danabelle Gutierrez; George Mitton

Organizer and emcee Zeina Hashem Beck introduced the event, and got the proceedings underway with recitations by a few established poets (including herself, and her lovely poem "Dance"), before handing the mic to the sign-ups - a mosaic of poets drawn from diverse nationalities, each performing their just-as-diverse pieces in under three minutes.

BookMunch and a poetry reading

After a well-attended launch event last month, Poetician Rewa Zeinati hosted a reading and signing of her new book Nietzsche's Camel Must Die at BookMunch in Wasl Square last night.

Wasl Square is really convenient to find and get into, being located right opposite Safa Park and its ample parking space. I used a live map to find the venue, although projecting and/or clearer night signage would have helped.

The place has a playful and vibrant look on the inside, with a striking primary color scheme of green and magenta, patterned in classic houndstooth and pinstripe. Depending on whether one wants to eat, read, or do both, one can pick from among the seating options of chair, armchair and couch. Their book collection is fairly large, mixing a number of old literary hits with select contemporary reading. There's a good stock of kids' books too.

In a mood for a light supper, I consumed a delicious combination of a hearty, sharp harira soup with a salad pairing sweet slices of pear with pungent, salty lumps of gorgonzola.

Rewa read several notes from NCMD, signing books for, and taking questions from those who stayed after. The event was somewhat cozy, as we were well into a summertime Ramadan. Even so, there was plenty of animated post-reading talk among those in attendance.