But cars like the one above are okay to drive on the highway and more importantly on the quickest lane.

To be honest, I was hoping to see more ISF officers on the ground since Ziad Baroud started the speed tickets campaign but i see it is slowly fading away and people are back to speeding on the highways.

Another video of Lebanon by the Huntley Film Archives also shot in 1968. The last video was a general street scene while the video above was filmed at a Bazaar. Not sure where this Bazaar, I figured it might be in Tripoli but that’s just my wild guess. [YouTube]

I am not very comfortable driving with those hanging stars above our heads, specially with the upcoming storm next week.

I spotted this on the Jounieh highway right before the bridge leading you to Fouad Chehab stadium. No clue as to whom it belongs to or what is its purpose though.

And Santa’s ready to go (BM*)

*BM = Bala ma3na.

3,000 tickets, 135$ per ticket

The slogan behind the car says “The closest you’ll ever be to a Mercedes SLS AMG 2011″. pretty cocky of them… I’m sure that in about 10 to 15 years I can afford to buy an SLS AMG 2011 :)

Let me start by saying that, in my opinion, Roadster Diner has the best customer service out of all restaurants in Lebanon. I think that the staff is very well trained and the service is of the highest quality, and if they do ever manage to make a mistake, they make up for it by being apologetic and offering free desserts, meals etc..

I’ve noticed how other restaurants are adopting the same standards as Roadster Diner’s (like when the operator answers your call, he/she says her name, so that you know who you’re talking to)

I order Roadster Diner at lunchtime a couple of times a week, but lately it is becoming extremely annoying trying to get through to their delivery call center. I tried calling them for over 20 minutes today but got a busy line every single time.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the operators told me that they have 5 lines for the Beirut area and that during peak hours all of them are busy.

If anyone from Roadster Diner or anyone who knows someone who works on Roadster Diner’s management team is reading this, can you please try to solve this issue? If you can’t get more lines, at least get a call waiting system, this way the customer knows that his/her order is going to be taken within a couple of minutes.

Let me start by saying that if everyone treated their customers’ complaints the way Mr.Mario Haddad did, then the quality of restaurants in the country as well as customer loyalty will rise significantly. As some of you might have recalled, i had a relatively bad experience on my first visit to the Jasmine room and was asked to give it a second visit by its owner, Mr. Haddad.

The dinner was scheduled on Friday night at 9 pm and i attended it along with Chahe and Cohiba from the blog. I was greeted by Mario who invited us over to the round table, also known as a Lazy Susan. I thought it was gonna be the 3 or 4 of us, but then we were joined by 3 staff members from BrainStorm, a company that manages The Jasmine Room along with other restaurants, as well as the Commercial Director of TimeOut magazine in Beirut, and the executive chef Thomas Reger.

We started off with lots of cold and hot starters and a really good “Vin Rose”. There were lots of items i haven’t noticed on the menu on my first visit, among which a plate which i absolutely loved, consisting of a mix of chicken and carrots with a delicious side sauce which you can roll into small pancakes, and then came the “Crispy aromatic duck with pancake” plate which was exceptional. Afterwards, we were served two crab dishes and even though it was a hassle trying to get something out of them, they were succulent.

At this point, i thought dinner was over before another load of hot dishes landed on the table (Home-made noodles, beef and chicken dipped in various sauces etc. ) I was full already and very satisfied with what i’ve had and hoping there won’t be any desserts afterwards.

In all, i must admit my second visit to the place felt like going to a whole different place, and the bad experience i had during my first visit was a mere accident that i have already forgotten about. I believe this is one of the very few times, if not the first time, i change my mind on a restaurant that drastically.

On a last note, i wish to thank Mr. Mario Haddad and his team for this delicious dinner and agreeable company and assure them that the Jasmine Room will be my #1 choice when it comes to Chinese food.

PS: The Jasmine Room delivers and has a menu online for those who wish to check it out.

I don’t know what’s happening but we haven’t heard about that many fires occurring even in the summer. This is definitely due to the climate change we’ve been experiencing (still no rain and we are 20 days from Christmas).

LBCI reported that over 100 fires were reported between 4 and 7 pm yesterday.

There’s still a fire going on in the region of Fatri, one in Baabda closing on the Jamhour electricity station and another in Zahle in the Mimosa factory.

Qatar having won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022 against favourites England, i started wondering about the many obstacles that might take place:

- Can Qatar organize the world cup during the summer with its scorching temperatures? Frank Beckenbauer suggested it be held in January or February.

- Will there be alcohol in pubs and restaurants?

- Will the Qatari officials allow “inappropriate” clothes in the stadiums? on the streets? or on the beaches?

I have no doubt the Qatari will pull a great world cup in terms of stadiums and facilities, but i don’t see how they will be able to manage the World Cup fans.

Update: Interesting Article on Qatar hosting the world cup

This is a very interesting and thorough article written by Maya Mikdashi on the applications of the Lebanese legal system specifically regarding the Lebanese women.

Some of the laws are truly absurd and highly demeaning to women, and even though i believe that women in Lebanon have established a certain status-quo that goes without applying those laws, this does not justify their presence, except the citizenship issue which should be dealt with more carefully.

Here are few excerpts from those laws:
- Women cannot pass on Lebanese citizenship to their spouses or children.
- Women are either registered under their father’s family census record or their husband’s.
- Women can travel freely unless their husband lists their names (through the general security office) at all relevant points of international travel.
- Under article 562, women are positioned as the potential victims; they cannot kill for “honor”, but they can be killed for “honor”.
- Women who are consensually penetrated anally by men can be punished for unnatural sexual intercourse according to 534.

PS: Check kafa.org.lb for more information on gender-based violence and exploitation of women and children.

What i love most about Barbara are my mum’s katayef!!

I posted yesterday on how a Syrian worker was killed by a magical bullet that went up in the air and back into the thief’s backbone when two Lebanese policemen were hunting him down for theft charges.

Well both policemen were arrested transferred to military court for shooting at the worker and disobeying orders.

I wish i could attend the remake of the crime lol!

Thanks Richy!

Then why do they have eggs and milk inside of them?

I always enjoy reading Angie’s humoristic posts on the Nowlebanon blogs and one of yesterday’s posts was very true about Lebanese women.

Why do some chicks go to work dressed like they’re ready to hit the club, guzzle down a bottle of vodka and hunt for some ‘Grade A’ man meat to devour in one sitting?

Indeed, why do they do that and when do they have time to do all that makeup in the morning?

I practically saw a woman today dressed like she was going to a wedding, yet too lazy to take off her sunglasses and park properly in an underground parking, which brings us to a whole new issue: Lebanese men and women and sunglasses.

What’s up with people wearing sunglasses to parties? or sitting in a cafe in the afternoon or at night wearing them? I thought this trend died a long time ago.

I think Almaza should do some new ads on those clichés using their slogan “hayda jawouna, hayda ne7na”.