I found this poster on the front door of a shop in Achrafieh. Looks someone’s been spreading your idea around Mark!

Here’s a link to a better looking poster for those who want to stick it in their office or out on the street. [PDF]

If you don’t know Lionel Richie’s song, listen to it [Here].

[Original Picture]

If I had money, I would take the original “Don’t vote for us, Vote for Jeita” campaign and turn it into the above. Someone should spread such ads at the next elections for all politicians.

I pass next to this place almost every night yet I never thought about trying it out until last week. The place is called “3al Baladi” and is located in Jeita right before Frulatte and Starbucks.

The place is a wooden house with wooden chairs and is decorated with some old tools used in fields and in Lebanese villages. Some walls and lights are also covered with lamb skins which I did not like.

Moving on to the food, this place serves authentic Lebanese dishes and I liked almost everything that I ordered. Fattoush was really good, Cheese Chanklish and Labne were great, and their Saj was also decent. Added to that, they serve Arak Baladé, which is stronger and better than the regular Arak and is rare to find in restaurants.

The best thing about this place though is that it’s located in Jeita, which is 5-10 minutes from the highway. I used to drive all the way to Ajaltoun or Faraya to go to similar restaurants (such as Erzel), so it’s good to have a place this close specially in winter.

Price-wise, the restaurant is really cheap and its portions are relatively big. For instance, Arak comes in a full glass not a small shot glass and their Fattoush platter can feed up to 4 people.

One last thing, they have singers and entertainers on Friday and Saturday nights, so if you don’t like a crowded place full of arguiles, go on week days or Sundays.

A funny incident happened yesterday with a friend of mine who was ordering flowers to send to her boyfriend and surprise him on their anniversary.

She called Exotica and asked them to deliver a bouquet of 7 roses and gave the guy’s work address and told Exotica it’s supposed to be a surprise.

Next thing you know, she gets a call from her bf some 30 minutes later that Exotica called him saying they have a bouquet for him and asking for his address. So much for a surprise lol!

But it does not end here. They sent 6 roses instead of 7 which sort of blew the surprise another time!

Nevertheless, she called back to complain and they sent back another bouquet of 7 roses to the guy with Exotica’s compliments.

I’ve never had problems with Exotica so this is probably a one time thing but it’s still funny. There’s something though that worries me about their delivery is that they take your credit card info on the phone (Full card number, expiry date and CVV). That’s not very secure if you ask me.

The first time I heard about Foursquare was when Chahe posted about it back in May 2011. I downloaded the application two months ago and started using it since then.

For those who don’t know about Foursquare, it is an application available to users with GPS-enabled mobile devices, such as smartphones. Users “check-in” at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by running the application and selecting from a list of venues that the application locates nearby. Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes “badges”. [Wiki]

However, someone needs to update this definition on Wikipedia because it simply doesn’t apply to Lebanon.

In Lebanon, Foursquare users:
- Check in at roundabouts.
- Check in at different tables in the same pub (No bathroom check-ins though).
- Check in “Bi 3aj2it Dbayye”.
- Check in a pot hole.
- Check in their salon, bedroom, balcony etc …
- Check in other people’s houses. (Someone checked in at my place twice and I can assure you he wasn’t there).
- Check in and leave tips such as the one shown above.

Even better, a guy checked in at 10 different places in 5 minutes. I asked him why and he said he horns every time he passes by a place, so he’s allowed to check-in. WTH?

I thought that’s how people use it but it just didn’t make sense after few days. Added to that, this abuse of Foursquare is unjust to those who really check-in at places like Roadster and Crepaway where you can get desserts or coupons when you become the mayor.

I don’t know how Foursquare people can solve this abuse, but I suggest they start by not letting people add random places and put them under moderation, or assign few superusers in each country to moderate tips and new places added.

Until then, let me check-in at my boss’ desk, become the mayor and kick him out.

I saw the ad on the road this morning and I thought it’s a new game with angry lamps instead of birds. Turns out it’s a rather silly game where you have to guess the price of an item and submit it.

I think Debbas should come up with the Angry Lamps game. It will definitely boost its page’s popularity.

You can check it on their Facebook page [Here].

Part of the Petit Cafe wall in Kaslik collapsed this morning because of the heavy rain. Luckily, no one was injured.

Found this photo awhile back of my grandad (guy in middle bottom) taken back in the 30s or 40s in the Armenian Qarantina camp. I think it’s worth sharing.

I’m a huge fan of Burj Hammoud but I have to condemn their recent actions. Due to some incidents that took place in Burj Hammoud some members of the community are now targeting and harassing all the expat workers in the area. I know Najib agrees with what they’re doing but I have to disagree. I think it’s extremely racist to target people based on nationality or appearance. It’s called racial profiling and it’s fucked up. We should respect the migrants instead of threatening them or humiliating them. I read this in the DailyStar awhile ago and I think it sums up how messed up things are:

Salman hails from Nigeria, but first came to Lebanon 20 years ago. Like most of those interviewed for this report, he did not want his full name published. “Since 1991, I always felt safe in Dora,” he recalls. “But now, it is like they are targeting all migrant workers.” On one recent day in the Dora roundabout he was asked for his papers five times. “Something is happening here,” he says. “I don’t know what.”

What’s happening is very sad and I hope the community realizes what they’re doing is simply wrong and unjust. Racism in Lebanon needs to end.

Check out the full article on DailyStar [Here]

The above is a campaign started by an anonymous person asking passerby’s to respect Sukleen. The posters say:

Sukleen cleans up after you, appreciate them.

via Anti Racism Movement

Update: You can read more on this at the DailyStar website [Here]

I found this place during the summer while walking around downtown Beirut. I think they’ve got the best ice cream in Lebanon easily. My favorite flavors are strawberry, pistachio and hazelnut. 3 scoops came in at around LL14,000 which isn’t bad when compared to placed like Coldstone Creamery and Marble Slab (two franchises I don’t think are available in Lebanon).

They’re located in the street behind Gucci.

I’ve been hearing for quite some time on Mix FM about the 80′s night they organize every Thursday at B018.

Can anyone give me a feedback on it? Is it as good as it sounds?

The only inconvenience I found is that it’s on a Thursday but it apparently kicks off around 11 pm, which is reasonable.

Following security concerns last month, ESCWA insisted that its headquarters in Downtown Beirut be relocated before completion of the new building to house the organization in Dbayyeh, a northern suburb of the capital.[Link]

As if the government needed an additional reason to tax us more or raise the VAT. Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they have a new building. Let them stick to the current one and let us provide a better security. Isn’t that much cheaper than the $187M plan they came up with?

Also, and if I am not mistaken, our most beloved minister of interior said they are just fixing the road and there’s no security threat. Looks like those works are going to cost us 200 Million dollars Mr.Charbel!!

Our Lebanese National Rugby team was unable to qualify for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup after a 19-19 draw with the Italian team. This is the second time in a row they miss out on points difference. Talk about bad luck!

Lebanon’s heart-breaking 19-all draw with Italy reflects just how close the Cedars were to the Azzurri throughout the tournament, and not reaching the World Cup is a bitter blow for a country whose growing domestic rugby league scene offers massive potential.

The Cedars also missed out on qualification for the 2008 World Cup on points difference, and Saturday’s result saw tears of despair among the long-serving Lebanon players who have failed to reach the last two tournaments. [Full Article]

That’s a screen shot from an article by the New York Times published today. Can’t believe they put //FIRST NAME// as Ben Ali’s first name. Talk about unprofessional.

Via @lama_b