Beirutista

The culinary scene in Lebanon has been capsized by a trend sweeping its way through every major restaurant chain. Can you guess what it is? The latest sensation is the “skillet,” which in layman terms is merely a frying pan. Think of how fajitas are typically presented: in a cast-iron skillet. This ensures the meat continues to sizzle and cook even while off the stove top, nestled in front of you and titillating your senses. Perhaps the credit of streamlining skillets in this country belongs to Swiss Butter, a two-outlet-strong restaurant that does one thing and one thing only: what I like to call meat - frites , French fries with your choice of either beef, chicken, or salmon. The meat comes swimming in a pool of secret sauce containing 33 herbs and spices, kept warm inside a skillet. The skillet is flanked by fries, sliced baguette bread, and a mesclun salad all neatly arranged on a wooden breadboard. For 22,000 LL ($14.67), you can have a superb dish cooked to your specifie...

Ten years ago exactly, I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That day formed a huge deal to me, and I remember it as though it transpired yesterday. My parents and younger brother flew out from Los Angeles to attend the momentous occasion, and the weather that weekend couldn’t have been more hospitable for a city that is typically inundated with chilling precipitation. Friday, June 5, 2009, marks my graduation from MIT MIT was the culmination of every academic dream I had entertained since high school. I had shied away from applying there for the undergraduate program because it was so far from home – on the opposite coast of the United States – and at 17, I wasn’t quite ready to make that leap. But while at the University of California, I never lost sight of my dream. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more. I strove so hard to maintain a perfect GPA so that I could assure admission to the world’s most prestigious engineering sc...