Fortunate Lemon Chicken
[wind blowing] [slow beating drums] we are at an altitude of 2000 meters. the temperature is -2â°c. our journey today begins from zaarour. we have 48 hours, to take you to baskinta, laqlouq, tannourine, and arez (the cedars) to show you our snow and winter in lebanon! it's 6:30 am. we're going to show you how the ski slopes are prepared before opening them at 8 am. we're going to have an adventure, fun, food and show you how to enjoy the most beautiful country in the world.
people recommend the alps? i recommend lebanon and its snow! mechwar (the journey) begins now! [epic music] anthony: halim, tell me about what people are unaware of? people are not aware of what is involved in starting our 6 chair lifts. 6 slopes to be opened the team begins from around 4 am. they climb each individual tower they clean all the bearings as they are usually frozen.
this is done so that the bearings turn when the cable begins moving. after cleaning the bearings, they test all the electrical mains to ensure that any lightning strikes did not cause damage to the connections. they then attempt to start the chair lifts. the chairs begin to move, and here is where we need to remove the snow from each chair the comes by so that people can use them. you told me that it snowed 20 cm last night. the snow is rock solid so you'll need to remove it. all needs to be cleaned.
you left at 4 am and then returned at 6 am to complete the process. saliba, we are ready, you can start if you like. [engine starts] [hopeful music] we are here to enjoy ourselves. staff members are present but we hope never to use the stretcher. safety first...and the red cross is available if needed. [calm music]
this is the view where you cannot help, but pick up your camera and take a photo. you can see beirut and the sea. this is the 10 or 15 minutes where a person could contemplate as he views all of lebanon's snow capped mountains peacefully! truly this glorifies the creator! [eastern dancing music] now it's time to ski!
this spectacular view could only be seen here. it happened to be snowing today, so we were not able to ski properly but the season is not over yet the journey goes on. let's have breakfast in baskinta. come along! [eastern music] we left the zaarour and took the mountain road that leads to baskinta. it's closed so we are relying on god, and making our own way in the snow. [eastern music continues]
baskinta it's 10:30 am we will make one stop in this village. follow me. [eastern music continues] it's time for the first stop. i am hungry we are going to have an awesome breakfast at krikor's. hello!
i missed you. how are you? it's been a while since i came last time. it has been one year. where's your wife? one second, i'll call her should we call her? she's at home the guys are here
let me tell you about krikor. he has been here for more than 57 years. he does not have a bread rolling machine. having a simple life mrs. laure helps him. and he will now make... the man'oushe (lebanese pizza) that i always dream of. be careful...you will get hungry! krikor: ok get the big tray and prepare it
laure: you could have told me to bring it with me before. anthony: butter, cheese, awarma (beef cured in fat), eggs, and more cheese on top. and what is the final secret...? ghee (purified butter) krikor: of-course! [slow eastern music] did you notice this is probably the only bakery that does not use the usual pizza cutter? krikor uses a small knife.
it's a love story! the dough is amazing the cheese is melted the awarma is not salty has little fat krikor: it's complete you are a master! you are welcome. enjoy i enjoy eating here
but i need to leave, so that i don't gain 3kg! i want to give you a kiss before i go thank you for everything you are all welcome you are welcome gentlemen. anthony: bye. may god be with you. it's 12:15 pm after the greatest breakfast at krikor's
we are heading to bakish bakish no longer has ski slopes but there is a nice road that leads to faqra we are fortunate that they just cleared the snow off the road. everything is white. the road is leading us to faqra we will see what we can discover in faqra before we continue to mzaar our tour lead us to kfardebian
it's 12:30 pm kfardebian is one of the most known places in lebanon to ski it is divided in two sections, mzaar and faqra. in faqra we find residential projects, a roundabout, an ancient fortress, and of-course skiing. we will stop briefly before continuing to mzaar. lebanon is beautiful snow faqra's natural bridge warm chestnuts
and cooked corn cobs. crazy! the road leads us to the first lunch stop, in faqra the journey is not enjoyable without a lebanese lunch. we'll have a brief lunch break with the team, before continuing. hommus and labneh (thickened yoghurt) it's amazing how good our cuisine is! anthony: we are now in mzaar it's 2:30 pm
why don't we stop for some burgers? we'll have a burger, and then continue to the ski slopes. marhaba (hello)! it is said that if someone visits faraya and does not stop here, will miss out. cheese burger please. the cold makes you eat more! my fries! burgers... you can't go wrong with them.
i'll finish it on the way to the slopes. [upbeat music] we are now at one of the day's major stops. mzaar in kfardebian the largest ski resort in lebanon and the middle east. 5 ski levellers, we are in one and there are 4 behind us. it's 3:30 pm people are starting to head home. the levellers begin to prepare the slopes
to re-welcome skiers tomorrow at 8 am. [upbeat music continues] [joyful music] it's 5:30 pm the temperature is 0â°c we are having chains installed. we still have a long evening ahead of us and tomorrow we'll be waking up at 5 am. safety first!
[joyful music continues] i'll be spending the night in kfardebian hi charbel welcome! i've been waiting for you all day, because i heard that you were in town so i said, there is no way you would not visit me! charbel what will you be serving us for dinner? in this occasion, dinner will have a village theme. it will not be much different to what we serve every day.
avocado salad which we will not count by the way, and then straight to the meats. today, we will be preparing a wild boar leg. we will also prepare a full rack of lamb ribs, which is a staple meat for us a dish that we are famous for is the chicken pie, which we will also be serving another speciality would be escargot (snails), collected locally from the garden nearby. and of-course a selection of meza (lebanese finger food). let's prepare some drinks then so that we can understand each other, and then we'll have dinner.
anthony: i'm ready! wow, it makes a great sound, and has delicious aromas. phew! looks like there are great things coming our way. it releases a lot of juices. these are the good bits! of-course! each one of these drops is full of flavour. i'll wait for you outside, and let you finish preparing. it's dinner time!
what have you prepared today? the salad, which looks like a tart. we use the same base that is used for a cheesecake. the filling contains, philadelphia cheese, avocados, and mixed greens. i can feel that the base is crunchy. 100% the chicken pie is made in puff pastry. it contains, marinated chicken with mushroom. we also have the epinard (spinach) pie.
finally, a selection of meats, and the escargot. cheers. local wine, made in kfardebian i can't hold myself back! i think you should start with these. lamb, is no longer considered a main course. most people now treat it as an entrã©e and then they decide what they would like to add with the other dishes. crazy! it is so tender, with the right amount of fat
delicious flavor. i'm going to continue my dinner with charbel i did not expect him to prepare this great variety of dishes. thank you for your hospitality. no problem. this is from what we had at hand in kfardebian. these are the usual mountainous dishes that we eat especially in winter. you need to eat fatty foods at this time, to balance your metabolism. and as i said, we are able to prepare these dishes generally every day. thank you for the dinner. we have a surprise in-store for you.
after we eat, we will make something interesting together. [salsa music] we're going to do some shopping to prepare for the night with the team, and tomorrow's breakfast. [salsa music continues] i'm done! i promised you a surprise. tomorrow we have an early start, so before the day finishes some friends of ours, that heard that we are in faqra, invited us over. i thought of making, my style of hot (mulled) wine
the way i like it i will use some lebanese wine, apples, apple juice, honey, cinnamon sticks, orange, and lemon. i'll show you how to prepare it. you start with the lemons. prepare it for juicing. you will need the juice of one lemon and the other lemon is to be cut in slices to be used in the pot mix. then prepare the apples.
apple gives the mix a sweet and earthy flavor i will prepare 2 apples and clean them. pour in the first bottle of wine. it's very important that the wine is not brought up to the boil. use 2 bottles of wine. 3 cinnamon sticks the apples that we prepared earlier the apple juice, which will increase its sweetness. one spoon of honey
the orange and lemon juice, prepared earlier. it is important at this stage, to benefit from the orange and lemon zest. stir slowly, so you don't burn it in about 6 to 8 minutes, it should be ready. it's done. the hot wine's aroma filled the whole house. i'll pour it in a mug garnish the mug with a cinnamon stick and a twisted orange peel.
the experience starts with the beautiful aromas of the oranges and lemons it has the right amount of wine. it's warm and you can taste each ingredient that we used the apples, lemons, and cinnamon. i will go sit by the chimney, enjoy the drink, sleep early because tomorrow, we have a long day. good night. [silence]
[sound of flames] milk with cornflakes, and a labneh sandwich. my favourite breakfast. the second day of the lebanese winter, begins now! what a beautiful country! from faqra, you could take the highway, pass jbeil, and continue to laqlouq. but we decided to go through the small villages through the narrow roads to see this natural beauty.
this took us from mayrouba, to afqa, and on our way to laqlouq. because lebanon has a great winter season the reason for the journey was to visit all of lebanon's ski resorts. we started with zaarour, faqra, and mzaar. today we are visiting laqlouq, and then the arz (the cedars). come to laqlouq. the snow is great, and so are the slopes we will continue the journey, and have breakfast at tannourine. hello welcome
how are you ma'am? can we have breakfast here? of-course. you're welcome. one za'atar and cheese please. za'atar and cheese, you're welcome. we arrived at tannourine at 9 am. having my favourite za'atar breakfast. we will then continue i have been promised a raw meat breakfast! a bit of crunch and za'atar
the village man'ouche it seems like he is still at home, preparing. the table is being set the arak is here! it's 9:30 am. in tannourine. the only way to start the day! i might look a bit different. last time i was wearing a different head covering.
hello, welcome i really missed you. all i remember in tannourine, is the table that we set up last time. yes, and this one will be better. all are welcome, we wish you a good year and long life. everyone is coming together i'll prepare a bite for you come, come. all is natural!
in beirut everyone watches their diet look at the men here! cheers! we wish all a happy new year. [epic music build-up] cheers to tannourine and all of lebanon! cheers to this beautiful snow! the view speaks for itself. we are at an altitude of 2,130m on the mountains of tannourine.
all the mountains are white, and we can see the village from here. in the distance we can even see beirut. is there a more beautiful country?! [epic music continues] [all cheer] i can't go through hasroun, and not see charbel. let's say hello. anthony: so tell me how's work? charbel: thank god, it's going well.
anthony: busy? charbel: busy, but i can't keep up with the amount of customers that come past. i make around 20 pizzas and that's enough for the day! i'll help you. we speak about charbel and charbel is living the simple life. he makes 20 pizzas he closes and then goes to beirut so if you want to taste his pizza, you have to come early
or call him to make sure that he is available. charbel is famous for the largest, richest, and most delicious pizza! how many people would this feed? it depends on the people. usually, it feeds around 4 or 5 people here is the pizza. do you see how heavy it is? it think it's around 2 kilos. the diameter is...
around 56 cm. the best way to make pizza! [electric music] here we come to the end of our journey to all of lebanon's ski resorts. it started in zaarour, to faqra, and kfardebian today we started with laqlouq and now the arz the arz has the highest chair lift in lebanon and while skiing, you can view the infamous cedar forest. we have travelled more than 250 km
it's 2 pm on the second day of adventures we are not done yet next stop ehden. the visit to ehden is not complete without having the mafrouke (caramelised semolina) and mshabshale zgharta and ehden are famous for their mafrouke and their a'shta (clotted cream) and the mshabshale is like the halewit el jibin (sweet cheese rolls) delicious you can definitely taste and smell the orange blossom water. before the last stop at the miden, we'll say goodbye.
aren't arabic sweets the best? [soft music] in these two days, i showed you the winter in lebanon. the white lebanon that's full of life. 2017, is the year of the best country in the world. let's live lebanon, together!
