Costa gets all fancy..

Costa coffee has re-branded their menu for summer..

Yeah, its colorful and all..but what about those of us (like me) who don’t want a Icecacchino mokalatte frescato..and simply want an espresso? Shouldn’t it still be on the menu?  hmff.

And what exactly is the difference between a Frescato, and Iced Coffee, and Iced Dessert, and an Iced Cooler?

Costa Coffee Summer Branding

Gaza Flotilla Protest in Downtown Beirut..

Some photos of yesterday’s Gaza Flotilla Protest in Downtown Beirut..

All photos courtesy of Mokhtar Joundi.  To see the full album click here.

Guards standing watch over the protest..

Protesters..taking a stand

Protesters gather in Downtown Beirut

Beirut...guards standing watch over the protest...

In protest.

TSC Signature!!!

This was the only photo I was able to catch inside TSC Signature in downtown this afternoon..yes I know its of Essie nail salon..but really a nail salon in a supermarket?  Only in Leb.,,I promise some better ones tmrw..I just have to be stealth about it so no one catches me!

MAJOR PROPS to the people behind TSC Signature.

The gourmet food..the gourmet food..the gourmet fooooood..the presentation, the packaging..just THE EVERYTHING is done to perfection,..rivaling some of the best gourmet supermarkets I’ve ever seen!

I could get lost in there for approximately 3.5 weeks.

And they have an ESSIE SALON!  Looks like I won’t have hobbit’s feet anymore. Yesssss!

Going there for lunch tmrw..will post more photos then..

Bravo. Bravo..

Essie Nail Salon in TSC signature

Saifi Village

After Souk el Tayeb,,I wandered through Saifi (which I learned means “summery”) village.  I wonder what it’s like to live in a place called Summery Village..must be nice!  Anyhow, it’s another project in downtown, under the auspices of Solidere, the Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District.

It seems that the Lebanese are divided in their thought’s about their new identity, their plasticsurgerization.. and mainly their new downtown central district..While some think it has come at a steep cost, with the razing of historic buildings and the rising of living costs..others welcome it as a relief, a freedom of sorts, from their war torn past. 

I was thinking about this as I was heading to work the other morning, when the taxi driver turned to me and said, “Hariri was a great man for giving the Lebanese a new downtown.”  I admired the fact that he was able to appreciate Solidere, even at a distance..all the while acknowledging the fact that neither him nor his family would ever be able to fully take advantage of downtown, with its multimillion dollar apartments and its swanky restaurants..As is the case for many Lebanese…

Its experiences like these that make me keep my cynicism in check..

Anyway..here are some photos from Saifi!

Saifi Village

Saifi Village square..

Globes in Saifi..

These images serve as a stark contrast to what some of the other buildings not too far away look like..

Outskirts of Hamra..

Beirut buildings..

Beirut buildings..

Lebanon..a country of contrast and contradiction.