Mezze memories in Lebanon

I love the Mezze style of meal where you can try a little of what you fancy instead of wishing you had ordered your friend’s meal. I like the congeniality of sharing food, passing it around, letting the conversation flow, taking your time over the meal. There’s the smooth hummus paste of chickpeas, garlic and tahini, the Moutabal creamy aubergine puree, the tabbouleh salad of bulgar wheat, speckled green with parsley and fragrant with lemon. Then the little hot sausages of spicy minced meat, or the miniature flaky pastry fingers enclosing salty cheese, or the Labbneh yoghurt dip with lemon and mint. All these I enjoyed during my travels in Lebanon.

But after a while, the mezze started to get a little repetitive. Let me explain. If you eat in a Lebanese home, you’ll get a totally different eating experience with a wide range of dishes and flavours. But in a typical local reaturant in Lebanon, the main foods on offer are a range of Mezze followed by different types of grilled meats, fresh fish cooked simply over the grill and fruit to follow. Grills can be nice and the fish was delicious but usually quite pricey, so for a light lunch we inevitably ended up with Mezze. Every day. I realised that it didn’t actually matter whether you payed top prices for your Mezze in a city restaurant or went cheap and cheerful in a backstreet cafe. The Mezze is almost always good and fresh because it’s such a staple.

Let me share a couple of Mezze memories with you. After visiting Chateau Musar in the hills above Jounieh, we asked the winemaker Tarek for a restaurant recommendation and he kindly drove us to a restaurant set on the hill and overlooking the sea. We had a fantastic view from the table by the window, only slightly marred by the building site nearby and the fact that the windows had to be closed when the noise of the bulldosers got too much. We joked that in typical Lebabnese style, next time we came back there would be a glitzy appartment block blocking the sea view. After we had the usual range of Mezze and some freshly grilled fish, the waiter brought us a huge selection of fresh fruit to try for desert, a sort of fruit Mezze which was wonderful.

My second and fondest Mezze moment was when we wandered into the Souk at the coastal town of Sidon, with narrow streets and old buildings. There were many small shops selling groceries and street stands with delicious sweet pastries, but then we spotted a small open cafe on the corner opposite the mosque. It had just a couple of formica tables, so we sat down, guestured and pointed to the steaming vat of chickpeas that were ready to be served. We got our bowl of chickpeas with the hummus on top and a swish of olive oil and sat down to enjoy our light lunch. But then the owner started to bring us lots of other small dishies to accompany our chick peas, some black glistening olives, some fresh green salad, some magenta pick strips of vegetable and flatbread to scoop it all up with. Suddenly our bowl of chick peas had turned into a feast. And all of this with a prime view of Lebanese life passing by our table, chattering groups of headscarfed girls, teenage boys playing with their mobiles and finally the men streamed out of Friday prayers in the mosque opposite. And when the bill came, I think we may have paid a couple of dollars each. I finished off with some cakes from the vendor outside the mosque – read about my free cakes outside the mosque here.

When we got back to Beirut after our mini tour of the country, my friend and I headed to the buzzing Downtown area for a meal out with half of Beirut. By that time we were all Mezze’d out,  so it was a smart Italian restaurant for us, complete with giant pepper grinders. At the time I felt I’d had just too many Mezzes, but now, after writing this post, I’d be quite happy to have just one more Mezze, wouldn’t you?

This is posted as part of Wanderfood Wednesday - read about Thali and Bollywood musc as well as all the other foodie posts over at Wanderlust and Lipstick.

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Why should anyone follow you on Twitter?

I don’t have a huge following on Twitter. I’m only just starting to devote some energy to building up a following, as most of my time is spent producing articles and videos for my blog (that’s my excuse anyway). Nevertheless a steady trickle of notifications come into my e-mail box, telling me that so and so is following me on Twitter.

Should I follow back?

When someone follows me, I don’t automatically follow them back. Let me share with you the thought process I go through when I decide whether to follow or not to follow you back. I do this not because I have any Twitter success to share, but because if I’m going through this thought process, then probably other potential Twitter followers are too. And if you want to build up your followers, you need to know what will make someone want to follow you. This is what I look at;

 

Are they tweeting in my Niche?

First I look at my new Twitter follower’s page. Instantly I work out what their niche is – probably either Travel or Internet Marketing in my case. If the Tweets are not on my area of interest I probably won’t follow.

Do the tweets add value?

Then I look at the quality of the Tweets – are they adding lots of value? Do they pique my interest? Does this person have some personality and a sense of humour? I might click on a few links to see if their interests co-incide with mine. Tweets along the lines of ‘Just got up and having a cup of coffee’ are a big turn off – I have enough mundane stuff going on in my life already.

Is there a nice friendly photo?

I like to follow people, not websites. I like to see a photo that shows a bit of personality, a friendly face, a nice smile (note to self, change photo to one with more smile) . I’m a bit suspicious of airbrushed perfection, but that’s the Brit in me, I suppose. If you live in LA and have perfect teeth you’ll love that sort of thing.

Is there meat behind the tweet?

Then I look at their website address. If there isn’t one, chances are I won’t follow – there’s just not enough meat behind the tweet. If the web address is a sales page I DEFINITELY won’t follow. Folks – you need to understand the concept of the free line. If you don’t have a lot of great stuff on the free side of the free line there are plenty of other places I can go instead. I don’t give my e-mail address to just anyone, so they can bombard me with sales letters you know! If there’s an interesting blog or website in my niche then chances are I’ll follow.

Do I know this person?

If the person is someone I already know through my blogging, who has e-mailed me, commented on my blog, I’ll almost certainly follow. Otherwise it would be like a friend asking you to their party and turning them down because you were staying in to wash your hair – lame excuse.

What’s the ratio of Following vs Followers?

Next I look at the person’s ratio of followers to following. Here’s how I look at it;

Low following, high followers – this person is a thought leader. They’re probably already successful in their niche with a lot of people trying to get their attention. They feel confident enough in their leadership that they don’t need to follow just everyone. If they want to follow me, that’s flattering because they obviously feel I have something worthwhile to say (or am I kidding myself?). I’ll definitely follow.

Low following, low followers – this person is just starting out with Twitter, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t got some interesting content on their blog or elsewhere. So I’ll use the other criteria, to decide whether they’re worth following.

High following, High followers – Especially if we’re talking over the 10K mark, this person is using Twitter as an active marketing strategy. They’re probably an internet marketeer, who recommends that you follow lots of new people in order to increase your own followers who you can then sell something to. I’m not particularly impressed by people with a huge following and I don’t have much to sell myself, so I don’t currently use this strategy. But if they are also leaders in their niche, have a great blog and other content I will follow. There’s a lot of mileage in tweeting or retweeting these people, as your tweet will be seen by all their followers.

High following, low followers – this is an unusual profile because most people have roughly equal numbers of followers and following. Either they’re spamming people or people don’t rate what they’ve got to say or their content is dubious – yes I’ve had a few of those Porn followers too ( Instant Block!). Anyway chances are I won’t be following.

The verdict

So I guess the theme is, that if you are witty, entertaining, beautiful, have something useful to say and have a great blog then you’ll attract heaps of twitter followers. Obvious really isn’t it?

So what makes you follow someone? Why would you follow me? (that’s a rhetorical question)

P.S. Did you guess who they are?

P.P.S Of course I’d love you to follow me, but only if you think I’m worth it. I’m @Heathercowper

By TwitterButtons.com

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5 Family-Friendly Hotels in Rome

My guest-post today is from Amie O’Shaughnessy of Ciao Bambino, who shares her tips for finding family-friendly accommodation in Rome.

The accomodation challenge for families in Rome

The biggest challenge in finding a family-friendly hotel is Rome is figuring out which properties accommodate 3 or more people in a single configuration given that rooms in the historic center are small. In addition, families with young children who want separate sleeping areas need to find hotels with connecting rooms or multi-room suites.

Apartments are available, but excellent options seem to be particularly difficult to find in Rome—I have yet to identify a reliable, high-quality rental agency with many apartments in desirable locations for families.

That said, if you want at least limited services and no minimum-stay requirements, a hotel is the best choice anyway. We’ve uncovered a number of reliable hotels with configurations that work well for families at “reasonable” price points. Reasonable is in quotation marks because Rome is like London and accommodations are very expensive, especially when you need to book the larger room categories.

An important factor is location. Rome is massive. Although public transportation is plentiful, this can be a hassle with kids and part of the joy of visiting Rome is walking. You don’t want to spend all your time getting from place-to-place underground or stuck in traffic on a crowded bus.

5 reliable hotels for families in Rome

Hotel Ponte Sisto

Located between Piazza Navona and Trastevere, Hotel Ponte Sisto is located in the heart of historic Rome. A typical Italian 4 star, the hotel is clean, well-appointed, and comfortable (not stylish). The atmosphere and service is warm and friendly. Family Suites work well for groups of 4 and 5 people. A few rooms have a private terrace—it’s worth asking if one is available. Note, some units face a busy road and families with noise sensitivity should request quiet rooms accordingly. Rooms for 2-3 people start at 200€ per night.

Internazionale Domus

There are few tourist attractions more coveted in Rome than the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps). Internazionale Domus is literally in the piazza and a few of the units have terrific views of the steps and all the action. One thing I like about this property for families is that they offer apartment-style units with kitchenette facilities and separate sleeping areas—ideal with young children! Families need to consider that this is not a traditional hotel and amenities are limited (no lobby, room service, 24-hour front desk staff, onsite restaurant). The trade-off is the fantastic location and space for the money. Rooms for 2-3 people start at 205€ per night.

Residence Barberini

Residence Barberini is a typical European apart-hotel. The décor is very modern and units are sparsely furnished. Apartments have kitchenette facilities and a few can accommodate families of 4 and 5 people in one-bedroom units with sofa beds. Although the immediate area around the hotel is quite commercial and not as appealing as other neighborhoods—the trade-off is easy access to public transportation and tourist attractions. Families need to consider that onsite amenities are limited (small lobby, no onsite restaurant) and that the owner is an avid art collector—there are nude photographs in public areas and hallways. Rooms for 2-3 people start at 230€ per night.

Albergo Santa Chiara

One of our community members recommended Albergo Santa Chiara as an excellent option for families. The location is fantastic behind the Pantheon and the surrounding area is wonderful for walking and exploring. Guest rooms are clean and comfortable. Note, there are a limited number of room options with larger capacity and cribs need to be requested at the time of booking. Rooms for 2-3 people start at 310€ per night.

Raphael Hotel

The Raphael Hotel is located on a quiet street adjacent to one of my favorite places to loiter with kids in Rome—Piazza Navona, where there is an enormous car-free space for kids to run around. Like Albergo Santa Chiara , the surrounding area is wonderful for walking and exploring. The ivy-covered hotel has a lovely rooftop terrace with views of Rome’s landmarks. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of suites that can accommodate families here and these rooms are more expensive. If you have a flexible budget, this is a Ciao Bambino favorite! Rooms for 2-3 people start at 280€ per night.

Family-friendly hotels with swimming-pools

Many families want to find a hotel with a swimming pool during the hot summer months. I haven’t had personal experience with these hotels, but clients over the years have recommended two properties as good options: 1) Aldrovandi Palace located in a residential area near the Borghese Gardens and 2) Rome Cavalieri Hilton located near the Vatican. Note, I’m not crazy about the location of either hotel for overall sightseeing and both options are high-end accommodations and quite expensive.

My thanks for this guest post to Amie O’Shaughnessy is the Editor of Ciao Bambino, a family travel blog and guide to the best accommodations for families.

P.S. Do check out my current giveaway – just leave a comment to enter the draw for this gorgeous 100% Fairtrade Cotton, designer shopper bag from Greenwich in London

More Rome articles to enjoy
The market at Campo de’Fiori
The turtle fountain in Rome
Street entertainment in Piazza Navona in Rome

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