A Restaurant of Naturality

 NATURALITÉ : When a  haute cuisine restaurant, ethically resources the ingredients of each plate delicately and naturally.

NATURALITÉ from Simon Pénochet on Vimeo.

Alain Ducasse's restaurant at the Plaza Athénée has just re-opened. The Chef tells a more personal and radical story, following a path he initiated twenty-five years ago. He introduces a cuisine of naturality, that revolves around three key elements: fish, vegetables and cereals. A healthier,  organic, more sustainable and environmentally-conscious approach.

Watch this soothing video of how the plates were created and the people behind them!

While in Lebanon, people are arguing which restaurant is safe or not.
In the other part of the world, some great minds are going back to the basics of cooking, the natural, the organic, and the fair trade...
Natural is what we need these days. Not the extreme of cleanliness, and not the extreme of contamination.
Hoping we can learn and get inspired from Chef Alain Ducasse and people like him.

I whispered to the leaves :)

Nature? Should it be really called " NAture". For me it has a supernatural power , a power that makes me just get "magnetically" attracted to it .Why?
is it becaus of it is purity ? its smell? its bountiful colors?..or is it just its simplicity.

But nature is complex!! . For me, i cant explain it. Its a force, it drags me to it . It leaves me in awe. It gives me dreams , hopes, prayers, tears.

I am actually not a "tree hugger" by nature..I dont follow a way of living ( like environmentalist, or pacifist or...etc). But i love to experience everything in this short life.
Today was the third time this year that i plant trees. This would be the last time in 2009! .

When i dig , I put the small baby plant in the whole, i kiss it. I whisper to the leaves :" Let the light be upon you, let the water flow to you.. So when you grow up, and when you turn to the sun, remember me ..remember to pray for me .. that one day i want to grow up like you, i want to turn my head to the sun... to see the light, the truth :)"...

Pandora , the other planet

I watched the premier of " Avatar" movie on wednesday Dec 16 ( a day before it was released world wide). Lebanon was the first to premiere it. That was wierd.
I wont be reviewing it, cause you can google it and read all the millions of reviews about it!! . Neither do i want to spoil anything . I just want to express my awe, my wonder . WOWWWW!! What a great movie. It deserved those 10 years that the director, James Cameron , worked on.
Everything was in such harmony , the characters, the dialogue( though a bit cliche), the music, the colors, the language and the visual effects ---and most importantly the 3D spectacular effects.
Everything makes you believe that it's not a sci-fic movie, that Pandora actually exists, the Navi's are like any native tribe ,that humans can normally travel in speed of light. Throughout the movie you don't have this thought " what are they talking about!! Those things don't exist !! Do you want to believe??" ..hehhe. I guess this was the intelligence of this movie, that this whole imaginary world and people DO exist (well maybe not now but after a couple of years).
I dont deny all the critics that claim that the theme maybe be old too (like Apocalypto or Pocahontas) .
When i left the cinema, i remembered 2012..Well i didnt believe this movie ..hehe Not a single event that occured in it..especially that The world will end! But "avatar" convinced me more, it gave me a vivid REAL imagination ,that someday , humans will invade another planet, out of greed, destroy it and terrorize its natives . That someday humans will loose against nature and its ever-flowing energy.