Pearl's Powder Turns 4!

Happy Birthday to my Blog! 

Happy Pearl's Powder Day! 

Pearl's Powder turns 4 now!

I admit I promised that i'd do major graphical design changes to the blog and logo, and I haven't been loyal to this promise. I am putting it on hold.
Time moves so fast indeed!
I cant believe that I started this blog when I was in USA, to write about my Ithaca, NY experience. And then I wrote about the normal things : love, science, famine,peace, war, and music...

Later in 2010,  I  focused my blog mainly on food.
Pearl's Powder was not just  a recipe sharing blog but it was more about experimenting and experiencing food in a different perspective combining memory, psychology(sensory) , and science!

It was a blog to unveil the hottest trends and events in the food and beverage industry, the latest scientific discoveries in the field of food science and technology, as well to untangle all the myths that people think about food , safety, nutrition and eating. 

When people ask me why Pearl's Powder,  I tell them I want to create a culture that appreciates and values food, not just as a necessity but also as a blessing we often disregard and take for granted.
" Appreciate, Moderate, Eat with love. Then thank God and the cook" is my mantra.

Now back to the cliche speech I want to share :P
" Thanks for all my friends, family, fellow bloggers, social media experts, and visitors of this blog for reading, commenting, sharing about Pearl's Powder.  And believe me I really want your opinion to change. Change is what makes us move on and improve!

I want to thank the F&B syndicate and industry in Lebanon for having inviting me for  food events, conferences, restaurants...etc and for trusting me in being part of their valuable events!"
And if there is only one great advise that I would give for all the newbie bloggers out there : "Never Postpone a Blogpost!" Like never! Seriously. Dont put it drafts. Post it.

Even if it werent perfected, didn't have the improved quality pictures, or the better resources to back your ideas up, just write and post it.

If you prepared it, hesitated and kept it in draft, like I do most of the times, it will stay in drafts FOREVER! I have 30 posts in draft!! :S
Now back to celebrating my blog's birthday!
Gifts and Cakes are welcome.
You can also like my Facebook Page or just comment down below!
Or you can welcome my new 6 month old baby blog  ( spirituality) : The Guarded Pearl !

Happy Pearl's Powder Day! 

Statistics on Pearl's Powder:
Number of Unique Visitors: 97,000
Number of Posts: 173
Top Visited Post: Red Velvet Cake Dilemma (3000)
Top Country: USA ( 32,000)

Tea Gschwendner : Ritzy as Its Name!

"Make things happen, explore distant shores, and most of all, drink tea."

With this philosophy,  Albert Gschwendner and his wife Gwendalina turned their dreams of a teashop into a reality in 1978.

And it was this tea shop that I discovered in the middle of a very dull country. Because if there is anything that can bring me joy in Riyadh, is discovering a new cuisine or an exquisite food shop.

Gschwendner was one of them and it is now on my Top list to see and check every time I am in the Kingdom tower doing some shopping.

Gschwendner. Yep, it is German. And I admit that the name is a bit hard to pronounce and actually google later when I wanted to write this post. But this name turned out to be as lavish as the products inside!

The small shop in the kingdom is in the ground floor, and you can see a teapot boiling outside as if greeting you to come inside and explore a new world of Tea leaves. And this is exactly what happened. The teapot was enough to attract me inside and discover this Tea Haven!

Hundreds of Tin drawers with different types of dried  tea leaves from around the world!

And another thing that caught my attention, was a small stand with brochures. There it was the " Book of Tea". I grabbed it. And asked the salesman if I can take it with me. He welcomely acknowledged that and poured some tea for me and my family.

Food Blessed : A CSR in Action

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your

head a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.

12.7% is the average percentage of hungry people in the Arab region.

In Lebanon, the population living under the poverty line reaches 28.6 %. HUGE amounts of food are being thrown away after almost every event. People always feel the urge to take action, to find a solution, to not
throw away untouched food, but most of the cases they just don’t know
where to turn to!!

53 % of consumers are willing to pay extra for dealing with a company who is socially responsible.
Ideas are worthless unless one finds the courage and acts upon them.



3 social activists saw a problem and decided to do something about it. They saw it as an opportunity to make a greater good!


BY aiming at 'feeding the hungry, one meal at a time', this is exactly what the foodblessed team has done..

This is HOW they do it:

The Secret to Enjoying the Perfect Cup of Espresso from Daria Illy

A guest blog post from Darine Sabbagh*

 A few weeks back I had the pleasure of personally meeting Daria Illy, the grand daughter of Francesco Illy, who started Illy Cafe and also invented the first automatic espresso machine for all of us to enjoy. Because Illy want to bring pleasure through their coffee, Daria explained to each of the attendees personally how a great shot of espresso should look like. 

Coffee is an art 

So here are her tips for the perfect cup of espresso and how to drink it: