I love cooking. I bought my first restaurant in April 1983. It was an Italian restaurant, in Montreal. At that time, I knew little about cooking. I learnt most of my Italian recipes there.

        Then, in 1991, I became a partner in another restaurant, in Montreal too. This one was a Lebanese fast food. I sold my shares to my partner three years ago (1994), as I had to work overseas, in Saudi Arabia, until 1995.

        I am health oriented, and I promote healthy eating habits. But I also love tasty food. If you think that combining both is difficult, then think again. Fact is that the healthier the food is, the tastier the dish should be. Unfortunately, the opposite is not true.

        I have spent years consulting dietitians, doctors, athletes and trainers. This brought me to realize that we have a serious misunderstanding of nutritional values, proper eating habits, and cooking methods and procedures. Thousands of books, products, chemical and so said "natural" drugs and other substances, have hit the markets in the recent years, with one thing in focus: your money, against improving your health by giving you all the missing supplements and vitamins drama speech... Fortunes are being made by businesses which should have not even existed, had our kitchen been properly "managed".

        I could write for hours about that, but I'll leave this topic to another corner which I may start soon, depending on my spare time. What is vital to know though, is that a proper diet is a way of life. Just like proper exercise. As much as it is important to exercise at least 4 times a week, we must understand that our daily meals should be taken on regular intervals not exceeding 3 hours between meals! This means a minimum of 5 meals a day! Last meal should be taken 2 hours before bed time. Water is also extremely important. A minimum of one gallon a day is recommended. Two gallons is ideal, especially if you exercise.  Avoid mineral and carbonated water though.

        If you want to lose weight, and you're eating one or two meals a day only, or even starving yourself to death, you are on the wrong way. Believe it or not, you'll be GAINING instead of losing weight. That's one of our many biological wonder functions called "metabolism". I'll explain this in a later issue.

        But now, let's start COOKING! This is a place for great recipes!

        Today I'll start with a "Dory Teriyaki", a fish recipe my sister created while visiting us in Montreal.

        I'll also publish my mother's personal recipe for a delicious "Wara' malfoof", which is a Lebanese traditional dish, consisting of stuffed cabbage cigar rolls

There will be more recipes coming up soon!

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