Spinach, strawberries, almonds and feta...

I visited my brother few weeks back for a completely carefree vacation in Washington state where organic baby spinach and strawberries were in season! I know these are not in season in Lebanon right now, but I find it hard not to share this recipe especially that it's super easy to make, it's absolutely refreshing and I've been meaning to try it ever since I saw a similar salad up on Foodess.

What you need to have:

For the salad

• 150 grams baby spinach, rinsed, dried and cut into bite-size pieces
• 150 grams strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
• 75 grams almonds - roasted, unsalted and chopped
• 100 grams feta cheese, crumbled or diced

Fro the dressing (all Jazmin's idea, and it fits the strawberry spinach blend perfectly!)

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp mustard, whole grain Dijon
• 1 lemon, juice with pulp
• 1 clove of garlic, finely grated
• 1 small shallot, finely grated
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper

What you gotta do:

• Mix the spinach and the strawberries together. Set them aside while you prepare the dressing.
• Then whisk all the dressing's ingredients altogether. I actually shook them inside a tightly closed jar, so they turned out pretty creamy and well blended.
• Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad and mix.
  Make sure not to add the dressing, unless everyone is prepared to start eating as the white vinegar will wilt the spinach if left for a long time.
• Sprinkle the chopped roasted almonds and the crumbled feta on top of the salad, and please be generous. If you tend to be stingy, set aside 2 tiny bowls, one for feta and one for the almonds, just in case anyone wants to add some more.

And voila...

Pungent, tarty and refreshing for the taste buds!

Needless to say, the salad was a hit, the extra almonds and feta were much appreciated, summer was good and my trip was both relaxing and active at the same time. I took a photo of how my most relaxing day looked like at Lake Union's westernmost point in Freemont.

Statue of Peace Leader, Sri Chinmoy at Lake Union

Hannibal crazy mud race in Lebanon!

So it's been a while since I last blogged, obviously, but I came across an event that I believe should not be missed. This event is mentally and physically challenging, mostly muddy, seems tough but most importantly, extremely fun!

Photo courtesy of hannibalrace.com

So according to the guys at Hannibalrace.com, a 'Hannibal warrior' is a leader, controls his sentiments, shows action, pushes his spirit and physique to their limits, and doesn't stop learning. I'm fine with all this, but I'm not quite sure about the "controls his sentiments" part because based on their YouTube video, I don't think anyone will control anything together! So long story short, I signed up for this crazy mud race that I am completely sure I will finish, not in one piece though.

Hannibal races are organized all over the globe. So for the first time, it's going to take place in Lebanon. They usually have different types of races, ranging from 7 km as the speed race, up to 18 km aka hell. On Sunday the 7th of September at 8 am, Zaarour Club- Lebanon will witness the cutest kind of those races, the 7 km mud race + 15 obstacles.

The challenges that we are going to face range from crawling, bag carrying, uphill running, wheel flipping to wall climbing.. you know the regular kind of stuff that we sure don't do everyday! There will be waves of 100 racers every half an hour to avoid racers' "traffic". You can either choose your wave when you buy your ticket or pick yours when you reach Zaarour club.

I personally passed by Decathlon store to get my ticket but you can actually buy it online from Virgin Ticketing and choose your wave.

• I bought my pretty 35 USD voucher on which there's a code
• Visited http://www.hannibalrace.com/>>'register' section
• Typed in my code and registered my information in
• And voila! I received an email with my BIB and ID numbers.
• On the day of the race, all I gotta do is show up with my signed waiver + my ID + my printed email with the BIB and ID information (and of course, some clothes to change)

There will be transportation arranged from Dbaye to Zaarour and back, but details will be posted soon. And if you want to train in the coming 2 weeks, the warriors are working their butts off at Praia every Saturday at 6 pm [photos here]! All you gotta do is say the magic words "I am a Hannibal Warrior" and you're in for free.

Anyone over 18 can join the race, even if you are not an athlete! This is a fun race to push your limits, know your weaknesses and your strengths and what better way to do it than a muddy fun race!

More information:
Hannibal race website
Hannibal race Facebook page
Hannibal race event

Update: Any updates (transportation, meeting points, etc.) will be mentioned here.

Aaand we did it!