Le blog de Chanty

A few days back I posted about Benihana opening up at the Avenues and yesterday night I decided to pass by with Nat and try it out. The service wasn’t too bad for a restaurant that’s just been open for a few days and the staff were really friendly. The restaurant itself is made up of islands and bars with a grill in the middle of each one. You sit around the grill and the chef will come to your table and prepare the food right in front of you which makes things entertaining. It’s actually why I prefer sitting at the bar in Japanese restaurants in general, since you can talk to the chef and watch them put your dish together. The problem with my experience last night though was with the food, it was disappointing to say the least.

We ordered beef negimayaki for starters followed by an Orange Blossom maki and a Hibachi Chicken. The negimaki arrived looking good and was probably the best thing we had there even though I prefer Maki’s negimaki which has a richer teriyaki sauce. The Orange Blossom was very ordinary, wouldn’t order it again. Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work. I tried to dip it into the sauces that came with the chicken but it was hard to figure out if they were actually making things worse or not. Nat only ate one piece of chicken and left the rest while I needed my protein since I’m on a strict diet and forced myself to eat my whole plate (I can do that) but the after taste was really bad. Even the rice and the veggies that came with it tasted bad AND were under cooked. Once we left I considered picking up a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry even though I hate frozen yogurts but I just needed something to get rid of the aftertaste. A few moments later we ended up at Chocolate Bar ordering the gooey chocolate cake (bye bye diet).

I shot the two videos video one and video two above of the chef preparing our meal. Benihana are known for the live shows they perform when preparing your dish so I was expecting to see This but ended up with the above. Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.

This is a reproduction of a post by "BTW ARE YOU LEBANESE" blogger Mark Makhoul, who wrote a review about his dining experience in Benihana Kuwait, who eventually got him sued. 

Consequently, today, 14 February 2011, bloggers are posting a copy of Mark’s original My Benihana Experience post to their own blogs and Facebook pages.

It’s not too late to join us! The day is young…

Cindy Lauper and Lady Gaga have recently been named the new faces of MAC Cosmetics’ Viva Glam campaign.

The campaign was launched on February 25th with the MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick and Viva Glam Cyndi Lipstick launching in North America and March 18 and globally throughout the month, reports WWD. 

Each lipstick will retail for $14 each with 100% of the profits going to the MAC AIDS Fund, an organization founded in 1994 by M·A·C Cosmetics, funded by the sales of the VIVA GLAM lipsticks and lipglass.

" A lavender-lovely Fergie asks us to enter a new kind of dreamscape, to feel the "Yes, we can!" of tomorrow, and to push forward on behalf of every man, woman and child affected by HIV/AIDS. VIVA GLAM VI Lipstick, Lipglass, and Special Edition Lipstick lead the way. Every cent of the selling price of VIVA GLAM Lipstick and Lipglass is donated to the M·A·C AIDS Fund to support men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS." 

To date, M·A·C Cosmetics has provided over $135 million to the M·A·C AIDS Fund with spokespersons including Dita Von Teese, RuPaul, Lisa Marie Presley, Eve, Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot, Pamela Anderson and Fergie.

These proceeds have been distributed around the globe to organizations that serve people afflicted with these diseases. The organizations use the funding for educational, awareness, and prevention programs in addition to supporting the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against those who are afflicted. Every cent of the selling price of MAC Viva Glam lipstick and lipglass is donated to the MAC AIDS Fund and directed to local and geographic regions where the need for HIV-related care is the most urgent.

For more information about the MAC AIDS fund, log on to www.MACcosmetics.com.

UPDATE

I went to the MAC counter in ABC Achrafieh last night to check if this campaign also runs in Lebanon, well I was really amazed when i saw the sales women all wearing a special T-shirt for World Aids Day, they all know all the information about the campaign and they also have this lovely Double sided Brochure/Stickers at the same time with some information about the campaign.

Cute, No...?!?!

There's also a variety of other colors from Mat to Glossy.... I couldn't resist the fever, I bought the  Viva Glam Cyndi  Lipglass 

And as Maria Said in the Comments, Ladies wanna be Beautiful?? So why not Be Beautiful for a cause!!  

UPDATE 2 

I was browsing the Internet this morning and I came across this article on the Huffington Post  mentioning Cyndi Lauper and her participation in the MAC campaign and I liked what she had to say:

"Remember to take care of yourself, protect yourself," she said. "The heat of the moment goes by quickly, but AIDS is for life. There is no cure, but AIDS is 100% preventable. Please practice safe sex and get a lipstick for your kid sister, your mom, one of your friends. Remind them to protect themselves. Every time you go out at night and put that lipstick on, let it be a reminder: give the gift of life."

Month of October is still here, and raising awareness campaigns against Breast Cancer are still on, wear the pink Ribbon to show your support.

As my support I had the concept of designing the ribbon on my nails. And since Orly has a wide range of colors, I used the Cotton Candy from the Sweet Collection and the Glitter from the Instant Artist Collection.   

I want to thank my Sister @Nymphea2  who did the design for me 

And i know the pictures aren't very clear, i'll try to replace them with better ones!

Water covers 70.9% of the earth's surface and is vital for all known forms of life. 

Clean drinking water is essential to human and other lifeforms.

Over large parts of the world, humans have inadequate access to potable water and use sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of dissolved chemicals or suspended solids. Such water is not potable and drinking or using such water in food preparation leads to widespread acute and chronic illnesses and is a major cause of death in many countries.

4000 children die each day due to illnesses from lack of clean drinking water.

Water Aid America ,  megree and Bloggers Unite are working together to bring awareness to the impact of lack of clean water has globally. 

WaterAid is lobbying the UN to make water a human right. Why isn't it? Over 1 million kids die each year from lack of water and there are easy solutions to this problem. It's disgraceful. 

We all can make a difference to help, pay-it-forward and spread the cause of WaterAid – A Burden For Thirst. You can help them financially or simply write a Blog about it.

As some of you know, i work in a Rehabilitation Center for Victims of torture, Nassim Center, which is a project of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)  

And this Saturday June 26 is the International day in Support of Torture Victims

Some information about this day:

The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is an international human rights instrument, under the review of the United Nations that aims to prevent torture around the world. The Convention came into force on 26 June 1987 and since then 26 June is being recognised as the International Day in Support of Torture Victims.

The Convention against Torture was ratified by Lebanonin 2000.

The United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on 26 June, reminds us that torture is a crime and provides us with an opportunity to stand united  against this cruel violation of human rights. IRCT members and human rights organisations around the world celebrate the day with a multitude of events.

The activities of CLDH for this year:

Wednesday 23rd of June:

Panel discussion with women who were victims of torture, either directly or indirectly as wives, mothers or sisters of victims.

Friday 25th of June:

The Lebanese Centre of Human Rights (CLDH) in collaboration with other NGO’s, is organizing a HUMAN CHAIN in front of the Parliament building (Place de l'Etoile) in Downtown on 25/6/10 from 10:00hrs onwards to “pay its respects to those who have endured the unimaginable” and raise public awareness on these human rights abuses.

For more info about June 26 campaign:

You can join the World Without Torture Facebook Group 

or you can check IRCT website 

If you are a Blogger you can consider joining  the International Day in Support of Torture Victims network on Bloggers Unite 

Please join us in making our voices stronger!

Come; let us all stand together for a world free from violence and torture!