the 72-year-old matriarch of the clan , for the customary Friday lunch. And from the busy activity in Mme Saidi’s kitchen , the iron pots bubbling on the stove, the cornucopia of fresh vegetables on the kitchen tables. The aroma of herbs and spices, garlic and peppers, you would not know that Beirut was still a beleaguered city, or that the population of this once enchanting Mediterranean paradise still lives under the pressures of random violence and dangerous uncertainty