Here come the rains again

rain climate Lebanon Beirut

rain moves towards the port

After a mere sprinkling in September, this was the first real rain since April. Instead of collecting drips from the air conditioning, the buckets filled with torrents which cleansed the air and breathed colour into Beirut’s sun-fatigued, dust laden streets.

Check out the short slideshow from the downpour and aftermath.

Experts say the rain is being concentrated into shorter, heavier bursts, meaning longer, drier summers and less chance to collect the rain when it does arrive.

Mifteh al buttn, liqmé

sour plums Lebanon

sour plums

Lebanese food is famous throughout the world, but some of my most curious discoveries here have involved trying foods I grew up with but in a different form.

As a child I remember we kept a bottle of rose water in the bathroom. A drop or two would be added to a hot bath or to the iron, like lavender oil, but never to pastries or hot water as in the café blanc. We had plum trees up the garden and I often fought off wasps to eat the bursting ripe ones. Here plums are often served sour and dabbed in salt. Almonds, too, are often presented unripe, a milky white kernel in velvety Read the rest of this entry »

Green without the spin

Electricité du Liban sign building rationing

Electricité du Liban sign rationed

As penance for my ungreen survival methods, I spent a day at the Renewable Energy Trade Fair and Beirut Energy Forum at the Metropolitan Hotel on 30 September 2010.

So much ink has been spilled over green energy across the western world that terms like low-carbon technology, fuel substitution and energy efficiency are wielded like weapons to divide and conquer multinational companies and reluctant governments alike. In Europe, green has grown from an eco-geek passion to a powerful monster able to stir into action the region’s biggest legislative bodies and set a new orientation for the economy.

But in Lebanon, green is barely on the radar. That means it hasn’t even reached the fad level yet. No, it isn’t even a bit cool to separate your trash into three bins, put them in your 4×4, spend an hour in traffic to cover a couple of hundred meters, and drop them off at a recycling point. Recycling trash is for the impoverished here, and  Read the rest of this entry »

Switch to our mobile site