Established 1961 30 T Monday, October 16, 2017 L i f e s t y l e Fe a t u r e s Yalda’s tips for traveling with kids Traveling with kids can be a challenge, especially As for keeping your kids entertained while trav- for new parents. No matter if it’s your first trip with eling, I always make sure to pack my kids a back- your child or your twentieth, it can always be an pack each filled with their favorite toys and snacks anxious and stressful experience. It’s so important to keep them going during the flight. Packing extra for me to still look presentable and be comfortable clothes and medicine is also a good idea because while traveling and handling kids and making sure you never know when an accident might happen or that I don’t completely neglect myself. if your kids may feel unwell during travel. Making Getting organized and managing your time is sure your kids stay hydrated while traveling is so key. Whenever we have a trip coming up with the important so having some juices handy or packing kids, I always make sure to plan ahead weeks in their favorite water bottle will encourage them. If advance and book my appointments like getting it’s a long haul flight, packing pajamas or your my hair and nails done, planning my outfits for the child’s favorite blanket or stuffed animal can be a trip, and any other errands that need to get done. great way to make them feel at home and maybe Leaving things until the last minute is the easiest get some sleep if they’re struggling. way to neglect yourself. You will end up rushing At the end of the day, traveling is an exciting around and packing for your kids, which will result experience. As stressful as it may be to parents, in you having no time to focus on yourself. kids are usually so excited about flying and “going Another thing that I’ve found so useful is finding Yalda Golsharifi up in the sky” and all of the excitement that goes a simple and quick routine that will make you look along with visiting a new country and trying new more put together as quickly as possible. My rou- cara, a bit of blush and a tinted lip balm or lipstick. things, so don’t let the stress ruin the excitement. tine starts with fixing my hair and making sure it This routine doesn’t even take me 10 minutes but it Make sure to give your kids the best experience doesn’t look like a disaster. I usually put it up into a makes such a difference to how I look and feel. A that you can, so remembering to stay calm and not messy bun or braid, which instantly makes you simple routine like this can be used when you’re let the little things get to you is so important. look so much more presentable. For my face, I usu- traveling to make you look more put together while Remember that some of the best family memo- ally go for a bit of BB cream all over, some mas- still looking effortless and comfortable. ries you will ever have are made when you travel :) Turning Robert Plant nears 70 weed into as voice of spiritual warmth drinks in Robert Plant was Led Zeppelin’s “Golden God” whose voice could tear through audiences, but on his latest Lebanon album he proves anew he is more subtle and spiritual than a screecher. “Carry Fire,” which came out on Sitting among the vines of Sauvignon Blanc and Tempranillo Friday, renews Plant’s fascination with American roots growing on his spectacular farm in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, music but ventures further afield as the rocker breezily Michel Emad remembers the not-so-distant time when he brings in North African lutes and the pulsating energy opted to cultivate cannabis. The retired soldier was not alone of electronica. in this illicit trade: cannabis fields used to stretch as far as the A general view of vineyards planted next to cannabis fields on the outskirts of Deir Al-Ahmar in Plant, who was famously a reluctant lyricist at the eye could see in this part of Lebanon over which the state the Beakaa Valley, one of the poorest regions in Lebanon and notorious for its cannabis produc- birth of Led Zeppelin, returns with a poetic touch, has tenuous control. tion. — AFP photos rekindling the mythological imagery that came to mark “Everyone used to grow hashish, that was what the mar- his old band-and, obliquely, taking aim at US ket wanted, there was no alternative crop,” Emad, a father of President Donald Trump. At age 69, Plant retains his tually decided to join the cooperative in 2003. The project initially received funding and technical sup- two in his fifties with neatly trimmed hair, said. Now he and “With hashish you always feel threatened by the authori- port from France and gradually grew with local loans allow- instantly recognizable voice, with a rich intensity at the 220 farmers from the Coteaux Heliopolis cooperative are the higher ranges. But on “Carry Fire” he decides to ties, you can’t sleep at night for the constant risk of being ing producers to turn their fields into vineyards. The grapes growing grapes for winemaking in the northern Bekaa jailed or seeing the state destroy your crops,” he said, puffing of choice are Syrah, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, turn on the vocal overdrive sparingly, his vocals repre- Valley’s Deir al-Ahmar region. senting not an older self but a softer, warmer side. on a cigarette in the shade of a tree. The Coteaux Heliopolis Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. “These are grapes that like The area, one of the poorest in Lebanon, is notorious for cooperative was launched in 1999 and now covers around the sun and the heat and could work at high altitude,” said “Carry Fire,” Plant’s 11th solo album, will strike Led its cannabis production, which expanded massively over Zeppelin fans for its nods, intentional or not, to the 250 hectares of vineyard (620 acres) in Deir Al-Ahmar. Charbel Al-Fakhri, who works alongside his father Shawki at recent decades to turn into a multi-million-dollar industry. The first harvest in 2003 and the resulting windfall the cooperative and got a specialized MBA from France’s band. On the dreamy “Season’s Song,” Plant opens While cannabis farming has only been feebly challenged by verses by singing, “Oh my love” a faint echo of the sparked a wave of interest among cannabis farmers in the wine capital Bordeaux. the authorities over the years, it remains illegal and the small area. “We have provided evidence that people don’t want to The cooperative has created its own winery and made a more boisterous “All My Love” of Led Zeppelin’s hey- cooperative has succeeded in luring some producers away day. The album begins with “The May Queen,” an grow hashish. They are obliged to because it is their only modest start with 100,000 bottles in 2017, only a fraction of from the risky business. source of income but they don’t actually want to live in fear the eight million bottles Lebanon produces each year. “I real- image of nature that appeared in Led Zeppelin’s most They are looking to cash in as Lebanon’s wine industry celebrated song, “Stairway to Heaven.” Yet the new and in violation of the law,” said Shawki Al-Fakhri, who heads ly believe our white is a little gem, its freshness is remarkable. has blossomed, with traditional heavyweights and myriad the cooperative. “If you give them an alternative, a lucrative We also have a very fresh and fruity red,” said Charbel song goes in a different direction with rich vocal har- smaller producers making inroads on an ever-expanding monies and fiddle. and legal crop to farm, people will take it in a heartbeat,” said proudly. For him, the switch from cannabis to wine is like global market. “Growing grapes is more lucrative and leaves the retired engineer, sitting in the garden of the house his returning a historical land to its rightful owner. you with a clean conscience,” Emad said, explaining that this grandfather built. Coteaux Heliopolis chose its name as a homage to the year’s nine-ton harvest earned him $10,000 (8,400 euros), nearby City of the Sun Heliopolis was the name of the ancient twice his erstwhile income from cannabis. Historical land city of Baalbek where the Roman wine god Bacchus was The elegant sexagenarian with flowing white hair worshipped. “The Romans didn’t just happen to pick this Cannabis to Cabernet recounts with an amused grin how his own father had been place. We’re 12 kilometers from Baalbek, once the area was On the other side of the dirt road running along his vine- tempted by cannabis farming decades ago but was eventual- covered with vines,” the young man said. “Our land is excep- yard, the tall stems of cannabis fields are still visible. Emad ly dissuaded by his grandfather, a village priest. The cooper- tional.” — AFP spent three years growing cannabis, like many other villagers ative’s harvested grapes-around 400 tonnes in 2017 — are in Lebanon’s Bekaa who see it as their only means of survival. then sold on to producers such as Chateau Ksara, one of the The security forces regularly raid the cannabis farms in the biggest players in Lebanon’s wine industry, or Domaine area and Emad’s fields were wiped out twice before he even- Wardy, one of the oldest and most renowned wineries.