Author: Mark

This reminds me of the other club found in Kuwait that was disguised as a tent from four years back. [YouTube]

Chili Pepper is a new Mexican restaurant that recently opened up by the same guys behind the shawerma place Slice. My friends and I headed there on Thursday night thinking it was a proper dine-in Mexican restaurant but once we got there we realized it was actually a fast food place.

The entrance to Chili Pepper is on the ground floor but as soon as you enter you need to go down a flight of stairs since the actual restaurant is located in the basement. The place had a bunch of tables downstairs as well as the ones located outside the main entrance so finding a place to sit should never be a problem. Ordering is simple with the process is split into three steps:

Step 1 – Choose a Type
Burrito
Burrito Bowl
Salad
Hard Tacos (2pcs)
Soft Tacos (2pcs)
Quesadilla

Step 2 – Choose a Protein
Chicken KD3.150
Steak KD3.350
Barbacoa KD3.350
Shrimp KD3.500
Vegetarian KD2.750

Step 3 – Choose the Salsa
Sour Cream KD0.200
Pico de Gallo
Corn Salsa
Green Chili
Red Chili
Guacamole KD0.600

I ended up going with the soft tacos which come as two small pieces so I had one of them chicken and the other barbacoa (lamb). Between the two I preferred the chicken but the soft tacos were just too small and not very filling at all. When I passed by the second time today for lunch I chose the burrito and really thats the way to go, you get a lot more for the same price.

Speaking of price, I don’t understand why a fast food Mexican grill has to be so pricy. I had the chicken burrito today which is KD3.150 and that’s fine but then I added sour cream and guacamole and ended up paying KD3.950. Both those toppings should really be factored into the price. Still though the food is pretty good which is why I went back again. One cool thing they have is the nutritional information for all their items. This means you can know exactly how many calories you’re having which is great for calorie counters. If you’re interested in trying them out, they’re located in Kuwait City in the corner of the building right behind where Ubon and Rio are [Map].

If you missed the first Jam session this past Friday at CAP you can now watch most of the performances online since TJC Films just uploaded 43 minutes of non stop music. I missed the event but from the feedback I heard it’s definitely one not to miss the next time it takes place. [YouTube]

Last week I wasn’t posting as much since I was taking two workshops at the Nuqat design conference, a furniture design workshop from 9AM to 1PM followed by a fashion design workshop from 2PM to 6PM. They both turned out to be a lot of fun and the whole experience was memorable.

Furniture Design: Defy the Existing Function
The furniture design workshop was done in collaboration with IKEA and was run by the award winning furniture designer Younes Duret. It was basically an IKEA hack workshop in which we had to repurpose one product out of the 35 they had made available to us. There were around 26 people taking the workshop with many of the participants coming in from around the region to take part. The final work was pretty astounding since there were quite a bunch talented people taking part.

Fashion Design: Fashion Meets Technology
The second workshop I took part in involved wearable technology and as a geek/designer I wanted to see if there was anything I could possibly bring to the table. The workshop was run by the super talented Sarah Hermez of the non profit fashion school, Creative Space. While the furniture design workshop was held at the Sadu House, the fashion design workshop was held at Fab Lab. What is Fab Lab? Fab Lab is part of MIT’s Fab Foundation and the Kuwait Fab Lab is part of the world wide network which spans 30 countries. It’s a ridiculously cool place where you can go fabricate products as well as take part in educational workshops (all for free). They have 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters, a robotics lab and even an in house patent registration office. I’m actually going to post a separate post about them since the place is just insane. After experimenting with different technologies over the four days, for my final project I ended up creating a fashionable and functional pair of mountaineering boots that came with a built in frostbite detector (pictured above). I also just for the experience learned how to drape a dress which if you were following me on snapchat you would have gotten a glimpse of my undeniable talent in making sexy dresses.

The Nuqat workshops were filled with positive energy and I got to meet a lot of people and learn quite a bit. I’ll definitely be taking part again next year although most likely I’ll take just one workshop next time since two was just too exhausting.

There are a bunch of cool things to do this weekend but my personal picks are The Comedy Night and rooftop movie for Thursday, The Jam show on Friday and the Korean Thanksgiving on Saturday. I went to the Korean thanksgiving last year and I fell in love with the embassy building, its by far the most beautiful embassy I’ve visited anywhere. Check out the full list of events taking place this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Honolulu by Arwa Abouo
Exhibition: Birds eye view by Ali Cherri
The November Comedy Night
Rooftop Movie: The Wrestler

Friday
Timelapse Photography Workshop
Book Club Meeting
Toastmasters Debate Championship Finals
Jam Kuwait Show #1
The Annual Concert of Hope

Saturday
KTAA Bazaar at Sadu House
Chuseok Event (Korean Thanksgiving Day)
The Secret Garden Project
Graffiti in the Garden
Meetup: Chat and Map
Book Signing: This is an imprint
Rooftop Movie: Burn After Reading

If there is an event you’d like to share [Email Me]

A letter has been circulating via social media purportedly from KNPC on the new pricing for diesel and kerosene. The new prices are nearly double triple the current prices and will go into effect starting from January 1st. The letter does not mention if gasoline prices are going to increase so I guess we’re fine for now.

Red Bull is holding their 5pics competition for the second year in a row. If you’re a photographer (amateur or professional) and want to participate, all you need to do is register with them and share what Kuwait looks like “through your eyes” by uploading 5 of your best photos.

The prizes are
First Place: MacBook Pro 15″ with Retina Display
Second Place: Fuji Film XM1 + Lens
Third Place: GoPro Hero 4

To participate or get more info about the competition, visit www.redbull.com/5pics. Submission deadline is November 26, 2014.

A friend spotted the LaFerrari near the Avenues this morning. Only 499 off them were built and each costs around KD500,000 but, since it’s limited, you need to own at least five Ferraris to be even considered by Ferrari to let you buy one.

So this is related to my previous. Originally I was planning to take just one workshop at Nuqat and be done by 1PM but halfway through my first workshop I signed up to a second one so now I end up finishing at 6PM instead. Both workshops are pretty fun so far but the most interesting thing is that at least half the people taking them are women who’ve come to Kuwait from either Saudi, Bahrain, UAE or Qatar. The Nuqat event is so good it’s attracting creatives from all over the region.

So bear with me for the next few days until I’m done with my workshops. Until then my posting is going to be very erratic.

Just an FYI, for the next four days I’ll be attending a Nuqat workshop from 9AM to 1PM. That’s usually the time I post on the blog so for the next four days I’ll most likely be posting in the afternoons instead or I’ll have to start preparing my posts the evenings before which I tried doing last night but failed miserably…

This is a Sheila MacVicar ABC News report produced and edited from inside Kuwait City just after the Iraqi forces fled at the conclusion of the Persian Gulf War. The segment was broadcast on World News Tonight March 7, 1991. It features many of the brave women that took on a major role of resisting the occupying Iraqi forces that had taken over the besieged city.

This short report was uploaded a few hours ago on Vimeo and sheds a bit of light on some of the Kuwaiti women resistance during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. [Vimeo]

Lots of things taking place this weekend. My personal picks would be the Nuqat Creative Conference which starts today and continues on through the weekend, the Al Hamra Urban Lounge which is back again this year, there is a Winter Bazaar taking place tomorrow and on Saturday you have the brunch at The Secret Garden which shouldn’t be missed. Check out the full list of events for this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Honolulu by Arwa Abouo
Ahmadi Music Group Concert
Nuqat Creative Conference
Al Hamra Tower Urban Lounge
Rooftop Movie: Rosetta

Friday
Ahmadi Music Group Concert
Nuqat Creative Conference
Yellow Parade
The English School Winter Bazaar

Saturday
Nuqat Creative Conference
Kuwait Open Quiz 2014
642 Marathon
Saturday Brunch at The Secret Garden
Freestyle Football Event
Rooftop Movie: Carnage

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

Yesterday a photo of a hyena walking down the 6th Ring Road near 360 Mall went viral. The hyena had escaped from the home of the owner and was wandering around scared before ending up near the 6th Ring Road.

The Kuwait Zoo and the Ministry of Interior sent a team to search and capture the animal which they ended up doing. The hyena is now at the Kuwait Zoo being taken care of.

via @ayman361

Although Kuwait isn’t known for holding the best events, every now and then we do get some spectacular ones that are world class. The most recent one that took place was the Battle of the East event two weeks ago and the next great event is taking place starting tomorrow. Nuqat has now become the largest creative conference in the MENA region and they’re into their 5th year. It’s such an impressive and organized event that its hard to believe its a locally created concept. Every year it just keeps getting bigger and this year isn’t any different.

Lectures
Nuqat will be taking place at the Amricani Cultural Center and will comprise of two main parts, the first is a three day lecture that will be taking place this weekend starting from tomorrow Thursday 13th and ending on Saturday the 15th. There will be 24 short lectures taking place over these three days that will be given by different speakers from around the region (pictured above). The cost to attend these lectures is just KD30 for the three days and you can check out the full schedule on their website [Here]

Nuqat 2013 [YouTube]

Workshops
The second part of Nuqat is the workshops. This year there will be 11 workshops ranging in subjects that will be held over four days either 9AM to 1PM or or 2PM to 6PM. I’m personally considering taking two workshops, the first is “Furniture Design: Defy The Existing Function” and the second is “Wearable Technology: Fashion meets technology 101”. Furniture Design and Fashion Design are two topics I have no experience in which is why I’m excited to try out. It’s something new for me and new is generally always fun. The workshops cost KD110 which is ridiculously cheap compared to regular workshop prices in Kuwait and also considering who the lecturers are. To sign up and check out all the workshops available click this [Link]

Cultural Entertainment
There will be a lot of food stalls and pop up shops in the courtyard of the Amricani Cultural Center so even if you’re not signing up to the lectures or workshops it should still be a fun social event to check out. I tried my best to condense as much information as I could into this post without making it too long and boring which is why I’ve left out other activities that are taking place like film screenings, book signings and more. To really get a proper idea of what exactly is taking place you need to visit the Nuqat website. It’s a great event that shouldn’t be missed. [Link]

The past few months a number of interesting dating blogs have popped up, the first I posted about was Single in the Shires and the second was I Date Kuwait. Since then, Single in the Shires shutdown because people found out who she was while I Date Kuwait stopped getting updated. But, there’s now another blog thats gathering interest and it’s Kuwait Babe. Not sure how much of the blog is real or fiction but it’s still an interesting (and dirty) late night read. [Link]