Author: Mark

I previously posted that Linda who hosts the morning show on 99.7 had left Kuwait permanently but I got word from a friend who works at 99.7 that Linda will be coming back soon. Not sure if this is good or bad news for people who listen to the morning show, I know no one liked her when she was on but I also know that people prefer her over the new replacements. For now I’m filing this under gossip & rumors.

I just wanted to post a quick update on the cleanup I asked help on last week. First thanks a lot to everyone who emailed me volunteering to help. Based on an idea from one of my readers I contacted a cleaning company last week who volunteered their services and I will be passing by with them to cleanup the store. My biggest concern is finding the store open since the old man doesn’t have fixed working hours and I’ve previously tried passing by only to find the store closed for no reason. My second concern is not stressing him out with the cleanup which is why I want to keep the cleanup crew very small. I’ll keep everyone posted on this and post again once we get the job done.

Ever since Vincent Chase got a silver Quattroporte on the TV series Entourage I’ve been obsessed with the car which is why when the Maserati dealership asked me if I was interested in reviewing the new Quattroporte I was like duck yes!

The review car I picked up was silver just like the one on the show except I had the all new sixth-generation Quattroporte (2013 model). The new Quattroporte looks different on both the outside and inside in addition to having a more powerful engine. The car I picked up was the top of the line model with a V8 530hp engine so I was pretty thrilled once I hit the highway.

I’ve driven a lot of fast cars but I’ve never driven one so quiet. The car is scary quiet and I use the word scary here because you could be driving insanely fast without even realizing. I’m not going to mention what speed I found myself at when I casually looked down at the speedometer while driving on an empty stretch, but lets just say after that incident I turned on the cars speed warning to alert me once I hit 120km/h.

It’s such a smooth and quiet ride that it’s easy to forget you’re really driving a sports car. The interior is super pimped out (tastefully of course) with leather everywhere including all over the dashboard and real suede covering the roof. The car I drove had the optional 15-speaker, 1280-watt Bowers & Wilkins sound system which I could stream my music to over bluetooth. The car has a large touch screen interface with navigation, climate control, music and the car settings all easily accessible. There are loads of compartments to store your stuff in with the two most useful located around the gear shift. In the rear you also have your own set of controls in case you’re being driven around with a driver but still want to be able to control various aspects of comfort.

The car looks fast and slick from the outside even though it’s a 4-door. The rear is probably my least favorite part of the car since I preferred the triangular shaped lights of the previous generation which looked more distinct. I took the car to my favorite spot to take photos but when I pulled out my camera it turned out I had left my memory stick at home. It was the second day with the car and I don’t think I could have kept it for another day so I ended up taking all my photos with my iPhone.

I thought I looked pretty ballin’ driving around in the Quattroporte with the music blasting high and my friends with me in the car. It’s not just an old persons car which is why it was most likely it was chosen as Vincent’s car on Entourage. Price-wise, the V8 version I drove starts at around KD39,000 with the V6 version costing a bit less. If you’re interested in test driving the car yourself you can pass by the Maserati dealer in Al-Rai (Al-Zayani) and check it out there.

Here is a link to the Quattroporte on the Maserati website [Link]

via fou6an

So the lion that was arrested yesterday in Bayan has a twitter account of course. [@bayanlion]

The same people who brought bungee jumping to Marina Crescent are now bringing The Human Catapult for the first time. The Human Catapult is a booster seat that shoots a person into the sky up to a height of 70 meters and at a speed exceeding 100km/h.

Like previously with the bungee jumping, if you’re interested in this you need to book in advance. The Human Catapult will be at Marina Crescent from October 3rd to the 6th. There are a limited number of seats and it will cost KD25. For more information and booking you can contact them on 94004335 or 22621766.

Date: October 3rd to October 6th 2013
Location: Marina Crescent, Salmiya
Price: KD25

Luckily it didn’t attack anyone but will most likely still get deported. Kuwaitiful has more information [Here]

Joe’s Cafe is opening up at The Prestige in Avenues right next to Joseph on the mezzanine floor. I generally don’t care about cafe’s much but this place looks extremely cool.

I was taking a back road towards Rihab Complex when I spotted a group of old buildings with what looked like a garden growing wildly in between them so I decided to pass by and check the place out. There didn’t turn out to be a wild garden just a few trees but the buildings were super old and interesting since it seemed like they used to raise pigeons there since I found cages everywhere. If you’re interested in visiting there are four of these building next to each other, I only visited one of them. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

‘Deport Jet-Ski Show-Offs’
Personnel from the Kuwait Coast Guard, during a surprise campaign off Kubbar Island, are said to have seized a number of jet skis and speed boats for what the authorities called reckless behavior of the youths, reports Al-Rai daily. The campaign was headed by Assistant Undersecretary for Borders Security, Major- General Mohammad Al-Yusuf. Al-Yusuf has reportedly requested for the deportation of expatriates after impounding their jet skis and boats and referring the citizens to the concerned authorities for endangering the lives of others and causing disturbance to families and visitors to the island. [Source]

This is overkill. Kinda like back when they imposed a KD1,000 fine for barbecuing in public locations. I’m not saying annoying jet-skiers shouldn’t be punished, what I’m saying is that the punishment should fit the crime. Are people who are running red lights being deported?

Thanks Naveen

I haven’t posted anything all day today because I was honestly contemplating on what to do about the comments. Recently they’ve started getting really nasty and I even had to delete my post on the dog shooting videos because I got threatened by a reader in one of the comments.

Freedom of speech does not include threats or random accusations.

My commentators can basically be divided into 3 groups:
1- Normal expats and Kuwaitis
2- Expats who really hate Kuwait
3- Kuwaitis who really hate expats

The last two groups are the issue and I think I’m going to start moderating the comments even more so than I currently am unless the two groups can learn to respect each other in every discussion. It’s frustrating and upsetting how ugly things can get.

I’m not going to change anything for now, but if this continues to happen I’m going to start deleting a lot more comments which I don’t want to do.

So please, lets make this work.
Thank you.

If you’ve been to The Prestige section of Avenues you’ve most likely noticed the large boxes near the entrance. Every time I pass by the area the boxes would be in different positions with a “Do not move” paper stuck to them. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out what they were for. My best guess was that there was some kind of event that was taking place at The Prestige after hours but turns out the real reason wasn’t as exciting. I found a security guard today standing near a box and asked him what they were for he told me they’re currently replacing the marble near the entrance and the boxes are placed over the sections they don’t want people to walk on. That’s it.

After posting about the Jamaican restaurant last week a friend suggest we should try an Ethiopian restaurant so I found out about one located in Hawalli called Al-Habesha. The place is located behind Bin Khaldoun street and right next to a bunch of other Ethiopian shops.

We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by a friendly lady who told us we could sit anywhere we wanted. There were a few tables occupied by other diners and the place filled up even more when we were leaving later on. They had Ethiopian TV playing music on the television and the place was decorated with bright red, yellow and green stripes. They didn’t have a menu but my friend from previous experience abroad kinda knew what we should get. The waitress asked us if wanted rice or Injera (their flatbread) and we said we wanted flatbread. She then asked us if we wanted vegetarian, meat or chicken. We went for one vegetarian and one meat. For the meat she recommended the tibs which she said we would like so we went for it.

The food arrived awhile later and it looked really good. The food was served on a large tray which was covered completely with their flatbread. The food was then placed on top of the bread in various spots. At one end of the tray was the meat dish which came in a small bowl with hot coals underneath to keep it warm. The reason I wanted to try Ethiopian food was because the flatbread is basically the plate and you eat your way through it which is an interesting idea. I also liked the fact that the dish is meant to be shared. Looking around the restaurant it was groups of two sitting and sharing a dish and I loved that.

Our dish was fantastic and unexpectedly good. The taste of the various stews (called wats) kinda reminded me of Indian food while the meat although not very tender was full of flavor. When we were done with our dishes we ordered Ethiopian tea which is regular tea mixed with cinnamon and a bunch of other spices. Finally we asked for the bill which turned out to be just KD5.5 for the meat and vegetarian dish plus two bottles of water and two cups of tea. I really loved the experience and would recommend the place but again, this is a hole in the wall joint so don’t expect much in terms of appearance. Finding Al-Habesha is easy, if you’re on Bin Khaldoun street in Hawalli, keep McDonalds on your left and drive straight until you see Subway on your left. The restaurant is located on the street behind Subway and Zawya Complex.

Back in April I bought the Bang & Olufsen A9 sound system for my apartment. The A9 had looked so beautiful in the store but when it came time to take photos of it for my blog I just couldn’t make it look good which is why I ended up using stock photos from their website instead. I realized I couldn’t make it look good because my apartment looked horrible. Around the same time I was invited by the team at West Elm in Avenues to pass by and check out their store. I had only passed by the store from outside before and had gotten the impression it was an expensive brand so never really went in. But on that day I got shown around the place and I just fell in love with everything since their furniture had a very New York loft feel. Then I found out their prices were slightly more expensive than IKEA but less than THE One and it hit me, I needed a makeover. My apartment was looking outdated and I needed a fresh start anyway with my recent divorce and all so I asked them if they’d be interested in doing a makeover and they liked the idea. Last week I finally had everything done.

My apartment is a beautiful duplex located in one of my favorite places in Kuwait, the old Salmiya shopping street. The apartment has very nice space and a lot of potential but wasn’t getting any TLC. When I first moved in I was broke and couldn’t afford to furnish it properly and then later when I did have money I was spending it all on my apartment in Lebanon. Not only that but the walls had the most horrible colors that somehow seemed like a good idea years ago. The first thing I did when West Elm came over to check my place out was let them know what my issues were with the current setup and what I was expecting from the makeover. For example my living space had enough seating for around 5 people so when my friends were coming over I wouldn’t have enough space for everyone and the space I already had was very focused around the TV. I couldn’t have big lunches or dinners at my place either since my dinning room table fit only 4 people. I hated the lights in my apartment, I hated my kitchen which was an ugly purple and my living space was a bright magenta (it was a phase I went through so don’t judge me) which I honestly couldn’t stand anymore. I didn’t want a TV in my new space because I thought having a TV would be anti social plus I already had a TV room upstairs. I wanted the space to be very social and one that could hold a lot of people. Usually when people come over the groups are divided between the kitchen and the living space so I wanted people sitting in the living space to be facing the kitchen so they’re more connected. Finally I needed to have my iMac downstairs because I do most of my work on my iMac and I didn’t want to take any work with me upstairs. Based on those criteria’s we sat down and decided what we were going to do.

The first thing we decided on obviously was to change the color of the walls. They recommended I go with a dark grey which I was hesitant to at first but now I’m so glad I did. I also ended up ordering really beautiful Orla Kiely wallpaper to add a bit of color to the walls. I’ve loved Orla Kiely’s stem patterns for a very long time and figured it would give a slightly retro feel to the space which it did. I’ve also always loved baby blue walls and thought it would match perfectly with my KitchenAid Mixer so I had my kitchen painted a baby blue. I actually ended up repainting my whole apartment including my bedroom and my TV room since after I saw what a big difference it made to my space downstairs I wanted to change everything.

On my first visit to the West Elm store the first thing that caught my eye was an incredible bookcase/sculpture they had on display. I right away asked them about it and they told me it wasn’t for sale and that it was actually built by one of their talented employees out of wood recycled from their crates. It was love at first sight and I knew I had to have it. So after nagging them about it they finally told me I could take it. This was going to be the centerpiece to my living space. It was just insane looking, it wasn’t perfect, it had flaws and it was all over the place but that’s who I was and that’s why I needed this.

For the couch we decided to go with the Tillary 8-piece Sectional. It was comfortable, cozy and it would fit perfectly in my space while holding a lot of people. It came in a bunch of colors but I wanted grey which I thought was very bachelor pad’ish and worked well with the wallpaper and the black glossy floor. For the dinning room table we went with the Parker Dining Table. I liked it because it was minimal while still looking slightly retro like my wallpaper and it was also expandable so it could hold 6 people when closed and 8 when open. To give the table a funky touch we chose the John Vogel designed chairs and got matching barstool versions to use with my kitchen bar. Finally the accessories and lights, they had a ton to choose from and other than the lights I let them decide on the accessories for me and damn what a difference the accessories make. The rugs and the random accessories on my tables all around the apartment just give the place such a warm and cozy feel.

I can’t believe how my place looks so different after the makeover. I still need to buy my dinnerware and a few more accessories from them but the overall look is done. The difference is night and day and I now love spending time chilling on my couch listening to music while browsing on my iPad or hanging out with friends. Friends are also loving the fact that I don’t have a TV in the space since without it all the attention goes on socializing. To think all this started because of my Bang & Olufsen A9. I just wanted it to look good at home and I ended up getting a whole makeover done around it. Now my A9 looks like it was made for the space and the bookcase looks like it was built around it. If you’re interested in checking them out, West Elm is located in Avenues Phase III near Harvey Nichols and opposite Life with Cacao. Here is a link to their [Facebook Page]

Photos of the bookcase and accessories were taken by the super talented @tammyque

Those of you who’ve been following my blog for awhile will remember the story about the old photographer in Kuwait City. If you don’t this old post of mine has links to all the previous posts on him [Link]

On my way to the original Kuwait Bookshop last night I decided to pass by and see if the old photographer was still there. I tried passing by a few times over the years but the store was always closed when I did. Last night he was there. I walked into the store and said hello, right away he made me sit down in the one chair in the store while he stood next t ome. The store was a mess with papers, photos and boxes lying around everywhere. The store was no longer functioning, he wasn’t developing photos or doing photocopies, or selling anything for that matter. He asked me who I was, I wasn’t expecting him to remember me since he’s 92 years old and he as expected he didn’t. I asked him what had happened to his collection of old cameras and he told me they were stolen awhile back. He then proceeded to tell me about how he was robbed of KD15 as well. I was having difficulty trying to understand what he was saying since he was kind of all over the place. While sitting in the chair I noticed some old black and white photos of a fire in the city taken back in what could be the 60s. He had previously told me he had sold all his photos but I guess there must be some random ones lying around the place.

I couldn’t stay long and had to leave but I asked him if he needed anything and he told me if I knew of someone decent who could come and clean up the store for him. Someone who wouldn’t steal from him. I told him I’d get it sorted and come by next week.

I figured I could go to the store with some volunteers and just tidy the place up and throw out the garbage. I wouldn’t want someone else to do it since they might end up throwing out his old photos which I think should be preserved. Now I’m not good at organizing cleanups, I’ve never actually organized anything before (I think) but if anyone wants to come and help me clean up and tidy his store next Sunday or Tuesday evening then [Email Me]

On a side note I have no idea what else can be done to help him out. He clearly needs someone to take care of him and he has no one…