Author: Mark

Just an FYI to anyone planning to order the iPad Arcade Cabinet from Think Geek. Mine shipped a few days ago and according to UPS it weighs over 10lb’s, that means it’s going to cost around KD30 to ship from New York using Aramex! So just a warning to anyone planning on getting it, the thing is really heavy. [Link]

A reader posted in the forum asking here he could find Matabbag in Kuwait. I hadn’t heard of it before but it looks and sounds pretty good so now I’m curious to try it. Where can I find Matabbag in Kuwait?

Note: According to the reader, Matabbag is very popular in Saudi Arabia, it’s made using thin bread dough and contains a mix of minced meat, egg and spices inside.

The Ahmadi Music Group has an upcoming show which you guys might be interested in called The Desert Song:

The Ahmadi Music Group, directed by Richard Bushman, is delighted to announce the forthcoming production of The Desert Song by Siegmund Romberg. Fully-staged, with costumes, dancing, professional soloists, a cast of around fifty people and a full symphony orchestra, this will be a wonderful opportunity to experience an evening of musical theatre in the stunning new Performing Arts Centre at The English School Salmiya.

The Desert Song is one of very few operas in existence set in the Arab world. It tells the story of the efforts of the French in Morocco, in about 1910, to suppress rebellion by a band of desert outlaws, the Riffs. The stern General Birabeau is sent from France to be in charge of the combat; he is impatient that his son Pierre is not interested in soldiery. Only at the end does he discover that Pierre is secretly the dashing Red Shadow, leader of the Riffs. The production includes comedy, romance, warfare, and more romance.

Desert Song is not well known nowadays, but in the first half of the 20th Century, its songs were performed by every major singer and orchestra and dominated the charts. Most tellingly, it has been made into a full Hollywood film three times, making it one of the most sought-after theatre properties ever created. In 1929, it was the first all-talking Hollywood musical ever made.

Date: Tuesday May 31st, 2011
Type: Preview Performance for students
Tickets: KD4

Date: Wednesday June 1st, 2011
Type: Black-tie Gala opening performance followed by buffet supper
Tickets: KD10

Date: Thursday June 2nd, 2011
Type: Performance
Tickets: KD8 for adults and KD4 for children under 12

Date: Friday June 3rd, 2011
Type: Performance
Tickets: KD8 for adults and KD4 for children under 12

All performances start at 7pm at The English School, Salmiya.
For more information and booking visit their website [Here]

I was reading on Me Blogging about her visit to the Swatch exhibition in Geneva where they had on display all the Swatch watches ever produced from 1983 up till today. That made me want to dig out my first Swatch watch which is the one above. I purchased it back in the 80’s from Fay in Salmiya. You could try finding your first Swatch by clicking [Here]

A reader emailed me to tell me that Google sent him a note saying they’ve updated the maps for Kuwait. So I just checked it out now and it turns out its true, the maps did get updated and are now much more sharper than before. Above for example is the latest shot of Kuwait Towers on Google Maps while below is an old shot I had posted on the blog ages ago. As you can see specially from the sea and land edges, the new updated images are very sharp and very clear. But, it looks like their satellite passed over and took pictures in the middle of a dust storm or something since the new shots are all very gloomy and dark. That’s really too bad since on a bright sunny day the shots of Kuwait could have turned out amazing.

If you want to check out Kuwait on Google Maps click [Here]

I finished building my 808e around 2 or 3 weeks back but was waiting for the motor and speed controller to arrive plus the batteries. Once they arrived I took the stuff to Pro Hobbies to have them professionally solder the wires together for me as well as setup the buggy for me. It’s now ready to take to the track which is what I am going to this next weekend. So far it kicks ass!

Here are the parts I installed if anyone’s interested:
– Tekin RX8 Competition Brushless System
– Tekin T8 1900kv Motor
– Savox 1258TG Servo
– Turnigy 4500mAh 4S 30C hard case battery

I was leaving Sultan Center a few minutes ago when I spotted a fire that had just started at Al Fanar Complex. I believe it’s River Island. [YouTube]

Update: They evacuated the whole mall. When I was there it was filling up with smoke really quickly and I was just checking twitter and people posted about being evacuated from the movie theaters via the fire escape:

@msallam88: Reporting live fron fanar cinema exiting through the fire exit cuz there’s a fire

@A_alshahry: 7areeeeeja bil fanar kaaaak & got kicked out the film

Also @A_ALTuwaijri uploaded the photo below, looks like it’s gotten worst since I was there.

Update2: Here is another picture this one taken by blackfoxx5, looks like the fire has spread to the adjacent stores…

Update3: Looks like the fire has been extinguished. Picture below by AzizohStix

Update4: The blogger spunkmania managed to take pictures showing the aftermath of the fire. Below is one of the pictures but he has more [Here]. I’m pretty impressed on how the fire managed to remain contained and not spread to the rest of the shop or the adjacent ones.

A friend of mine was at Kinko’s in Salmiya awhile ago and it turns out they were robbed last night. Someone broke into the shop and the photo studio next door last night and stole the money drawers. They broke into the shops by breaking the tiles under the door which has the lock.

Thanks Patrick

Four students from Al-Bayan Bilingual School are putting together a small fund raising event with all the proceeds going towards cancer research. The four students have had friends and relatives diagnosed with the disease and they’re hoping the money made from this event will help in the struggle to finding a cure. With the support of some sponsors they rented the ballroom at the Movenpick Hotel in the free trade zone and rented out booths to different businesses. It’s kinda like an indoor carnival which is convenient with the weather we’re currently having. So pass by them this Saturday and buy something.

Date: Saturday May 21st, 2011
Location: Mövenpick Hotel, Free Trade Zone
Time: 12pm to 9pm
Entrance fee: KD2
Twitter: @Have_a_heart

[YouTube]

I was having lunch at Discovery Mall when I noticed a new shop called Del-Sol had opened. Turns out they sell items that change color when exposed to the sun (UV light). They had tshirts, sun glasses, flip flops and a bunch of other items that are white but once they see UV light they become colorful. When you get back into the shade they turn white again. I had the salesman demonstrate it for me in the video above.

Not sure how useful this is but it reminded me of two things, Hot Wheels color shifter cars which I had when I was a kid and also Hypercolor t-shirts which some of you might remember the Sultan sports shop in Zahra Complex used to sell.

I have no clue what it was about. [YouTube]

Thanks Anes

This happened in Mishref.

A friend of mine shot a short video of the storm that hit us tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much lightning, it was insane and lasted a pretty long time. [Video]

Thanks Pinot

Update: Here are the stats from tonight’s storm according to KuwaitStorm

Today’s Strikes
Current “7:18PM” strike-rate 57/minute
Peak strike-rate 511/minute
Total recorded strikes 39617

The Mojolaters Blues Band have two upcoming gigs. The first is going to be held at Cafe Supreme in Salmiya this Wednesday while the second is going to be held next Thursday at Al Manshar Rotana. Check below for more information:

Cafe Supreme
Date: May 18th, 2011
Time: 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Location: Cafe Supreme, Salmiya Hawalli (opposite Sultan Center)
Ticket Price: It’s free – No tickets

Al Manshar Rotana
Date: May 26th, 2011
Time: 9:00pm
Location: Al Manshar Rotana, Fahaheel (Al Kout Ballroom)
Ticket Price: KD12 +15% and includes and open buffet
Reservation Number: 23931000

For more information visit their website [Here]

Update: The Cafe Supreme gig got canceled because they weren’t able to get a license sadly

Around a month ago I found a video on YouTube of a guy in Kuwait making pizzas and since then I’ve been eagerly waiting for them to open up. I’m a huge pizza fan and the pizzas in the video all looked delicious but they hadn’t opened the restaurant yet and so I had to wait. Then a few days ago while I was in Lebanon I get an email saying they’re opening on the 15th but since I was busy yesterday I decided to pass by tonight instead to try them out.

Solo Pizza Napulitana is a new small Kuwaiti owned business that’s located in an old building in Kuwait City right behind the newly opened Japanese restaurant Tatami. From the outside it doesn’t look very appealing and on the inside it’s honestly not that great looking either. But the restaurant is as close as you will get to a mom and pop store in Kuwait. This is not a franchise, this is not a big business, this a tiny pizza joint where the owner makes the pizzas and from what I could tell his friends help him out waiting on tables and taking care of the payments.

I passed by after the gym in my shorts and t-shirt expecting the place to be empty but to my surprise it was pretty packed. I decided to sit on the one table outside but no one served me. So after growing impatient I popped my head inside and asked if I could have a menu. A minute later I got the menu which is pretty small, I think they had only 3 pizzas and 3 salads and maybe 2 desserts. I’m a fan of small menus as I’ve mentioned before and I quickly looked through it and decided to go with the Margherita since I couldn’t find a mushroom pizza on the menu. A few minutes passed by and no one came to get my order so I decided to move inside. I was seriously thinking of just leaving since I didn’t want to wait indefinitely for someone to come get my order but I kept reminding myself that they’ve only been open for 2 days and they’re already packed and probably not prepared for this much pressure. Finally a guy came over and was very apologetic for making me waiting very long. I told him it wasn’t a problem and asked him if they had mushroom pizza. He told me they did so I decided to go with that. From my table I could see the owner prepare my pizza and around 2 minutes after taking my order my pizza arrived. I was thinking to myself that’s ridiculously fast!

The pizza wasn’t sliced up which I thought was interesting since I don’t think I’ve ever had a pizza that didn’t come cut up into triangles. I took some shots quickly and then dug in. What a pizza, it was ammmaaaazing. The pizza crust, the tomato sauce, the cheese, the mushrooms… it was all just delicious and I couldn’t find anything to pick on. I was eating it and thinking to myself where have I ever tasted a pizza that was as good as this and I couldn’t think of any place. I mean sure we don’t have many pizza places in Kuwait to compare to but I’ve had a ton of pizzas in Lebanon and I even just got back from a trip where I tried two new great pizza places over there and yet here I was sitting in this tiny little restaurant in some dodgy back street of Kuwait City having what I thought was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had anywhere.

Once I was done with my pizza and I paid my bill (KD3.750 for the pizza), I decided to go up to the owner and introduce myself. I told him what I thought of his pizzas and he explained to me how he worked at some famous pizzerias in Naples and how he belongs to this group that’s trying to preserve the famous Naples pizza. He also asked me if I noticed how quickly the pizza gets done since it takes less than 60 seconds to cook. I wished him good luck and told him I would definitely be back again.

So if you are looking for what I think are the best pizzas in Kuwait then you need to pass by this place. It’s in a crappy location, it’s tiny and the interior isn’t that great looking but damn the pizza is just really great. Here is a link to their website where you can find a map and a phone number. They’re currently only open for dinner. [Link]