Category: Kuwait

When I asked about good chilidogs in Kuwait a lot of people recommended I try the chilidog at Johnny Rockets. Well I tried it and it sucked.

First of all the hot dog arrived with the bun wide open. Then the hot dog itself was also split open down the middle and the whole thing was covered with a ton of chili and some chopped onions. When I closed the bun so I could eat it the top half of the bun split away from the bottom half and the chili just started dripping uncontrollably everywhere. Its definitely not a sandwich you would want to order on your first date… or ANY date for that matter.

After a short struggle and going through a dozen napkins I finally managed to finish my chilidog. I wasn’t impressed. Their chili is decent but really the whole experience wasn’t very pleasant, their chili burger is much more enjoyable. Compared to Hardees, Burger Boutique and Fuddruckers, Johnny Rockets has the worst chilidog. My final score is a 2.5 out of 5. The price of the chilidog is KD1.850. I’ll stick to their burger next time.

Picture by Kristel Wyman

After going to sleep early last night I woke up around 9AM today and decided I would go out for a ride. By 9:30 I was downstairs in full gear warming up my bike. Today I even put on my Alpinestars Knee Guard which I should have worn the day I had my crash because it would have saved my knee from getting road rash. Its kind of bulky but its not about the looks, its about the protection. One thing I forgot to do with all my excitement was brush my teeth which was a big mistake because I ended up spending the whole ride smelling my Friday morning breath inside the helmet.

I had 3 rules for my ride today:
(1) Keep off the Gulf Road
(2) On traffic lights, go straight or right but not left (since I had my accident while going left)
(3) Stay clear of roundabouts

Well I broke one of the rules. I ended up going out onto the Gulf Road but just for a tiny bit. My bikes gas light came on and I figured I might as well fill it up with gas, something I hadn’t done before. But before I got onto the Gulf Road I rode into the AUK parking lot and decided to do some riding exercises which involved lots of driving around in circles and braking and accelerating. Once I felt comfortable with the bike I rode out of the parking lot and headed towards the Gulf Road. I ended up going to the gas station opposite Pizza Hut. I was hoping I would find some of that ultra super high octane gas (the green one) but turned out they only had the regular and super versions. It was my first time filling up gas in my bike and I felt awkward. First I didn’t know how to open the gas gasket, the key wasn’t turning in the gasket lock so I called up Marzouq who told me I needed to push the key in and turn which worked. Second I didn’t know how much gas the bike would take but I kept filling it slowly until I could see the gas line in the tank. I filled up 550fils worth of super gas and rode back out onto the Gulf Road and then back into Salmiya.

In total today I rode for around an hour and a half. I would have stayed out longer but my wrist started hurting so I had to come back home. The weather was amazing and I spent most of my ride riding with the helmet visor open so that the wind blew in onto my face . I really had a lot of fun, can’t wait for my next ride.

I just came back from a short ride on my Ducati. It was my first time back out on the public roads since my crash 2 months ago. I was kind of nervous which is natural but not afraid which is a very good thing especially after a crash. I rode in Salmiya in the area around my building but there was a bit more traffic then I thought there would be. For my first ride I think I did fine.

Before I rode out on the streets I rode my bike a bit in my buildings underground parking. I did some 8’s with the bike and also some braking and moving, braking and moving. I still need to get the hang of my bike.

My wrist by the way still hasn’t heeled healed. I passed by Razzi Hospital two days ago and they told me I had a torn ligament in my wrist and still needed two months to heel heal. They told me I should rest my wrist for these two months and I shouldn’t ride the bike. Thing is in Kuwait there are only like two months of the year where you can actually ride the bike so I am not going to waste them giving my wrist a rest.

I am going to do a bit of riding everyday, small sessions not to kill my wrist but also just enough to get me the hang of the bike and give me some practice before I decide to go back out onto the main road again. Can’t believe I am riding again, it feels amazing..

I passed by Badar Al Badoor 2 today and the branding of it doesn’t resemble the original branch. This could mean it might be a fake Badar Al Badoor.

This is how the original Badar Al Badoor looks like [Picture]

Someone told Badar Al Badoor opened up in Salmiya in the restaurants road. The new branch is called Badar Al Badoor 2 which is pretty cool.

Here are the driving directions:
If Platinum gym is on your right, drive towards the sea side. After Platinum there should be a speed bump and a left turn. Take a left and drive straight and you will get to Badar Al Badoor 2.

A friend sent me this picture of the Fantasy World display at Souk Sharq which he took today. They have a dog humping a whale on display, pretty funny.

I don’t know how many cookies exactly I had today but I know I had toooooo many. Final results are in though and here are the cookie rankings:

First Place: Oreo Cookies
Second Place: White chocolate chunks cookie mixed with Nutella
Third Place: Plain cookies with a Nutella core

The results were based on my personal favorites and the reaction of fellow employees

Tonight me and Nat passed by the Choowy Goowy bakery to make our own cookies. Originally I had planned a whole variety of cookies to make but due to the fact I am extremely lazy I didn’t get all the ingredients I needed plus the lack of a deep fryer at Choowy Goowy meant I couldn’t fry any cookies anyway.

The result of two hours of baking were the following types of cookies:

– Chocolate chunks cookie
– Chocolate and white chocolate chunks cookie
– Rice Krispies with marshmallow cookies
– Oreo cookies
– Cookies with smacks and a Nutella core
– Plain cookie with a Nutella core
– Cookies mixed with Nutella and white chocolate chunks
– Cookies mixed with Nutella and Frosties cornflakes
– Plain cookies with chocolate fudge on top

I tried a couple of them and they are really really good. Its going to be hard to choose only one to produce. I got a whole bunch of jars filled with cookies I am going to take to work tomorrow and share them. Really delicious cookies.

Two nights ago while sitting with friends for dinner I was told to try out the Iranian kebabs at Malak Sajj in Souk al Moubarakiya… the old souk in Kuwait City. So yesterday for lunch I went with 2 friends to try it and it turned out to be fairly decent.

The place is located in like the food court of the renovated old souk. There is only open air seating but the weather was really good so it wasn’t a problem. Once we sat down a waiter came and asked us what we wanted. They don’t have a menu so the guy just verbally tells you what they have. Everyone ordered something, I ordered a plate of kebabs, a plate of hummus and a coke. While we were waiting for our main course they gave us complimentary soup of the day. A few minutes later our food arrived with a lot of Iranian bread on the side.

The kebab was pretty good and filling. The hummus wasn’t bad either except a fly fell into it and drowned in the oil so we had to maneuver our bread around it. I didn’t like the soup but it was free so it really didn’t matter. Now I was told this was the best kebab in Kuwait so I was expecting it to be the best, but it wasn’t. The kebabs were good but not better then Baba Taher or Kebab 7ejat.

A ma3oon of kebab which is made of 3 kebabs cost only KD1. hummus cost 500fils and the Pepsi 100fils. Service also was good, fast and friendly. A nice combination.

Now for the final rating. I was having trouble deciding what to give it but in the end I decided I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. The kebab was nothing to write home about but the service, speed, friendliness and the price helped keep the score up. Also I tried a piece of chicken taouk from a friend and it tasted pretty good. I would probably visit Malak Sajj again but not before I try the fish and chips from Sha6er 3abbas which is also located in the same place.

Today morning on my way to work I noticed there was a demonstration outside the House of Parliament. I don’t know what they are demonstrating but I hope they are trying to legalize alcohol.

Geo our dog turns one today. We didn’t know what to get him as a gift at first but in the end we settled for honey roasted turkey breast from Sultan Center. My previous dog was easier to shop for, he would like anything to do with cheese. Geo on the other hand is very picky and has no patience so his gift had to be something he doesn’t have too often but wishes he did and something that he could eat quickly. He loved his gift, I think its his favorite treat.

Yesterday Geo gave us a bit of a scare. It got really swollen under his left eye and we had to take him to the vet. Luckily it turned out to be an insect bite and nothing major. While there we saw a huge Saint Bernard and when he came towards Geo I thought he was either gonna eat him or step on him. Geo isn’t small but the Saint Bernard is just really big and heavy.

I was also checking out Geo’s breeders website and it turned out 10 days ago new puppies were born. I was really tempted on getting another one but I didn’t, if I had a garden I would probably have ordered another dog but the way things are now, one is all I have room for. Whats cool is Geo got an email from his breeders back in Belgium wishing him a Happy Birthday. Such friendly and caring people. You can check out their site but its not in English. Lots of pictures though. [Link]

I was talking to one of the owners of Choowy Goowy when we ended up talking about different kinds of cookies and what cookies I would make if I had a bakery. One thing led to another and basically me and Nat are now invited to create our own cookies. Tomorrow evening we will be visiting the Choowy Goowy bakery and with their help we will be creating our own cookies. We will experiment with a variety of flavors and ideas and our best creation will be sold by Choowy Goowy for a limited time.

Now I have a lot of ideas for cookies but I thought I would share them with you guys first. Some sound strange but I want to do them out of curiosity and they might even end up tasting good:

– Cookie with a soft nutella chocolate core
– Pizza Cookies. Cookie dough mixed with tomato paste and stuffed with mushrooms and olives
– 4 Cheese cookies
– Chocolate chip cookie dipped in chocolate sauce
– Rice krispy cookies
– Plain cookie dipped in chocolate sauce topped with cornflakes
– Tempura cookies
– A healthy cookie probably stuffed with broccoli and something
– Bubblegum flavored cookies
– Zaatar cookies
– Cookies with cocopuffs
– Oreo cookies
– Choco-Banana cookies

After sharing my ideas with the Choowy Goowy guy I felt he was going to take his invite back. Luckily he didn’t or should I say hasn’t yet. I will continue brainstorming on some cookie ideas and might add more to the list.

Just found out about this new blog by 3baid called the Kuwait Paper Dump. The idea behind the site is to create a sort of archive for all the paper leaflets, brochures and take-away menus you find on your doorstep or on your car windshield for example. It would have been cooler if he set it up on WordPress since then we could search through the leaflets using tags or a search engine. [Link]

This very unappetizing picture is of a Shrimpy meal which K.theKuwaiti ordered. Although I have been craving Shrimpy for a while now, after reading his story and seeing the pictures I think I will focus my attention back to donuts or cookies. They should never have shut down Long John Silvers, it was like a better version of Shrimpy. Anyway you can read his experience by visiting his site. [Link]

Who makes the best fish and chips in Kuwait?

note: title of this post is an inside joke which no one will get

On my way home tonight I decided to pass by the Al Zayanni dealership to check out the new Bugatti. Turns out the Bugatti left Kuwait two days ago and is now in Saudi Arabia. I asked the salesman if anyone purchased the Bugatti, he told me there was one guy who was interested but nothing is final yet. I asked him if the Bugatti was going to come back to Kuwait, he replied telling me if the guy who was interested in the car buys it then you will see it again in Kuwait. The price of the car was exactly KD400,000. The money would be payable directly to Bugatti. I think Al Zayanni just lent out their showroom to Bugatti who I am guessing are touring the Gulf trying to sell the cars.