Category: Personal

Tonight was the soft launch for The Meat Company so I decided to pass by with Nat and have dinner there. Like Wagamama, I hadn’t been to any other Meat Company before so I didn’t come in with any expectations. The interior of the place is very well done, the lighting, the carpet, the wooden walls all help give the place a very warm and cozy feeling. The staff all seemed to be from South Africa and very friendly. Our waiter was previously based in Dubai and he’s now going to be living and working in Kuwait along with a few other waiters who also moved to here from Dubai.

For starters I ordered the salt & pepper calamari while for my main course I ordered the 300 grams Australian fillet, pepper crusted and medium rare with a side order of mashed potatoes. Nataly ordered the petit fillet which is 200 grams but she ordered hers well done with a side order of salad but also pepper crusted. The calamari was ok but I wouldn’t order it again. The steak on the other hand was probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It was cooked perfectly and the meat was so soft and tender it was just melting effortlessly while I was chewing it. Even Nat’s well done fillet was extremely soft, I was actually surprised since most well done steaks I’ve had end up being dry and tough. I really loved the steak which has put me in a strange position because when I was first checked the menu I spotted some burgers and decided that I would try one on my next visit. Now I don’t think I will because it would be a shame not to have the fillet again.

Price wise the petit fillet for example costs around KD10.5 and comes with a side order. The calamari was KD3 something. Oh I also tried their home made wine (alcohol free). It comes in a nice wine glass and it looks a lot like wine but sadly doesn’t taste like wine. On the bright side I didn’t drive back home drunk.

I really liked the place and would try to make it there once a month at least. The Meat Company is located in the 360 Mall, first floor opposite Coffee Republic.

I passed by Wagamama for lunch to try it out. It was my first time trying Wagamama anywhere not just Kuwait so I didn’t know what to expect. At first glance most of their menu seemed to be made up of a lot of noodles and fried food, two things which I don’t eat but after a closer look I did start spotting some grilled dishes. I decided to go with the Negima Yakitori for starters, its grilled chicken and spring onions on skewers which turned out to be very good followed by Chicken Katsu Curry. Some readers had previously recommended I try the Katsu Curry but when I found it on the menu it turned out to contain deep fried chicken which was a let down. BUT, turns out they had an option where you could swap the deep fried chicken for grilled chicken which is the option I went with. When my dish arrived it looked like the chicken was too dry but after mixing it with the rice and curry I tried it and it wasn’t dry at all. The chicken was soft and the curry sauce was pretty good.

When I first went in the place was empty so we got to sit on our own private table. On our way out the place had filled up and you had strangers sitting next to each other on the long shared tables which should theoretically be awkward but wasn’t since even though the tables are connected the benches were far apart.

I had a good experience and would probably go back. The prices were decent with the Negima Yakitori costing KD1.500 and the Katsu Curry KD3.750. You can actually download and view the whole menu with the prices from the local Wagamama website and here is the direct link to it [Link]

I am in Lebanon for a few days so I managed to pass by my parents house where all the family photos are stored. They were one of the few things we managed to take with us during the 1990 Gulf War and I haven’t flipped through the pictures in ages so not really sure whats there. I am really hoping to find pictures of Salmiya from the glorious days but any other cool photos of Kuwait from the 80s would be great. Whatever I find interesting I will scan and post here.

When Aramex increased their prices because oil hit over $100 a barrel I was fine with it. When oil prices fell back to normal and Aramex didn’t decrease their prices, I was like no biggie. When Aramex decided to charge an extra KD1 for to each package I receive and added a compulsory 5% customs tax to all my packages worth of $100 I was like whatever, I can deal with that. But, to pay this much more than what I was paying before and have my packages arrive slower? That’s something I won’t accept.

I had a package arrive to Aramex on November 6th. It showed up in my mailbox on November 12th and then shipped the next day on November 13th. As of November 21st I have still not received the package. Since a lot of people have been saying good stuff about DHL’s similar service EasyShop, I decided to sign up with them and use their service instead.

It took me under 5 minutes to setup my account with DHL and also pay the $37 setup fee all from within their website. The DHL forwarding mailbox is based in Ohio which means I don’t have to pay the NY taxes when ordering from Amazon. I also pay for the package by weight only and not dimensions. With Aramex they charge based on weight and size which can result in a higher shipping fee. Once a package arrives to my DHL mailbox it should also ship right away to Kuwait since they have daily flights. Once the package arrives to Kuwait I have to go pick it up myself from DHL. There are 4 collection points to choose from and I chose the Kuwait City branch since its near my office.

If you want to open up a DHL mailbox it’s really easy, just follow this [Link]

On Friday morning I went to the junkyards to sell my old beemer wheels. Once I was done I decided to drive around and take pictures since the weather was good and the sky nice and blue. I really love the place, you can find everything there from the old double decker buses to broken down tanks. There was this one place I found which I think was a huge government impound lot that looked really cool. It was surrounded by a barbed wire fence but I managed to sneak inside from a hole in the fence and walk around a bit. The place is amazing, I found a lot of old trucks and cars, it was beautiful. If anyone can help me get in there legally again so I could take pictures that would be great. If not I guess I would have to jump the fence again.

Update: Higher resolution pictures now available [Here]

Two weeks ago one of the Z4’s wheels developed a crack probably from a pothole and I had an option of either repairing it or getting a new wheel. Since the crack was pretty big repairing it wouldn’t have been a good idea and buying a new wheel would have cost me in excess of KD250. My friends suggested that I order a set of four new wheels directly from TireRack.com. Surprisingly it turned out Tire Rack ship wheels and tires to Kuwait and for a very reasonable price.

K.thekuwaiti gave me the email of a sales specialist he had dealt with before called Gavin and I started searching for my wheels on TireRack.com. They had a huge collection that fit my beemer but I was looking for 18×8’s for the front and 18×9’s for the rear and there were only two models that interested me and were under $400 a wheel. Since I had narrowed down my choices to two, I emailed Gavin asking for a quotation and a few questions. He was very helpful and patient answering all my questions, I even changed my mind twice and he didn’t seem to get annoyed or pissed. I finally got a quotation back and the shipping for four wheels to Kuwait via FedEx economy was just $270. That was around KD18 per wheel which was very reasonable since the total weight of four wheels was 50KG.

I paid via money transfer with NBK online and as soon as they received the amount they shipped me my wheels. It took around a week for the wheels to get to Kuwait and I just installed them today at the Pirelli dealer next to AceHardware. If you’re interested in ordering wheels from TireRack.com you can email Gavin at [email protected].

I am a huge fan of XBMC which I believe is the best media playing software out there. I first started using it on my original xbox, then I installed it on the AppleTV and now I just moved over onto the Acer AspireRevo. XBMC on AppleTV was great except for the fact it couldn’t play 720p and 1080p videos.

Two weeks back I found an article on Gizmodo about how XBMC installed on an AspireRevo could handle 720p and 1080p video files with great ease and best of all it cost only $199. So after failing to find one for sale in Kuwait I placed an order for one on Amazon and got it via Aramex.

Installing XBMC was super easy and after I set it up I copied all my settings from my AppleTV and started experimenting. I can’t believe how easily this thing plays HD files! I have trouble playing HD files on my Apple G5 yet this little thing which is slightly smaller than an AppleTV can play it without a hitch. It has HDMI out, its small, its super silent and streams HD movies from my server with great ease, I love it.

I ordered a remote control for it but it hasn’t arrived yet so I am using my browser or iPhone to control it. Shipping with Aramex cost me KD18, no tax since computers no longer get taxed.

If you want to get one here is the [Amazon Link]
If you don’t know what XBMC is click [Here]
Here is a guide to install XBMC on the Revo [Link]

Update: This is the remote control I bought for it [Amazon Link]

I would just like to clarify that I have nothing against Al Watan Daily and that my posts were directed at the articles and not at the newspaper. I would also like to apologize to Khaled Al-Ramly for posting his email on the blog without his permission. I would also like to apologize to Al Watan Daily for everything I wrote. I have also taken down all the Al Watan Daily related posts. Thank you.

I got two packages awhile ago from Aramex and I didn’t have to pay the new customs fee. Some readers are also saying the same thing.

Just when I finally get comfortable with their website they suddenly go and drastically change it. I hate it when they do that. Last time they redesigned was back in 2007 but I thought it was their best design yet. But, they dumped that design for one that I think is more entertainment based than news based. Why? If you check the screen shot above, the first column on the left is where the news is, the other columns to the right don’t have any news. Sucks. [Link]

My favorite dessert at the moment is the cinnamon sticks from Auntie Anne’s. I had it for the first time last week and since then I’ve had it nearly every day. If you haven’t tried it you should. 6 pieces for 900fils.

Took my Tamiya FJ out rock crawling with some friends today in Bnaider. The weather was good and the location was perfect for our cars. I shot some video which I am going to edit and upload later but here are a few pictures for now.

Update: Here is the video.

Tamiya FJ CR-01 in Kuwait

The YouTube version is [Here]

It’s been nearly a month since I got my Tamiya FJ and just a few moments ago I finished building it. It took some time because I had to paint the body and ended up messing up the job, I then had to wait for the motor and electronic speed controller to arrive from the States and finally tonight I just had to source one more small part locally and get some wires soldered onto the motor. I’m now done with it, I tidied up all the wiring and my FJ is finally ready for a crawling session. I missed out on one last Friday because my car wasn’t ready but this Friday I am going and will take some pictures once I do.

Update: Here is a picture I took this morning

I started barbecuing during Ramadan but since the weather has improved a lot more people will start barbecuing now. Actually by visiting Sultan Center you can tell its BBQ season since the Sharq branch for example is now highlighting BBQ equipment when you first come in. So here are some tips by me if you want to start barbecuing:

The Grill
One of the best grill brands you can get in Kuwait is Weber. Sultan Center, Ace Hardware and Sears carry Weber brand grills. From the three Sears is the cheapest while Sultan is the most expensive. Problem with Sears though is they don’t have a large variety of grills nor accessories. Ace Hardware on the other hand is just slightly more expensive than Sears but have the largest variety of grills in Kuwait with a ton of accessories. I picked up the 18 1/2 inch Weber grill pictured above for KD34 from Ace. It was KD36 at Sultan and KD33 at Sears. There are cheaper Weber grills and a lot more expensive and bigger ones but if you don’t want to spend you can find some no brand grills for under KD5.

The Coals
Two best places to buy coals are Sultan and Ace Hardware. Again I found Ace Hardware cheaper and they alsonhad a larger variety of coals some of which you can see in the picture above.

Fuel gels, starter cubes or lighter fluid?
Personally I hate waiting for the coals to get ready so I use a combination of starter cubes and fuel gel to light up my coals. Gel is better than lighter fluid since it doesn’t leave any smell or flavor behind. Both Sultan and Ace sell fuel gels, both cost KD2.200 but the one at Ace is a better brand plus if you’re picking up your grill and coal from there you might as well pick up the gel. For cubes Sultan has them while Ace doesn’t. Another tip, have a blow dryer handy since it helps speed up the process considerably. I got a cheap one for KD4 from Carrefour and combined with the fuel gel and cubes I could have a grill ready in 10 minutes.

Accessories
Both Ace and Sultan have a large variety of accessories. If you want a chimney starter to help speed up the coal burning process then you need to get it from Sultan Center where they have two models to choose from. For gloves, BBQ tools, cleaning brushes etc.. I’ve mixed and matched from both Ace and Sultan, it’s really personal preference and both have cheap and expensive options to choose from.

Burgers and more
I’ve been making some great burgers with fresh Sultan Center meat patties. Just go up to the meat fridge and tell the employee you want burgers. They will ask you what kind and what weight, I usually go for the 95% lean and a 200 grams patty for me while a 100 grams one for Nat. I don’t make them add any spices although you can ask them to, I prefer adding my own spices at home. For chicken taouk I get it marinated and ready on skewers from Dean & Deluca. 1KG is for KD2.500 compared to Sultan’s KD3.900. It’s really good and the only thing I do to it is swap the green peppers for fresh mushrooms before I grill them. Finally for kebabs I get them from the butcher which is located between La Baguette and Dodo on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. He makes two kinds, one with onions the other with garlic, I prefer the onions version. 1KG is for around KD2.500 and he prepares it for you while you wait. I can’t recommend any other items to BBQ since I haven’t tried anything else. Actually I did try to BBQ a steak but didn’t like the result because I think I chose the wrong type of meat. If you can recommend me something that would be great, just leave it as a comment below.

And that concludes my BBQ post. The prices I mentioned above are 99% accurate, my memory isn’t that great and I round up numbers so if they don’t turn out to be exactly the same don’t shoot me. If you have any tips, suggestions or questions just leave them below.

Early in the year I decided I was going to start buying all my iPhone apps instead of illegally downloading them. Problem I faced was the fact that I couldn’t download some of my favorite apps because they were only for the US based users. The apps I couldn’t download were the Amazon and eBay ones and both of which don’t cost a thing, they’re free. But, since my credit card is Kuwaiti based I have to purchase all my applications from the Kuwaiti iTunes store which didn’t have those two apps. Recently CNN released an iPhone application and again it was only available to US based customers so I looked for a way to download these apps and I found one.

To download applications from the US based iTunes store all you need to do is get a US based iTunes gift voucher. I found a website online where you could buy a $15 cards for $18 and have the code emailed to you. The website uses PayPal so its safe and unlike some other websites this one sells legit cards so you know your account won’t get shut down by Apple later. Here is the [Link]

Once you get a US iTunes card just go to the US iTunes store and click on Redeem Code. Then create a new account and under the credit card option choose “none”. And that’s it, you can now download US only iPhone apps. As a bonus you can also download songs and movies as well.

Update: If you just want to download some free US only applications like the ebay and amazon apps, a reader just posted that you don’t even need to buy a voucher for that. Just go to the US app store and click on a free app, then create a new account like above with a US mailing address and for credit card choose none.