Category: Personal

I have this bad habit of miscalculating how much food I can eat during Ramadan. I spend the whole day without food and when its finally time to eat I over order. Today for example I had lunch at 6:30PM and I ended up going to Burger Boutique with Nat. We ordered 4 mushroom+swiss sliders, 4 midnight sliders, 4 west coast sliders and 1 street style pommes noisettes. Nat ended up eating two sliders, I had 7 and there were still 3 left. I actually should have stopped eating after 5 sliders but I didn’t and now I feel like I am going to blow up. I really should learn from my mistakes but I never seem to do so.

Yesterday was my last riding lesson. After a total of 10 lessons I am now ready to take the riding test so I went today morning to get an appointment. I was expecting the guy to give me an appointment for sometime this week or worst case an appointment for sometime next week. The guy took my learners permit and started stamping it and writing down my riding test date when I saw him write in Arabic 12 October. So I told the guy nicely could you please make it earlier then the 12th, the guy looked at me and said this is the 21st of October not the 12th. I was like shit, ok could you make it earlier then that, he replied no and gave me back my papers.

Now I have to wait 3 weeks before I can get my license. I was really hoping to get it now so I could use the month of Ramadan to practice on the streets. The Gulf Road is deserted at around 6PM which would be perfect for a newbie like me. By the time I get my license now, Ramadan would be over.

I passed by TriStar today again since a friend of mine wanted to buy a jacket from them. Nat was with us and I wanted to show her “my dream bike” which I posted about yesterday but turns out it got sold on Thursday night right after I left the place. It was originally parked between the red and yellow Ducati’s in the picture above.

Ok, I still don’t have my riding license yet and I know I haven’t even ridden my bike yet but already I am dreaming of my next bike, the Ducati 749. I was at TriStar yesterday and I saw a black one and it was really really really cool. It was matt black so it looked really aggressive and the front end is just super sick. The bike reminds me of Airwolf for some reason. The price was around KD4,700 but they would probably drop it to KD4,500.

Whats cool about bikes is that for KD5,000 you could get something really amazing but if you were buying a car you would end up with some low end shit like my Wrangler. Anyway everytime I pass by the dealership I fall in love with a different bike. Its crazy, now I understand why Brad Pitt has so many bikes, he probably buys one everytime he visits the dealership.

I just came back from riding my bike around Salmiya. What a big difference from last week. Last week it felt the bike was in control while this week I was in control.

My ride tonight was really fun and I didn’t want to come back home. I took the bike for a cruise around old Salmiya and then got onto Amman Street where there was a hand full of cars for me to maneuver around, I wanted to get a feel of riding around cars and I managed to do a bit of that. I then drove back and fort around my neighborhood a few times but then decided to come back home. I didn’t want to but I don’t have my license yet and didn’t want to get stopped by a cop which I doubt would have happened since it was around 6:15PM and the streets were nearly empty.

Surprisingly the biggest challenge for me tonight was getting used to the different seating position. The bike I have been riding all week in my lessons is a lot taller and the seating position is more upright, my Ducati on the other hand is much more lower and the seating position is tilted to the front, sports-bike like. That was my only issue tonight which means I think I am ready to get my riding license and start legally riding in public. I can’t wait!

Yesterday night Choowy Goowy sent me a whole bunch of cookies.

Firstly they now have 3 new flavors:
1- Choowy Light: Choowy Original Cookies but with 50% reduced fat
2- Toffee Choowies: Choowy toffee chips
3- Choowy Solo: Plain Choowy Cookie

The second thing they now have is something called Treat-X. Treat-X is a luxurious box filled with 50 small pieces of cookies of different flavors. When I first got it I was like in shock, it looks really fucking cool and totally unexpected. The whole presentation looks very classy and its filled with sooo many cookies inside and they are like bite size and it had 5 different flavors!

Finally I also got an email from Choowy Goowy guy today telling me that their Booza Booza ice cream is now available on 6alabat.com.

Anyway for more information on Choowy Goowy you can visit their website on ChoowyGoowy.com. The picture above is from the inside of the Treat-X box.

Here are instructions on how to make my favorite Ramadan dessert, I call it Chocolate Crescents.

1- you need a jar of nutella and a packet of Katayef. I don’t know what Katayef is in English but you can find them at Sultan Center

2- you take an Katayef and you spread chocolate on the back side and then you fold it in half and squeeze the two edges together

3- there is no step three, you are done

I am practically done with my lessons, I think I might have one more left. I have learned nearly everything that needs to be learned, I no longer have any fears or problems. All of my problems got ironed out around 2 or 3 lessons ago and basically all I have been doing the past 3 lessons is just gaining more experience. It was getting kind of boring so today I got to try out some new things.

First thing I learned was how to climb over sidewalks, turned out to much easier then I expected. At first I thought it was going to be something like on a bicycle where you have to lift up the front wheel but in fact on a bike its much more easier.

Now the second thing I learned and really enjoyed a lot was driving on sand. The bike I am currently on is a road bike but it can go off road. Since there is a sand field next to the parking lot I spent sometime riding there. At first it was a bit scary because whenever I hit a deep patch of sand the bike would start swaying left and right. Then my trainer told me whenever that happens I should just give it some gas, watch the ass slide off a bit and then take off. After that the whole thing was just an incredible adrenaline rush.

Its basically a lot more fun to drive on the dirt then on the road. I now know my second bike has to be a dirt bike, I can imagine having a lot of fun with that.

Nat on the other hand is doing good, she had some problems yesterday where she dropped the bike like 5 or 6 times but today she didn’t drop it and never stalled so I think she has got the hang of it. Maybe she will post something about that.

I don’t eat at home since I don’t know how to cook nor do I want to learn how to cook. I know how to make the basics which are sandwiches, omelets, burgers and cookies and I don’t see a need to learn how to make other dishes.

Since its ramadan all restaurants are closed till like 5:30PM, this means when I am done with work at 3 I have over 2 hours before I eat. The thing is I can’t go out to eat at 5:30 because my riding lessons are from like 5 to 6:30. Thats why I have to eat at home.

Yesterday while shopping at Sultan Center in Salmiya I decided to pick up 2 packs of Kobe Burger, I have been wanting to try it for a long time now but since I don’t eat at home I found no need to get it. After picking up the burgers I picked up a packet of sliced American white cheese loaves, 1 white onion, a bottle of Heinz Ketchup and some burger buns. Nat didn’t want Kobe Burgers since she doesn’t like thick burgers so I picked up a packet of regular frozen burgers for her.

I have a Kenwood grill at home and I use it mainly to grill my burgers on and this is how I do it:

– I grill the burger for 5 minutes, flip it, let it grill for another 5 minutes, flip it, let it grill for another 5 minutes and finally I flip it one last time for a final 5 minutes.

– Once I am done I put a slice of cheese on the burger, leave it on the grill for another minute then I take the burger with cheese and place it on the bottom half of my bun.

– I then place it in the microwave for 10 seconds so the cheese can melt.

– I then put some ketchup on the burger and top it off with diced white onions

– I cover my burger with the top half of the bun and my burger is ready to eat.

I am sure Gastronomica is better at making burgers then me since if you check out his website you will notice all his meals are very gourmet like. Hopefully he will be nice enough to share a tip or two in the comments below but until he does this is how I make my burgers.

How did the burgers come out? Fanfrigintastic! I like my burgers well done and I was expecting this burger to come out dry but it didn’t. It was soft, juicy and tasted like something you would find at a posh restaurant or hotel room service. It was surprisingly very good and it turned out to be the best burger I ever made.

Now the biggest problem with the Kobe Burger is the price. Each patty costs KD1.250 which isn’t cheap if you compare it to other frozen burgers. BUT without getting into the taste or quality of meat please look at the picture above of the burgers on the grill. Do you notice the 2 large patties on the left? Do you notice the tiny patty on the top right? Guess which patty is your average everyday frozen one? These kobe burgers are big and thick. Kobe beef also comes from Wagyu cattle which are “renowned for its flavor, tenderness, and fatty well-marbled texture”. So yes KD1.250 is worth it specially if you have a passion for burgers.

From now on if I ever need to make burgers at home this is the only burger I will get. I can no longer have those crappy frozen burgers that come 8 in a pack. I have been spoilt. Final score is a 4.5 out of 5. I would have given it a 5 but they are a lot messier to cook then the regular burgers because these are bigger and juicier so they spray more grease. This means more cleaning for me which always sucks.

I am a big shawerma fan and I really enjoy trying shawerma’s from new places. Shawerma is such a simple thing but its amazing how many different flavors and presentation styles there are. I rarely get disappointed when I have a shawerma because they are hard to fuck up. Somehow though the Mishref Coop Restaurant found the secret ingredient to making a crappy shawerma.

Tuesday night I had a recording in a studio in Mishref, once I was done I decided I would treat myself to a shawerma from the Mishref Coop Restaurant. The skewer looked very appetizing so I went ahead and ordered two chicken shawerma and a coke.

It sucked to summarize my experience. The chicken tasted weird, like nothing was added to it when cooked, no spices, no flavor no nothing. The chicken was also very oily and had a weird smell. The garlic was also non existent. I was very disappointed and I would never have shawerma there again.

Final score is a 1 out of 5. It gets a 1 because I ate it and didn’t die afterwards.

I was just reading Toomz’s post on the new show Nine when I figured I would post on my current TV experience. Yesterday I watched the season premiers for Gray’s Anatomy (S3E1) and CSI (S7E1) yesterday (not CSI Miami or NY, still haven’t watched those premiers yet) and between the two I have to say I enjoyed the CSI episode much more. Firstly, CSI’s plot intro (not the title sequence) was the best intro since LOST episode 1. I had the sound system at full blast and it was just really exciting and fast. After watching a pretty decent episode something big happens near the end and then they said “To be continued..”. So now I can’t wait till episode 2.

Gray’s Anatomy on the other hand was pretty slow and uneventful for a premier, hopefully things will pick up the next episode. The premier episode reminded me of season 2 of LOST, where its all flashbacks from the past, not something I enjoy.

I haven’t started watching any new shows. I am currently catching up on old Family Guy and American Dad episodes, also just downloaded 9 seasons of Seinfeld so need to go through those, I am also going to start catching up on the old episodes of CSI Miami and NY. Finally I am also watching season 2 of Weeds, season 18 of The Simpsons, Gumball 3000 2006 and Prison Break season 2 which really really kicks ass. Luckily its ramadan so I have a lot of free time to watch everything.

update: According to CNN, Gray did better then CSI. [Link]

Today I got set up with an old 650cc Kawasaki bike. Since I was doing so well on the smaller 180cc bike I got moved up to the bigger one. I don’t like this new bike though, its too tall and feels weird. I had two “special” moments with the bike one of which was really scary and strange.

I was turning a curb with the bike going a bit quickly when for some reason instead of pressing the brakes to slow down I pulled on the clutch, then when I realized my mistake I panicked and turned the throttle for more power.. I don’t know why I did that instead of pressing the brakes but my next move was even worse… I let go of the clutch. After that everything went really quick and blurry, I just remember I put my two feet on the ground, then front wheel of the bike lifted up and I did a wheelie and then somehow I managed to control the bike like a wild horse, I pulled it back under me and continued riding. I was in like total shock cuz I should have been thrown to the floor.

The second moment I had with the bike was when I was coming to a stand still and I don’t know what happened but I lost balance and the bike fell down on its side. The problem is this bike was big and heavy so to put it back up was really difficult, but I managed without any help.

Today was Nat’s first lesson, I can’t say anything about it because she threatened to shutdown the blog if I do.. so you can imagine how her lesson went.

What the hell, it took me an hour and a half to get from Kuwait City to Jabriya. It was non stop jam, bumper to bumper the whole way. I think I saw atleast 8 car accidents and most involved more then 3 cars. On the bright side, I finally got my license!

I just came back from my first ride out in the public streets. I have been learning how to ride the whole week and I just wanted to get a feel of my Ducati and how much it differed from the Bajaj bike I am training on.

I strapped on my full gear, got on my bike and drove out of my underground parking lot out into the public streets. I circled the block and rode into the old Salmiya, it was around 4PM so there wasn’t much traffic, just a handful of cars but it still was very freaky. The bike is literally a monster. I have been training on the Bajaj Pulsar which is 180cc and pumps out 16.5HP. My Ducati is 618cc and pumps out 83.5HP. As you can imagine the jump between the two bikes is huge and I was prepared for it but it was still very shocking.

The bike stalled with me once and it was when I was nearly back home. Other then that I did fine. I don’t think my ride was very smooth though since I am still not used to the throttle. Just a small twist on the thing and the bike flys off leaving me hanging on like a mad man. The whole ride was just an incredible adrenaline rush but I was really glad when I got home. Next time I take it out it will be after I have more riding hours under my belt.

For some reason today I feel like moving to Luxembourg.

update: OK scratch that, they don’t even speak English there.