Category: Reviews

Be Cool
My streak of good movies ended yesterday after watching Be Cool. Although the movie features a lot of celebrities including John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, The Rock, Danny DeVito, James Wood and Steven Tyler, the movie was still boring and slow. John Travolta plays the part of a successful movie actor who wants to get out of the movie business and decides to go into the music industry where he ends up getting into trouble with the Russian mafia and a competing music company. The coolest person in the whole movie was surprisingly The Rock who played the role of a gay bodyguard who wants to become a movie actor. I swear if it wasn’t for him I would have turned the movie off after the first 30 minutes.

Ladder 49
The second movie I watched yesterday was Ladder 49 which also starred John Travolta. This movie was a lot better then Be Cool and a lot more exciting. The movie is about a rookie firefighter who joins John Travolta’s fire station and matures to become a seasoned veteran. The firefighter who is played by Joaquin Phoenix gets married, has two kids and then reaches a point where he has to choose between his risky job which he loves or taking a desk job which would make his family a lot happier. The last good firefighting movie I watched was Backdraft but that was ages ago so it was good to watch another one. I usually hate Joaquin Phoenix in movies since he usually plays the role of a dickhead but he was pretty cool in this movie and John Travolta’s acting compared to Be Cool is wayyyyyyyy better. It really doesn’t suite John Travolta being a tough guy, maybe it worked in Pulp Fiction but it wasn’t working in Be Cool. I got a lot more movies still to watch and hopefully I won’t have another Be Cool.

Yesterday afternoon I watched Green Street Hooligans starring Elijah Wood. The movie is about Elijah getting expelled from Harvard and then moving to England where his sister lives. While there he starts hanging out with his brother-in-laws brother who is a leader of a bunch of hooligans. He starts hanging out with them, learns to fight and becomes part of their gang. The movie is pretty cool and half way through it you just want to turn it off and go out and pick a fight with someone. The problem I found with the movie is Elijah Wood. After watching him in Lord of the Rings as a tiny hobbit, its hard to imagine him as a soccer hooligan, the part doesn’t suit him at all. Still though it was a cool movie I would recommend watching.

Maybe I am a few years late but I just watched Swordfish yesterday for the first time. Halle Berry’s tits were fine but other then that the movie was pretty lame except for the last few action scenes. The hacking / worm building scenes have to be the worst in any hacking movie I have ever seen. The way they visualized the hacking into a 3D Lego like building process was just stupid and very fake. I think that ruined the movie for me the most. I wasn’t planning on watching Swordfish yesterday, I was planning on watching Dark Water but it turns out I accidently downloaded Honogurai mizu no soko kara… the original Japanese version of Dark Water which I couldn’t watch because it was in Japanese and didn’t have English subtitles. If it was anything like Ringu (The original The Ring movie) it most probably was going to be crap anyway. I also think Dark Water is going to be crap, I mean it looks like a movie about someone with bad plumbing, but Nat wants to watch it which means I have to watch it..

Oldboy
I just finished watching two really great movies. The first one is called Oldboy, its a Korean movie that made a big splash at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2004. The movie is available with an English soundtrack but the one I manged to get was Korean with English subtitles. I can’t say much about the movie without ruining the plot but basically a guy gets locked up in a studio apartment for 15 years by some unknown assailants before getting released one day. Once he is out he tries to seek revenge by trying to find out who locked him up and why. Quentin Tarantino loved the movie and thats why it got the extra attention in Cannes.

The Devil’s Rejects
The second movie I watched was called The Devil’s Rejects. This movie reminded me a lot of Natural Born Killers except its way cooler and more violent but they both involved violently sick people who are on the run from the cops. The movie was written and directed by the freaky Rob Zombie and it features A LOT of violence, nudity and general weirdness. If you liked Natural Born Killers you would really like this movie then.

I haven’t reviewed a microwavable dish in a while but here is a good one. There is a local company called Livestock Transport & Trading Co. that have a line of frozen ready made meals that sell under the brand Jahez. Jahez have 24 different frozen meals in total but todays review is about the Chicken Masala meal.

Cooking the meal was very easy. You take out the tray from the box, punch a few holes in the plastic cover and then stick it in the microwave for 6 minutes. I have my own way of cooking the meals though. I place the tray in the microwave and let it cook for 3 minutes, then I open the microwave, take out the tray and peal open the plastic cover. Then using a fork I move all the food around and when I am done I close the cover again and shove it back into the microwave for another 4 minutes. I do this so that the food thoroughly cooks. I have had issues before with microwavable food where when eating, the food ends up being really hot in the center of the dish but cold nearer the outer edge.

Once the meal was done I took it out of the microwave and opened the plastic cover again. The smell was really appetizing and visually the dish looked very eatable. I took the tray and sat down in front of the TV and started eating. The Chicken Masala tasted pretty good, somewhere between a home cooked meal and the Mughal Mahal fast food restaurant. I finished the chicken and then took the sauce and poured it over the rice and continued eating. It was a pretty satisfying dinner and overall I think this might be one of the best frozen meals I have ever had. The best part of the meal is the price. Since its made in Kuwait its pretty cheap coming in at around 700fils depending where you buy it from. The Co-ops usually have a larger collection of Jahez meals and cheaper prices then Sultan so you can find it for as low as 670fils in some places. Great price plus good food gives this meal a 4 out of 5 rating in my book. For more information on Jahez click here. Also make sure you read some of our other reviews located here.

This is another Healthy Choice I will be reviewing. This meal looked special, it didn’t feel like a casual dinner meal but more of a special occasion one. Its Boneless Beef with Classic BBQ Sauce, Seasoned Potatoes and Vegetables.

Cooking the meal was extremely easy and quick, the aroma that was coming out of the microwave while it was cooking was very tantalizing. Nataly even came down to the kitchen to see what I was cooking.

Once the meal was done I took it out of the microwave and took a picture. The meal surprisingly looked good and expensive. Nice large chunks of beef covered in BBQ sauce, I couldn’t wait to eat it. It tasted pretty good for a microwave meal. The chunks of beef were tender and juicy, the BBQ sauce was fairly heavy in flavor, the fries were yummy, and the vegetables as usual always end up tasting really good. But, the portion was really small and I am not really that big a fan of BBQ sauce specially when its heavily flavored like this. Now I have started to accept the small portions of microwavable meals but I have also accepted the fact that they don’t cost that much anyway. This meal cost KD1.5 which is more expensive then most other meals. But as I said earlier on, this is more of a special occasion dinner. The final score is 3.5 out of 5.

More microwave meal reviews on the way just as soon as I have time to write them. Todays review is for a cool cheese burger meal thats meant for kids. I saw it in the freezer and it looked good so I figured so what if its meant for kids I wouldn’t mind a cheese burger meal, so I got it. This “Kid Cuisine” consists of one cheese burger, some fries, corn, and fruit snacks.

Preparing the meal was interesting. Firstly you need to remove the fruit snacks, the burger bun and the slice of cheese from the tray. You then heat up the rest of the tray for a few minutes, when thats done you place the burger in the bun with the slice of cheese and you put it in the tray and continue heating up the meal. When its done you put the fruit snacks back in the tray and voila!

Now you know how the actual meal never ends up looking like the picture on the box, surprisingly this meal actually looked very similar. I love the blue tray, it looks really funky. The whole thing actually tastes pretty good also. The burger was juicy, I really loved the fries and the corn tasted like corn. The only thing I didn’t eat was the fruit snacks since Nataly finished them all so I guess those must have been good. The only problem I saw was that the burger was a mini burger which isn’t very filling. The price for the whole meal was also 950fils which basically put it head to head with a McDonalds kids meal except with McDonalds you get a bigger burger, a coke and a toy. I would love to give this meal a 4 out of 5 but the price brought it down to 3.5 out of 5.

The Healthy Choice, as soon as I saw this in the Freezer I had to get it. Microwavable food that is healthy? Great! This meal seemed like a perfect choice for vegetarians or cheese lovers, its Manicotti, which is Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheese filled pasta in herbed tomato sauce.

I took it out of the pack for dinner and heated it up. Like most microwavable meals the process is usually a 2 step, you heat for a few minutes, take out your meal, stir it up a bit, then put it back in for a few more minutes. This meal was no different and after a few minutes in the microwave it was done.

The first thing that I noticed was the smell, for a few minutes my kitchen smelled as if my wife could cook. The second thing I noticed was the looks, I am never going to get over the fact at how pictures on packages differ from the actual product. It still amazes me every fucking time!! It once again looks absolutely nothing like in the picture, if this was a match the box to the meal game I would lose. I took a bite and I have to say, the sauce is pretty good, but the actual cheese roll was tasteless. It also only had 2 rolls inside and for the price it cost me KD1.250 I would expect at-least double that. In the end I had to give it a score of 2.5 out of 5. There is nothing special about it, its over priced and it didn’t look appetizing. I wouldn’t buy it again.

I found this meal in the freezer at Sultan Center, it looked very appetizing and filling so I got it. The microwavable meal contains 2 beef enchiladas in chili sauce with meat, 2 cheese enchiladas in chili con queso, beans, spanish rice and salsa. Sounds yummy right?

When I took the meal out of the box it looked completely different then from the picture on the box, I tell you, these food stylists are miracle workers. The cooking instructions were easy and within a few minutes in the microwave the meal was ready.

At first glance the food looked a bit.. off (to put it nicely). I swear I was afraid to eat it, it just looked terrible. But, for review purposes I had to eat it and it wasn’t very practical, there was no way I could hold up the enchiladas without being drenched in chili sauce and what I did manage to eat turned out to be tasteless and bland. I would definitely not have it again, it wasn’t very satisfying and and it just looked terrible. It wasn’t cheap either, I believe it costed KD1.850 so the final score will have to be a 1 out of 5.

I don’t eat homemade food, not because I don’t like it but because I think if it takes you more time to cook it then it takes to eat it, then its not worth it. Recently I started getting microwavable food and its been a good experience. I used to think microwavable food cost KD1.5 and upwards which to me wasn’t a good deal since I could get a McDonalds combo for KD1.2, but I checked the freezers recently and you can now find meals for 500 fils and upwards. So I decided I will start buying the meals and reviewing them starting with Banquet’s “Chicken Fried Chicken Meal”.

The picture on the package looks very appetizing. What you get is fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. The only issue I have with the package is that on the back where the directions on how to microwave the meal is located, a large sticker with the ingredients and stuff written in Arabic is stuck on it. Very practical, how am I supposed to know how long to microwave it for if the instructions are covered!?

When it came time to cook the meal I had to remove the white sticker on the back to reveal the instructions. The instructions are easy, take out the tray, remove the transparent film cover, cook on high for 3 minutes, open microwave, stir mashed potatoes, shove back into microwave and cook for another 3 minutes. The final result? Doesn’t look very close to the picture on the package. In fact, it didn’t look appetizing at all, I even considered tossing the whole thing out because it looked as if I had cooked it wrong.

So how was it? Surprisingly good! Very strange, it looks like crap but tastes pretty good. The mashed potato was great, the corn tasted very similar to the corn at Chili’s and the chicken, although soft, tasted very cool. I was eating it and Nat was looking at me in disgust, I told her it tasted a lot better then it looked but she refused to try it.

How much did it cost me? Only 750fils! This is an incredible deal really, the taste was pretty good and although the meal wasn’t very filling, its perfect for dinner. I would definitely buy it again. Final score is 3.5 out of 5. It lost big points on the presentation.

Over 10 years ago, me and my family went to this restaurant called Baba Taher. None of us had heard about it before but one my dads clients who was Iranian recommended it to us. He told us Baba Taher was one of the best Iranian restaurants in town and with that in mind we decided to check it out. We were expecting a lavish restaurant in a nice building but when we got to the location we were like WTF? The location turned out to be bad but the food turned out to be extremely good, 10 years later and I am still going back.

Baba Taher is located in a rundown probably soon to be demolished building in Kuwait City, near Arraya Centre opposite the fire station. Once you go up to the mezzanine floor and enter the restaurant, things get better. The place is clean and comfortable but nothing fancy, but then again its not a fancy place anyway, its more like a family owned business.

When you first sit down they bring you a freshly baked basket of Irani bread and a plate which includes slices of white cheese, a large white onion cut in half and some greenery (probably mint or something). I just love having Irani bread with white cheese and onions. The main menu includes soup, salads, appetizers, plat du jour, grills, a handful of traditional plates and dessert. I usually only have the grills and dessert but Nat sometimes has the salad.

I haven’t try that much from their menu, I have been ordering the same plate for years now, Kebab with rice. Its the best, its juicy, it smells good, it tastes good, and the meat is sooooo soft. I also used to hate rice until I started having it at Baba Taher, its wonderful. They use Basmeti or something similar I guess and its usually white except for a small amount of yellow colored rice. The 2 Kebab sticks and the large portion of rice are enough to fill you. Incase you have enough room for dessert, Baba Taher has a special ice cream called Falooda. Falooda looks like very thin noodles chopped up and tastes like nothing I know of. Its very refreshing and they provide you with lime and rose water syrup if you need more flavor.

The place doesn’t except Knet nor Visa card so make sure you bring cash, and don’t worry, you won’t be needing a lot of it. Baba Taher is very affordable, the plate of Kebab with rice costs KD2.500, the Falooda dessert costs only 500 fils. When me and Nat visit our bill comes out to be around KD8 with tip. The only downside to Baba Taher is the service, its very cold. I have been visiting for a long time now and I don’t know anyone’s name and they don’t know mine. Every time I visit they welcome me with the same cold “hello nod”. The waiters are very quiet, very cold, and they look grumpy most of the time. The service is basically unemotional and slow at times. That drops them a point and thats why they get a total score of 4 out of 5. If you are interested to find out where exactly they are located you can call them on 2456140 or 2456241.

Over a year ago I purchased a trackball mouse to use at home. Because my desk at home was small, whenever I was using the computer my wrist would start to really hurt because my hand was always half dangling off the desk and I was always positioned in a very anti-ergonomic position.

I did some research and in the end I decided to go with the Kensington Orbit Optical. The reason I went with Kensington was because of the way the trackball is shaped and because it uses optics. The shape of the trackball allows me to rest my wrist onto it and allows me to control the ball with my fingers. The use of optics allows the trackball to be extremely accurate and very easy to roll. The Kensington trackball also came with PC and Mac drivers.

The first question people ask is, so is it really better then a regular mouse? The simple answer is no. The trackball works differently from a regular mouse. When you spend years working with a mouse and then move to a trackball, the change takes getting used to. I use the trackball at home but not at work. The reason is I can control the mouse better then the trackball, and this is after using the trackball nightly for over a year. The mouse is just more natural to me and the speed and accuracy I work with the mouse I can not get with the trackball. But, I didn’t get the trackball because its a better tool then the mouse. I got the trackball because my wrists were hurting me, and because of the trackball I don’t have that problem anymore.

The trackball is very comfortable to use. Very comfortable. You don’t have to move your hand or wrist when using it, just your fingers. I work on the computer all day at work and by the time I get home my wrists are hurting. Using the trackball at home allows me to recover while still using the computer. It really makes a big difference, since I have gotten the trackball at home I have never had any wrist issues.

How is the actual Kensington trackball? Its great, if you want a trackball this is the one to get. Amazon have it for only $25. Thats really cheap. Unlike normal trackballs this has an optical sensor which means its ultra accurate and is dust and dirt proof. The trackball is very smooth, the form is ultra comfortable. The size is nearly twice the size of a normal mouse. The dark grey area you see in the pictures is actually a rubbery material. The trackball comes with a USB to PS2 adapter for those of you who dont have a free USB port.

I just ordered and received my second Orbit trackball a few days ago. The reason is my first one got worn out. The rubber feet under the trackball got unstuck, the rubber wrist rest started peeling, and the whole thing started looking.. aged. So I went and ordered another one and it feels really good.

I will give this trackball a 4 out of 5. When comparing the trackball to a mouse if just comes down to how comfortable the person is with each. This review is of the Kensington Orbit Trackball, and as a trackball this is just really hard to beat. I have used the Logitech optical marble mouse but the shape and feel of it is just terrible compared to this. And for only $25 is really a steal.

Yesterday I had dinner at Fuddruckers with Nataly. I usually order the burger but yesterday I realized they had a Chilidog sandwich, so I went ahead and ordered that. I am not a super freak chili dog fan or anything, but I do occasionally enjoy having one whenever I need to divert off my burger diet. My favorite chili dog place used to be A&W where I experienced my first chili dog with them as a kid and continued to have and enjoy even after I grew up. My second favorite place is Hardees which at the moment is actually my favorite since A&W closed down in Kuwait.

So how did the Fudds chili dog turn out? Well the first thing you will notice is thats its mother fucking huge! In the picture you might think the hotdog bun is actually small and the hotdog big but in reality the hotdog bun is big and the hotdog is huge! I didn’t know you could get hotdogs that big. The chilidog was a bit awkward to eat but not as awkward as I was expecting and in the end didn’t really get that much chili all over my hands. The hotdog bun was soft and delicious, definitely my favorite part of the meal. The hotdog meat itself tasted good and wasn’t very soft like the Hardees hotdog, which is a good thing. The chili on the other hand was the disappointing part. It was just very so so. Firstly the chili sauce had beans in it which I wasn’t expecting. Secondly the chili flavor was very bland. I really wasn’t tasting that much chili when I was eating the hotdog. The dish came with the Fudds traditional fries and a terrible cup of coleslaw. The cost of the dish was KD2.500 which is pretty decent but doesn’t really compete to the 400fils chilidog at Hardees.. not that I am comparing the two. Hardees is a fast food joint while Fudds is more of a restaurant. But personally I prefer the Hardees chilidog over the Fudds and thats why this gets a score of 3.5 out of 5.

update: Since I wrote this review a year ago I have had this chilidog a lot. If was to review it again I would have to give it a 4 out of 5. I finally figured out how to eat it for one thing.. I now use a fork and knife, its the easiest and least messiest way. Also I think I now prefer it over Hardees, although Hardees still has the prive advantage in its favor.

I didn’t know if this review should focus on their Shawerma or everything as a whole. So after a lot of consideration I decided I would focus more on the shawerma and just mention the other items. Sajj House has been around for a couple of years now. I first found out about it when I was in highschool I think, or first year of university. I started eating there though 3 years ago. In this time I was able to try many of their items, their shawerma, their Taouk sandwich, kofta, and a variety of sajj sandwiches. Everything I have ever had at Sajj House tasted incredibly good. Everything, from their Taouk to their Chocolate with Banana Sajj sandwich. Their prices are extremely reasonable and their service is very friendly.

Now that I have done introducing the place we can finally focus on their shawerma. I am not very picky with shawermas. I would and do eat shawermas from any place. It could be a small shawerma place in a backstreet of Hawalli, or it could be a shawerma place in Salmiya high street, if I feel like having shawerma I will head to the closest source. I have only had 2 bad experiences with shawermas through out my life, so in general I find most shawermas satisfying. But, I have never ever given a shawerma place a score of 5. So this brings us to a very important question. What shawerma would deserve a 5? Its very difficult since a 5 would mean this is the ultimate souper douper shawerma. You might have figured out where I am going with this review, if not I will tell you. On my way to Sajj House yesterday I was thinking about how I rate their shawerma. Is it a 4.5? or is it a 5? Could there ever be a place that would score a 5? Does a 5 mean a perfect shawerma? Then I realized something, Nataly had never had a shawerma at Sajj House, plus she is very picky when it comes to garlic. So I decided at the moment, if Nataly liked the shawerma that would mean it gets a 5. If she didn’t it would get a 4.5.

We went to Sajj house, we both ordered shawermas and then we drove off to our secluded spot (dead end next to the french school). We sat down, opened up the windows and started eating. She loved it. She didn’t mind the strong garlic which tastes really good, she loved the sajj bread they use to wrap the shawerma in and she loved the fact that the chicken wasn’t greasy at all. Thats when I knew, we hit the jackpot with Sajj House. They truly have the ultimate shawerma and its only for 350fils. What gives their shawerma a 5? Well as I mentioned above, they wrap the shawerma in sajj bread, which makes it very light, the garlic they use is perfectly blended and the chicken is not greasy at all. The chicken is actually grilled on coal flame not gas. To add to all this, Sajj House provides other items you can take with the shawerma. Say you want to have 1 shawerma and 1 zaatar sajj, when you order you know both of your items will taste incredible. This strong support from the other items on the menu helps push the score up. Their service is also very nice. Everyone from the Lebanese cashier to the Lebanese shawerma guy, they are very nice and clean. You also have 3 options of getting your shawerma, you can order delivery by phone, you can park your car outside and they will come to you, or you can go down and order it yourself. Their location also helps, they are located in Salmiya adjacent to the Restaurant Street but away from all the traffic (if you are heading towards platinum gym and restaurant street, if the cinema is to your right then you will come up to a small roundabout, if you go straight its platinum gym, if you take a left and continue going straight past the stadium on your left, you will find sajj house on your right). In conclusion, if I gave their shawerma a 5 you should know its really has to be something out of this world to get a 5, and the fact that Nat, an amateur picky shawerma eater loved it, then it just adds more credibility to my score.

update: Since I posted this review over a year ago I have to say the shawermas at Sajj House have become terrible. They have changed the recipe or something but I have now stopped eating there and my new favorite place is Badar Al Badoor. If I was to review Sajj House today I would give them a 2.5 or 3.

Team America is one strange movie. Firstly the movie is made using puppets and surprisingly it works very well. The movie overall is very funny and full of silly situations. One silly thing for example is all the arab terrorists in the movie know two words, Jihad and Mohammed. So whenever arabs talk in the movie its like “Jihad Mohammed Mohammed Jihad Mohammed” that would be the conversation. Very silly, its making fun out of the fact that when American’s think of arabs they think of these two words first. Its very hard to talk about this movie without ruining it for you so I will just tell you about one scene. The first scene of the movie, Team America go to Paris to capture and kill some terrorists who are planning to blow up a weapon of mass destruction in Paris. While trying to kill the terrorists Team America manages to destroy the Eifle Tower, the Champs Elese and blow up the Louvre museum.. more destruction then the terrorists would have done. The whole movie is funny in this silly way. I would recommend watching it with other people so you could all share the laughs.

The score, 4 out of 5.

PS: The sex scene is the coolest!