2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

When it comes to companies that offer a US forwarding mailbox there are two companies I’ve been using over the past few years, Shop & Ship and Borderlinx. I don’t have a favorite since each has an advantage over the other, I use Shop & Ship for my non-rush shipments because they’re affordable but slow and I use Borderlinx for shipments I need fast (but they’re also a lot more expensive).

How much faster is Borderlinx? Around four times as fast based on my recent shipments. I had a package that shipped out from the US on Friday and I picked it up in Kuwait on Sunday. In comparison with Shop & Ship, the quickest I’ve received a package recently was 6 days but in most cases it takes a week to ten days.

If you’re looking for speed and money is not an object, Borderlinx is fast.

Blink are going to have a “crazy deal” on the new Sony PS4 this week where they’re going to offer up the 500GB US version of the PS4 for just KD99. Not sure how much quantity they will make available They’re going to make only 5 to 10 units available and you’re going to have to check their website on Monday or Wednesday at 10AM or 6PM to catch the deal. Check out their website for more information [Here]

via 248AM Gaming

The popular Egyptian restaurant Abou El Sid is opening soon in Kuwait right outside The Green Island entrance. I haven’t been to Abou El Sid before but I just checked their website and the interiors of the restaurants in Egypt look authentic yet chic so I’m hoping they carry that design over here as well. Even the music sounds very cool (based on whats playing on their website). No clue to the exact opening date though, will update this post once I find out. [Link]

Update: Even though it still says opening soon outside it turns out its actually open already. They’re currently opening from 5PM to 11:30PM and the official opening will be on June 1st.

Sounds like fun if you’re into pizzas and not on a diet. Only a few days left to register. [Link]

via Life in Kuwait

I’m not a big fan of the new Central Bank of Kuwait tower (pictured above) thats being constructed across the street from Souk Sharq and after seeing the video below of how it will be lit up, I dislike it even more. The building looks really out of place with its surroundings and is just a huge ugly concrete block from the back.

[YouTube]

Thanks Ammar

According to the video below… 19. I’d love to see the seating arrangement inside the car.

[YouTube]

TJC Films is back and he just uploaded his latest video shot last night at the Visual Therapy Montana Colors Pop-Up Shop event that was held at Artspace. This is what TJC had to say about the video:

Visual Therapy’s Shahad put on a show last night at Artspace here in Kuwait to demonstrate how great the MTN Spray Paints are. It was pretty amazing to watch Kuwait Street Artists Nizzy show how the different MTN paints and nozzles could be used to create sharp lines or shading to give pieces a 3 dimensional feel. It is nice to see artists and those who support them starting to gain more notoriety here in Kuwait and companies like Visual Therapy carrying the stuff they need to create their best possible work like Montana colors.

Music: Go Yama BMOYAMA (Go yama Lake flip from adventure time)

Check out the video of the event below.

[YouTube]

I’m not sure when this happened, but NBK have finally gotten around to redesigning the online banking website. I haven’t used the website in ages and instead use their iPhone App for pretty much everything. The only reason I actually ended up going to the website was because I needed to add a new transfer beneficiary which I can’t do via the iPhone App.

The new layout of the website is a lot cleaner and more up to date looking while still keeping the graphics low like the previous version. I love it. [Link]

Thursday
The Vault Fundraiser
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
Cinemagics: Short Term 12
Exhibition: 50 Years of Printmaking
Exhibition: Once Removed – Kevork Mourad
Exhibition: Nuwa Creations – Katia Al Tal
Exhibition: The Tour – Barry Iverson
Exhibition: Re-Cast

Friday
Mapping Meetup 9

Saturday
Food Revolution Day
Cinemagics: Trances
International Museum Day

If you’d like to share an event on the blog click [Here]

Update: Just added the International Museum Day event

My thanks to the businesses below for advertising on the blog this month, make sure you check them out.

DKNY – The Beat of New York [Link]

SEVENFRIDAY – Show me, don’t tell me [Link]

Elevation Burger – Elevating Kuwait’s food, one organically delicious burger at a time [Link]

Beidoun – Luxury shopping at your doorstep [Link]

IO Centers – Fully furnished and serviced offices [Link]

American Tourister – Hurry up! SALE on American Tourister travel bags [Link]

KNES – Kuwait National English School the best value in excellent education [Link]

The Rental Company – Event furnishings and party supplies [Link]

AbiDoc – Need a Doctor? Search, Learn, and Book Appointments with AbiDoc [Link]

Dent Xpress – Kuwait’s premier paintless dent repair facility since 2005. [Link]

Post by Patrick

I’ve been wanting to try out Urban Cafe ever since I found their Instagram account which has a lot of good looking photos of the food they serve. I finally passed by earlier in the week to try it out and had a fairly pleasant experience. I went in the evening with a friend and the place was fairly packed. The weather was pleasant so there weren’t any places to sit outside and so we ended up inside. Sitting inside wasn’t a bad thing because the place is bright and seating is comfortable although I did find the music to be a bit too loud.

We ended up ordering the Baked Portobello and the Quinoa Salad for starters and the Wild Mushroom & Truffle Pizza and Basil Pesto Fusilli for our main course. What I found disappointing about the menu itself was that there aren’t many choices if you don’t want a sandwich. The Quinoa Salad arrived first and I thought it was okay. I found it weird that they mixed in large pieces of lettuce since this made the salad slightly awkward to eat but I did think the addition of rocca leaves was a nice touch. The Baked Portobello which comes stuffed with mozzarella cheese and mushroom was pretty good and flavorful and once we were done with the starters the pizza and pasta both arrived around the same time. The pizza looked and smelled really good and it tasted similar to the mushroom pizza at OFK which I also like. On the other-hand the pesto fusilli was a bit too creamy and a little boring. There was an option to add grilled chicken to it, so maybe that would have made some difference.

After we were done with our main course we decided to try out the bread pudding with Nutella for dessert. It took long for the bread pudding to come out and when I finally asked for it, it was obvious they had forgotten that we ordered any dessert. The waiters were pretty apologetic about it and the bread pudding got to our table pretty quick after that. I didn’t think the bread pudding was that good, and I’m a big fan of Nutella. There was just too much Nutella and it ended up feeling too heavy on the stomach. On the other hand, my friend really enjoyed it and said they would order it again. Urban Cafe isn’t short on desserts though and they had quite a few cakes on display besides the various dessert items available in the menu.

Even though I wasn’t a big fan of the pasta or the dessert I would be interested in trying the other items on the menu like the Barbequed Beef Brisket and their breakfast which they serve until 2PM. I found their prices to be pretty reasonable, the mushroom & truffle pizza was KD3 while the pesto fusilli was KD2.500. One thing that might be an issue is parking. When I went in the evening I was able to find a spot behind the cafe in a small sandlot, but I would imagine that during the day time it might be difficult to find parking in the area. If you’re interested in Urban Cafe they’re located in Sharq, you can find their location on Google Maps.

Post by Patrick

Local group OXAdventure is heading to Rwanda this August and want to collect as many laptops as they can. They want to give the laptops to the students so that instead of three or more students sharing the same computer, every individual student would have their own to use freely.

So if you have an old laptop contact OXAdventure either by calling them on 99896666 or emailing them on [email protected]

It’s been two years since I started using WiMD for my internet and yesterday I went and renewed my connection for the third time. I have a 10Mbps WiMD connection which I love since I’ve rarely ran into problems with it and when I did they were usually fixed right away. My only other option for a reliable internet connection is DSL but my phone line can’t handle anything higher than 2Mbps. The issues I’ve ran into with WiMD are varied but the biggest one is when my connection speed dropped overnight from 10Mbps to under 1Mbps. After coming over and investigating it turned out that a new building had been constructed down the street from mine and blocked my direct line of sight to the WiMD tower. I was lucky enough to get my issued fixed just by moving my receiver on the roof higher up and further to the edge but I’m not sure what I would have done if I couldn’t do that.

Other than that issue my biggest issue with WiMD over the two years has been their prices. They were expensive. When I first subscribed with them it cost me KD523 for a year while the second year was slightly better costing me KD480. But, yesterday when I went to renew my connection it turned out they had lowered their prices substantially and I ended up paying a much more tolerable KD310 for 10Mbps.

KD310 signed me up for their 10Mbps connection with a 200GB download limit every month while the previous two years I had subscribed to their unlimited package. But according to WiMD’s records, the maximum I used the past year was 150GB a month so a 200GB limit was more than I needed. After two years I would still highly recommend WiMD as an alternative to DSL in areas where the DSL speed is severely limited by old infrastructure. You just need to make sure you have a direct line of sight to their tower.

A friend sent me the video below of what are supposedly locusts in the Al-Salmi border area. That’s a lot of locusts…

[YouTube]

I’ve been making an amazing smoothie recently and figured I would share my simple recipe here. It’s very easy to make and really tastes delicious, here is what you need:

– 2 scoops Whey Protein
– 1 large ripe banana
– 5 pieces of frozen strawberries
– 4 pieces of frozen blackberries
– 8 pieces of frozen blueberries
– a spoonful of honey
– 4 large ice cubes
– 150ml water

Put them all in a blender and blend. The smoothie comes out pretty thick and the quantity is enough for two people although I drink the whole thing myself. For the Whey Protein I use the strawberry flavored VPX SRO Zero Carb Protein which you can find locally at Health Planet. For the frozen fruits you can find them at Sultan Center and they’re pretty economically priced. Finally, you could replace the 150ml water with almond or soy milk but you really don’t need to.