2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I used to make these cookies back when I was in university. They used to come out really good and everyone always nagged me about when I would bake some more. I forgot what brand of brown sugar I used but for the actually chocolate chips I used to use the brand Baker. I haven’t made the cookies since I came back to Kuwait because I can’t find decent brown sugar and I can’t find Baker chocolate chips which sucks. Anyway here is the recipe, I forgot where I found it:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) white sugar
1 1/4 cups (270 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups (525 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (375 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

————

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using. The cookie mixture will be moist and hold together.

Using two tablespoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough (38 grams) on the prepared baking sheets. Do not flatten cookies. Bake on the center rack of oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and still soft when gently pressed.

Makes about 48 cookies.

I always wanted to know how David Copperfield did his trick and I just found a site that shows you how. Watch this video first of his famous flying trick [Video] then check out this site for details on how he did it. [Link]

[source digg]

In November I posted I wasn’t going to have Subway again because their sandwiches were starting to taste really weird and crappy. Well today I went back to Subway and I have to say it was my best experience with them in a long time. The sandwiches tasted really good and it looks like they started using their old ingredients again. They also started making chocolate chip cookies again, this time they are selling them 3 for 400 fils and they are a bit larger then they used to be. Sadly though their older cookies tasted better, the new ones although look and taste better then a lot of cookies (costa and breadz for example) are still not better then my current top 3 which are Choowy Goowy, Fuddruckers and Hardees.

My brother is coming to Kuwait this weekend for 10 days and since he really hasn’t watched that many Arrested Development episodes I have decided have an Arrested Development Fiesta. 3 seasons to watch in less then 10 days. I like watching funny shows with him since he laughs out loud like me. Anyway here are some Arrested Development clips I found on Google Video and YouTube, people who have watched the show will get them more then people who haven’t:

Gob Magic Show
Lindsey and Gob doing the chicken dance
Tobias Featherbottom
David Cross (Tobias) on being cancelled
Tony Wonder
A tribute to Gob
He’s your kid
Gob Stuttering
Gob office magic
When did you get a job?
Her?
Mr. Roboto (and this is the commercial they are talking about)
Tobiast Highlights

Some of you might spot it, some of you might not.

Update: I changed things back again. Its a long story..

Breadz! Seriously, their chocolate chip cookies are the dullest. I just tried one over lunch and it didn’t tingle a single taste bud. Its also 50 fils more expensive then the big cookie at Hardees which I would rather have had. On a brighter note I heard Subways cookies have improved again, I used to like their chocolate chip cookies but for some reason they stopped making them at the 2 branches I used to visit. It seems now they are back so I need to go and get some. I love cookies.

I think I figured out what I fucked up in Nats Powerbook yesterday. I think I damaged the DC-IN Board. I managed to find some second hand ones on eBay that cost between $15 to $45 which is pretty cheap. The problem is installing it is going to be a bitch. [Link]

My favorite sushi place in Kuwait is Kei but honestly I hadn’t tried sushi anywhere else here until yesterday night. Once you get used to a sushi place its difficult to eat sushi somewhere else because the dishes differ and your favorites in one place might be a completely different experience in another. Thats mainly the reason I have been hesitant to try any other place. Another advantage of eating at the same sushi place all the time is the fact that you make friends with the people who work there and if you are like me and only sit at the bar then you get to make friends with the most important person at the sushi place.. the sushi chef or “my bartender” as I like to call him. Our bartender is always creating new and exciting dishes for us to try including my favorites so far a sushi pizza and most recently maki desert which involves banana, mango, crab and some other ingredients wrapped in rice and seaweed. Yesterday night though I was invited to Maki and I wasn’t expecting it to be any good since Nat had been there before and given it a rating of 1.5 out of 5. My own experience last night was on the other hand a very good one.

Maki is a very trendy looking place that feels like a pub minus the beer taps and whisky bottles. From the minute you walk in you forget you are in Kuwait, which is a good thing when you want to get away from things. The interior is very cozy and the tables are closely packed together, not as close as Al-Boom but still very close. We sat next to the door, which is probably the best location since you could see the people coming in. Our host was a regular at Maki and he ordered a very large assortment of appetizers for us. My favorites were the Negimayaki, which consists of sliced beef rolled with spring onions surrounded by teriyaki sauce. I think it looked very appetizing and interesting, kinda like tiny potted plants.. My other favorite was the deep friend chicken with plum sauce. For main course our host also ordered a wide range of dishes including a maki dish that was named after him called the Issa. My favorite dishes from the main course were the Fusion, the Fusion 2, Issa and Ghandour. They were all REALLY incredible dishes. The Fusion’s were sushi wraps, but the wrapping paper is their own creation and tasted really good. The Issa and Ghandour were maki dishes and they were really superb, maybe the best maki dishes I have ever had.

The service was good and very friendly. The owner of Maki is Lebanese and the manager and main waiters are also all Lebanese which is similar to how Casper&Gambini and Waterlemon are. The problem I had with the place is that near the end of our evening they started playing Arabic music really loud which I didn’t find cool at all. If it was a pub I would have finished my drink and walked out and down to the next pub, but in reality its a Sushi place and there is no pub anywhere near.

The pricing is decent and compared to Kei, Maki is more expensive but just by a tiny bit. You can check out their prices yourself and compare it to your favorite place by downloading the menu from their website. I also noticed that Maki isn’t what I would call an authentic Japanese experience. They do have your regular maki’s and sushi’s but the regular dish I tried which was the Crazy Maki tasted normal and bland. Its their special dishes with their secret sauces and ingredients that are exceptional but they are what I call modern sushi.

Maki is located in Salmiya behind Diva’s. Its easy to find and if you want to pass by make sure you reserve since I went there on a Sunday night and the place was fully packed. At the end of the month they are opening a new location in Marina World in that thing I don’t know what you call it.. you know when you stand outside at Marina Crescent and you look right you see that large structure with colorful lights? Its the thing located between Marina Crescent and Hard Rock Cafe. Anyway they were opening there which should be cool.

I really enjoyed Maki and I would definitely start going there but I also won’t be ditching Kei anytime soon. Both places offer completely different experiences and dishes and I would rather have both then to choose either one of them. I am going to give Maki a 4.5 out of 5. It lost points on the Arabic music. You can check out more pictures and details on Maki by visiting their website olivermaki.com. Next week I will try Edo since they tell me its really good and will post a review once I do.

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If you are interested contact this email address [Email]

I just came back from dinner at Maki. I was invited there by Issa, one of the owners of Choowy Goowy who I had been in contact with for some time now. It was my first time meeting him and he turned out to be a really cool guy. Maki was really amazing, I don’t have a clue how Nat gave it a 1.5 out of 5. I am going to counter her review with my own and never listen to her food reviews ever again.

I think I busted Nat’s PowerBook. My creative director got a new power adapter for his Powerbook since his adapter’s head was mangled up, I decided to take it off his hands and its been with me for like 2 weeks now. I don’t know what I was thinking but for some stupid reason today I decided to see if it still worked, and I just went ahead and plugged it into Nats Powerbook. It didn’t work but when I went back and plugged Nats power adapter it also didnt work! Now I think I might have damaged her Powerbooks power socket or maybe short cicuited something. So last month I broke our dogs leg and this month I broke her Powerbook.. I hope she doesn’t believe in the 3 strikes and you are out rule…

Note: Picture above is of the adapter I plugged into Nats Powerbook…

I just uploaded the video from Fridays dog show to YouTube.
You can check it out on YouTube [Link]

Sigh, another logo crosses over to the 3D button style. Just barely over a month ago I posted about Quarks new logo which looks like a button and now Vodafone went ahead and did the same thing. The new redesign looks OK even though I don’t like the 3D effect in general. I also prefer the new typeface since I used to think having the logo in place of the O’s was a bit too repetetive in the old logo so thats cool. In general though, they don’t make logos like they used to.

Taking pictures of our dog Geo is a difficult task. Other then the fact that he moves too much but also the fact that his body is a light color while his face is a dark black. Most of my pictures underexpose his face while keeping his body color intact or over exposing his body while bringing out the details of his face. So I was surprised to see that iDip managed to get a very nice shot of Geo with a perfectly lit face and natural colored body. Check it out. [Link]