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Over the weekend one of my twitter followers sent me the image above. The barista at the local coffee place His Majesty The Coffee drew Jennifer Lawrence in her space suit from her new movie Passengers. How cool is that?

Thanks @Osamabul!

The new album of Fabrice is called Back to Roots, and it’s centering and sober, bold and passionate. I met Fabrice a few years back and knew him from his various projects, but his recent work hit a note as if he had made a new home for himself. This home was not necessarily an actual location, but like it could be found in his art creation. He went full circle, and his work shows it. In Back to Roots Fabrice features cool guests and plays with his take on a form of modern Reggae. His work has hints of Jazz with RnB, plus production stylistics of Hip Hop. In some of his songs he brings in the Middle East influence through the oud and nay, tributing to being in Kuwait. If you like Stephen Marley’s music, you will love his. It is a great body of work which you should download and buy.

Now for those that have read my past blog posts and criticized it being too long: this sentence right here is the point where you can stop reading. If you want to know what makes strong art, keep on reading, as I am about to tell you the story people go through that in return makes powerful work.

Listen to the album here:

This is a story about an expat rebuilding his life all over again. Some expats come to Kuwait for money, others come for the adventure. In Fabrice’s case, he journeyed here to heal.

A little before Fabrice moved to Kuwait he was a full-time musician in France performing as much as he could as an artist and as a bass man for other artists. Fabrice was making what any driven artist could financially make at that time to sustain himself. It was then that his life took a turn with a series of painful events that he could never foresee. His girlfriend was diagnosed with a brain disease and passed away in almost no time. His job was to perform, so he had to keep on playing music in this time of grief. It was hard, but he was committed and he also had to pay his rent. Shortly after that, a close friend was assaulted in a bizarre crime, making Fabrice question his own security and surroundings. Lastly, he was a victim of hate crime, and that was the final drop that put him over the edge. I knew a bit about that situation because he wrote a song about it called ‘Sorry’ which has had heavy radio play on 99.7fm this year. It was part of his previous album. If anyone knows Fabrice they know that he is quite a tall man at over 1.85 and is not someone you would want to attack without thinking twice. But in his song ‘Sorry’ he apologizes to the guys that stabbed him from breaking their noses. I know, crazy! Back to the story, after the hate crime Fabrice had had enough. He went online, looked for work options outside of France, and found a position in Kuwait. In a matter of 2 weeks he sold, gave away and donated all his possessions. He moved to Kuwait with a laptop, his clothes, and a guitar.

Four years later today, Fabrice teaches French to lawyers, doctors, diplomats and many other people in Kuwait. He met his wife here, had a baby boy and created a beautiful family. As I get to listen to his album while in his studio, I look around at all the things that he also built here. He has come a long way from the events in France; I can hear it on this new album.

Sitting in his studio, I listen to his bold lyrics and as he writes about how he supports love and life. Becoming a father made him prioritize concepts of value, and being grateful for the good and straightforward things like in the song Fruits Bread and Tea. His concept of fame and music changed too. His idea of what is popular and what is important was thrown out the window making a song of 6 minutes long just because he felt like it. I find it very smart, very fresh, and yet very mature. Take your time to enjoy it like I did. [iTunes Link]

After all the painful things that happened to him in France, Fabrice felt that he could not be happy or could not grief in Paris. That he was living in a place that had become foreign. When he moved to Kuwait, he explained this to me and until today I will never forget what he said, “I landed in Kuwait, and I looked around at the people and the desert, and felt how music and art are pained here. I knew inside of me that Kuwait and I had been grieving our past. I felt like here, in Kuwait, I could try to heal and be myself in grief, and so I know that right now, in this time and place, Amin, this is my home.”

Home is where your heart can heal.

Peace, Love and Music.

Post by Amin FARI
Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx

The Kuwaiti team on Saturday won their 8th GCC Wheelchair Basketball Championship in a row after beating Saudi Arabia 62-56 in the final. The winners are likely to be honored late Sunday in Abu Dhabi following the match between UAE and Bahrain for the third and fourth places. Saudi Arabia dominated today’s game at the beginning, but the Kuwaiti players managed to perform well in the second half, raising their points until the end of the match. [Source]

8th championship in a row!

via @AlMotizzle

Below are the events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
Still Departures by George Awde
Slava’s Snow Show
Madeenah Tour: Co-ordinates of Memory

Friday
Slava’s Snow Show
Social Get Together II
Tai Chi in the Park
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering
Voices & Verses December Open Mic Night
Salwa’ Walk and Socialize Meetup

Saturday
Slava’s Snow Show
Charity Zumba +Yoga
The Promenade Market
Yoga with the 3
Dal Talks
Burgers & Art
Community Table “Winter”

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

Looks like the Kuwait Bowling Sports Club is nearly done and will be ready way ahead of the 2017 World Bowling Championship which will take place in Kuwait next year. I walked by yesterday and they had the lights on and damn the place is huge. In total they have 58 bowling lanes, 350 seats and nearly 1000 parking spots.

The World Bowling Championship takes place once every four years and the last time it took place was in 2013 in Nevada, USA. The next championship event will take place here in Kuwait from December 4th to the 18th, 2017. To see a large version of the picture above, click [Here]

I used to post a gift guide on the blog back in the olden days (jeez wtf) so I decided to bring the list back this year again. If you still haven’t purchased a Christmas gift then the list below might help you with some ideas. Everything listed below is available in Kuwait, the links will take you to the place that sells the item. I might add more to the list as I think of stuff but for now these are my recommendations:

Over KD75
B&O BeoPlay A2 Speaker KD120
B&O BeoPlay H5 Earphones KD85
Micro 3D Printer KD169
Pure Fix Brewster Bicycle KD100
Typographic Light Box KD140

Under KD75
B&O BeoPlay H3 Earphones KD50
Crafted Gift Box KD60
Nintendo Classic Mini KD60

Under KD50
AeroPress Coffee Maker KD17
Alive Yoga (1 Month Membership) KD39
Apple TV (4th Gen) KD47
Breville Smart Kettle KD25
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker KD32.350
Fujifilm Instax Mini8 Instant Film Camera KD25
Nespresso Inissia Espresso Machine KD45

Under KD15
Black Classic Logbook KD8
Brother Personal Label Machine KD9.900
Casio – Retro Gold Watch KD13
Casio – Retro Steel Watch KD8
Eneloop Charger with 4xAA Batteries KD12.950
Klean Kanteen Stainless Bottle KD10
Mossery Dye Notebook KD3
Striped Shopping Bag KD9.750

I passed by Elevation and Richards Coffee at the Seef strip the other day for lunch and coffee when I noticed a bunch of bicycles parked outside. After seeing some kids take them for a ride I asked an employee about the bikes and found out they were there for their customers to borrow and for free. All you need to do is let an employee know you want to take out a bicycle (or skateboard) and they’ll take your name down and you’re free to borrow the bikes for as long as you want (I’m assuming for the day and not for days). So if you feel like riding a bicycle and don’t want to buy one, pass by Elevation at Seef, here is their location on [Google Maps]

They just opened up this morning. Their working hours are from 11AM to 1AM and here is their location on [Google Maps]

Below is the list of events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
A Fifteen-Year Journey: The Art of Amira Behbehani
Still Departures by George Awde
Japanese Movie Night: Pecoross – Mother and Her Days

Friday
Tai Chi in the Park
AlSouq Market
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering
Van Boom “BLVCK” Debut
Music Jam Cafe Fridays
Salwa Walk and Socialize Meetup
Gulf Run 24 Hours Karting Race

Saturday
Yoga with the 3
Car Boot Sale
Jumo Coffee Farmer’s Brunch
Elevation Brunch
Shakshooka Market
Architectural Photowalk: Salem Al Mubarak St.
Winter Wonderland
Gulf Run 24 Hours Karting Race

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

Kuwait National Women’s Cricket Team is going to participate in the first ever nine-day UAE International Women’s T20 tournament from 14th. Dec. In Sharjah [source]

Kuwait also has a men’s team.

A reader recommended I put together a list of places which visitors to Kuwait could check out on a short trip. It was pretty difficult to put the list together since I didn’t want to make the list too long but also struggled with places like Al Shaheed Park (Would tourists want to visit a park?). With that in mind, below is the list of my recommendations. If you have better suggestions which I’m sure you do, let me know in the comments and I might add it to the list.

Places to Visit

Kuwait Towers: I like standing under the towers and looking up more than I like going up to the towers. The observatory deck might be worth checking out if you’re interested in seeing the Kuwait City skyline although I personally don’t think it’s that great of a view. The windows are also usually dirty and at night you can’t see anything outside because the observatory deck is too brightly lit on the inside. The restaurant in the Kuwait Towers isn’t that bad, but there are better places to have a meal.

Water Towers: I recommend the water towers in Adailiya since they’re located inside the park and so you can walk up to them very close. They were also recently painted so they’ll look good in photos (pictured above).

Maritime Museum, Modern Art Museum, Dickson House and the Amricani Cultural Center are all located right next to each other so you can cover them all in 2-3 hours easily since neither of them is that big. [Link]

Souk Mubarkiya: A must visit place if you’re looking for an old traditional market.

The Avenues Mall: I know its a mall but it’s a great one and in the summer it’s probably the best place to go if you want to shop. You’ll find everything there from high end designers to IKEA and a ton of different places to eat at.

Al Shaab Gate: There are a few old city gates left but I’d recommend visiting the one adjacent to Al Shaheed Park since the area around it was recently renovated.

Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre: Beautiful architecture and a large garden with an animated musical fountain to check out. If you’re lucky there might be an event or show taking place during your visit so check their website for tickets. There are also restaurants located at the centre in case you want to have a meal there.

Restaurants

Cocoa Room: My favorite breakfast place and is usually always busy.

Street by Al Makan: Good food, gets pretty busy at night mostly with a younger crowd, located in a trendy area. Also walking distance to Souk Mubarakiya. Pass by Vol.1 located under it for coffee after dinner.

Solo PN: A very popular pizza place thats always busy. Recently won an award for the 3rd best pizza in the world.

Al Shemam: Located right in the middle of Souk Mubarakiya next to the vegetable market. Has great grills (fish, meat and poultry) but is also a pretty ghetto looking place so not for the squeamish (pictured above).

Freej Suwaileh: A very popular and affordable Kuwaiti cuisine restaurant that’s open till 5AM.

Dar Hamad: A high end Kuwaiti cuisine restaurant with a beautiful interior.

Events

There are always events taking place so if you’re looking for one to go to during your visit, make sure you check out the events page [Here]

Off the Beaten Path

Friday Market: A large flea market that takes place on Fridays, usually gets really packed and you can find lots of random things for sale there from old gaming systems to washing machines and furniture. Although you might be tempted, avoid the animals section.

Salem Mubarek Street: A street stretching out around 2KM filled with shops on both sides. Used to be extremely popular in the 80s and early 90s (pictured above).

Al-Rehab Complex: If you’re into video games you’ll love this complex since the mezzanine floor and basement are filled with video game shops. By filled I mean every single shop there is a video game shop, easily over 50 shops.

Ice Skating Rink: Popular in the 80s and early 90s but not very popular nowadays. Worth checking out if you’re looking to cool off during the hot summer months.

House of Mirrors: The House of Mirrors belongs to Lidia al-Qattan, the widow of Khalifa al-Qattan, a renowned Kuwaiti artist. She started decorating one small wall with mirrors and through time more and more walls were decorated until the whole house inside and out was covered with mirrors.

If you’re curious to know more about the new Kuwait Airport thats being built, you can watch presentation above (in Arabic) where the presenter takes the audience on a very thorough tour of it. Since its a slideshow and around 20 minutes long most people will find it pretty boring so I’ve taken the liberty to write down some of the highlights:

– Airport will take 6 years to construct
– Entrance to the airport will be from the South, from Subhan
– Transparent LED screens will be used at check-in counters (when screens are off they’re transparent)
– Business and first class passengers have their own entrance
– The airport ceiling was inspired by old Al-Andalus architecture on how to bring day light in
– The same holes in the ceiling that bring day light in during the day, at night have bright projectors inside to mimic day light. So even at night you’ll get the impression there is daylight coming in
– First impression for visitors is important so the arrival area was heavily worked on to make the impression a good one. There will be lots of daylight, large open spaces and even waterfalls in the arrival area
– There will be 37 airplane gates
– 5,200 parking spots

Old airport on the right vs the new airport on the left

– Airport is Metro ready
– Airport will also be future expansion ready. They will build a tunnel for an Automated People Mover (a computer controlled transit system) that will end up connecting to a future terminal when the time comes to build it
– The new airport level of service will be ranked “A” (Excellent). This grade is given based on various factors including the distance between gates, the amount of time you wait at the check-in counters, immigration, security etc..
– Current airport is made to handle 7 million passengers but over 11.5 million passengers use it hence why the level of service is so low
– You can check-in 30 minutes before departure because their baggage boarding system is very efficient and fully automated from the check-in counter to the plane
– On arrival, first bag will be out in 10 minutes after the plane lands while the last bag will be out in 25-30 minutes
– Minimum connect time for transfer bags is 45 minutes
– The new airport will be one of the few world wide with a LEED Gold ranking. Meaning it will be a very green sustainable building. The roof for example will be composed of solar panels that will power around 10% of the airports power while rainwater will also be collected and there are other green features as well

Lots of details as I mentioned so if you’ve got 20 minutes to spare check out the presentation. Also looks like the Metro project is still alive! [YouTube]

Last week the garden and fountain area of the Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre opened to the public and similar to the popular fountain at Dubai Mall, the fountain at the cultural centre also animates with performances set to light and music.

I wasn’t able to find out which company was responsible for the fountain installation but my guess is its WET Design, the same firm behind the Dubai Mall and Bellagio fountains since they have an office in Dubai. **UPDATE BELOW** Check out the video above of the fountain performing to Adele’s Skyfall track. [YouTube]

Thanks Waleed

Update: Turns out the musical fountain was designed by Watercube Design and not WET Design. They’ve got a much better video of the fountain in action which you can watch below.

Also regarding the schedule of the fountain shows I was told the following but haven’t been able to verify it yet:

Basically every hour from 2pm until 6pm then after 6pm there is a performance every 30 min (until 10:30 if i’m not wrong). They only turn it on if there are people so if the place is empty they skip it.

There is a lot of conflicting information floating around about coffee. Some is passed down from generation to generation, some found on the internet and some would seem as truth where it really shouldn’t be.

#1: Want to keep your coffee fresh? Store it in a freezer

Don’t do it! The only way to have fresh coffee is to buy fresh coffee, grind it yourself as needed and to not buy more than a two weeks supply.

Unfortunately neither vacuum sealing nor freezing helps with this. If you can’t manage to do the above mentioned points, the best way to store your coffee is in a cool, dark place with around 50% humidity. Freezer air is very dry and the moist coffee will tend to equalize with its surroundings, so freezing would dry the coffee out causing it to be stale.

#2: Strong coffee is a dark roast

To answer this we need to define what “strong” coffee is. The most common answer I got when I asked people what constituted as a strong coffee is “a dark roast” and the reason being “because it is bitter”. Other answers included “coffee with a lot of caffeine” and “espresso”.

Now none of these answers are exactly incorrect because there isn’t a standard definition of what it is that makes a cup of coffee strong. So I’ve taken it upon myself, without consulting any authorities to standardize the definition: A strong cup of coffee has a higher percentage of coffee (oils) in solution than other cups, i.e a high coffee:water ratio.

From this definition we can tell that a dark roast coffee could be stronger because the darker the roast is, the higher the solubility of the coffee – however the darker you roast, the lower the caffeine content. Moreover, espresso can also be considered correct as it will also have a higher coffee:water ratio than other brewing methods.

The best way to ask your barista for a strong cup would be to ask for a “high yield” coffee. The barista would then dial in the necessary settings in the equipment to give you that high coffee:water ratio that results in more flavor.

#3: Can I get a tall flat white?

No, no you can’t! Why? Because there is no such thing. The same thing goes for: Cappuccino, Cortado, Macchiato, Gibraltar and Café Bon Bon.

These coffees have special names for a reason, their names are in essence their ratio or recipe. Each of the aforementioned has a very specific ratio of espresso and milk. Change that and you have a different drink entirely. Just yesterday I saw a “Macchiato” the size of a latte in Avenues mall, when an actual Macchiato is a double espresso with just a tablespoon of milk foam! I’d be happy to mention the ratio’s of the various drinks in the comments below if someone is interested.

#4 Coffee dehydrates you

Caffeine is a diuretic, which causes you to urinate more frequently. However, your drink (unless it is an espresso) makes a significant contribution to your daily water intake. Only excessive coffee intake may cause dehydrating effects.

So why do some stores serve water with your coffee? To help you taste the coffee better. It is simply a way of cleansing your palate between sips.

#5: Espressos contain more caffeine than brewed coffee

If you are talking about concentration of caffeine then yes, its a slightly more concentrated dose. However, by drinking a small cup of brewed coffee you will be ingesting significantly more caffeine. An espresso contains roughly 40mg of caffeine, whereas a short cup of drip or filter coffee will have around 100mg. Also, don’t be fooled – darker roasted coffee (as mentioned earlier) contains less caffeine than lighter roasts.

#6: Coffee is good/bad for your health

Honestly, I have done extensive reading on this subject and I have read articles stating that coffee prevents cancer only to read one that suggests it can cause it. Similarly, I have read that it aids in weight loss but also read that it has no effect on it. Coffee itself contains very few calories, negligible amounts of vitamins and minerals etc. so I think it is safe to say that moderate to high consumption of coffee will not have any significant effects (positive or negative) on your health.

Keep sipping!

Post by Grant Mouton
Self–proclaimed coffee guru, coffee education addict, SCAA/SCAE accredited.
Brand manager at % Arabica.

Tomorrow is a holiday so this list is up a day earlier this week. Check out the list of events taking place this weekend below:

Wednesday
A Fifteen-Year Journey: The Art of Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Precious Fragments
Still Departures by George Awde
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity

Thursday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity

Friday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity
Tai Chi in the Park
Kalam Ams w Elyoom Concert
Salwa’ Walk and Socialize Meetup

Saturday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity
Yoga with the 3
Farmers Trip
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Art Night Out
Yasmine Hamdan Concert
Madeenah Tour: In Place of Democracy

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.