This past Saturday, Elevation Burger launched a new breakfast menu at their recently opened Seif strip location. It was my first time at their new location and I loved it. The weather was great, they had live music playing outside and lots of outdoor seating. They were also serving Jumo Coffee but right next door is also Richards Coffee, so you could pick and choose who to get coffee from.
According to Elevation, they’ll be having a similar setup with live music once every couple of weeks so if that happens, the location should end up being a popular Saturday morning chill spot. So keep a look out for it during the weekend events list.
Although I think drivers in Kuwait can be the worst sometimes (people stop driving while whatsapping!), what I’ve also realized because of my Vespa and Datsun 240z is that there are a lot of drivers out there that can be pretty nice. When I used to have the Vespa and I’d be stuck in traffic, people always moved their cars a bit when they saw me so they could let me ride all the way to the front in between the standstill traffic. It felt like everyone was rooting for me to get out of the traffic that they were all stuck in.
With my 240z I’m now experiencing a lot of niceness as well. Because the car is so low, usually the headlights of other cars (mostly SUVs) is higher than my car as you can see in the picture on top. So if their lights are on it pretty much reflects off my rear view mirror and into my face. Nearly all the drivers who pull up behind me at a traffic light turn off their lights so not to blind me. It’s a small gesture but I love it since its from total strangers.
I’ve also gotten so many compliments on the car from total strangers. For someone like me who doesn’t like attention, the amount of attention I get because of the car is so uncomfortable. On Friday I was heading back home on the Gulf Road and listening to my music loud while driving like a nutcase when I get to a traffic light. So I’m sitting there checking my phone when I here a beep of a police siren. I ignore it. Then I hear it again and I look out my rear view mirror and can’t see anything so I continue to ignore it. Then I hear the quick siren burst again the third time so I look to my right and there is a cop car right outside my window with a cop inside it trying to talk to me. So in my head I was like shit I’m screwed either because of my erratic driving or the fact my music was loud or because I was on my phone. So I quickly pause my music and yell out “Sorry?” cuz I couldn’t hear anything he had said. The cop then points at my car and says “very nice very nice” while giving me the thumbs up. I say thank you! and in my head I’m going wtf this is all so weird.
Let’s face it. We’ve all been on vacation. We all know what it’s like to gain a pound or two or five. I have been a victim of really good food in foreign places. Yes, I ate the pizza. Yes, I ate the pasta. And, yes the fried things were delicious. I was a victim of not caring about the consequences of weight gain. Because, I was the one at the table ordering dessert. I was the one ordering the ‘Lava Fudge’ chocolate thing, when everyone else was full. I was a victim of really good food. If this sounds familiar, if this sounds like you, then maybe we can be friends.
I was like, sure, I’ll just go back to Kuwait and I’ll eat like a human being again, that’s easy. It wasn’t and I didn’t. Getting back into the groove was the single hardest thing I ever had to do. At work, when people ordered from ‘X’ I ordered the carbs. I ordered the hummus with the bread. It was me. It was pretty sad to lose so much self-control. It was sad when I realized I lost the battle to ‘batata hara’. I am not proud, but such things happen.
After gaining an inordinate amount of weight, I realized maybe I should opt for one of those diet delivery services. Having a preset menu each day, means I can limit myself from gorging when the only option was left-over machboos when I got home from work.
There were many, as you may already know. Most of these delivery services focused on low calorie and horrible carb intake. They would serve you mrabyan and baryani things. Their nutritions were off. They had lasagna Thursdays, pasta Tuesdays, macbhoos Mondays. But no fiber Saturdays, or low carb Sundays. They were just low calorie empty carbs that did nothing but slow down your metabolism. Basically, their “diet” plans could have been planned by Qamar Al-Din (our driver) and none would be the wiser.
I recently discovered that there are crazy Eastern European specialist who decided to start a diet service, there are at last count 4 that I could find on Instagram. It was interesting and I immediately subscribed. They had paleo options, low carb options…etc, I went with the simple low carb one. Chicken, fish and veggie main dishes. I lasted about a week, right before the problems started to happen. The problem was, they weren’t chefs, and it showed. They did things to passion fruit and chocolate pudding, that they probably shouldn’t have. Not to get into a lot of detail, but I ended up referring to them at work to ‘allah iykarm al ni3ma’ box that I gave to the cleaning crew.
What was even more absurd was the 220 and 240 kd they were asking for a 3 meal plan and a snack for 26 days. Being the fat person that I was post my Mykonos trip, I thought “yes, that was the price to pay for not having a six pack.” but it wasn’t. These people are crazy, Eastern European trainers who wouldn’t know any better. And the less said about the bigger “diet” companies the better. Those were a complete joke. Fun fact number 1: Did you know some of them charge 40 kd to do a blood test to determine your “diet meal plan” but end up giving you the same meal plan as everyone else? Because your blood type has nothing to do with what ever food you should be shoving down your mouth.
So to summarize: Diet food delivery services tend not to taste so good (at least for me, if you love it, all the power to you), they’re not constantly nutritious (also debatable, but bare with me) and those that were nutritious were just inedible (I have yet to find a service that would break this rule). Worst of all, I’ve come to learn that they take a really big margin.
I did the math, basically it costs 200-240kd for a full 26 day program (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack) depending on who you talk to.
But, I came to a much more interesting conclusion. If you are as lazy as I am, and you want to have your meals delivered to you without thinking about the consequences, there are options. Options much better than the ones mentioned above.
If this post gets some traction, I’d like to update this with a different restaurant every other month. But, for this month I am going to make a ‘weight lose’ plan for Pick Yo. The focus here is on a low carb and aggressively low calorie diet (1200-1300 calories).
Below is a link to a schedule of meals that you can get from Pick that will give you the daily recommended dosage of protein and carbs all for the super low cost of 188 kd a month. Also, it’s not disgusting. I’ve also attached an excel sheet (and Apple Numbers for all you Mac fans) to change the plan around to your desired outcome. Let me know what you think!
Please note, that I am not a trained dietitian, or an expert on anything. You might die if you follow this diet, but probably not. Basically, the advice you’re getting here is the same one you’ll be getting from any/most/all diet services available in the country today. Only with less BS.
Happy weight loss.
Post by Saud Alkhateib, an amateur Photographer/Videographer who also really loves food. Founder of Saudk.com.
Just a reminder, the fireworks show for the Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre opening is taking place tonight at 7:30PM. For more information click [Here]
Described as the first of its kind, the UAE’s new “national law of reading” was announced by UAE president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, earlier this week. It will allow government staff time to read at work – although they must focus on reading matter about professional and personal development within the context of the workplace.
The law will also oblige coffee shops to offer reading material for their customers, said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE’s vice-president and Dubai’s ruler, and will see branches of libraries opened in malls, as well as exempting books from fees and taxes. [Source]
Can we please just get a decent bookshop in Kuwait? We’re not asking for much.
The Battle Fitness Festival takes place this weekend and in addition to Crossfit they’ve added a 5K obstacle course this year. The Battle Fitness Festival is one of the most recognized and respected crossfit events in the Middle East and over 200 athletes will be taking part this year. It’s really a world class event bringing in competitors from around the world and creating a fantastic show for everyone in Kuwait to take part in and to watch. I definitely recommend checking it out. Other than that, check out the full list of this weekends events below:
I am writing this in the simplest terms possible (and not in legal jargon) because I want to make the law simple and understandable by all.
Here is a simple guide to calculating your termination indemnity (for private sector employees):
Payment Method
Who terminated the contract
Years Worked
Days Paid
monthly
you were terminated
Less than 5 years
15 days per year
monthly
you were terminated
more than 5 years
one month per year
monthly
you terminated the contract
3 to 5 years
1/2 of 15 days per year
monthly
you terminated the contract
5 to 10 years
2/3 of one month per year
monthly
you terminated the contract
more than 10 years
one month per year
daily or weekly
you were terminated
Less than 5 years
10 days per year
daily or weekly
you were terminated
more than 5 years
15 days per year
daily or weekly
you terminated the contract
3 to 5 years
1/2 of 10 days per year
daily or weekly
you terminated the contract
5 to 10 years
2/3 of 15 days per year
daily or weekly
you terminated the contract
more than 10 years
15 days per year
Please note the following:
– You are being paid by days. Your end of service is an x amount of working days. So it is important how to calculate how much your day is worth. For those paid on a monthly basis you divide your salary by 26 even if you only work 20 days a month (unless your policies and regulations at work are different, giving you less working days a month)
– If you are Kuwaiti, you still deserve end of service benefits, but your social security amounts accured towards your company will be deducted.
– You have one year since the day you leave work to ask for your end of service benefits.
– If you are ending the contract then I am assuming you have an indefinite contract
If you are having any issues with your employer, please email me [email protected]. I have made a promise to myself to personally get back to everyone within 24 hours (unless it is the weekend)!
Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.
A couple of weeks back I was driving in Salmiya when I got stuck in a bit of inside road traffic. While waiting for it to clear up I spotted a small hole in the wall restaurant next to me called Hermanos Kitchen. So I looked for it on instagram to see what the place was and it turned out to be a Filipino restaurant. It looked like a nice place so yesterday I decided to pass by and try it out.
Hermanos has only been open for a few of months now and so is still fairly new. The interior is small with around 6 tables and looked good for a hole in the wall. They had a Westlife concert playing on the television which is actually exactly what I would have expected at a Filipino restaurant. The menu was hand written on the wall and I couldn’t understand any of it. I had’t really had any Filipino cuisine previously and so had no idea what all the items were. It was one of those occasions where I wished the menu had pictures alongside the dish names or at least a description in English.
The waiter tried his best to explain and recommend dishes and I ended up ordering three of them, the Astig Na Chicken BBQ, Fish Be Wit U and the Manoy Bikol Express. Also ordered an A&W Root Beer Float!
From the three dishes I ended up liking only the chicken BBQ, but the other two I actually wouldn’t have ordered if I knew exactly what they were since they contained ingredients I generally don’t like. My favorite thing though obviously had to be the A&W Root Beer float, hadn’t had that since A&W shutdown over a decade ago.
There a lot of different Filipino restaurants in Kuwait but this one just seems like the nicest one. The prices are pretty good with my bill coming out to around KD7. I just wish it was more non-Filipino friendly, an English menu would have made things much more easier. If I do go back it would definitely have to be with an Asian a Filipino friend which I just realized, I don’t think I have.
Check out Hermanos Kitchen on instagram under the account @hermanoskitchen and on Facebook [Here]. They’re located in Salmiya behind Johnny Rockets [Google Maps]
According to my lawyer I can’t mention the name of the supermarket. I also had to mute out the audio in the video since the guy recording mentions the name so I replaced the audio with music that sounds like something out of a Nintendo game.
On a side note is it bad that I am more upset with the fact that I can no longer find Haribo gummy bears, Dove Men+Care Antiperspirant or Sensodyne Extra Fresh Toothpaste at the branch I frequent more than I care about this rat?
Also just got the following response from the supermarket:
Hello Mark,
****** is aware of what is being circulated and is investigating it, as ****** takes pest control very seriously and deals with the best and most reliable pest control companies in Kuwait, making sure all hygiene standard are exceeded. Our Operations team, in coordination with our Pest company, has done a full and detailed check of the store and no issues were found till date. (Noting that Prior to the video being circulated in a day, the store had gone through the normal scheduled deep clean exercise with no issues found)
Earlier this morning, Andrea Bocelli performed at the opening of the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre. If this is the first you hear about it you’re not alone since the opening was only officially announced yesterday (I announced it two months ago). Now that the centre is open I figured I’d share a list of upcoming events that will be taking place there, but the only problem is, a list doesn’t exist yet.
The whole project has been shrouded in secrecy since the start. When I broke information on the Cultural Centre back in 2014, barely anyone knew about the project other than those involved in it. Now two years later the project is completed but everything is still a big secret and I can’t understand why.
Usually I wouldn’t care but this is such a great and beautiful project that it’s a shame it didn’t get so much more publicity. Hopefully things will be less secretive moving forward but for now, here are links to the cultural centre website and social media accounts.
I’ll also take this opportunity to thank all my sources who for the past two years have been feeding me as much information as they could on this project so I could share it with you guys. It’s because of them I’ve been able to write and share so much on the cultural centre and allowing me visit the site and take photos.
Here is a roundup of all my previous posts on the project:
Nuqat is one of the largest creative conference events in the MENA region and next month they will be holding their seventh annual conference titled “The Seventh Sense”. The week long program will take place at the Amricani Cultural Centre from the 10th to the 17th of November and include interactive talks, discussion panels, roundtable sessions, workshops, cultural tours, galleries, live performances and more.
All lectures and discussion panels are free to attend but you still need to register for a ticket [Here] or using the Nuqat app.
As an official media partner for Nuqat, I get a bunch of benefits including workshop invitations to do with as I please and I’ve decided to giveaway one of the workshop invites. Below is a list of all the paid workshops along with their prices that will be taking place at this years Nuqat event:
Designing and Producing Arabic fonts using Glyph app ($365)
Wall Tagging: Wajh Al Hurouf: Face of Calligraphy ($265)
Creative Pivoting: Your Business From New Perspectives ($365)
Food in Motion Videography ($365)
The Daily Future: Improve Everyday Objects or Problems Using Technology ($365)
Boosting Your Employability in the Creative Industry ($165)
Sadu Inspired Product Design ($280)
Creative Leadership Group A: Shifting Perspectives for Societal Impact ($220)
Creative Leadership Group B: Shifting Perspectives for Societal Impact ($220)
If you’d like a chance to win a workshop invite all you need to do is list the workshop you’d like to attend in the comments below. Please only enter this giveaway if you’re planning to attend the workshops (you won’t be able to resell the ticket). The workshops are going to be held during the middle of the week and during working hours so if you can’t get time off work you won’t be able to attend. You can get more information on the workshops and their timings by clicking [Here]
I will stop accepting entries in the comments section by tomorrow 9AM and then randomly choose one winner and notify them via email.
Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.
Update: At 9AM I closed the post for comments and using random.org randomly selected a winner which was #13, LadyB. The winner will be contacted now, thanks to everyone who participated, I think this was my favorite giveaway yet.
Here are a batch of Avenues Phase IV renderings I hadn’t seen before. I love the area above which looks like a narrower cozier version of the Grand Avenues. The new phase is currently scheduled to open early 2018, to check out the previous renderings I’ve posted as well as more information on the new phase, click [Here]
What do you get when you put the guys from Radiohead in a gahwa, in Salmiya, watching the old Star Wars movies, drinking guava nectar instead of tea? This could take a while, but for the sake of this post, I’ll give you the answer; Galaxy Juice. That’s exactly the feeling I get when I listen to their new release single “Allokation” off of their new album Timenesia which will be released Nov 1st .
Back to my opening question, can you see it? I mean, how does one make Galaxy Juice? Aren’t you just a little bit curious? I was. So I paid them a little visit.
Before Timenasia, there was Crystal Dunes. The story of the making of Crystal Dunes is one that plays right into last week’s post, where I talked about the difficulties artists face in trying to “make it” in the music industry in Kuwait. When Crystal Dunes was made, naturally, these guys wanted to print copies – to sell, to give out, to use as coasters or whatever else – you get the idea. But when they approached record companies here, they were told they could only print a minimum of 1000 copies. At the time, the band didn’t feel like they had the kind of demand that would require that quantity and tried to negotiate them down to about half that, but even then, the prices they were getting were obnoxious. So, the next logical step; print it outside of Kuwait – to the U.S. they went. There, they found a printing company that kept their overheads nice and low, where they were able to print 100 copies. Perfect.
Back in Kuwait, when their order arrived, and as Mohammad Al Owaisi, (Drums & Synthesizers), tells it; he’d receive online notifications that his “package has arrived” but is being… you guessed it, “held at customs”. This “hold” starts feeling more like a “keep”, and so, he heads to the Customs Department at the airport. Now, before they could get into the details of “what’s the hold up?” they first had to locate this package. And so the search begins for this box, in a room full of other boxes, in a back office in the back of this office – they never find it. They hand him a note that basically states; because of the contents of the shipment, the package has been sent for inspection, please follow up with the Office of the Ministry of Information. Still on airport premises, he makes his way to the temporary “chinko” structure that is the Office of the Ministry of Information, far out into the horizon, off the path. As he stood in a room full of more boxes waiting to talk to someone, his eye catches his box. Finally! And, as though the universe and the stars were finally aligning, a man appeared from the back. They spend a couple of minutes talking about the box, the contents of the box, the quantity of the contents of the box, the motives behind the contents of the box, all the while Mohammad trying to explain that these CD’s are for distribution purposes only, and not intended for sale. Nevertheless, it’s a no go. With one copy of Crystal Dunes in hand, he’s redirected to the Ministry of Information HQ in Shuwaikh.
Day 2, Ministry of Information HQ. Like a sad song on replay, Mohammad goes through the saga of explaining; we’re a band, we make music, we wanted to share our music, we like CD’s, we wanted to give people CD’s. “So, is it just music, or do you sing?” the lady asks. “We sing”. “Yeah, we’re going to need to see those lyrics. Can you email them to me?” Mohammad goes home and emails her the lyrics.
Day 3, Ministry of Information HQ. He heads right back to the same lady, the only released copy of Crystal Dunes still in its plastic wrapper sits on her desk, unopened. The lyrics pass the censorship requirements. It’s a go! But, not until he is made to sign a memorandum of understanding, (ta3ahud), somewhere between an apology and a promise to never do that again ie. bring in products with the intent to sell or distribute. Approval letter signed and stamped, he heads back to the customs office at the airport, ready to finally take his babies home.
But, back to the ta3ahud for a minute. I’d understand if their only concern were that of a commercial nature, but they seem to also have a problem with just plain distribution. Why is that? Is it because they’re afraid that with enough of a following, a band has the potential to create propaganda? Or, maybe they don’t want to bring outside competition inside Kuwait’s market? I mean, let’s face it, Kuwait loves to play Monopoly. But, wait, this gets tragically better. Turns out, ALL members of Galaxy Juice are Kuwaiti citizens, all working government jobs and in essence, these Kuwaiti artists made a project in Kuwait, and tried to promote it, also in Kuwait, by giving it away, and couldn’t. In their own hometown, they couldn’t. I wondered if maybe their music had been more “Kuwaiti”, if that would’ve cut the number of hoops they would’ve had to jump through; that their music being difficult to categorize made it so it required all that extra screening. And so I investigated.
Band Members
Salem Al Salem – Lead Vocals, Guitar (Job-Accountant)
Mohammad Al Owaisi – Drums, synthesizers (Job-Mechanical Engineer)
Abdula Asem: Bass (Job-Marine Biologist)
Bader Al Salem: Drum machines, Sampler
In listening to their work, I found many elements of Kuwaiti music – an alternative rock vibe that seamlessly goes into a rhythm, or a clap, or a scale which would immediately be recognized as Arabic, or even specifically Kuwaiti. In their live show from last spring of this year at Shaheed park, they stopped mid-song to go into a full on traditional Kuwaiti clapping session, Sharbeka. So, clearly, their work is a fusion, but what I’m more interested in is, are they innovating? Are they on the brink of innovation? That begs the question, when does one know when a band is doing Kuwaiti Rock? Or, Arab Rock? When or where are the lines? Do these lines exist? Or is it up to us to create them? Listen to it and tell me what you think. You could be thinking, well, Amin, Rock is Rock. My answer to that is, there was a time when there was American Rock n’ Roll, and British Rock n’ Roll, and although distinct in their sound, they were still considered Rock n’ Roll. It’s not like British Rock had distinct British hymns or maritime stories incorporated in it, it just had a different take on an American Rock n’ Roll. Over time, and with the gaining popularity of the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, British and American Rock n’ Roll meshed into one. But, there was a time when there was a division, and it was a division by geographical location. So, back to Kuwait and the possibility of music innovation, how would we recognize it? How would we recognize the emergence of Kuwaiti Rock? If it’s even possible. I know that in this coming season, many artists will be experimenting with Arabic, even Kuwaiti elements in their music, and the lines are going to start to get even more blurry. Do we call it “Kuwaiti Pop Music”? But it’s not. Do we call it “Kuwaiti Urban Music”? What are the rules? I’m sure an Ethnomusicologist could answer this quite simply, but I think we’re at a time where the lines are already blurry for artists trying to incorporate some of their roots into their work. Here is a specific part of Crystal Dunes where you can see a clear integration.
When I listen to Galaxy Juice it makes me think; are they making music for our time? There album is called Timenesia, and is somehow of the past, the future, of here and of other places. It’s like they’re this Rock group, experimenting with music of somewhere that is not of here, almost like they’re playing for outer space. With a name like Galaxy Juice, it all makes sense.
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
