Search: “ace”

Gia is a small new cafe that’s opening soon and so far it looks very cute. It’s opening in Al Khalid Complex in Salmiya, a complex which I think has so much potential to be a great trendy spot. Not many places like it anymore..

[Vimeo]

All the birds in the video were recorded in different places around Kuwait. I knew there were a bunch of bird enthusiasts in Kuwait and after watching the short film I understand why. Who knew we had so many unique birds here? The film was shot by Jassim Muqeem and you can check out more of his stuff on his website [Here]

I was having trouble finding sprinkles for the upcoming “The Belly” post when a friend of mine told me about a place in Shuwaikh that specializes in baking called Tavola. Not sure why sprinkles are difficult to find but I headed out to Shuwaikh looking for Tavola and found it after calling them up and getting directions over the phone.

Once I walked in I headed right to the back to their baking section and I just stood there for a minute or two with my jaw wide open. The employee there asked me if he could help me with anything and I told him I just needed a minute to absorb the place in. It was incredible, they had everything including stuff I didn’t know you could even buy. They had like a million different cupcake and muffin cups, tons of stuff from Wilton like display packaging and stands for your desserts, they had cookie cutters, molds, baking books you name it they had it.

Once I was done picking up what I needed from their baking section I decided to explore the rest of the store. Turns out they’re the dealers for two brands I love:

Zwilling J.A.Henckels
Boushahri used to be the agent years ago and they also had a little small store at Radisson SAS but then they disappeared. Turns out Tavola picked the brand up and they had a large selection of their products on display at the store.

WMF
WMF is used by a lot of luxury hotels worldwide and is a great brand for stainless steel pots, pans and cutlery plus a lot of kitchen accessories. I definitely need to go back and pick up some items for my kitchen.

They’re also the dealers for Bodum, Leonard, Alessi and Peugeot mills. I’m in love with the store, it’s one of those places where I was like I need to share this with everyone.

If you’re interested they’re located in Shuwaikh behind London Market and their phone number is 24825761. They have a map as well as photos of their different products and brands on their Instagram page [Here]

For other places I’ve previously focused on click [Here]

Update: They’re also the dealers for Cuisineart. Also here is their location on [Google Maps]

Anwar Jawhar took part in an Ironman competition at the beginning of this month and he ended up qualifying for the Ironman World Championships. Anwar took part in Ironman 70.3 Cebu in Philippines and qualified for the world championship by winning in his age group 25-29 years old. He finished 1st place in the group out of 150 triathletes and was ranked 28th overall out of 2500 total participants including professional triathletes and the current world champion.

The Ironman 70.3 race held in Cebu Philippines consisted of a 1.9km swim followed by a 90km bike and finished off with a 21km half marathon run. Anwar Jawhar became the first Kuwaiti and GCC national to ever qualify to the world championships which will be held in Las Vegas on 8th September 2013.

I’ve run with Anwar before and after like 8KM I would be dead on the floor and he would have already run like 15KM as his warmup without breaking a sweat. Super fit is an understatement.

If you’re interested, you can follow Anwar on Instagram @anwarjawhartriathlete to keep up to date with his progress in the world championships and his triathlon career.

According to Gallup’s global employment data, Kuwait ranked 3rd world wide with the highest population working full-time for an employer. Generally wealthier countries are more likely to have larger percentages of their population working for an employer, while poorer countries tend to have larger percentages of the population working for themselves. In Kuwait’s case considering the fact that it’s also difficult for an expat to work for themselves and the fact an expat can’t remain in Kuwait without a job is probably what’s pushing the employment percentage up. UAE who have a similar situation to Kuwait don’t rank far behind in 5th place. Check out the full list and details on this Gallup [Here]

via reddit

[YouTube] Warning: Graphic video of dogs being shot

About a year ago, I was asked by Mark to post on his blog from time to time on issues related to animals in Kuwait. I don’t get a chance to post very often, and when I do, it’s usually on an issue that’s particularly important to me or K’S PATH, the organization where I work. This particular post was prompted by what is certainly the most prolific case of animal abuse I’ve yet witnessed during my tenure in Kuwait.

On Friday, the 2nd of August 2013, a three-year-old girl was attacked by a pack of at least six stray dogs in Khairan area. The victim incurred serious although not life-threatening injuries, and has been reported to be recovering well. While the management of K’S PATH holds the victim and her family in its thoughts and prayers and extends its heartfelt condolence in this difficult time, the ensuing inhumane and brutal massacre of more than 80 reported stray dogs (to date) perpetrated by a group of individuals must not be condoned.

This statement questions the nature and objective of actions taken in retaliation to the attack, offers an insight into the nature of Kuwait’s stray dog overpopulation crisis, discusses the shortcomings of official animal control methods adopted to date, and concludes by proposing a long-term, safe and effective alternative successfully tested by K’S PATH.

The mauling and risk of assault of an individual by a pack of stray dogs is a serious concern that warrants definitive action by the relevant authorities to safeguard the community through humane measures – which in this case is incumbent upon the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR). PAAFR currently lacks the funding, equipment, or expertise to implement and enforce preventive and remedial measures. In most cases of such nature, members of the community approach K’S PATH as it is presently the sole organization with demonstrated capability in capturing and handling stray dogs in Kuwait.

Unfortunately in the aftermath of the recent incident, some of the individuals involved chose another route by taking matters into their own hands through vigilante actions. As this statement goes to press, there are conflicting reports of as many as 80 dogs shot or killed so far; some of them by stabbing, running over, and dismemberment or decapitation.

This original group of animal abusers blatantly publicized their actions on Instagram in a boastful fashion with graphic imagery of cadavers of murdered dogs, which further encouraged other individuals to follow suit by killing more dogs in what appears to have now taken a form of barbaric competition to slaughter as many dogs as possible to seemingly ‘avenge’ the attack on the little girl.

Indisputably and as a responsible measure to avert recurrences, the dogs that attacked the girl should have been identified, captured, and humanely euthanized (killed using a ‘good’ process of death). In fact, none of the dogs roaming Kuwait’s streets belong here.

What we must ask ourselves as a concerned community is whether a responsible and sustainable solution to Kuwait’s stray dog overpopulation lies with the impulsive and brutal recourse of a few individuals with hatchets, shotguns, rifles, and knives running around on a violent campaign of death, or whether we should instead adopt a more effective, humane and safer form of animal control.

Personally, I don’t believe Kuwait has any need to resort to violence to solve this problem. In point of fact, I have spent the last four years developing a program of animal control for Kuwait that is humane and effective, with the purpose in mind of making our communities safer.

In Kuwait, and across many countries, the initial program of animal control adopted used lethal gunshot. However, program administrators and field technicians soon concluded that gunshot is messy, ugly, dangerous for the community, and ineffective in two ways. Firstly, in order to ensure the death of an animal, the projectile must pass through the brain and enter the spinal cord. Any other single shot is very likely to merely injure or cripple the animal causing great suffering and potentially creating a more desperate, aggressive animal. Secondly, it is nearly impossible to eradicate an entire group of stray dogs through this method because dogs will not tolerate the sound of a gunshot. The dogs that flee will be extremely difficult or impossible to catch, eventually becoming what in this field is termed ‘capture resistant’. Gunshot did not last as a form of dog control in Kuwait for these very pragmatic reasons, and it is now forbidden for anyone to shoot dogs.

As gunshot was phased out, poisoning became the preferred method of control. It still is, though it is in the process of being replaced with the method I will propose last. Poisoning fails as a medium for dog control because only a fraction of the intended number of dogs will eat it. Of those who do ingest it, not all of them will die because quantity consumed is a crucial factor. Poison is extremely inhumane to the animal as it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 72 hours to kill, again depending on dosage, rate of digestion, etc. Furthermore, poison will kill a stray dog as easily as an owned dog as well as a fox, a cat, an eagle, or a child. It is entirely indiscriminate.

Lethal gunshot and poisoning as forms of dog control have never been used effectively as a large-scale, long-term form of population control anywhere in the world. They have been used to affect short-term reduction in the overall population size, but they have never solved a large-scale dog problem. Both have been tried for many years in Kuwait with neither succeeding, leaving no possibility that either one will suddenly solve our stray dog problem. The most important factors to consider with these two forms of dog control are that they are unsafe, ineffective, and inhumane. Furthermore, they are outdated and have no place in the modern world. It is the equivalent of investing in steam technology to power our busses when there are much safer and frankly better methods available.

K’S PATH has the answers to this problem; we’ve painstakingly developed them over the course of many years. Read on to find out more.

Warning: Graphic photos below of the massacre after the link

Last week the Jawbone dealer sent me the UP wristband to tryout and review. The Jawbone UP tracks your sleep and movement patterns and I am going to start this review by saying I am not UP’s intended user. The UP is meant for casual users who want to get a rough idea of how many calories they’re burning or how active their lifestyle is. Since my lifestyle is already pretty active I need more accurate data which the UP can’t provide me with since it doesn’t monitor your heartbeat and it doesn’t have a GPS to track distance. But, after having used the UP for a week I ended up liking the device and I’ll explain why a bit further into the review.

The UP reminds me a lot of the Nike Fuelband and it should because they both basically do the exact same thing. Both the Fuelband and UP track your movement patterns and then converts that data into pretty graphs. The biggest difference for me with the UP is that it also tracks sleep patterns which is something that I was really interested in. When you run the app for the first time you enter various information about yourself and then you choose two targets, the amount of hours you would like to sleep and your daily target for steps. The defaults are 8 hours and 10,000 steps and I left them that way. Throughout the day all your movements are recorded by the wristband but you can also help make it more accurate by telling the wristband what activity you just performed.

Within the UP application on the phone you have the option to log specific workouts like a run or a weight lifting session. You select the kind of activity you performed based on preset ones along with the intensity of the activity and also the duration. The application then calculates how many calories you burned using published MET values. This isn’t very accurate because you have to estimate the intensity of your activity and so you’ll only end up with a ballpark figure which should still be fine for the majority of people.

Sleep tracking is a very interesting aspect of the UP. Before you go to sleep you put the device into sleep mode and when you wake up you just turn sleep mode off. UP then takes your nighttime movement data and plots them out for you. My aim was to get 8 hours of sleep every night but based on the data my average has been less than 6 hours. UP also lets you know how long it took you to fall asleep and how much light and deep sleep you’re getting. Finally UP can also help you take a proper power nap during the day. By pressing the button on the UP twice and then holding it down it will turn on power nap mode which based on your previous nights sleep will calculate the optimum duration for your power nap which could range from 27 to 45 minutes. When it’s time to wakeup the UP vibrates.

Synchronizing the data between the UP and the app is a simple process, there is small cap at the end of the UP band which when removed will reveal a headphone connector which plugs into the phone. The wristband is also water resistant which according to the Jawbone website means I can shower with it but I actually swam with it all day over the weekend and it’s still working perfectly fine. Actually the website says NOT to submerge it in water so if you do so you do it as your own risk. Battery life according to Jawbone is 10 days and based on my experience that seems about right.

So yes the UP isn’t very accurate but I personally still loved it and the main reason being is I’m wearing it like a normal bracelet, a fashion accessory. The UP looks good, I don’t have to remove it when I shower or swim and other than charging it once every 10 days the UP doesn’t require any maintenance. It’s like a nice looking bracelet that has the added value of letting you know approximately how active you are while also letting you know how much sleep you’re getting.

If you’re interested in the UP you can order one directly from the dealer by calling them on 97337221. It costs KD45 and KD2 for delivery. You can also check out their Instagram account for other ways of ordering [Here]

Damn, why don’t we have these kinds of races anymore? [YouTube]

Everybody’s got a preference, right? Some people like Nutella. Some people like peanut butter. Some like their peanut butter plain. Others like it with jam. I like my peanut butter with bananas. And bacon. In a cronut. For those who have no limits when it comes to caloric intake (and if you’re a human garbage disposal like me), keep reading.

This can be put together in any vessel you like; toast, crackers, artisan bread.. I just happen to like the idea of a deep-fried croissant-donut hybrid holding it all together. I mean, look at this baby. Wouldn’t you?

Let’s get busy.

Cronuts! Making cronuts was a challenge – I tried several croissant dough recipes until I found the one I like. Make your dough and chill it in the fridge. Working with cold dough is really important; the flecks of cold butter will give your cronut the layers of deliciousness you’re looking for.

Roll our your croissant dough on a floured surface and cut your donut rings out – you can find donut cutters at Williams-Sonoma in Grand Avenue. Make ’em as big or as small as you like. Bigger cronut = more nomz; you know what to do. Deep-fry those babies till they’re golden brown and puffed up. If you’re the kind who can’t resist sneaking bites (read: me), fry up the cronut holes and eat those to hold you over.

The filling is pretty basic: creamy peanut butter (or crunchy if you like texture), caramelized bananas, and bacon! Fry up your bacon till its nice and crispy, yeah? Soggy half-assed bacon is against the law here. For the bananas, slice a banana on the diagonal and sprinkle it with a bit of sugar before you fry it in some butter. Once you see the sugar start to brown, take the bananas off the pan.

Now, slice your cronut in half, heap your favorite PB on both “slices”, and layer the crispy bacon and bananas. Close your eyes, say a prayer, and take a bite. Heaven, right?

Damn. I just realized how fatty this is. Not sorry and you won’t be either, enjoy!

Posted by Farah Bishara

If you’re going down to Lebanon next week for Eid then below is my personal recommendation list:

The Gärten by Uberhaus
They’re only open Saturday night from around 8PM to 6AM and it’s my favorite place this summer. It’s an outdoor club that’s open just for 16 weeks with a large green garden filled with bean bags on one side and a huge open dome which is the dance floor on the other. You need to pass by and if you’re flying out on the morning MEA flight just head from The Garten straight to the airport. The place is easy to find, its right at the entrance to Biel (near Skybar). Here’s a video I shot the last time I was there [Here]

Tawlet
This is a very popular and a great Lebanese restaurant. They bring a new chef daily (usually a grandma) from a different part of lebanon to cook home made food. (01-448129)

Radio Beirut
Arguably my favorite pub this summer located in Mar Mikhael. I don’t think I’ve ever sat inside since the sidewalk is where everyone hangs out and drinks.

Classic Burger Joint, the most popular Lebanese burger joint is opening in Kuwait right next to The Village. They’re also opening right next to another new burger place called Big Smoke Burger. I’m not a big fan of CBJ and I have no idea why they’re so popular in Lebanon since I didn’t think their burgers were any good. You can check out my review on CBJ [Here]

tiles from Dana Aljouder on Vimeo.

Filmed in a neglected expat housing complex in Hawalli, this out of context mirage disorients the familiarity or nostalgia of the space. The multicultural neighborhood vibrates with a multicultural working force who have consciously migrated from their diverse backgrounds to participate in the daily routine designated by a profiting developer. The tiling of the colonnade, as is the tiling of the dress, is reflective of the blurring of these expat cultures to camouflage within the existing- the existing which is not only foreign to them but foreign to the space – creating the out of context “Where am I?” phenomenon. These diverse cultures try to adapt to a “?” culture imposed by another country whilst struggling to identify between pre-imposed ethnic stereotypes and their traditional heritage. The freedom of the body is limited to the disproportion of the imposed cage, irritated within the larger cage of the structure.

I love the tiles. They don’t make buildings like they used to.

As inspiration from an app called “The Dumbest Laws” I have decided to make a series of posts called “Kuwait laws you don’t need to know” so I could inform you on things you don’t need to be informed on. I don’t know how many of these posts I can come up with but one of my favorite things to do while working is finding and reading these weird laws.

So anyways, here is the first one, it’s an excerpt from an officially translated version (ignore their grammatical errors) of Law No.9 from 1969 “With Regards To The Possession of Dogs and Preventive Measures Against Rabies”:

Article 1
Possession of dogs is not permitted unless a license is obtained from the Ministry of Health

Article 2
License of one or more dogs requires an application to be submitted to the competent veterinary center giving the following details:

1- Name of applicant, title, age, nationality and address
2- The location where the dog will be kept
3- Breed of dog, color and distinctive marks
4- The source of where the dog was imported

Article 5
A collar with a metal plate shall be put around each dog, giving the serial number referred to, the plates are obtained from competent veterinary free of charge, the dog owner should request a replacement, in which case he will have to pay 250 fils.

If a dog is arrested without a plate it will be sent to the Dog Detainment Center, and will not be handed to the owner, unless he requests so 7 days from the day of arrest, and pays a fee of KD1

Article 6
All dogs of all types shall not be left in public places without being controlled with a mask on their mouth

Article 15
The provisions herein apply to Kuwait City. The City of Kuwait with regards to the implementation of this article means the vicinities surrounded by the third ring road, the Health and Educational Areas and the Sulbikhat area, unless the dog belongs to a Bedouin as watch or hunt dogs, whether the owners live in the city or the desert

Article 16
Violators of this law will be liable to a maximum term of one month imprisonment maximum and/or KD30 fine.

Keep in mind, this was back in 1969.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

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.

Instagram user @mohammedaltourah has been posting photos taken from old newspapers of various events that were taking place in Kuwait back in the 70s. Among the photos was this Boney M ad above dating back to 1978. I also found the video below that according to the uploader was taken in Kuwait back in 1978. But, the video also says it was shot in UAE. Since I don’t think UAE existed back then (you know what I mean) it’s very possible that this was shot in Kuwait. [YouTube]

Check out more old newspaper clippings [Here]

Last week when I passed by the new revamped Peacock restaurant at Radisson Blu I also got a tour of the hotel. I didn’t check out the rooms since they didn’t interest me but I did check out the lobby area and the new Sky Lounge.

The lobby area is a lot brighter than before with a lot more daylight coming in and a brighter color palette. They’ve removed their famous floating 4-ton marble sphere from the entrance and moved it outside. They also expanded the little cafe that used to be there and they kept Peacock in the same location with just the entrance now moved to the main side.

The Sky Lounge is a new addition to the hotel that didn’t exist before. It was still under heavy construction when I passed by but I found the rendering above of how it will eventually look like. The Sky Lounge has a panoramic view of the sea and they want it to be the “it” place to hangout at night. Once the sun sets the whole place dims down and mood lights come on. They’ll have a DJ playing house music and they’ll also have a bar that serves non-alcoholic cocktails. They want the place to be a chill-out lounge and I’m personally curious to see how that works out.