Search: “maki”

An invited competition was launched in 1960 for the construction of a museum in Kuwait City. Michel Ecochard won this project while his work was flourishing, especially in Lebanon. However, between the time of the project and its realisation, a long waiting period elapses. Michel Ecochard expressed doubts about the likelihood of this project being completed at all.

The Museum programme was based around several themes, including areas devoted to the oceans and to the field of culture, another to the oil industry, and a botanical garden. The first section relates to culture and administration; a space dedicated to archaeology, art, ethnography and folk traditions. Offices and storage areas extend into an outdoor exhibition area, with spaces reserved for temporary exhibitions and an auditorium. A separate building is reserved for displays on the theme of “Kuwait, today and tomorrow”, a dome-like structure, connected by a walkway to the main building. One can also gain access from the garden. A space with a high ceiling is able to house the machinery of oil chemistry; the second part of the second storey addresses the scientific and industrial applications of oil, and is covered by a dome structure that stands out from the rest. The main entrance is located between the two buildings.

It is interesting to note that the section of the Museum part devoted to traditional life partially recreates the organisation of the so-called traditional city, with a market for traditional crafts such as tanning, jewellery-making, pottery, weaving, and fishing. Buildings organised around a central patio reproduce forms of traditional habitat. In the area destined to house the zoological and botanical garden, an itinerary encouraging strolling, with the first floor transparent, is provided via ramps and walkways connecting the floors, allowing a view of the botanic garden and a large aquarium. The strength of the architectural design comes from the fact that each section is both independent and connected to everything else, both in the interior and exterior areas.

The architecture is resolutely modern with the use of concrete pillars and beams. The rhythmic façades are punctuated by areas with small rectangles made from work blocks. The architecture has been designed in response to the climate to avoid both the sun and sandstorms. It should be noted that the sun-shade was conceived as a way to create a microclimate and a variation of light according to the coverage needs. The idea is to create protection through a flat roof made of open, light, metal, a “microclimate” in which the museum and its immediate surroundings can function independently of the outside temperature. This is a huge shelter that is 28m high, with widely spaced pillars.

The museum was looted and burned during the 1990 Iraq invasion and it remained in that state until very recently. The museum is now currently under renovation.

All the images and text above were taken from Archnet [Link] They also have a scan of an interesting publication relating to the museum which you can read [Here]

In 2014 I visited the museum and took photos of the inside before renovation work had started, you can check those out [Here]

The picture above is of the previous Kuwait National Museum. It was also destroyed during the 1990 Iraq invasion.

Over Eid holiday Pokémon Go was officially released in the U.S. For the uninitiated, Pokémon Go is an augmented reality (AR) mobile game, released both on iOS and Android. The point of the game is to walk around your environment to find and catch Pokémon. When you reach level 5, you’re able to fight at Pokémon gyms that are scattered across the country. The first time you do this you get to choose the faction you want to be a part of, Team Instinct (Yellow), Team Valor (Red) or Team Mystic (Blue). Once you choose a faction and beat the gym boss, that gym belongs to your faction. The game is a massive hit in the U.S. and is about to surpass Twitter in daily active users. It seems to be encouraging adults and kids alike to go outside and walk around, and in some cases make new friends. There are a lot of great stories coming out thanks to this game.

Sadly since we are in Kuwait we can’t really go out for long walks at the moment because it’s super hot outside. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t still play it. I’ve noticed that the game works in our malls and other places we spend a lot of time in. My wife was shopping and I decided to try out the app indoors and I ended up catching Jigglypuff and a few other great Pokémon while she was doing her thing. I’ve also used the app at traffic lights but please don’t use it while you’re actually driving unless you’re on a Pokémon date. Mark had a power cut at his apartment over the weekend so he was forced to leave the house and ended up killing time by walking around his neighborhood looking for Pokémon until the power came back on. Kuwait has loads of Pokéstops and Pokémon gyms scattered throughout so we aren’t missing out on anything really.

Here are some quick tips for first time users:

– In the bottom right side of the screen you’ll find icons of Pokémon that are in your vicinity. If you click on the icon you’ll find up to 3 little footprints under each Pokémon. 3 footprints means the Pokémon is in your area, but not close to where you are, while no footprint means the Pokémon is right next to you.

– When you try to catch a Pokémon you’ll find an AR slider on the top right. Switch this off to switch off your camera, which makes catching Pokémon easier.

– As you’re trying to catch Pokémon, hold the Pokéball and twirl it on screen to add a curve to it which will give you more experience points if you’re successful at catching the Pokémon.

– If you have duplicate Pokémon, click on the ones you don’t want and transfer them over to the Professor to get items necessary to make your Pokémon stronger.

So how is the quality of the Pokémon Go app itself? Well, to be honest, average. The UI is badly designed and the game is known to crash for a few users. The “game” itself is pretty thin, besides walking around and trying to catch Pokémon, there isn’t much else to do. The only time you ever battle is when you find a gym. There is no way to interact with friends, no way to trade Pokémon and no way to challenge a friend to a battle. But ultimately, the quality of the app itself means little when the experience of using the app is making people happy. At the end of the day, Niantich can update the app some time in the future to add the features that are still missing from this game.

If you’re interested in trying out the game it’s available to download in the U.S. iOS App Store and Android devices. You won’t find it in the Kuwait store since it hasn’t officially launched worldwide.

Posted by Patrick

A small shop in Souq Al-Manakh, the marketplace for stock and real estate trading back in the day, would’ve easily sold for KD20 million in the late 70’s and early 80’s. That’s around KD2 million per square meter. Why? Because you could only trade if you had a spot there. Excessive but when small traders were making millions a month, you can see why the amount sounds like a catch. Today, you can easily find shops in major malls being offered for anywhere from KD50,000 – KD500,000 just for key money alone. So when everyone is technically renting the space, why do we have key money in the first place?

The first clue is in the name. I’ll hand over the key of my shop to you for a certain amount. So it’s not about you buying the place as much as it’s for me leaving it, and to you specifically, of course. You could say it started as a form of incentive and a nice way out. But as new and hot places are always in demand, people started to jump on them as a way of making money. For example, it’s quite common to find a shop in a new mall opening only to shut down in nine or twelve months to be sold to someone else for a good hefty profit simply because all spaces are occupied and other businesses want to be in that mall. While that first business may look like a failure to consumers, in reality, the whole thing was just a pop-up shop waiting for the next buyer.

Sometimes, because the buyer is emotionally attached to that location they offer a lot of key money to put their hands on a place believing that when they are ready to leave, they will get their money back and more, which beats putting it in the bank these days. Of course, there’s always the risk of not being able to sell it when you need to, but as with any business there’s always a risk. Sometimes, it’s a personal vendetta. If I don’t want someone from a specific family to have that shop I’ll pay whatever it takes not to give them a chance. Let’s not forget, we are in a tribal society. There are many other reasons why companies and entrepreneurs lean towards paying key money. There are also many policies put in place by some developers to encourage and others to discourage the exchange of key money.

So what should you do if you can’t afford to pay KD300,000 key money for your small café business? Well, you could always focus on a different set of customers that exist somewhere else more affordable. For example, having your café somewhere dead but behind some office buildings and sell to them directly through delivery. Maybe you could encourage complimentary businesses to join you in a new place where you can start a new trend in that area. Alternatively, you could start another business you’re passionate about that’s more cost effective to start. In this case, key money was your ‘barrier to entry’ in marketing terms. Tip: Taking a loan to secure key money is not something I would recommend as you’ll needlessly give yourself sleepless nights and probably a stomach ulcer thinking about all the ‘what ifs.’

Post by Loaay Ahmed, a strategic business therapist since 1995. He currently lives and works in London, UK, while earning his master’s in Service Design and Innovation, and managing knightscapital in Kuwait. For Loaay’s advice on business or work matters, send a short email to [email protected]. Regrettably, only the questions chosen for publishing will be answered.

“تفضل” which roughly translates to “come in” is a short documentary on Rihab Complex that was released a couple of months back but I only got to watch it a couple of days ago. For those of you who’ve never been to Rihab Complex, it’s an old shopping complex in Hawalli filled with video game stores. The documentary gives a bit of a rundown on the on the complex as well as interviews some of the shop owners to get their story as well as explanations on why some games are expensive, while EU games are cheaper than US and other things. Sadly the video is in Arabic so if you can’t understand Arabic you’re not gonna get much out of it. [YouTube]

I’ve personally been going to Rihab since the late 90s (when the best gaming console ever the Dreamcast was released). But before Rihab, during my SNES and Game Gear days I used to get all my games from the shops in old Salmiya. There used to be a bunch of great shops in the building right next to mine, I don’t remember their names but I do remember there were three of them, two on the main street and one inside the complex. One of the ones outside used to have a 3DO in the display playing either the Night Trap demo or the original Need for Speed on loop while the store inside the center had a Neogeo on display playing mostly Samurai Showdown. You also had two computer shops upstairs, one called Computer World where I got my original copy of Windows 95 from and the other shop right next door where I used to buy my pirated games from. You’d buy a game and then have to wait for the guy to make copies of it and some games like Duke 3D for example used 13 floppy disks so you had to either go and come back or wait there patiently until he finished copying them. Then you had Burj Al Abyad (White Tower) further down the road which was the gaming center of Kuwait back then with most of the shops also housing arcade machines.

This post is really making me regret selling all my old gaming consoles. All I kept from the bunch are my Game & Watches.

If you really want to step back in time, back in the 80s there used to be a computer shop in Salhiya, I think it was on M1 or M2, it was right across the Korean restaurant that used to be there. I also got my Coleco in the mid 80s from a video game shop in Kuwait City that was located in the hexagon shaped blue glass tower. Kuwait was so different back then.

The past few weekends have been pretty exciting for me, I had a Lotus for three of them and then this past weekend I had the new 2017 model year Porsche 911 Carrera S. It was actually perfect timing since I had recently taken out the Lotus Evora which I consider a direct competitor of the 911 so it was a good opportunity to compare the two. This wasn’t my first time in this current generation 911, I had previously raced one around the Dubai Autodrome during the Porsche World Roadshow a few years ago. But this model I drove this past weekend was the face-lifted version which they’re calling the 911 II.

Visually the exterior of the 911 II doesn’t look that different from the previous years with most of it being just aerodynamical upgrades. But, there are some important changes that take place under the hood. The new Carreras are now turbo charged giving both the regular Carrera and the Carrera S an extra 20HP each. This upgrade has allowed the Carrera S to hit 0 to 100km/h in under 4 seconds making it the first Carrera to break the 4 second barrier. The previous model hit 0 to 100 in 4.1 seconds but this new model now does it in just 3.9.

Another major upgrade is the infotainment system which now includes Apple’s CarPlay. I’ve been using CarPlay since 2014 and although it looks pretty, it’s fairly buggy and lacks some important features. Luckily you’ll still be able to use your phone via bluetooth in the Porsche, something I sadly can’t do in my car. An important thing to mention is you now no longer have multiple options of the infotainment system to choose from. I think thats great because end of the day this is a Porsche so you’d expect all the cars to be fitted with the best infotainment system available. But previously what came standard was an infotainment system that lacked features unless you were willing to plough down around 800KD for the proper one. Now all the 911’s come standard with this new system which is great. Finally one more new feature which I personally loved is the new steering wheel with a rotary switch that controls the driving mode similar to that of the Porsche 918. The steering wheel was oddly my favorite thing about this 911, it felt great in my hands and the design will surely look great years down the line, something I can’t say about the older Porsche 911 (996).

The 911 is pretty much flawless, there really isn’t anything I can fault about the car, even the trunk was surprisingly big. The car was fast, lots of fun to drive and the model I drove had a flashy lava orange color with a beautiful black interior. Which reminds me…People of Kuwait I have a request, STOP ordering Porsches with Bordeaux Red or Beige interiors! Please stop it! Seriously there needs to be an intervention. I was so surprised when I realized I was about to get into a 911 with a black interior in Kuwait, I figured it must have been an international Porsche dealer guideline or something. The Porsches interior looks so much sportier and hotter in black, it’s really the only way to go. Anyway, back to what I was saying, the car was fantastic and I can understand why everyone in Kuwait has one, it’s probably the best daily driver sports car you can get.. which is why I don’t think I’d ever buy one myself.

The cars local success is the cars biggest downfall for me. Every other person in Kuwait seems to have a 911. When I want to plucker down KD40,000 for a car I don’t want to blend in with half the population of Kuwait. I mean I get why everyone is buying the car, it makes perfect sense but Kuwait is such a weird place, you’d think these cars were so much more affordable based on the number of them out on the road.

Still that doesn’t stop me from heading over to the local Porsche dealers website every few weeks and building my own car. If you’ve never checked out their website before you should, there is an option to build a Porsche but the best part about it is it will tell you how much it will cost (Jaguar you guys need to add the prices on your website). So I’m on their website every now and then building a Cayman GT4 or a 911 for fun trying to fill it up with options that make sense and offer the most value and I take it fairly seriously as if I’m buying the car even though it’s all just imaginary. After driving the 911 this weekend there is one option I’m taking off the list for sure and thats the KD900 Burmester sound system. It’s not worth it, the car I drove this weekend had it and I was disappointed with the sound. It was extremely boomy and I can’t imagine the stock sound system sounding any worse. Another option I won’t be adding? The Lane Change Assist (a KD210 option), there aren’t any blind spots on the car and anytime the lane change warning light came out, the other car would be in clear sight of me. There are tons of options you can add to the car and they quickly add up. For example the Carrera S starts at a very reasonable KD34,000 but the model I drove costs around KD43,000 because of all the options it had in it. You don’t need door sill guards in stainless steel and illuminated (KD220 option), or the air vent slats painted (KD360 option) or the Porsche crest embossed on the head restraints (KD60 option) or a bunch of other superficial options. So if you hold yourself back with the options you should still be able to get a 911 at a fairly affordable price (for what it is).

I ended up dropping the car back to the dealer earlier then planned, that should basically summarize my feelings towards the car. I’ve driven a ton of cars over my lifetime, a lot of them were dull and a lot of them were exciting. When I took out the Camaro ZL1 or the Lotus Exige, I was a completely different asshole in them, when I took out the Mercedes S-Class I felt like a pimp. But with the 911, I just felt like a boring and responsible person, it didn’t excite me in anyway. On the plus side, they’ve introduced the Miami Blue color which reminds of the old 90s Riviera Blue 911 (993) which was and is my favorite Porsche of all time. FYI, thats the color to get with a full black interior.

Like I said, if you haven’t done so already, head over the Porsche Kuwait website and build your own car [Link]

Yesterday afternoon I dropped my Datsun to Omid’s Garage in Shuwaikh to have a few things worked on, mostly installing an AC system as well as replacing all the car’s bushings among other things. After dropping the car off I walked to the main road to find a cab and then not sure what got into my head but I tweeted that maybe I should just walk home since I was already in gym gear. I wasn’t planning to go to the gym, but since my car didn’t have AC and I was expecting the weather to be warm, I figured I would wear my gym gear since I wouldn’t mind sweating in it. I opened up google maps just to get an idea if it was actually doable and it gave an estimated time of around 2 hours and 44 minutes. It was around 6PM then and I was invited to an Audemars Piguet event at 7PM, but other than that didn’t really have any plans for the evening. So I was like fuck it, I’ll ditch the event and walk home. A friend on twitter replied to me saying it would take me three hours, I replied back that I would make it in 2 and a half and so the challenge was on.

I left the garage at 6:06PM with just a small bottle of water, my wallet, my keys and my phone. The garage is located in the Shuwaikh Industrial area which is the area across from Al Rai and on the other side of highway 60. I started walking towards Canada Dry street cuz I decided I’d take the 3rd Ring Road down towards the Gulf Road and then take the 35 towards Salmiya. Although Canada Dry Street takes just a few seconds to get from the start to the end by car, it took me 20 minutes to walk. I thought that was just too slow of a pace so when I was done from Canada Dry and crossed into Khaldia where I spotted a walking/running track, I decided I would try to run back home. Although I was in my gym gear I didn’t have running shoes on, I had my crossfit ones (Nike Metcon 1) which barely have any padding and are terrible for running. But I’d figure I’d give it a shot since walking was just going to be too slow for me.

I hadn’t really gone running in over two years and I’ve barely been doing any cardio but I just wanted to get home in under 2 and a half hours. I had already run out of water but luckily kept finding public water fountains to keep refilling my bottle (I didn’t get sick!). By the time I got to road 35 in Hawally, I realized there was a big chance I could make it home in under 2 hours so I pressed on. Mentally I was strong but physically I was just starting to break down. Half way down the stretch of the 35 my right foot and right knee were in pain. I wasn’t out of breath even though I was tired but my legs were just not prepared for this. By the time I got to the end of the 35 and crossed into Maidan Hawalli I could barely run and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get home in under 2 hours. It was demoralizing but then I just went back to my original plan of trying to get there in under 2 and a half hours. I tried to run but by the time I got to Salmiya I was limping, my right leg was in so much pain. But once I saw my building I somehow managed to sprint the last 20 meters or so. I ended up making it home in 2 hours and 14 minutes. A total distance of 14KM. Kinda disappointing since I ran a 10K once in 57 minutes, but I did train for that. On the other hand I did get a better time compared to when I walked home from my work in Kuwait City.

I still don’t know why I decided to do that yesterday, this morning I can barely walk up and down stairs due to how sore my legs are. The weather was great yesterday which might have been what pushed me but in any case I did it and I’ve got a few observations I want to highlight.

Kuwait isn’t really a pedestrian friendly place but I was pretty surprised at how the route I took was fairly pedestrian friendly. From the start of the 3rd Ring Road till highway 40 there are proper walking/running paths all along the main road. The only issue is the fact these paths aren’t connected to other paths in adjacent areas. Meaning to cross from Khaldiya to Adailiya wasn’t easy. Not only aren’t the walking/running paths connected, but the normal sidewalks aren’t even connected. In some areas I had to walk over greenery or climb over barriers, and then when there were paths like the one pictured above, they led to the middle of the road instead of the other sidewalk. Each area is isolated from the adjacent ones which is pretty annoying. Then once you pass the 40th into Hawalli, the paths start disappearing. By the time I got to Salmiya I was basically running in the streets trying to avoid cars. Such a contrast to how my run started, even the public water fountains disappeared after the 40.

Still, I was expecting it to be a lot more difficult to make it back to Salmiya on foot so I was actually impressed by the experience. I just wish Kuwait was more pedestrian or bike friendly, I’m sure there are a lot of people who wouldn’t mind walking to places if the weather was good.

Last week a friend of mine was telling me how he’s recently been getting into cabs and the drivers use the taximeter instead of making up their own fee up and yesterday the same thing happened to me. I took a cab and when I got in, the driver right away turned on the taximeter. Is this like a normal thing now? Because nobody was using the taximeter previously.

A lot of the small local businesses that pop up on instagram seem to be related with food, but every now and then you get one that isn’t. Concretist is one and I’m so in love with their products.

Concretist is all about concrete if you couldn’t already tell from their name and the photos here. They create different items like candle holders, pots and coasters all by hand using concrete. Their work is very minimilist and tasteful which is why I knew I needed to get something as soon as I saw their stuff. I ended up ordering one of their candle holders, 3 small differently shaped plant pots and a larger custom pot for my beautiful orchid. I actually wanted to get more of their items but I just couldn’t figure out where I’d put them at home.

The guy behind Concretist is Faisal Al-Ghoul, a Jordanian expat who works as a banker during the day but stays up late at night to work on these beautiful concrete creations. He got into concrete out of curiosity when he found a bag of it outside his house one day. Wanting to see what he could do with it, he started experimenting with the concrete and later started creating items for his home. When his friends saw his creations they also wanted some so he started making more and his small business started like that.

Since everything is handmade and made to order, there is usually a short waiting period unless he has the item in stock. My items are taking two weeks to produce which actually isn’t that bad. I like that it takes time but if you’re hoping to get a last minute gift for someone, this isn’t going to be a practical option, not unless you plan ahead which is what I’ll be doing. I also love the fact that you can order the pots with plants since saves me the trouble of going to the plant nurseries myself. Faisal’s prices are very reasonable, if anything I actually think they’re a bit on the low side since for example his small pots start at KD12. Considering they’re hand made and he can only produce so many, his prices are a steal since they’re kinda like little art pieces.

If you’re interested in checking out their items or ordering anything, you can check out the Concretist instagram account @concretist

Over the weekend I had the strangest encounter with someone on Facebook. A girl who I’ll just call “F” added me as a friend and I accepted thinking I knew her because we had a lot of friends in common. But, after flipping through her photos I realized we had never met so I unfriended her. She didn’t take that very well and sadly, this isn’t the first time where my none offensive or aggressive actions were misunderstood. I don’t know what it is about me but it’s really weird how I tend to piss people off pretty frequently without even trying, check out the conversation below:

(Warning: May contain drama)

F: I recall adding you. and i recall an accept but thank you for the unfriendship

Mark: hey, just saw this message, sorry i accepted your friend request thinking we had met before but when i realized we hadn’t i unfriended.

F: sure no worries. my intention was to get to meet everyone in Kuwait so far everyone i added on fb from kuwait i had met
sure good luck !

Mark: i hope you didn’t take it personally, its just with my facebook account i only add or accept people i’ve met in person before.

F: no i don’t take it personally i dont even know you 😉

***** Next day a friend sent me the message above so I messaged her back *****

Mark: ummm why are you asking my friends about me?

F: because i dont trust ur answer and i thought it is weird and odd

Mark: ?

Mark: Which answer

F: and ur enttiled to do what ever u want just i like i am

F: i use facebook differently and now i m sure 100% u have a problem with me
so i got my answer it is not because you do not know me

Mark: Lady I have no clue who you are, Don’t take it personally

F: what bothers me is how people are easily lie to one another without confronting the truth
it is not taking it personally too to ask about it
i cant trust you

Mark: I think you’re mistaking me for someone else
We’ve never met

F: oka i think you r are violating my personal space ..
maybe ur right. i think your someone else.

Mark: Listen not sure what your problem is but I just thought it was weird you were asking people about me.

F: not asking them im questioning your credibility
and your honesty
and what i got is that your weird.

Mark: What does my credibility and honesty have to do with me unfriending u cuz I don’t know u?

F: because i have 5000 friends and i always use facebook to get know people .. i use it for many reasons .. and i found your justtification totally odd

Mark: Wtf

F: okay i have to go back to work..
take care..

F: you know whats funny ? is that i added like 41 people who are friends with ****** because im back home to kuwait and i didnt know anyone .. and thought of making a film about their work and get to to know their life and discover the new kuwait i have been absent from.. so i thought you are one of those open minded people who are trying to create a good mood here and social life.. with your blog.. but again.. your atittude is strange to me and i never saw it from anyone of the 41 pees i added so hence the shock..

F: now it is not your fault it is my fault for thinking you are like me.. open to socializing and new friendships. please refrain from talking to me and sorry about bothering you 🙂
have a wonderful night.

The Division has been out for quite some time now and it’s taken me this long to write about it because I wanted to make sure my opinions didn’t change the longer I played the game. The game has generally been received well by critics, but as always that doesn’t reveal the extent of a games quality. If you don’t know what the Division is, it’s a cover based shooter with RPG mechanics, that’s a quasi MMO. Think of Destiny, yeah. It’s sort of like that.

The set up for the Division is simple. A lethal virus breaks out during Black Friday and spreads across New York City, ravaging the city and killing thousands. Manhattan is quarantined and the US Government activates sleeper agents known as the Division to assist emergency responders to bring stability and order to the city.

The game puts you in the shoes of an unnamed Division agent. You create your character and you’re forced into action. After a few missions you unlock your base which is split into 4 distinct sections. You have the general area where the stores and your stash are located. You have the medical, the security and a tech area. Whenever you upgrade each section you’ll see your base grow, with more personal and more people populating the base. It’s a great thing to see and very satisfying to observe. Each base upgrade also helps your character by adding perks or abilities. So you have more then one reason to upgrade your base. It also makes you think about what upgrade to choose first. Think of these three sections and the abilities they unlock as different play styles: If you focus on the medical section you should consider yourself a healer, if you focus on the tech, a rogue and if you focus on security a tank. Obviously you can mix and match, but generally this is how I thought of it.

I enjoy enemy A.I. that is dynamic and that are smart. Bar some inconsistent moments the A.I. in this game is that. The enemies will try to outflank you so seeking cover in one place isn’t going to guarantee you safety. Your best bet is to shoot, cover and move. Staying out in the open will most likely lead to your death. The game features different groups of gangs that each offer different challenges. Within these gangs you’ll come to be familiar with the different types of enemies you’ll face. There are your melee enemies, who are probably the dumbest of all enemy types. They’ll just run up to you and try to hit you with a bat. They’re easy to kill, but if they do end up hitting you, they’ll deal a lot of damage. Then you have the other typical enemy types: a sniper, a shotgun, and regular grunt who uses automatic rifles. Depending on what gang you’re facing you’ll face more types of enemies. For example there is a gang called the Cleaners. They usually come equipped with flame-throwers and will burn anything that comes close to them. Then you have the boss-type characters who have a ton of armor and take some time to kill. Sometimes you’ll have to fight more than one and these fights can be pretty intense.

Is pickle juice the new health hype? Many new health claims state that pickle juice can enhance athletic performance, and improve blood sugar control for those with diabetes; which makes me wonder whether drinking pickle juice can actually be worth it?

Before we take a look at the nutritional aspects of pickle juice, we need to keep in mind that this drink is definitely going to be a salty one! So those with high blood pressure issues should definitely stay away from this drink. In regards to carb, protein or fat amounts, pickle juice doesn’t really have much to make it stand out in a special group. What pickle juice does have is lots of sodium as well as a decent amount of probiotics.

In the old days, pickle juice was the result of combining cucumbers, salt and water. The cucumbers are fermented by the bacteria Lactobacillus resulting in some probiotic content in the pickle juice. Nowadays, pickle juice is the result of combining cucumbers in vinegar, therefore no probiotics are really available, so stick to your yogurt if you want the probiotics. Regardless of the probiotic content, pickle juice is claimed to have other health benefits that may or may not have any truth to them.

1 – Pickle juice can help relieve muscle cramps.
Muscle cramps could be the most annoying thing, especially when they happen when you’re asleep or during a workout. There could be a cure, but only after the cramp takes place. Recent research has shown that taking 1 ml per kg of your current body weight of pickle juice during a muscle cramp could help you recover faster than drinking plain water or ignoring it and not having anything at all. The verdict: TRUE! Keep your pickle juice jars on your nightstands or take them with you to the gym if you frequently get muscle cramps. It could be worth it for you if it takes you a while to recover from that cramp.

2 – Pickle juice can help with stomach cramps.
Stomach cramps usually happen due to low amounts of acid in the stomach. Adding in the acidic pickle juice could potentially help since we are re-adding acid to our stomachs. Unfortunately no scientific evidence has proved that re-adding acid could help with stomach cramps. The verdict: FALSE! Maybe sticking to antacids or just avoiding some foods could be best with stomach cramps.

3 – Pickle juice can help enhance athletic performance.
The theory is behind the high salt content in pickle juice. Since salt retains fluid, the idea is that having pickle juice prior to exercising could keep you more hydrated and enhance your athletic performance for exercises requiring stamina. Unfortunately most studies have not shown any effect making this claim worthwhile. The verdict: FALSE! Stick to regular water, good training and sleep to enhance your performance.

4 – Pickle juice can control blood sugar.
Vinegar and blood sugar have been researched for a while. The link is between vinegar and insulin to be precise, where vinegar has been shown to improve sensitivity to insulin in the body – therefore reducing blood sugar levels. Vinegar has also been found to slow down the absorption of food in the stomach, when taken with a meal; that could also help potentially lower blood sugar levels. The verdict: True! I would consider adding vinegar but not necessarily consuming a cup of pickle juice with my lunch or dinner. Perhaps some apple cider vinegar in my salad dressing would be a more palatable choice.

So, would you be consuming pickle juice? I certainly will continue to enjoy eating my pickles and until more research has been conducted, I will be holding off on the pickle juice.

Post by Hyatt Al Sayegh, a Clinical Dietitian and Dr. Sears Health Coach.
Founder of Fork Fed.

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Since summer is knocking on our doorsteps this is the perfect time to post about the Cuisinart ice cream maker I recently purchased (the Cuisinart ICE-30BC).

I’ve recently been trying out the ketogenic diet after hearing about it on one of the podcasts I listen to and the main principle of the diet is you’re not supposed to consume any sugar or any carbs but you’re supposed to have lots of fat. Avocados are one great way of introducing a lot of fat into your diet but I personally don’t like the way they taste. So I was looking for a simple keto recipe that involved avocados and I found one for an avocado chocolate chunk ice cream that sounded delicious. I had honestly been looking for an excuse to buy an ice cream maker for a while so as soon as I found the recipe I decided to get one.

I kinda already knew what I wanted a Cuisinart ice cream maker since I’m fond of the brand and I knew I had seen them in Kuwait. So I did my research and the only places that carried the ice cream maker were Lakeland, Williams-Sonoma and Tavola (the Cuisinart dealer). Williams-Sonoma only had the dual ice cream maker which I wasn’t interested in since it was too big, Lakeland had the model I wanted but they were selling it for KD42 while Tavola were selling the exact same one for KD32.350. So I ended up picking it up from Tavola and since I was already in Shuwaikh, I decided to pass by Williams-Sonoma to pick up the best ice cream scoop you can buy, the Zeroll 1020.

The way the ice cream maker works is very simple. There are two main parts, the bowl and the main unit. You take the bowl and stick it in the freezer for 12+ hours and only take it out when you want to make ice cream. When your mixture is ready and the bowl frozen, you take the bowl from the freezer and place it in the main unit. You then pour your mixed ingredients into the bowl and let the ice cream maker churn your mixture for around 20 minutes until it turns into ice cream. Thats all there is to it.

I have to say, my avocado chocolate chunk ice cream has been turning out really delicious. And because I am buying the ingredients, I can control how healthy my ice cream is and so I’m having it guilt free. At KD32 this really is a no brainer impulse buy. So if you feel like making your own ice cream this summer, get this. Here is the map to Tavola [Google Maps] and you could call them on 24825761.

Once a year Arabian Business releases a list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women” and every year I go through the list and find all the Kuwait based women and list them on the blog. Last year the list was the smallest since I started keeping track of it with only 5 women making the list and 2013 had the highest number with 11 women making the list. This year things have improved slightly with 7 women making the list including a few new comers like Noor Al Qatami, the owner of SaveCo. Shaikha Al Bahar is also back on top as the most powerful Kuwaiti woman after losing that spot last year to Maali Alasousi, who went from 25th most powerful Arabi women to no longer being on the list. Here are the most powerful women in Kuwait for 2016:

48- Shaikha Al Bahar (-27)
56- Maha Al Ghunaim (-5)
74- Sara Akbar (+20)
76- Eaman Al Roudhan (New)
83- Elham Yousry Mahfouz (New)
89- Noor Al Qatami (New)
94- Rasha Al Roumi (-48)

Note: The (-) is how many spots they dropped from the previous year, (+) is how many spots they’ve moved up and (New) means they weren’t on the list last year.

For the full list of most powerful Arab women, click [Here]

Update: Changed the post title to reflect the fact not all the powerful women in Kuwait are Kuwaiti.

Last week I was making ice cream and had trouble getting Vanilla Extract so I ended up ordering Vanilla Paste (and 100% unsweetened cocoa) from Gourmet Shelf’s website. When they delivered my items they told me that they now had most of their products at The Approved Market and since I hadn’t been there in awhile, I decided to pass by this weekend to see what new items they had. Turns out The Approved Market now sells water enhancers.

I only found out about water enhancers when I was in LA last summer since they’re pretty big over there. Water enhancers are basically liquid drops you add into your water to give it a flavor. It’s mostly for people who have trouble consuming enough water during the day and also for people looking for healthy alternatives to soda. I hadn’t seen water enhancers being sold anywhere else in Kuwait so figured I’d post about it here.

Since we’re on the subject of items that we can’t find in Kuwait, when Gourmet Shelf dropped off my items they asked me if there was anything I wanted but I couldn’t find in Kuwait. They’re looking to start importing more products to Kuwait and need some ideas of what to bring. So if there is a food item that you love but can’t find in Kuwait or think they should bring, mention what it is in the comments below so I could pass it to them.

I don’t know about you guys, but pre- and probiotics have always been confusing for me. It hasn’t been until recently that scientists and nutritionist have felt that strongly about the benefits of pre- and probiotics, as well as the importance of including them in our diet. Personally, I don’t like taking supplements and always prefer taking in my nutrients from a natural form. Let’s take a look at them in a bit more detail.

– Probiotics are the beneficial bacteria (good bacteria) that enhances our gut flora. These types of bacteria helps protect our digestive tracts from fungi.

– Prebiotics are usually found in the fiber that our gut is unable to digest THAT the probiotic bacteria uses as food.

You might be thinking why it is important to include the probiotics to enhance your gut flora?

– The reason is that sometimes we make food choices that can impact our gut health, which could make us feel bloated or easily prone to getting sick. We already have both good and bad bacteria in our gut, the key point is to enhance or help the good bacteria overgrow the bad bacteria and therefore helping us feel better and digest food better.

– High-sugar and high-fat foods enhance the growth of the bad bacteria in our gut, which could slow down the digestive process making you feel unhealthy and could stop you from losing weight.

Taking a look at our food:
Prebiotic Foods (foods that feed good bacteria):
Foul (broad beans)
– Chickpeas
– Bananas
– Berries
– Garlic
– Onion
– Oats

Probiotic Foods (foods containing the good bacteria):
– Kefir
– Fermented  Cheese/yogurt (soft cheeses)
– Miso
– Non-pasteurized pickles
– Kombucha
– Kimchi

As you can see, getting probiotics from your diet is a bit difficult, while getting prebiotics is much easier. This is were probiotic supplementation could come into play. When looking at supplements, make sure they label the number of live bacteria available per dose (20 billion should be your target),  as well as the type of bacteria being used, and the expiry date (live bacteria can’t live on forever). I hope this helps!

Post by Hyatt Al Sayegh, a Clinical Dietitian and Dr. Sears Health Coach.
Founder of Fork Fed.

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