Categories
Food & Drinks Guest Bloggers Healthier Lifestyle Information

Holy Sugar-Cravings-of-Ramadan Batman!

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

The first day of Ramadan was a total bust. True epic failure. You guys would’ve been disappointed at the horrors that took place at my family’s futoor table.

Yet, like the phoenix, I rise again and avail in favor of sticking to my plan like every other dedicated fitness enthusiast, which lasted a few seconds right after the kanafa, atayef and cheese cake arrived, where I yet again continued to disgrace my will and testament in keeping my mouth shut and saving dessert for later.

Of course a few cups of sage, thyme, ginger, white tea, gymnema sylvestre and peppermint post pig-out should minimize the gut-damage, at least in accordance to my mother.  On a side note, I’ll be discussing more about those 6 herbs and how they can benefit you when indulging in belt-widening carby and fatty mixtures from hell.

This Post’s About Dessert BTW

I guide you how to eat dessert responsibly, I throw in a few jokes, then you follow my advice by eating dessert responsibly and we all live happily every after. The usual Q&A is available for any necessary inquiries in regards to the subject or any other relevant areas in fitness, health and nutrition.

Snacking Rules:

*Dessert should never go above 300 calories.

*Each snack should contain all macro nutrients, including junk-nutrients such as sugar and fat. Inclusion of all macros balance out the snack, providing a more subtle release of blood sugar.

*This is bullet point #3 and isn’t remotely relevant to the subject at hand.

*Snacks are to be consumed 2.5-3 hours after a meal or before a meal.




Categories
Movies Videos

Trailer: Enthiran

Enthiran according to Wikipedia is the costliest movie ever made in Asia costing around $40,615,760. It’s Terminator meets Bollywood. [YouTube]

Thanks Nand




Categories
Information

Update on Bahraini blogger vs AlQabas

I posted a couple of days back about how AlQabas newspaper stole an image from a Bahraini blogger and published it in the newspaper. Well just an update, Aysha the blogger will be contacting a lawyer who will be sending a letter to AlQabas. Depending on the response they get they will then decide what action to take. Personally I am curious to see what the outcome of this will be.

On another note, I emailed the editor of Arab Time asking him if he was aware of various cases in which they copy pasted posts from local bloggers into their newspaper without giving any credit. I haven’t gotten a reply yet.




Categories
Strange

Strange Ramadan Ecards

What’s probably stranger than these cards is the fact that people still send Ecards… [Link]

via BoingBoing




Categories
Personal Travel

Time Off

I’m going to be in Beirut for the next 10 days enjoying the sun. As usual I’ll still be posting from there. I’m taking my GF1 with me so expect a lot of pictures.




Categories
Food & Drinks

Heart Attack Breakfast

Fried cheese melt, made with four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese grilled between two slices of sourdough bread. It is served with French fries and a side of marinara sauce. [Link]




Categories
Video Games

Easa Husain Al-Yousifi & Sons co.

Does anyone from Easa Husain Al-Yousifi & Sons co. (Panasonic dealer) read my blog? If yes I have a strange question. Around 6 years ago you had a stash of all video game systems on the top floor, far corner of your Kuwait City branch. Overnight the video game section closed and all the merchandise (Gameboy’s, Super Nintendos, Sega 32x’s etc..) where taken somewhere. My question is where is this stash now? If you can help [Email Me]




Categories
Food & Drinks Kuwait

Kababji Responds

Dear Mark, Readers and Valued Kabab-ji Customers,

We would like to express our sincere respect and appreciation to the blog post comparing Kabab-ji with its competitors as well as the constructive feedback received by the blog readers.

At the start, the comparison shown within the initial blog post was misrepresented, we contacted Mark and he took the kind liberty to amend the post which is now accurate and resembles a fair comparison.

As mentioned within the amended blog post, it is true, we do focus and pride ourselves when it comes to high quality meats that are delivered to our customers at the highest quality standards.

We are passionate about our meat and care about where it comes from. We distinguish ourselves within Kuwait by utilizing Australian bobby veal meat which is an extremely tender & lean nutritious meat produced in South-Eastern Australia , inspected and certified for export by AQIS (Australian Government Quarantine and Inspection Service) and AUSMEAT (Meat-Standards Australia). No meat leaves Australia without accreditation and certification by the above bodies, on every shipment.

Being meticulously selected from Australia, our Hallal bobby veal meat is unbeatable in terms of quality. Most importantly, the animals used are growth hormone and antibiotic-free, are fed a vegetarian diet and of course, are humanely raised.

Furthermore, once the meat arrives to Kuwait, our production facility specialists handle it with utmost respect and attention to the BRC standards which is a leading global product safety and global certification program, which our production facilities strictly follow on a daily basis. You can read more about BRC on their website: https://www.brcglobalstandards.com/

In the end, yes, we may be a bit more expensive when it comes to our products, but our customers are also paying for unparalleled quality and flavour, with safety measures on a global standard.

Thank you once again for your initiative and we will do our best to continue offering our valued customers with the highest quality products and services.

We look forward to receiving feed forward from Kebab-ji fans and comments that can help us improve and better serve our valued customers.

Please do feel free to contact me directly on 97285651 or email me at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Miguel Angel Estevez- Gonzalez

KFG – Group
Director of Operations CD & IDD innovation Officer




Categories
Food & Drinks Kuwait Personal

Kebabji Update

I got a phone call today from someone at Kebabji regarding the comparison I did the other day. They told me instead of ordering 2 grilled meat tikka skewers for KD2.390 I could order their savings meal which comes with 3 skewers for KD2.595. They told me only then would it be a fair comparison. They also told me the reason their meat is more expensive is because it’s sourced from Australia. In any case I’ve now revised the review to reflect this new update.

As you can see with the chart below, even with this update Kebabji still provides the least amount of meat for the price. The picture above is also of the 3 skewers from Kebabji. I guess they’re focused on quality more than quantity.




Categories
Information Kuwait Personal

Fire in my building!

We just had to evacuate our office building due to a fire on the 6th floor. We had to walk down from the 21st floor. Will post pics and more later.

Update: I’m back home now so I can post about what happened. Our office is on the 21st floor of Jawhara Tower behind NBK on Fahad Al Salem street. It was around 10:30 I think and I decided to go down to the grocery to get some water. I took the lift and when I got to the ground floor I noticed a small crowd of people gathered outside the lifts but I didn’t think much. I was on the phone with Nataly and when I walked out of the lift area into the main lobby I noticed more people gathered there and I started to hear the fire alarm. I didn’t know what was going so I told Nat I would call her back. I then called one of my workmates up in our office and told him it looks like there could be a fire in the building since the fire alarm is on and there are people downstairs. He asked me what we should do I told him I would come up and talk to him.

So I casually went back into the lift and headed back to the 21st floor. When I was passing the 9th floor I noticed it smelled like fire. I was like WTF? I got to our floor and I started to tell people there was a fire. We weren’t sure if we should evacuate because everything looked normal on our floor. No fire alarms, no smoke, no smell and nothing unusual. So we were thinking maybe it was just a false alarm when someone noticed the elevators area which I had just come up from was now starting to fill up with smoke. That’s when we started evacuating everyone.

The building isn’t fully occupied yet, I think out of the 26 floors only 10 are occupied. We started heading down the fire escape, it was a long way down and for most of it uneventful until we hit around the 10th floor. That’s when we started to notice a bit of smoke. When we got to the 7th 6th floor we noticed the smoke got a lot heavier and that on the fire was on the 6th 5th floor below us. I snapped the picture above which was of the poor building security guard trying to put out the fire.

We decided to cut across to the other side of the building and take the fire escape on the other side since I figured there should be less smoke and water there. When we crossed and got to the second fire escape we noticed it was filled with construction material. Large rocks, pieces of metal, foam, nylon bags… I wish I took a picture. We cleared some out of the way since there were people coming down that fire escape and the trash was slowing things down. There was a line of people going down the escape and it was moving pretty slow since there was a woman who seemed to be exhausted going down and we were all waiting behind her. Someone was helping her go down but it was still just very slow. By the time we got to the second floor I noticed one fireman coming up that fire escape and then finally we got out of the building.

Now that I am home I am thinking of all the mistakes that occurred like why didn’t the fire alarm go off in the whole building? If I hadn’t gone down to the ground floor by coincidence I wouldn’t have heard the fire alarm and I wouldn’t have been able to warn people upstairs. Also usually when there is a fire the elevators stop working and all automatically go down to the ground floor. The elevators in our building actually allowed me to go up to the 21st floor during a fire! Thirdly the fire escapes contained a lot of items in them which made our escape hazardous and slowed everything down. The security guards although were being brave to try and put out the fire shouldn’t have been doing that, if anything they should have been helping people get out. They didn’t have any masks on or proper gear and I am sure they are all now suffering from smoke inhalation. Hopefully they all made it out ok. I didn’t experience that much smoke and I am already blowing out black sooth from my nose. Because they also had the fire escape door open when they were trying to put out the fire, that resulted in the whole fire escape filling up with smoke and making things dangerous for the people escaping.

This all brings me to my final question. The other day the elevators weren’t working in my apartment building so I took the fire escape down. It was dark so I used my phone to light up the way and there were a ton of obstacles in the way which made it very difficult for me to go down. Who can I call to complain to so they can come and check our buildings fire safety? I am sure it’s illegal to fill up the fire escapes with garbage. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone of the fire in our office building.

Update2: Sorry just proof read what I wrote and noticed a bunch of spelling mistakes and grammar errors. Didn’t have time to do that earlier. Also the fire turned out to be on the 5th floor not 6th.




Categories
Food & Drinks Gossip & Rumors Kuwait

Is this Pinkberry?

Noticed today they closed up an area next to IKEA, I am guessing this is the location of the second Pinkberry branch.

Update: I just got a confirmation, this is the new location of the second Pinkberry. Nothing still on Shake Shack.




Categories
50s to 90s Interesting Kuwait Videos

Kuwait: Class Of 1990

Anyone know when this documentary on Al Jazeera will be showing or if they’ve already shown it. The subject seems very interesting since its about reuniting class mates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion. In 1990 I graduated from Sunshine School which ceased to exist right after the Iraqi invasion (later it became BSK). I never ended up seeing anyone ever again but with the help of the Sunshine School Facebook group I was able to get in touch with some of them again. [YouTube]

Update: Taken from the Al Jazeera website

On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army invaded the emirate of Kuwait, which Saddam Hussein, the then Iraqi president, had declared Iraq’s 19th province.

The occupation of Kuwait may have only lasted seven months, yet the memory of it remains strong, not least in the minds of the children of that conflict.

At the end of the school year of 1990, students in an international school in Kuwait said their final farewells as they headed off for the summer holidays. Many of them would never meet again.

Al Jazeera’s Nashwa Nasreldin was one of those whose family was forced to relocate following the invasion.

Twenty years on, she returns to Kuwait, the country of her birth, along with a group of her classmates as they organise a reunion to find out what happened to their friends – and their school – during the war that separated them.

Kuwait: The class of 1990 can be seen from Monday, August 2, 2010 at the following times GMT: Monday: 1900; Tuesday: 0600; Wednesday: 0300; Thursday: 1400; Friday: 0600; Saturday: 1900; Sunday: 0300.




Categories
Food & Drinks Guest Bloggers Healthier Lifestyle Kuwait

The Super Duper Guide to Losing Fat and Maintaining Muscle in Ramadan

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

I would first like to apologize for my long absence from the world of blogging and greatly appreciate all my supporting readers for being patient and understanding. Moreover, I’d also like to send my sincerest apologies to those of you who have emailed me but haven’t recieved a reply. I’d like to thank you all for putting up with my crap and style of writing, which by-the-way will only get worse. I’ve stated this a million times. If you’re not cool with my writing nature, then don’t read me. I should warn you, though; you’re going to miss out on some epic nutrition advice.

Before I begin preaching, I’d like to clarify how this guide will work:

1) I’ll list down all the basics of Ramadan eating and training to provide a brief understanding for the readers.

2) The reader will then post his/her goal, physical stats (height, weight, bf % if available) and Ramadan lifestyle (exercise timing, family gatherings, favorite/worst foods, etc).

3) I will then reply with a customized optimal plan for that reader’s goal

4) Other readers/haters who are too lazy to comment/hate can read/[go-kill-themselves] the Q&A’s below so that they may personally implement on their own.

The Q&A below will serve as a guide to unanswered questions anyone might have about Ramadan. Please refrain from emailing me since the goal of this post is to publicly educate through the written facts/opinions/experiences and the associated comments.

Credibility and Experience

It took me around 3 Ramadans to fully understand how my body works when it comes to losing fat and maintaining muscle when fasting. From eating small portions of food to indulging in every calorie dense food item, I’ve realized the only way to survive Ramadan is by doing the exact same thing.

1st Attempt: I dieted in Ramadan, performing 30-60 minutes of cardio 2 hours prior to breaking my fast, and weight lifting 1 hour after a light futoor, followed by a light dinner and a light suhoor.

Result: Managed to lose 10kg in 1 month.

Damage: Managed to lose a lot of my hard earned muscle. Fail.

2nd Attempt: I gorged on endless calories, weight-lifted with less intensity and did absolutely no cardio.

Result: Gained 5kg.

Damage: 5kg of fat; but I kept my muscle. Epic fail.

3rd Attempt: Dieted 3 months prior to Ramadan (low calorie intake, 60 minutes of cardio, 30-45 minutes of weight-lifting). Stuck to the same level of calorie intake and workout-intensity in Ramadan, eliminated cardio completely.

Result: Nothing. Kept my muscle, maintained my superb condition.

Damage: Refer to the above. Boo-Yeah.




Categories
Events Fashion Food & Drinks Kuwait

Event: Kuwait’s Got Talent

This coming weekend, July 30th to August 1st, Villa Moda will showcase an exhibition of mixed talent from Kuwait in an exhibition called ‘Kuwait’s Got Talent’. The talent are:

Haya Al Qateefi
Brand: Vogue Jumpsuits – the name is self explanatory

Abdullah Suleiman Al Dosary
Brand: Arabic perfumes, lotions and oud as well as accessories

Asmah Al Dosary
Amazing up to date trendy clothing line

Shaikha Al Houti
Brand: Purse-is-Hers – a line of accessories for women that can be custom made or customized according to the individual’s needs, from materials to finishing. HIS – the same line for men

Nour Al Jasem
Brand: Butterfly Gallery – customization of everything from shoes to car steering wheels

Ascia Al Farraj
Brand: Twenty Ten – great t-shirts with a twist and some handmade accessories

Nili Zahar
Nili Couture and prêt-a-porter clothing –kaftans

Lolwa Al-Mannaie
Brand: LOLOMASS –clothing collection – featuring some Diraa and kaftans for Ramadan

Nat Bakes
A small business specializing in baked goods, mainly cupcakes, freshly baked and delivered to your door. Customized cupcakes, for events, even weddings. Samples will be available for tasting.

Date: Friday July 30th to August 1st.
Time: 5:00pm to 9:00pm
Note: VIP & Press preview is on Friday 30th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm




Categories
Funny Kuwait Strange

The most wonderful green place in Kuwait

The below is taken from the Boulevard project about us page:

Nestled in the heart of Salmiya, the vibrant area southeast of Kuwait City, with rich demographic diversity, Boulevard is an emerging oasis in the middle of the city, a fabulous world full of real facilities!

Once a large desolated plot of land, the area is now one of the most wonderful green places to visit in the State of Kuwait, benefiting from excellent road access on all sides principally from the Fifth Ring Road and Arabian Gulf Street.

Today, Boulevard is the largest touristic hub in the country, including more than 353 thousand square meters of fabulous year-round family fun, and offering a splendid range of cultural and recreational events and activities and a constant source of wonderful delights.

Notice anything strange? Well below is a picture of Boulevard today. I don’t think it looks that green and popular but I could be wrong… [Link]