Search: “sti”

I am at The Avenues now and they have flowers and greenary all over the place sponsored by different companies for a Blooming for Life charity thing where all proceeds go to the Red Crescent. I think the mall looks much much better with these flowers everywhere, they should consider keeping them permanantly. (Posted from my Nokia E61i)

I went to Johnny Rockets tonight and noticed they had the word “fresh” before the word “patty” covered with a sticker. I guess they stopped using fresh patties?

Note: The first “fresh” came before “ground beef” the second fresh removed was before the word “patties”.

I got a new car over the weekend and today I went to transfer it into my name but like everything dealing with the government, it always turns out to be a complicated and adventurous process.

Me and the previous owner of the car who’s a friend of mine first went to the Government Mall (thats what its called) to do the transfer there. Once we went in they told us if the car has old plates we need to go to 3aseema branch and do the transfer from there.

So we drive all the way to the end of the 4th ring road where the 3aseema branch is located and after running around from window to window, they told us because I live in Salmiya we need to go to the Meidan Hawalli branch.

So we turn around and drive back all the way to the other end of the 4th ring road to the Median Hawalli branch. After signing a paper the car got transfered into my name and we went to collect the new plates. I don’t know how the system works but my plate number turned out to be 11617 which I am guessing means the person 6 places ahead of me ended up getting 11611 which would have been a pretty cool number to have. If I was one place ahead even I would have ended up with 11616 which would still have been pretty nice.

On my way back to the car there were a bunch of people outside that offered me the service of installing the plates for me. The plates don’t come with any holes so for KD1 they will make the holes and fit the plate on to the car. This whole process of running around from place to place took around 2 hours and a half!

Ok, I got the power back on in my flat. Although my windows were all closed dust still managed to come into the house and now EVERYTHING has a layer of sand on it. I couldn’t see ANYTHING outside my window. When I first heard the wind I looked outside and I saw a cloud of sand literally sweep into my block like a huge wave, something I’ve only seen in movies. Within second visibility dropped down to like 10cm, I couldn’t see ANYTHING outside. That extremely powerful wind with dust continued for a couple of minutes before I started hearing a banging sound on my window. I stepped back thinking whatever was hitting my window was going to break it but then I noticed it was rain drops. In a few seconds it started raining really strong and the dust cleared up but then I noticed the rain was so powerful and in such large quantity that water started pouring into my apartment like a waterfall from the window sill. I quickly grabbed a ton of towels and started to do what I can to hold back the water. Once I got that under control I called Nat up to see if she was ok.

Nat was at the gym when the storm hit and she was extremely pissed. The power shutdown at her gym and when they tried to exit the building all exits were locked. The elevators stopped working so when they took the fire escape all the exits were blocked. Her and the other gym members are EXTREMELY pissed off now because if there had been a fire they would all have been fucked. And its not some small shabby gym, this happened at Flex!

Anyway I would like to thank susheeh for naming this storm Hurricane Kuwaitina. How hard were you guys hit? Post your experience in the comments below.

If you have any pictures email them to me: [email protected]

Update: I am uploading all the pictures I get to a photo album which you can view by clicking [Here]

What the hell happened?? My block looks like New Orleans after Katrina! (Posted from my Nokia E61i)

What the fuck is going on outside. Suddenly there was super strength wind like a hurricane and its still happening. Fucking DUST STORM WITH RAIN, FUCK. Never seen anything like this before!!

I was just checking Q8car and I couldn’t access it, when I tried Q8showroom I also couldn’t access them. Can’t be a coincidence that both sites are down. They’re both hosted in different places so I am guessing they’ve been hacked?

Update: Q8car is now back up, Q8showroom is still down.

Update 2: Both sites working fine now.

The Burger Hub is another one of those places I never tried because I absolutely hated their branding. With places like Burger Boutique and Slider Station, the bar has been raised when it comes to the design of burger joints in Kuwait and the fact that Burger Boutique and Slider Station are local creations just like Burger Hub means there is no excuse for bad design. If we put aside the ugly logo, placemats and the confusing menu, whats up with the interior design? Its just really awful, and the bathrooms are even worse. The whole thing put together just makes it look like Burger Hub were trying really hard to be different and stylish but the result just makes them look like wannabes. Having Slider Station a few doors down isn’t helping either. One thing they got right and the most important aspect of this review though was their burger.

According to their placemat their most popular burger was the La Rose Burger which consists of the beef burger covered with caramelized onions, mushroom sauce and swiss cheese. So I placed an order for that with a side order of fries and waited. When the burger arrived I wasn’t impressed by the presentation. It came in a small metal pan that had white paper on the bottom and the burger on the top which looked pretty cheap.

I really came into the place already with a negative impression and nothing there was really helping me change my mind until I started eating the burger. Wow what a shock. Everything about the place was telling me this burger was going to suck but it was just delicious. When I first saw the bread I expected it to be hard but it turned out to be very soft and although the burger was really juicy, the bread never got soggy. The beef patty also tasted great while the mushroom sauce wasn’t overdone and the cheese was just right. I couldn’t believe I was not only liking the burger but loving it.

But not all is perfect, before I could really start to enjoy the burger I had already finished it. I guess for a 12 year old girl on an Atkins diet the burger is actually a good size but for me I wished it was ever so slightly bigger. I also wished the onions were more caramelized since some of it still tasted raw. Overall though the burger was really impressive and thats why I am giving it a 4 out of 5 which actually ties it in first place with their neighbors, Slider Station. I will definitely be going back again, they have a really large collection of burgers which I think I am going to have fun going through. Now if only they can revamp their identity.

The Burger Hub is located on the Gulf Road opposite Seef Palace.
The cost of the La Rose Burger was KD2.600

Although Totally Fish has been open in Marina Crescent for two years now I never passed by to try it. It was one of those places I kept hearing negative stuff about mostly that it was too expensive and that the food wasn’t really good. But last night I felt like having seafood and decided to pass by Totally Fish since it was nearby.

I was with Nat and we ended up ordering Salmon Croquette and Prawns Cake for appetizer while for the main course she had a Salmon dish while I had Balloul. The appetizers were pretty ordinary and we wouldn’t order them again. We also didn’t like our main courses that much, Nats salmon had too many flavors, none of which was Salmon while my Balloul was just really forgettable. The biggest surprise was the fact that the prices weren’t expensive at all. The Salmon Croquette was around KD1.500, while the Prawns Cake around KD2.500. The Salmon was for KD6.750 while the Balloul was KD6.500. The portions were also surprisingly big.

Even though we didn’t enjoy any of the dishes I am still going to go back. Its common to order the wrong dishes the first time at a place and since their location is good, the staff friendly and the prices very reasonable, they are worth a second visit.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about Cinemagic’s weekly film screening so in case you don’t know about it, here is the latest film they will be showing:

Cinemagic is delighted to announce the return of our weekly screening program. Screenings will continue to take place at our new location in Old Salmiya, above LG Electronics.

This week, we will be screening “Children of Men”. The Screening will take place on Thursday, April 10th, at 7:30 p.m.

Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón returns to the helm to tell this futuristic tale in which society is without hope since humankind lost its ability to procreate. The year is 2027, and women can no longer give birth. The youngest inhabitant of the planet has just died at the age of 18, and all hope for humanity has been lost. As civilization descends into chaos, a dying world finds one last chance for survival in the form of a woman who has become inexplicably pregnant. Now, as warring nationalistic sects clash and British leaders try to maintain their totalitarian stronghold on the country, a disillusioned bureaucrat (Clive Owen) is brought back into the fold of activism by his guerrilla ex-wife (Julianne Moore). Reluctantly, he takes on the daunting task of escorting Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), the refugee who represents humankind’s last hope for survival, out of harm’s way and into the care of a mysterious organization known as The Human Project. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, and Michael Caine co-star in this adaptation of author P.D. James’s gripping 1992 novel.

For its part, Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of filmmaking.

As always, attendance is free of charge (but seating is limited). Snacks and refreshments will be served.

Electrozan recently relocated to a new larger location a few buildings away from their original spot. I never passed by the old place since to be honest I hated the name and their logo and for me sometimes thats all I need to stay away from a place. Tonight though I passed by the new store and although I still hate the name and logo, I kinda liked the place.

They don’t have anything special electronics wise and the place isn’t really that big but what I liked about the place was the warehouse look. It reminded me a lot of Costco in the States except without the special offer on the 100-roll pack of toilet paper. According to a banner Electrozan had in the store, they didn’t spend money on the interior design because they wanted to pass on the savings to the consumers. Well I think more stores should follow in their steps since most places can’t get the design right anyway so they might as well just not bother trying and just do it like this, it looks wayy better than a lot of crap out there. Two more pictures after the jump.

I was talking to a friend who is trying to get her driving license here in Kuwait and she told me its as if the system is set up to fail you unless you have wasta. That comment reminded me of the written test Nat and I took over a year ago when getting our motorbike license in which we both got the same question in the test except my question didn’t have a right answer. Here is a larger picture showing what I am talking about. [Picture]

We would like to take some time off from eating burgers and posting YouTube videos to wish our good friend Marzouq congratulations on getting engaged. It feels like just yesterday we were sitting in the diwaniya discussing the realities of life and eating machboos diyay while wondering why anyone would get married at such a young age. The allure of the single life with its motorcycles and Friday breakfasts has faded.. leaving us alone in our diwaniyas with an xbox unable to play hi-def content.

May your pants be passed upon others to slide and crash on.

Posted by K

Update: This was just an April Fool’s prank

I’ve never liked Applebee’s because I never had a good experience there. Whatever I ordered I ended up hating and their menu just didn’t have as much variety as I wanted. Yesterday I passed by for the first time in over a year ago and things have changed considerably since my last visit. The menu has a lot more interesting stuff on it and probably the most shocking thing of all, I actually left the place satisfied and thinking about going back.

They had four burgers on their menu but I decided to go with the cheese burger since the other options were a classic burger with no cheese, a cheese burger with bacon, and the last burger was I think a Hawaiian burger with Pineapple (gross!). All the burgers are made using a 100% Angus Beef and cooked medium well.

My burger arrived 10-15 minutes after placing my order and after a few bites I realized that although the Applebee’s burger isn’t good enough to be a contender for the top spot, it was a pretty good burger. It tasted and smelled like it was grilled on a backyard barbecue which is a good thing because barbecued burgers always taste good. The burger was not super thick but was still very juicy and the cheese melted perfectly. Now one thing I found weird although it didn’t have an effect on the taste was that it felt like I was biting into a steak and not a burger. I don’t know if thats normal with Angus beef but it just felt weird.

Overall though there wasn’t much wrong with the burger. It didn’t have this “oh I need to have another one right now” taste to it which is why it didn’t score any higher. But it did score pretty high because I’m giving it a 3.5 out of 5 which puts it inline with the Fuddruckers burger. That alone is an achievement.

Applebee’s is located on the Gulf Road, Mishref and Souk Sharq.
The cost of the Angus Cheese Burger was KD2.150

Previously Reviewed:
Bredz
Fuddruckers
Hashi
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Prime & Toast
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
The Little Oven
Wimpy

My favorite laptop sleeve is made by WaterField Designs. It’s the most important accessory for my laptop and I’ve had mine since 2001. Back then I had an Apple iBook and I ordered the sleeve with a Vertigo bag from WaterField and I still use them today. Best of all both the sleeve and bag still look brand new, like I had purchased them yesterday. Thats because they are so well made, all of WaterField’s stuff is hand made in San Francisco. I just ordered another sleeve for Nat’s new laptop and thought I should post about how good their products are. [Link]