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Kabab Al Hajat are know in Kuwait for their Kababs but recently they started making shawerma and I was curious to know how well it faired up.

Anyone who has ever been to Kabab Al Hajat and tried ordering food will know that there usually its extremely crowded and wait is long. Thankfully the shawerma station there has its own cashier and so is never full. When I passed by they only had chicken shawerma but the guy told me they were going to add meat also soon. I ordered two chicken and a coke, each shawerma costs 250fils and the coke 100fils.

Firstly it is important to point out I had my shawerma at lunch time. Very very few places serve shawerma during the day for some reason, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 places max that serve shawerma for lunch so Kabab Al Hajat don’t have much competition while the sun is still out.

How did the shawerma taste? Well the garlic wasn’t strong which I usually mark as a bad thing. This time though I actually appreciated it because I was having shawerma during my lunch break and I didn’t want to get back to the office stinking of garlic. The overall flavor of the shawerma though was average, nothing in it stuck out as being amazing and there was no flavor that tasted weird or out of place. They use small Arabic bread not the hot dog one (samoon).

For the final score I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Since they serve shawerma for lunch I think thats a great thing and I would pass by again for sure. At night though I would rather drive a bit further and get a shawerma from Badar Al Badoor.

Goodbye Google, hello Kevin! I think I found my new search engine. [Link]

note: I am being sarcastic!

Just got back from The Avenues and its pretty big. The place looks cooler then Marina Mall and I counted at least 5 Starbucks, 2 Boots, 2 H&M’s and 2 The Body Shops. A lot of stores are still closed but its still worth a visit.

Since a large stake of Aston Martin was purchased by Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co it makes Aston Martin a Kuwaiti company and this is why I suggest they update the Aston Martin logo with something that relates to Kuwait. This is one suggestion:

Another suggestion would be to replace the dhows on the Kuwaiti currency with silhouettes of Aston Martins…

update: A friend suggested maybe Aston Martin can now release a small white pickup truck (waneyt)

Today I had the MTC Atheer commercial shoot with Ilham Al Madfai and Shada from Star Academy. I woke up at 7AM and was on the set by 8. The whole shoot took place in an old house/museum here in Lebanon and it was a really beautiful location. The shoot started at 8:30AM and ended 16 hours later at 12:30AM. It was extremely exhausting with only 1 short break for lunch.

Its now 2:15AM and I just got back to the hotel room. I am posting three pictures from todays shoot for now but will try to post more pictures tomorrow with more details.

We were done with the music recording at around 7PM and so I came back to my friends place where we played some Nintendo Wii. I think I am over the Wii, its not as fun as I imagined it to be and its really exhausting to play. When I pick up a joystick to play a video game its because I want to relax and chill out in front of the TV. The Wii on the other hand demands physical effort which I really don’t want to give. I think I am going to get the Xbox 360 instead. Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out in May and thats all I really need, oh and an NHL game.

I just find this Obese Confession guy weird, been browsing through his videos and I still haven’t figured out why the fuck he is video blogging from his car! Check out his other videos on YouTube. [Link]

Has anyone ever survived a water landing by donning a vest or using a raft? An interesting short article I read yesterday. [Link]

The Forbes list is out and its interesting to see Kuwait and Lebanon both on the list although to be honest I was expecting more Kuwaitis on the list:

Rank 52
Nasser Al-Kharafi & family (Kuwait)
Worth 11.5 billion Dollars

Rank 407
Najib Mikati (Lebanon)
Worth 2.3 billion Dollars

Rank 407
Taha Mikati (Lebanon)
Worth 2.3 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Bassam Alghanim (Kuwait)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Kutayba Alghanim (Kuwait)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Fahd Hariri (Lebanon)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 717
Mohamed Al-Bahar (Kuwait)
Worth 1.4 billion Dollars

Rank 891
Nazek Hariri (Lebanon)
Worth 1 billion Dollars

For the full list of billionaires click [Here]

Thanks cajie

I found this old ShowBiz Pizza Place promo from 1983. Anyone who has been to ShowBiz (or Chucky Cheese) should find this interesting. [Link]

I’ve been blasting Do you love me? all morning at the office, I think everyone is addicted to it now. Here is another classic song which they used play a lot on KTV, its by Abdel Moneim Madbouly. [Song]

I just found this old article from TIME Magazine that was written after alcohol was banned in Kuwait:

A month ago the oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait banned all liquor within its borders, and since then many of its thirsty citizens have been drinking everything in sight from perfume and eau de cologne to rubbing alcohol and Sterno — with predictably disastrous results. By last week, an estimated 150 Kuwaiti had died from alcohol poisoning, several hundred more had been blinded, and Kuwait’s hospitals were filled to overflowing. Bathtub gin is flourishing, and bootlegging the real thing has become Kuwait’s fastest growing business. A fifth of Dewar’s White Label Scotch now commands a sheik’s ransom of $50 on the black market.

Prohibition came to Kuwait as deviously as an Arab horse trade. In theory only Christian residents of the predominantly Moslem nation could drink, using ration cards to obtain whisky through London’s Gray Mackenzie & Co. Ltd., which has had an import monopoly on Kuwait’s liquor flow for decades. In fact, Moslems imbibed increasingly, and drunken-driving fatalities mounted apace. The nation’s stricter religious leaders then teamed up with local merchants who resented Gray Mackenzie’s lucrative monopoly to introduce a prohibition bill in the Kuwaiti Assembly. With voting a matter of public record in the tiny Moslem land, the bill passed easily, despite its manifest unpopularity and whatever the legislators’ private lapses from the temperance of Mohammed’s grace might be.

Gray Mackenzie padlocked its doors, and the poisoning cases began to stagger in as sales of after-shave lotions and cologne soared tenfold. Several dozen British and American petroleum engineers served notice that they would not renew their employment contracts if Kuwait stayed dry. Several influential Kuwaitis have applied to remote countries for posts as honorary consuls, hoping thereby to qualify for diplomatic liquor privileges. Many of the thirsty began flocking to Basra in Iraq, 100 miles from Kuwait City. Their pilgrimage has also produced agitation for repeal of the law from their weekend widows left behind. They fear that the forced-draft drinking by the boys and the wiles of the women of Basra may prove a dangerously combustible mix.

TIME Magazine – Friday, Jan. 22, 1965

Wow Kuwaitism just posted the coolest music video ever made in Kuwait. The video was recorded in 1978 back when alcohol was still legal and when the sea was actually visible while driving down the Gulf Road. Its an English music video called Do You Love Me? and its by the Bendaly Family.

Kuwaitism also has another video linked and more info so check out his post [Here] Also the guy who put the video on YouTube has a ton more vintage music videos which you can also check out by clicking [Here]

update: I asked my mum if she knew a group called Bendaly Family since she was in Kuwait back then and she told me she did and it turns out I do to. They are a Lebanese band and their daughter Remi Bendaly later went solo and was pretty famous. According to my mum back in around 1985 or 1986 I actually attended a Bendaly Family concert here in Kuwait and got to sit front row. The concert was held in Shaab Park which was an open area back then. The Showbiz owner back then George Karam brought the Bendaly Family to Kuwait.

I just found out Bershka is opening in The Avenues on March 13th. I am not a big fan of Bershka, Nat is, but the interesting thing to note here is the opening date. If Bershka is opening on the 13th then I am guessing The Avenues is opening either before or on that same day.

update: Launch pushed back till the 18th.

Yesterday night Tristar came and picked up my bike so they could install my new slip-ons. While the bike was being put on the truck I realized I still haven’t come up with a name for the bike. So after some thinking I have decided to call my bike Starscream.