Search: “ur”

Pure genius! [Link]

I just heard that the Los Angeles based franchise for the upscale frozen dessert restaurant Pinkberry was taken by Alshaya and that they will be opening their first branch at the Avenues. It will be the first Pinkberry branch outside California and New York. According to the Pinkberry facebook group they should open up before the end of the year. [Link]

Just found this local online shop that carries some cool Grendizer and Sanshiro figurines and I am already regretting it since I now want to buy a whole bunch of things. The prices seem pretty reasonable which is making my life difficult. I must resist! [Link]

I don’t know how many of you remember Mogahwi or even know what it is so I figured I would post about them. Mogahwi I believe is one of the best if not the best stationary and art supply store in Kuwait. They’ve been around in Kuwait since 1940 but the Salmiya branch which I’ve been visiting since I was a kid I think has been around for 30 years but not really sure. The place hasn’t changed much since they first opened, I think they still even use the same bags. They’ve got everything there from the regular stuff like pens and papers to the more interesting stuff located in the basement which is the art supplies. I’ve taken a few shots of the place which you can see below. I don’t think they get as many customers as they used to back in the 80s and 90s so I hope they don’t close down. They’re located in the old Salmiya near Alghanim Electronics.

I went jet skiing today and took my new cheap ass water proof camera (pictured above) to try out. The result? Astonishing! Because the camera is so cheap and poorly built I think while winding the film or rewinding, the internal plastics rubbed against the film scratching it. The end result were photos that look like they were taken decades old! The heavy vignetting (the darkening near the corners) also came out pretty cool. Overall I love the effect and it came as a complete surprise.

Three Kuwaitis, Muhanad Al-Sultan, Husain Ashkanani and Ali Al-Bairami are going to ride their motorcycles around the world through 17 countries in a trip that will last around 120 days. They’ve set up a blog called “Our Shared Planet Motorcycle Adventure” where they will be documenting the ride which I think takes off from today. Their trip is sponsored by the Public Authority for Youth and Sports. Here is the [Link]

Thanks Dhari!

Looks like they were caught filming for the new season with a Lamborghini SV, Bugatti Veyron, Mercedes SLR 722 and a McLaren F1. [YouTube]

Thanks Yo_ghurt!

I just had a box of jumbo Alphonso mangoes delivered to me. Last time I ordered the regular ones but am going to be trying the jumbo ones now. The shipment arrived from India just a few hours ago and they’re all sold out. I wanted to buy another box but now I have to wait till next Friday (not this one) for another box.

The jumbo mangoes are KD9.
If you want to order a box call them on 99880008

I just had my endoscopy procedure. My appointment was at 7PM at the International Clinic. At 7:20 I finally go in and got prepared for the procedure. By 7:45PM the doctor was still not there and I had been waiting on the bed with a needle in my arm and I was getting fed up. I told the nurse if in 5 minutes the doctor doesn’t come remove the needle and other stuff connected to me cuz I wanted to leave. Its not like its an exciting procedure that I really want to get done and I can go do it anywhere else. Finally doctor came in and I don’t remember much after that. I ended up going to sleep and waking up a short while later with Nataly and a friend next to me. I was told the procedure didn’t work because the salad I had for lunch was blocking the way. Now I have to go back tomorrow and do the procedure again.

Now I tweeted the whole process with pictures on my twitter account. I only couldn’t tweet after I fell asleep but the before and after is all there for your viewing pleasure. Check it out on https://www.twitter.com/mark248am

I put my new “healthier diet” aside for the night and passed by Falafel & Company. Me and my friends were invited to try out the place (free food!) and I think I over ate a bit. I tried the chicken shawerma with chipotle tahina sauce, their meat shawerma, their 5 kinds of falafels (Lebanese, Egyptian, Spanish, Italian and Special), a white lawn sandwich (Lebanese falafel, with cucumber, labneh sauce, and olives), fries, crispy onion strips and topped it all off with a bowl of mohalabia. I am going to have a hard time sleeping tonight! The BuzBerry guys were also there and so was Marzouq. I didn’t take many pictures but I know they did. Here is a link to BuzBerry’s post with pictures [Link] and once Marzouq posts his pictures up I will update this post.

Falafel & Company will be opening up soon, I think next week but not sure.

Update: Here are Marzouqs pictures [Link]

Lola et moi emailed me to tell me that Discovery Mall has now officially opened. The mall is located next to the ice skating ring rink in Kuwait City and caters to kids. One thing I don’t like about the place is the fact there are only three restaurants and they are Nathan’s, KFC and Chili’s. With obesity being such a major issue here in Kuwait you would think that the restaurants at a kids mall would be more healthy. The picture above is from the new Lola et moi store at Discovery but if you want to see pictures of the mall check out the Kuwait Black Market blog by clicking [Here]

It seems my eating habits have caught up to me because it turns out I’ve been diagnosed with acid reflux. What this basically means is I have to change my eating habits and the biggest change will be no fatty or fried foods which currently makes the big chunk of my diet.

This doesn’t mean I won’t have burgers anymore, it just means I need to cut down on my daily intake of junk food. Now thing is I don’t like a lot of dishes and the dishes I do like aren’t usually healthy and I am sure many of you will relate to that. But, I’ve decided to try my best and work on a new healthier lifestyle and with that I am going to start looking for alternatives that hopefully won’t be breaking my bank. Kei for lunch is healthy but if I am going to have it everyday its going to be one expensive lifestyle.

As a start to this new lifestyle I passed by Salad Creations for lunch. I passed by before and had a chicken wrap but I didn’t like it simply because I find cold chicken gross. Today I had the Turkey BLT wrap and combined with the thousand island dressing it wasn’t that bad. I still would prefer a quarter pounder with cheese over it but that wasn’t really an option. Salad Creations has a bunch of ready to order salads and wraps but you can also create your own. They are located in Baitak Tower which is in the same building as KFH and X-Cite Electronics in Kuwait City.

From now on every time I find a new tasty healthier alternative to my regular junk food lunches and dinners I will post about it here in hopes that other people will benefit from my post. I like flavor and sauces and I am not trying to lose any weight here but just trying not to have the common fast food meals. Recommendations for me to try out are welcomed of course!

Nat and I work in Kuwait but unless noted otherwise, our posts are never related to our professional and confidential situations or linked to our employers in any way. This distinction must remain clear. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various memes running around in our brains, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those we may hold today. Feel free to challenge us, disagree with us, or tell us we’re completely nuts in the comments section of each blog entry, but we reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever (abusive, profane, rude, or anonymous comments) – so keep it polite, please. If we post something here that you find helpful or interesting, then that’s great; but when push comes to shove, this is our personal blog. The views and opinions expressed on these pages are ours and ours alone and not those of our employer. We have absolutely no, zero, nada, intention to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, business, company, individual or anyone or thing, especially those with the ability and desire to fight back. Oh, and just in case, if we say something stupid in the future (and for which we humbly apologize in advance), it’s better to be able to point out that the stupidity is ours, and ours alone.

– Mark

A lot of new Lebanese restaurants have opened up in Kuwait and so far I’ve tried two and they both had good things about them.

The first one I tried which I could swear I thought I had posted about was Abdel Wahab, the Lebanese restaurant that opened up in place of Fuddruckers on the Gulf Road. The interior looks nice and their taouk is one of the best in Kuwait. Their prices aren’t bad, cheaper than Al Mayas and maybe a bit cheaper than Villa Fayrouz. The worst thing about sitting and eating at Abdel Wahab for me was the fact that the whole time I was expecting to pick up chocolate chip cookies on my way out, something I used to do when the place was Fuddruckers.

The second place I got to try today was Karam Cafe which is located at the Avenues. Although at first I was annoyed by the fact they had shisha indoors their kebab turned out to be really juicy and one that I would go back for again. Price wise their main courses were very cheap, taouk dish was like KD2.550 (but wasn’t as good as Abdel Wahab) while the Kebab dish was for KD2.500.

I still need to try Leil Nhar which is right next to Karam and Snowbar which opened up where Zorba used to be on the Gulf Road.

The Abdel Wahab picture above was taken by SOME contrast who has a ton more pictures [Here]

I got back to Kuwait just over an hour ago and got a shock when I was told I had to fill and sign some medical forms and then be tested for signs of the H1N1 flu! As we exited the plane there was a medical staff waiting for us with infrared thermometers along with some officials and they took a reading of all our temperatures before letting us pass through. Then, before getting to immigration, we had to sign documents and get them stamped stating that within the next 72 hours I would pass by a clinic to be examined or else I could face a 1 month prison sentence or a KD50 fine!

Not everyone coming to Kuwait has to go through this, only selected countries and I am guessing its countries that have had confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu like the Netherlands.