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They didn’t get the new toys, they still had only Chewbacca and Star Wars Falcon toy so I had a Big Fish meal.

Nibaq joined me for lunch today at Burger King. I had a kids meal like yesterday with 2 extra burgers. He had 2 Kids meals also. I got the StarWars Faclon toy today.

You probably saw the billboards on the street advertising the new BK Kids Meal toys, they are giving away StarWars stuff. So for lunch today I passed by Burger King and had 1 kids meal plus 2 burgers on the side. I got the Chewbacca toy.

Had the Italiano Burger from McDonalds today. Sucks. Sucks like their mushroom and swiss.

Update: And oh yeah, the sauce is not a dark red as in the pictures, its brown.

I don’t know if this review will be very fair since the place I am reviewing I have been visiting for 26 years now. Yeah that long, and my parents were visiting it before I was born. The place is called Caesars Restaurant and its located in Salmiya. Its one of my favorite chinese places ever.. worldwide. In-fact every time I have chinese food anywhere I have to compare it to Caesars. Caesars just recently moved to a new location since their old place got demolished recently. The new location is adjacent to their old building so regular customers can find it easily. The new location is larger, is better decorated and now contains a lot more private booths. All the waiters are extremely friendly. I spend the first 5 minutes of my arrival saying hello to all of them. Its good to see them all. Some have been around since I was a little kid and have actually watched me grow up. I love the new private booths, they are very comfortable and they dont feel claustrophobic at all. For appetizers I ALWAYS have crab soup and prawn spring rolls. As I said previously, every time I have chinese anywhere else I have to compare it to Caesars and when it comes to the starters, Caesars wins by a mile. Their crab soup is simply the best soup I have ever had and I dont mean best chinese soup I mean best soup.. ever! The spring rolls? You can ask Nataly about them. When we go we usually order 2 plates of prawn spring rolls, one for her and one for me. Each plate has 6 pieces and they all disappear very quickly. For the main course I always have the sweet & sour chicken. Ofcourse I have tried their other dishes like the popular sizzlers and noodles, but I just can’t get enough of their sweet & sour dishes. Nataly keeps trying new stuff, yesterday night she had the sweet & sour prawns but before she had the fish sizzler and before that chicken with mushroom and bamboo shoots. One more thing left to talk about and that is the rice. Once again Caesars have the best rice in the world. We always order the fish fried rice and its easily the best rice you can ever have anywhere. Now with all this excellent food you would think the prices are just out of the world. In reality, Caesars is a very affordable chinese restaurant. This is what we had last night:

1 Large bottle of water
1 Coke
1 Crab soup
2 Prawn spring rolls
1 Fish fried rice
1 Sweet & Sour Prawns
1 Sweet & Sour Chicken

Total Price: KD10.500

As you can see the price for a very filling chinese dinner for 2 is just ten dinars. and this included shrimps. Very affordable. The only thing stopping me giving the place a full 5 stars is consistency. Every now and then something might not taste the way its supposed to. Maybe its me, maybe I am too picky but this is a minor issue I have. Also the location, its not really the place to be in Kuwait. So for the final score I give it a 4.5 out of 5. For reservations or to get the exact directions, you can call them at 5732885 and 5733044.

Here is a picture from the outside.

Update: Seems I couldn’t even spell Caesars right. I fixed it now.

Swearsaurus is the world’s largest resource of multilingual swearing. It will teach you a vast array of swearing, profanity, obscenity, blasphemy, cursing, cussing, and insulting in a massive 165 languages – because it’s good to experience cultural diversity! Here is the link.

Recently you might have noticed these ads on some buses advertising this restaurant called Wildfire. Well yesterday evening me and nat decided to pass by and give it a try. The place is located in Kuwait City in Mubarak Al Kabeer Street opposite the “Blockat” shops and the Chamber of Commerce building. The first impression wasn’t very good. The signage outside was in lime green and looked very cheap. When we got closer we saw the inside from the large window next to the door and the place looked small and like a hotel lobby with a small bar and small tables. Once we went in though we realized that it WAS actually a lobby / coffee shop for the restaurant which is located upstairs. Once we went in we were greeted with very friendly faces and led to the restaurant upstairs. When we reached the top we were once again greeted with smiles and they asked if we would like a private cabin. We said yes.. the first mistake. The restaurant on the inside is much bigger then i expected. Its clean, dimly lit and the furniture all new as it should be expected since the place just opened at the end of ramadan. The private cabin though was claustrophobic. The table was long and very slim like an oversized ironing table and the benches were very uncomfortable. It was also getting stuffy inside so we decided to keep the cabin door open. Then they brought us the menu which was the biggest surprise of the evening. Wildfire has simply the largest menu I have ever seen in Kuwait with nearly 200 dishes to choose from. Their menu has everything from extravagant cocktails and milkshakes to all types of dishes from Indian, Chinese and even Fish & Chips and Club Sandwiches. They even have lobster and crab for sea food lovers. The menu has 20 pages of everything you could imagine. We decided to have shrimp spring-rolls, kindu prawns, mongolian chicken and egg fried rice. We decided to skip the soup because weren’t that hungry but they did have shark fin soup which is usually my favorite. The shrimp spring rolls arrived first. They were too crunchy, had green peppers and weren’t very tasty. I hate green pepper in my food so my vote shouldn’t count here but nat doesn’t mind them and she also thought the spring-rolls were bland. The main course arrived soon after we finished. When he first put the food on the table I noticed the mongolian chicken was bright red. Thats the first time I see it like that, usually its dark brown, the kindu prawns also looked like normal prawns with a bit of light brownish sauce, again its not supposed to look like that. The food tasted as good as they looked, not very good. My mongolian chicken was not spicy at all and its supposed to be very spicy. Natalys kindu prawns tasted like normal prawns, the kindu part of it was tasteless. The rice was one of the worst I have tried, very boring in flavor and dry. We were very disappointed. The large menu led us to believe that we would keep coming back to try different things but after our meal we knew this would be the last time we would ever come back. The bill turned out to be 8KD, that also included 1 coke and 2 bottles of water. We left a 1KD tip and left. The waiters asked us how good the food was and I lied and told them it was great.. I couldn’t be bothered to explain why I didn’t enjoy the whole meal. The final score for the place is 3 out of 5. I would have given it 2 but the extremely large menu and the very friendly service helped raise the score. Maybe the Indian menu is better then the Chinese, maybe our dishes were not their speciality, whatever the case is, we didn’t enjoy our meal and we will most probably never go back.

Their website is wildfirekwt.com but it wasn’t working when I tried it now. Their phone numbers are 2476886 and 2476996. Below are 2 pictures from the outside.

Picture 1
Picture 2

Thanks to BusyNow for the heads up. Amazon.com is now allowing you to preorder your Sony PSP value pack for a price of $250 (KD73). The value pack includes a 32MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones with a remote control, a battery pack, and a movie/music/video game sample UMD. Sony is also tossing in a special UMD-version of the film Spider-Man 2 with the first one million PSP Value Packs sold. So preorder your PSP now, this is the link.

This is my order:
1 of Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Value Pack
Sony Computer Entertainment; @ $249.99 each

1 of PSP Ridge Racer
Namco; @ $39.99 each

——-
Item(s) Subtotal: $289.98
Shipping & Handling: $5.48
Total Before Tax: $295.46
Tax: $25.48

TOTAL: $320.94

Update: Amazon has stopped the preordering. It seems the first batch of PSPs on Amazon have already been preordered.

I just finished working on the site’s template. I think I am nearly done. I created this blog as a B-Side to Miskan. Basically I sometimes I have little things I want to say and I can’t say them on Miskan because I can only post once a day there. With this site I can post whenever I want, about whatever I want and even post pictures which didnt make it to Miskan . As a bonus, my wife (nat) is also gonna start posting here. She never had a blog before so this will be her first time. I would also like to thank Tivo Guy for hosting this blog on his server. Thank you!

Lots of events this weekend. If you want to check out the camel races on Saturday they start at 2PM. Check out all the events taking place this weekend below:

Thursday, January 22
The Improv Comedy Show
Market Murouj
Auto World Show Expo
Mersaf Market
Salt Movies: Home Alone

Friday, January 23
Market Murouj
Auto World Show Expo
Jam Session
Mersaf Market
Al-Farsi Giant Kites Display

Saturday, January 24
Market Murouj
Auto World Show Expo
Sharq Photowalk
Rooted in Intention
Saturday Market at Alandalus
Mersaf Market
Soof Wool Mill Tours
DAI StoryTime at Amricani
Korean Kashta with Madang
Introduction to Bookbinding
Pearl Hunt
Sisters Circle

There is always something intriguing about looking into other people’s homes in Kuwait. Not many people like sharing their homes, so it becomes a mix of curiosity and a little bit of nosiness, seeing how others live, their furniture choices, and the small details. I personally appreciate it when they do, mostly because I’m curious by nature.

This latest project from NADA Design Studio gives us a look inside an open plan contemporary farmhouse in Wafra. According to them, the interior was shaped around family living, dining, and play, while still being grounded in the surrounding landscape. I think my favorite design feature is the bookshelf, I just love the combination of the wood they used with the dark brown brick backdrop.

If you want to check out more photos, click here.

Other than getting into kites, I recently purchased an air rifle as well. I wasn’t sure if expats could own one or if you needed some sort of license, but it turns out there are no such rules. Anyone can buy and own an air rifle in Kuwait, which is great.

After doing a bit of online research, I decided I wanted a rifle from the German brand Weihrauch. They’re regarded as making some of the best air rifles out there, and the company has been around for over 125 years. A quick Google search didn’t turn up any local results, so I decided to track down all the air rifle shops in Kuwait and check them one by one. Here are the shops I found:

@nayshangungallery
@camouflage_kwt
@gannas_alrheeb
@albowardi_hunting
@negochi.kt
@alhadaf_kw
@alkhudari_guns
@alsabihkw
@rammaiq8
@alsayyad_q8
@logistic.systems (they sell real guns only I think)
@khaleelalmuzayensonsco
@almejren_airguns

The only store that actually had a functioning website was Camouflage. The rest just have Instagram accounts, and most don’t really show what brands they carry. Eventually, I found out that Negochi carries the Weihrauch brand, but they only had one model available, the HW80. It was around double the budget I originally had in mind for an air rifle, but after doing a lot of online research and realizing this rifle would likely last me a lifetime if taken care of, I decided to pull the plug and buy it.

The buying experience, unfortunately, wasn’t that great. I love Negochi and I’ve posted about them multiple times before, but the salesperson I dealt with wasn’t very good. The first time I visited, there was a knowledgeable sales guy who walked me through the rifles. When I went back to actually buy it, he wasn’t there and I had to deal with someone else, who I now realized didn’t really know what he was doing.

He recommended I get one of the heaviest pellets they had, which were 13.43gr. My fault for not researching it beforehand, but it turns out that weight is too heavy for my rifle and not recommended (more on that in a bit). I then went down to their rifle range in the basement to tune the iron sights myself. The salesperson insisted on coming along to help, which was fine since I figured it might be useful if I had any questions.

So I started firing pellets and adjusting the iron sights, but my accuracy circle was pretty large. Tuning was taking a long time because just when I’d get close to the bullseye and think it was dialed in, the next shot would land noticeably outside the center.

At that point, the employee wanted to take over and try himself. I figured maybe my eyesight wasn’t great and he’d have better luck, but he struggled as well. He ended up hogging the rifle while trying to tune the sights, and it started taking way longer than it should have.

Then, at one point, he decided to tighten the bolts on my rifle because he thought they might be loose. He used the wrong size screwdriver and applied more force than he should have, which ended up damaging two of the screws. I didn’t complain or say anything. Maybe I should have, but since I let him take over, I felt partly it was my fault. It’s a small thing, just screws, but it still bothered me because it’s a brand new and expensive rifle and I hadn’t even left the store yet.

Long story short, once I got home I realized the heavy pellets he recommended were likely the cause of the problem we were having. Using heavy pellets can create a wide accuracy spread and make tuning difficult. I should have been using lighter pellets instead, ones which are much better suited for my rifle.

I decided to complain to management and ask them to either order replacement screws or at least swap the pellets for the correct ones. I messaged them on Instagram, but even though they saw my messages, they didn’t reply. I then found their WhatsApp number and tried there as well, but again, no response.

Eventually, I figured maybe they didn’t speak English, so I used Google Translate to message them asking if they were ignoring me. A few minutes later, someone finally called. It was the shop, and specifically the cashier I had purchased the rifle from. I’m not sure if he’s also the manager, but I decided not to complain to him about the issue. Since I’ll likely be going back to the store for other things and the shooting range, I didn’t want to create any unnecessary issues or drama, so I just dropped it.

So yeah, overall it wasn’t a great experience.

On the bright side, the good news is that you don’t need a license or to be Kuwaiti to buy an air rifle, or even a bow, in Kuwait.

One odd thing I discovered now is that I won’t be able to order accessories online. Both MyUS and Shop&Ship refuse to ship anything related to guns, and that includes things like carrying bags, scopes, and other gun accessories. Which is kind of weird. I get restricting the rifle itself, but not being able to order a rifle bag feels a bit extreme, since the bag isn’t exactly the dangerous part. Oh well.

Over the weekend I went on a desert trip with some friends and decided to bring a kite along, which turned out to be the best idea. I hadn’t flown a kite since I was a kid, probably back in the 80s, and I didn’t even own one until a couple of days before the trip. Now I own three.

The idea of getting a kite came up because a friend was worried it was going to be windy in the desert, so I started thinking about how we could actually take advantage of that. My first thought was to get a kite for the kids, but once I found out no one was bringing their kids, I figured I’d just get one for the adults instead.

I did a bit of quick research and found someone in Kuwait selling Prism kites. They looked great and he had a wide range of options to choose from. I ended up going with the Zenith 7, one of the larger single line kites. The reviews were very positive, and the kite itself is pretty big, spanning over 2 meters wide, which I thought was very cool.

Flying the kite was surprisingly a lot of fun. There was no cellphone reception in the desert and it was really quiet, just dunes and nothing else, so flying the kite felt kind of therapeutic. It might not look that fun when you’re watching from the side, but when you’re actually flying it, it really is in its own way.

Whenever I handed the kite over to someone, they instantly understood why it felt so relaxing. That’s what convinced me to buy two more kites, a slightly smaller Zenith 5 and a different style kite, a two line foil kite. That way next time we can fly multiple kites at the same time.

If you’re thinking of getting a kite, they’re not that expensive and you can fly them almost anywhere, not just in the desert. The Gulf Road walkway would be a great spot, and even parks work well. It gives you something to do other than just sitting on a bench and watching people go by.

The guy I bought my kites from has a pretty good selection on his website which you can check by clicking here.

Sounds weird to say it, but you can now ski and snowboard in Khaitan. I found out about this place called KARV through @triedbywahab while doom scrolling on TikTok last week. I was pretty surprised I hadn’t heard of it earlier, especially since it’s Kuwait’s first ski academy.

My snowboard has been in storage for a while since I haven’t gone on a ski trip in years. The idea that I could actually snowboard here in Kuwait made me want to check the place out, so I passed by earlier today.

KARV is located in a large building outside a school in Khaitan. The location isn’t that great, but once you’re inside the building it feels like walking into an ice skating rink, except instead of a rink you have three giant treadmill ski slope machines. I didn’t get to try it myself since the snowboard instructor is currently on leave, but watching the skiers gave me the impression that the feel is pretty realistic.

The academy is open to ages 6 and up, with both public and private classes available. Public classes are shared with up to three other people, while private classes are one on one with the instructor. Prices are as follows:

1 Hour Public: KD 22
1 Hour Private: KD 35
5 Hours Public Package: KD 100
5 Hours Private Package: KD 150

Ski and snowboard equipment is provided, but if you have your own gear you can bring it and use it. They’ve been open for around two months and are still in their soft launch phase, so they’re still working on the final touches. KARV is open daily from 1PM to 9PM, except Fridays. All bookings are done through their website, but as mentioned, snowboarding classes are temporarily unavailable. If you want to find out more or book a ski class, head to @karv.ski

This is a pretty big moment for Kuwait’s music scene, and a huge moment for the band. LUMINA, the local alternative metal band, will be opening for the legendary Linkin Park this coming Sunday in Bahrain.

Beyon Al Dana Amphitheatre, the Bahrain venue that recently hosted iconic bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, and Guns N’ Roses, has been actively pushing for local and regional acts to open major shows. LUMINA, being a female fronted band, felt like a natural fit for Linkin Park, who are now also female led.

I’m a bit jealous that they’re going to be backstage with Linkin Park so I can only imagine how surreal it must be for them to be opening up for them. The band members performing this Sunday are:

Latti – Lead vocalist, writer, and co-founder
Mando – Guitarist, composer, and co-founder
Aziz – Synthesist
Aziz Baqer – Drummer
Salem – Bassist and producer
Adel Qattan – Guitarist for the Bahrain show

Areej Saleh of artscene.me is their booking agent.

If you want to hear LUMINA’s music or find out more about the band, check out their Instagram @thebandlumina