Danderma's Blog, page 10

Dinner at Princi Pizzeria London

 I opened up my blog intending to write a long post about something, but I was overcome by an overwhelming urge to recount a fabulous dinner I had when I was just in London. It was a long and busy day in mid-December of last year where I had barely nothing to eat all day. I was tired and the weather was freezing cold and needed a good wholesome meal. By dinner time I wouldn’t have minded dining on old stale fries but with what was left of my energy I made my way towards Wardour St. in Soho where Princi Pizzeria is located. I’ve passed by Princi before but never managed to dine there though it generated quite a few raving reviews. 

Once you open the door of Princi you are transformed from the restless freezing cold streets of London into a  warm cocoon of a bakery buzzing with noise and excitement. If you want something for take away or just a quick bite, you can choose from the endless mouthwatering trays of freshly baked goodies on display. If you were as miserably cold and hungry as I was that day, you’d turn left into the restaurants and find yourself be led to a cosey sitting area overlooking a huge wood burning oven. There is a floor-to-ceiling window looking out to Wardour Street with several chairs dotting the long table against the window, and there on those chairs I chose to sit. I wanted to watch London passing by, I never get enough London even when I’m actually in London

Though I was ready to order and polish off the entire menu I’ve decided to go with simple dishes. A good Italian restaurant using the best ingredients will turn the simplest dish into a masterpiece and that was what I’m after, starting with the heritage tomatoes and Buffalo Mozzarella as an appetiser with a simple mixed leaf salad with spinach, baby gem lettuce, dill, tarragon.

The tomatoes were plump and crisp, the mozzarella was creamy and gloriously fresh, The salad light and crunchy. I could taste the olive oil in the dishes, and my palates told me they loved the olive oil. Excellent ingredients, no fuss, just delicious food.

For the main dish, I couldn’t resist a porcini pappardelle or as written in the menu the Pappardelle ai Funghi Porcini. I love porcini mushrooms, they have a distinctive earthy flavour that’s quite strong on its own.  Happily, the pappardelle with the mushrooms were dressed perfectly in a wispy sauce that was barely there but provided the right dose of support to the taste of the porcini. Yum!

Yum! If only I had a plate of this delicious pappardelle next to me now. The weather forecast says its going to be 0 degrees tomorrow in Kuwait :'(

And one last YUM!

And of course I ordered a pizza! You cannot go into a pizzeria and not order yourself a pizza!

How good does that look? Believe me, the memory of the heavenly aroma of that pizza fresh out of the oven is still roaming around my brain cells, refusing to let me be at peace.

You know what I love most about pizza? The edges! You know what pizza edges I like the most? Charred edges! Smokey, soft, chewy, and crunchy at the same time! Its like eating pizza dough chips! Perhaps someone ought to start making pizza dough chips? They would be a hit I promise you. My margarita with extra funghi had the lovelies charred edges, the softest base, and the most delicious tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese partnership I’ve ever had in London.

That’s a happy me taking a picture at my reflection in the window by the way. Hello!

Not only was the atmosphere warm and cosey and the food top notch, the service was excellent! Hospitable, welcoming, swift, and very friendly! Not every great restaurant in London comes with welcoming staff especially if you don’t look the part hence why I wish there was a “friendliness” rating to restaurants alongside the food and hygiene ratings to save me the trouble of going there. If there was such a rating, Princi pizzeria would have gotten a full set of starts!

I enjoyed my long awaited dinner at Princi pizzeria, so much I didn’t want to leave! I was full, but I was seriously thinking about ordering another pizza just to sit by the window a bit longer, lingering and watching passersby while listening to happy diners and clanking dishes all around me. Until next time, Princi, until next time.

Princi Pizzeria is located at 135 Wardour Street, London W1F 0UT and are open daily from 8 AM until 12 AM! If you are planning on visiting London soon and haven’t been to Princi yet, then do not repeat my mistake and head there at once. Happy dining!

Hello 2015!

Well, 2014 did pass by in a blink! The fact that it is actually the year 2015 refuses to sink in still with me.

2014 was, well, decent. I got so many good things to be grateful for yet it wasn’t all good and dandy. I’ve grown a little bit up, that’s for sure, and now that I realise I’m 34 years-old I tend to panic a bit, I’m feeling that I’m somehow running out of time, youth time that is, but that entire age paranoia could eat up this entire post.

At the beginning of 2015, I know one fact for sure, I’m a mess. 

Its Friday night, actually 2 AM on a Saturday morning which is the last day of a long vacation that I’ve enjoyed to bits. I’m back home, only it somehow doesn’t feel like I’m home, does that make any sense? All I want is to wear comfy shoes, pack a light bag, and go on hopping from plane to plane and from city to city. Wandering all over the world for like a year, leaving everything behind and worrying about nothing and no one, meeting the world and soaking in its wonders.

If only there was a way to make that happen, only I can’t. I have responsibilities that are weighing me down and part of being an adult means facing up to those responsibilities. Perhaps one day when I finally get to retire I will get to roam the planet without a care in the world. Its what I long for, yet I cannot have for the time being.

In any case, I have great plans for 2015 and I did get some of my 2014 goals accomplished, lets hope by next year by gods will when I say hello 2016 I’d feel happier about the passing year and I’d be painting you a more colourful picture.

Now what do I have in store for you, o faithful blog reader who is here at the turn of the new year still? Plenty to share, plenty of pictures and places and amazing dishes and good books and happy moments, curious questions and a few rants I’ve already written down just need to find the right time to post them. Pearls of wisdom of 2014? Perhaps, I’m just not in a very reflective or philosophical mood this year, nor celebratory, but I’ll pen down a few and see where they take me. Happy 2015 everyone and thank you for becoming part of my journey for all the past few years

Movie Review: The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies

If you know me personally or have been hanging around my blog for a while then you’d know that I’m a crazed LOTR and Hobbit fan and was looking so much towards the third and final movie of the Hobbit trilogy, and also the last Peter Jackson movie about Middle Earth. I’ve even set up a counter, an alarm reminder, and basically waiting, rather impatiently, for the movie to pick up where DOS have left off. 

Now I’m no movie critic, nor does my opinion offer or mean much in our big vast real and virtual world, but I’m a fan and a person who was really anticipating something beautiful and majestic and instead was left disappointed and, if I may be a bit of dramatic here, quite heartbroken at how a beautiful story was portrayed in the end. I’ve never written a review with spoilers before, but I need to remind myself why I was disappointed and perhaps find someone who agrees or disagrees with my point of view. Now before the spoilers start I conclude my opinion in this next sentence: the movie was quite the disappointment. Yes it was. I’ve expected much better, and I have LOTR Return of the King to compare it with, and unfortunately this last and rather rushed third Hobbit movie didn’t live up to ROTK.

Now here come the spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and do not like spoilers then stop reading right here. Spoilers alert, here they come…

The movie was off to a great start, the Smaug and Bard fight and showdown I had no problems with. Its only after the dust have settled and the people of Lake Town were trying to make sense of the disaster that have befallen them that the movie goes south. First off, we see the four dwarves who remained in Lake Town rushing off to leave. No one offered to stay, help out with the wounded, or at least ask the man who opened his doors to them when Kili was sick if he needed anything or bid him farewell before they simply set sail to the mountain.

Then suddenly they do stop, just so Kili would have a little love scene with Tauriel while surrounded by distraught Lake Towners and wounded people in dire need of help. Only, none of the four dwarves react to his  behaviour, which is weird considering how dwarves and elves dislike each other. All he got was an annoyed glance by Fili, not even an exchange of words between the two regarding the matter. I would have loved seeing Thorin get word of this relationship, I would have enjoyed the reaction, but it doesn’t matter apparently. The four dwarves also do not acknowledge any kind of emotion while on their way to the mountain, there is barely any dialogue, you’d think they would discuss their company being dead and that Fili is now actually their king now that Smaug is gone, but there is nothing but silence.

Then there is plenty of Tauriel, and Legolas, and more Legolas, and more and more Legolas. I actually think there was more Legolas on the screen than Bilbo, the Hobbit whose story it is? Legolas doesn’t even appear in the Hobbit, I wonder why there was this sharp shift in the story from the dwarves to the elves, actually the movie feels dominated by the elves, but this shift is one aspect of my disappointment. Another character who got too much unnecessary screen time? Alfred! Enough with Alfred already! I do hope he doesn’t appear in the EE edition, he is somewhat funny but not that funny! I’d rather he was replaced by Smeagol!

Now we head to the death scenes. In the book the story goes that “Fili and Kili” die in battle defending their uncle Thorin. It doesn’t say that Fili, who was indeed important to Tolekin and if you read The History of the Hobbit you’d know he could have had an even bigger appearance in the story, is captured and then executed helplessly in front of his uncle who spares a few gasps then screams “Kili” at the top of his lungs in fear for his other nephew. In return of the king, Faramir the least favourite son of his father gets more or a reaction over his injury and presumed death and funeral from his father than what poor Fili got from Thorin! I’m just glad there wasn’t a “Good Riddance” thought bubble floating around the scene when Fili was gone and the road was all clear for Kili to shine and fight alongside Thorin.

Only Kili doesn’t fight alongside Thorin, he does get to fight a bit but that brings us to the horrible Kili death scene, rushing to avenge his brother then dying defending Tauriel instead of his uncle while Thorin doesn’t even know what happened to him. The scene of Tauriel mourning Kili was just cheesy, perhaps teenagers would relate to it but I only rolled my eyes and almost shut them in disgust as Tauriel kissed Kilis dead corpse smack on the lips before whining that she wanted to bury him. I might have heard it wrong but it sounded to me like “I want to bury him” and I’m not entirely sure what to think about that. Of course the fallen heir of Durin must be buried? And? Perhaps its an Elf thing? Not to bury the dead? I’m not sure what to make of that but I only wish she didn’t exist in the first place. If she was there as a “strong female figure” I see no reason why a “strong female figure” in the story must be involved in a romantic relationship. Can’t there be a female figure who didn’t serve as someone’s love interest, in this case two, and ruin the cute brotherly relationship in favour of developing her very own?

Needless to say I didn’t cry at either death scene, something I didn’t expect given that I gasped and cried when I read the single line announcing their fate when I read the book. I loved Fili and Kili then, I loved them going “At your Service” in the first movie. I loved them refusing not to be separated and looking utterly lost when they did. I didn’t like the fact that the only brotherly exchange between the two in BO5A was a rough “I can walk” by Kili towards his brother and a swift pat from Fili to Kili in the end before they part ways. Surely there could have been something more? The movie is twenty minutes shorter than the other Hobbit movies, can’t there have been a nice one minute long scene of Fili and Kili for old times sake?

None of the other dwarves get to say much btw, except for Balin and Dwalin and they themselves say very little. I did however cry at Thorin’s death scene but I expected it to be a tad more emotional. I did have a year of mental preparation to do and the scene that I saw almost lived up to it.

However, the movie needs more… closure! There was no funeral scene, I don’t understand how there is no funeral scene where Thorin and his heirs are laid to rest and the fate of the Arkenstone is explained! I don’t understand how it doesn’t precisely show that the “war” was indeed over and who won. Beorn, again an important figure in the Hobbit especially at battle, barely made an appearance in the movie! We don’t also get to see Dain become king under the mountain, nor do we know what becomes of Bard and his people or whether or not Thranduil retrieves the jewels that made him march upon Erebor in the first place. Even the goodbye scene between Bilbo and the dwarves wasn’t that much. Then again I might be mistaken about that one because there was a noisy teenager in the audience who kept talking loudly after Throin’s death and other members of the audience were yelling at her to shut up but she wouldn’t so I was a bit distracted.

I thought, I hoped, and I was looking forwards to a third and last Hobbit movie that matches the level of the Return of the King. Awesome battle, heartfelt farewells to the fallen, clear conclusions, and an even more tear-jerking departing scene. I still cry just remembering Sam realising how Frodo was leaving with Gandalf and Bilbo! The only thing that lived up to my expectations in this movie where the Smaug attack and the Battle of the Five Armies itself, at least for most of it anyway.

And Bily Boyd’s song? Again, I don’t get why everyone is raving about it. If I’m to compare it to the song of the lonely mountain or I see fire, then I’m sorry to say I cannot bring myself to make it midway through the song, it actually puts me to sleep. I should have taken that song as a sign for what the movie would turn out to be. They say there are about 30 minutes of deleted/extended scenes that are left for the DVD but I’m not going to hold my breath, I have a nagging feeling that 29 out of those 30 minutes are hijacked by one or more of the elves.

In a nutshell, Hobbit BO5A is my least favourite of all the Middle Earth movies. Sadly.

Oh you made it here? Good good, I suppose you are interested in what I was thinking of the movie and I bet you’ve had a few thoughts of your own as well. Please, do share! Did you like the movie? Did it live up to your expectations or did you leave the movie as disappointed as myself? How so?

The Obsolete Cassette Tapes of Old

You know I’ve never dreamed there would come a day when I think about cassette tapes and render them obsolete. When you grow up using something and you take it for granted, somehow you think it will always be there till the end of time. The other day I was tidying up around the apartment when I came upon a collection of my old cassette tapes and my heart skipped a beat. Not only have I stopped using those tapes, I’ve forgotten all about them as well! 

Back in the 80’s the modern way to play music was to use those tapes. I don’t think CD players were widely used until the early 90’s, perhaps the late 80’s but I’m not sure. What I do truly recall is using -and buying and recording- my songs on tape up till the late 90’s. I also vivdly remember my teenage summers in the UK, wandering the high street shops, listening to the latest music playing, then going to HMV to search for those songs as “singles” which were to the point and much cheaper than buying an entire album I didn’t want. I think I have two singles lefts in my collection: Viva forever by The Spice Girls and One for Sorrow by Steps.

I was, and frankly still am, crazy about the Spice Girls! I used to dress like them, all mismatched clothing and huge heeled funky platforms, they were simply awesome and unlike any other girls pop band out there! Back to reminiscing about cassette tapes though, I’m not entirely sad to see them go if I’m being honest for they were quite a pain! The strips of tape inside the plastic casing would sometimes spool out and the only way to put it back was by using a pen and turning it the right way, untangling the tape as you turn. If the tape snapped in two there is very little chance it would work again, you could reattach the ends of the tape with a silo tape it but it won’t work that well. The quality of the music wasn’t that good either -compared to CD’s- and skipping tracks wasn’t that accurate or easy either. Still, I feel fond of these cassettes, they are just lovely and familiar, meant a lot for us in the old days.

Ooh and may I add that the ultimate thoughtful gift back in the day was a mix tape? I have endless mix tapes from my friends of old, with heartfelt dedications written on them. What do kids give out these days? iTunes cards? Share music libraries? How much fun is that? There are no stickers involved!

The last tape I’ve ever bought? I think it was the Start Academy 2 in 2005. Its mind boggling, thinking that was almost 9 years ago when 2005 feels like it was here just yesterday! Where did the vanish into?

I wonder what other invention is going to become obsolete next! Look around you, anything that you are using now can cease to be useful in the next few years and one day you will wake up, open a drawer or a box, see that thing and be startled like I was when I came upon my old cassette tapes. Who would have thought? All those Kuwaiti dinars and sterling pounds spent on things that are now practically useless!

Do you remember using the cassette tapes or are you really so young you don’t remember doing so? How about the music? Do you know if there is something I can you do something about the music in these tapes? Can’t they be transferred to my iPod or something? There is a song somewhere in there that I’ve trying to Google for the last couple of hours but couldn’t find, I want to listen to it NOW!

Is it OK to Eavesdrop on People Discussing You?

The other day I was just walking in a busy place, heading towards somewhere, minding my own business when a couple walking nearby began discussing something animatedly. Normally I wouldn’t listen in to other people’s conversations as its non of my business, but this time something really caught my attention and made my head involuntarily snap towards the chatting couple, they were discussing “Dandemra”. 

My initial response couldn’t be helped, I was startled to hear the word “danderma” out of the blue, the way you’d be startled to hear your own name uttered in public by a stranger. A second later, realising the very word danderma doesn’t necessarily mean my blog, the couple might be discussing some ice cream or anything else, but I did hear more from the -loud- conversation that assured me they were indeed talking about the person behind the Danderma blog and my heart beat began beating loudly in my ears.

Now because all of us were walking and they were a few steps ahead of me, I would have had to pick up my pace and loom in closely to hear what exactly they were saying. Wether good or bad, mean or nice, or a correct thing or not. Then I felt ashamed, I would look stupid and it didn’t feel right to eavesdrop. Then I thought to myself that I had every right to hear what these two strangers were saying about my blog, or rather me behind the blog. Then I thought to myself that just because they were discussing something about me doesn’t give me the right to eavesdrop on their private conversation, but was it a private conversation if it was discussed loudly in a public place with other people who can hear around them? How private was that conversation was exactly? and most importantly, what where they saying?

I slowed down my pace until I couldn’t hear them anymore, I was already in a good mood and didn’t want to risk hearing whatever thing they were discussing effect it. Of course they could be discussing a good and nice thing that would make my day but that was a 50/50 chance. Also, I would get into all sorts of internal debate with myself regarding whether or not I should introduce myself and correct them if I heard them discussing something that wasn’t true or didn’t happen the way it did. A pandora’s box of a situation that I’ve clamped the lid firmly shut on with the decision not to listen anymore.

I recall once overhearing two women discussing a relative of mine who apparently was their manager, when I began smiling involuntarily they stopped, asked me if I knew the guy, and fled in embarassment when I said I did. I wasn’t going to tell on them or anything but I did make them uncomfortable and they must have not liked the feeling of suspense, waiting to discover if what they’ve said got back to their manager or not. I personally don’t think eavesdropping is OK but also discussing someone or something loudly in a public place will mean it can be heard by other people even if they don’t want to and if you don’t want people to know something, just don’t say it or if you do, then you might find yourself in a situation that you don’t like.

Now, what would you do if you overhear two strangers discussing something about you? Would you eavesdrop or not? Is it really eavesdropping if its about yourself? And if it was something untrue, would you correct them or just laugh it off and let it be?

Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

When I want to describe how I felt reading this book, using the word “gripping” would be an understatement. No, hooked won’t do it either, I guess my mood was rather bordering on obsessed for I couldn’t let go from paragraph one. The story is grim and dark, just like its title, the state of mind of Libby Day, the 30-something grown up who survived the massacre of her entire family at age sever then testified against her older brother sending him to jail, is both compelling? and disturbing. Nothing is sugar coated, everything that can go wrong in a person’s life does indeed happen.

And yet, when Libby is finally faced with the possibility that her brother didn’t actually massacre his family as an act of scarifying ritual, you the reader are hoping for Libby’s sake that she was wrong all along and for justice’s sake that she was right all along. You won’t know what happens as the story goes back and forth between her now-dead mother, her convicted brother, and Libby in the present trying to find out what actually happened twenty four years ago. You can only guess, and I guessed half-right, and you will be fighting the urge to flipping to the last page for a sneak peak.

One thing I didn’t like, is how the events did actually unfold in the night of the murder. I’m not going to spoil it for you but if you’ve read it you might have wondered with me that what are the chances? And how in a house that is run down and so crowded with people its almost overflowing didn’t anyone hear anything before anything happening?

I loved this novel, I might even go as far to say I liked it even more than Gone Girl, also by the same author. I’m only sorry I didn’t read this sooner but I’m not going to make the same mistake twice, I’m buying everything by Gillian Flynn and keeping an eye out for anything that is coming out in the future. Highly recommended.

The Freshest Cherry Tomato Pasta Ever!

A while back I received an invitation from Elevation burgers to celebrate the opening of their newest branch in Bidaa area. Elevation’s invitation was quite different this time, for it arrived with a tiny cherry tomato shrub with little green cherry tomatoes on the branches, all waiting to ripen up and be eaten! I thought it was a fake one first, living in a country with a dessert climate like Kuwait’s means meeting fruit bearing greens and shrubs are a cause of wonders, therefore you can understand how thrilled I was at the sight of this teeny tiny shrub.

Why a green shrub? Given that Elevation is all about real and fresh ingredients they are making a point regarding how ingredients matter and how local farming is beneficial to everyone especially health wise. I’d love to have my own little garden farm where I grow my own vegetables and fruits but then I live in an apartment with barely any outside space and growing things in Kuwaiti weather is hard, especially during the scorching hot summer months.

This cherry tomato shrub didn’t look like much work to me though, from the steps on the attached card I could see that it can be planted in a pot and isn’t that high maintenance. How green and fresh does it look? The freshest greenest most beneficial invitation ever!

Following the planting and care steps on the card, we removed it from the jar it arrived in and planted it in a bigger pot with fresh soil. To be frank I had my doubts, just because I planted the shrub doesn’t mean it won’t die or that it would blossom and grow new tomatoes but I did have a little faith and decided it wouldn’t hurt to wait and see.

And wait and see we did! A few days later I passed by the shrub and look, the cherry tomatoes were changing in colour! I ran inside and got my camera, this is so wonderful!

and a few days later even more cherry tomatoes were changing colour! Slowly from green to yellow to orange and finally to red! With each colour change I took endless pictures and grew more ecstatic! I don’t understand how people who can plant things all the time don’t do so already! A plant growing into something edible is a miracle of life repeating itself everyday! I want a garden of miracles, I truly do.

Bored already? I must sound like one of those mothers who rant to anyone who would listed that their baby blew a bubble and laughed at it the other day. Well here is the final version, all red and ripe and ready to be picked!

The instructions card stated that a ripe cherry tomato would simply fall to your fingers at the slightest twitch. So on a lovely cloudy day I got out with a little bowl and began picking the tomatoes with the fondest sense of pride! Look at them all grown up!

I also have a plant of basil that I’ve planted last year and somehow it didn’t shrivel and die in the summer and made it through the year. It thrives in the winter and gives off the most gorgeous basil scent ever! And people wonder why Italian cuisine is my favourite, its so aromatic! Anyways because I was planning on an easy cherry tomato salad that I’ve seen on TV and the recipe also called for basil I began picking basil as well, double the joy, double the pride! I was singing as loud as I could while picking my lunch, the hanging tree from The Hunger Games if you are wondering, don’t ask why!

And now for the lunch preparations! Because the cherry tomatoes are super fresh I wanted to use them as they are, in something that didn’t require cooking so they’d preserve their texture and freshness. I initially intended on using them in some sort of salad, preferably with burrata cheese, but then I was watching the food network and Ina Garten was on and she made this incredible no-cooking involved fresh cherry tomato and pasta salad and I knew right away that’s how I wanted to consume my cherry tomatoes.

Recipe? Ingredients? There is no recipe per say, you simply halve the cherry tomatoes, shred the basil leaves, put them together in a bowl with salt, pepper, crushed garlic, and douse them with good quality olive oil. Mix the entire thing up and leave to marinate for about four hours so the flavours are infused and come together, then serve with angel hair pasta aka Spaghetti no. 1 -and is my absolute favourite btw-.

Ta da! Easy? Like a piece of cake! Fresh? Like having a garden on a plate. Light? Unbelievably cloud-like.  Good for you? I should hope so, I’ve grown and picked those basils and cherry tomatoes myself! All you need is a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan on top and lunch is served!

You can make this dish in advance and keep it in the fridge for when you come home hungry from work and just put things together. With the leftover tomatoes I’ve added a squeeze of lime and spread it over a grilled piece of leftover bread and I had instant bruschetta, the freshest one I could muster.

I’ve had so, so much fun growing and harvesting my cherry tomatoes! Elevation burgers‘s invitation by far is one of the coolest and most beneficial invitations I’ve received throughout my blogging days! Thank you for all the joy and goodness you’ve brought me Elevation and congratulations on the opening of your new branch in Bidaa. Will be passing by for lunch soon.

Now I’m hoping that my plant does indeed produce more cherry tomatoes and not just stop at the first harvest, I’m keeping an anxious eye out for new little green orbs. You know what I long for? I want a garden of miracles of my own, I truly do. I want to be able to grow fruits and vegetables, have an apple tree or pull carrots out of the earth by the leaves and consume them in a salad whenever I feel like it. I hate having a fridge of wilting vegetables that I purchase off stuffy supermarkets. Do you know of any other plants you can grow out of pots on the side of the road? I’ve tried rosemary, basil, mint, and now cherry tomatoes. Do you have any other recommendations? And why don’t you plant things if you could? What are you waiting for?

Visiting the Kuwait Book Fair 2014

I initially thought of skipping this years book fair for the number of banned books and novels have risen noticeably from the previous years. But then I couldn’t. A book fair is something that resembles a Disney Land to me, just being nearby and filled with endless books and reading materials is haunting. I resisted for a few days then succumbed to my urges on Saturday morning when I woke up early – and I never wake up early- and went out the door without breakfast just to wander the halls decked with books.

How was it? Well, lets get the annoying things out of the way. To start with, there are still road works going on the Mishref fair ground where the 39th book fair is held which makes parking difficult even though the fair itself wasn’t that crowded early Saturday morning. Still, browsing can be  a bit difficult for people tend to chat forever with writers standing behind their books, pens poised for an autograph, and you’d try and browse in peace while you feel their gaze on your choices, waiting for you to pick up their book and hand it over for them to sign. I wonder why writers don’t have a designated corner and timing where their admirers can interact with them for as long as they want instead of hogging the book displays all day every day?

The last and most annoying thing that happened was when I was trying to browse a display of books only a nanny was blocking my view of books because, get this, she was preparing formula milk for the baby she is caring for, because that’s just the place to prepare milk for the hungry child no? Its 2014 and we still don’t have designated child and baby care stations around and if there are, they are so out of reach and/or below par they will usually be overlooked and not used.

Done with the annoying things? Good, now for the good things, would you look at this AWESOME vending machine? It dispenses books! Now this is my kind of vending machine! This should be placed in every public place and cafe in Kuwait. Imagine going to school and every afternoon you’d go check the vending machine for the latest issued book where you could purchase it on the spot? It would be a dream come true for me.

My first stop and the first book I purchase was the third novel by my dear  Alzain, a fellow blogger and a great writer that I admire and look forward to whatever she publishes ever since I’ve fallen in love with her first novel “Fedha and Shaheen”.

English readers would not have much to choose from but at least this year they are selling more than just the Harry Potter series. In Penguin Random House booth I’ve come upon popular novels like the Percy Jackson series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and even the entire John Green collection of novels. That’s quite an improvement from last year.

At one point during the fair I found a soft serve ice cream machine and I couldn’t resist so I got myself a cone and devoured it as I was walking between books, dodging people.

The title of this children’s book cracked me up! Roughly translates to “The Runaway Lice”! I wonder why lice though? I might go back and get it, I still crack up whenever I see the cover!

I didn’t linger in the fair long, I was dispirited and I was comparing our book fair with the one in Sharjah which had a vast collection of books that are banned in ours, plus they had as a special guest the author DAN BROWN! In my book fair post from last year I wondered why foreign authors like Dan Brown aren’t invited to the book fair to meet their fans and sign our copies of their books yet lo and behold this year he did come to the region, only to the UAE and not Kuwait. Next year I’m going to be booking a ticket to the Sharjah book fair for sure.

I also did forget one important thing, the fair offers a 25% discount on all books but apparently not every publisher abides by this rule. Therefore you are supposed to ask for a “receipt” and those who do not provdie you with ones aren’t giving you the discount you are supposed to be getting. I’ve been quite the nag, asking for the receipt and getting huffs and puffs by the sellers because they have to write it up by hand. Very few publishers use the K-Net and those who do are quicker in providing you the receipt -naturally-. One thing the fair can make better for next year is have provide all the booths with K-Net and all the books sold can be scanned by barcode and discounts given out automatically! Its not that hard to do for the 40th book fair now, is it?

Though I had limits and thought twice before buying any books, I was almost out of my designated cash limit by the time I called it quit and headed to my car. The weird thing is, I do not recall purchasing all these books and they do get heavy! I forgot to bring myself a bag this time around.

And this is my loot for this year. Not much I’m afraid and many of them aren’t that new but I’m satisfied for a first visit. I’m planning on a second visit soon.

Next year by gods will it should be the 40ths book fair and I do hope from the bottom of my heart that it would be a big grand spectre with lots of well established authors, local and foreign, barely any banned books, a sizeable collection of English novels and other languages, K-Net payments available all around, and no more road works around!

What are your hopes for a better book fair? And what did you get this year?

Smoked Pecan Cheesecake from Dallah Bakery

Have I told you before that I’m not a cheesecake person?

I’m not. I’m not the kind of person who’d go gaga over a picture of slice of cheesecake. I’m not really a fan of the dense cheesy heavy centre sandwiched between a crunchy crust and a liquid topping. If there is nothing else on the table I’d eat a forkful or two just fine, but I wouldn’t necessary lose sleep craving cheesecakes and wishing I had a slice or two to wolf down. I can live without cheesecakes.

Therefore, when Dallah’s bakery informed me there was a cheesecake on the way going to be knocking my door, I was excited not for the cheesecake itself but for the topping: smoked pecan caramel! How awesome, how fall like! I began imagining gorgeous orange fall leaves and I felt a warmth spread to my very fingers, like I was sitting at an open fire roasting pecans and drenching them with genuine maple syrup, don’t ask me why I can get myself in a state just like that. It is because of the smoked pecan topping that I’ve decided to cut myself a sliver of the cheesecake, and its because of that sliver of cheesecake that I attacked several other slices of cheesecake and knew exactly how I wanted to photograph Dallah’s newest smoked pecan dilemma.

Hence why all my pictures come with wisps of smoke swirling around them. I have to admit it was fun trying to get a decent photograph with unpredictable puffs of smoke blowing every which way, including my eyes and face. I have to also admit that I’m in big trouble, for that cheesecake is nothing like any other cheesecake I’ve tried in Kuwait before on each and every layer and I’m talking on each and every layer.

Starting with the base, it was crumbly and biscuity and quite nutty. I keep having forkfuls of the base alone, which I usually discard, and I keep trying to figure out what is in that base exactly. I can tell you now -after several slices too many- that there are definitely walnuts in there. The crust is almost like a baked Kuwaiti biscuit on its own and it complements the entire cake perfectly! Good job guys!

Moving upwards, lets go to the bane of the cheesecake’s existence, the cheesy filling. I have my doubts regarding this layer, if I hadn’t known any better I’d say the cheese layer is actually cheese-less but its not. Its perfect! Fluffy, velvety, surprisingly light as air, not so sweet, and thanks be to god not that cheesy or dense! Do you remember in Friends when Rachel and Chandler began stealing cheesecakes from the neighbours? This particular cheesecake comes as close as what my imagination of what that stolen cheesecake must have tasted like. I personally would steal that cheesecake from the neighbours if I’ve stumbled upon it on their doorstep and feel no shame.

Last but not least, the smokey pecan caramel topping! Now between the layer of caramel and cheese there are bits and pieces of pecan hiding and therefore even though the last layer looks so smooth and innocent you will still get a surprising crunch as you are chewing away! Again the sauce is so rich and delicious but not overly sweet or heavy and it works, with the entire hoopla that is this cake it fits in just fine! The smokiness in the praline is very subtle it can go unnoticed if you didn’t know it was smoked but if you do, you will recognise it in a good peculiar what is that different thing I’m tasting kind of taste.

My dear friends at Dallah, you’ve outdone yourselves this time! They’ve been busy churning out one delicious new dessert after the other and I hope because it is what I think it is because they’ve posted a picture of what I think it is  I love it when a small business works hard until the fruit of their labour blossom into something bigger. You could always tell apart the passionate businesses aiming to leave a mark from the harried ones aiming only for a quick fils or two. Excellent cake Dallah, thank you and keep up the good work

One final note regarding the cake, it sells out fast so to order it you must do so in advance. For more information and orders you can pass by their store in Kaifan Co-op, call them on 99989824, email them on DallahKuwait@yahoo.com, follow them on Twitter on (@Dallah), or follow them and their delicious pictures on Instagram on (@DallahKuwait).

Counting Down the Days for The Hobbit

Ever since I’ve walked out from the cinema after watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug movie and I’ve been in some sort of daze. On one hand, I loved DOS so much I wanted to see it again -and I did, several times-. On the other hand, I wanted to continue watching the movie, or rather the third movie that was named There and Back again and was set for a July 2014 release then pushed back to December 2014 and renamed into The Battle of Five Armies. I wanted to watch the last movie so bad, an entire year of waiting seemed like torture. I began counting down the months, one by one, and because life goes by in a blink there I was, with only one month left to go and now counting down the DAYS! No more counting of months, its merely a matter of days, until it was finally time to watch the last of the Hobbit and bid it farewell. 

Well, now that its only a matter of days till the last Hobbit is back in the cinemas I suddenly don’t want the wait to be over, don’t want the suspense to end. Sure I want to see how the story wraps up – I know what happens, I’ve read the book and its not good nor happy- but I also don’t want to see because there will be no more wondering or daydreaming. Yes I’ve been daydreaming, I live in my very own bubble sometimes where I let my imagination run wild and asking me to wait for a year to watch a movie didn’t help tune the daydreaming down, not one bit. Where did the days go? After this, there will be no waiting for the Hobbit anymore, no more new LOTR related movies, and its just a matter of few months until all three extended editions of the Hobbits are out and then its all over.

I just truly hope that after all this wait, it won’t be banned in Kuwait. There is a very good possibility because yes I’m that lucky usually. I’ve seen the listing of the Hobbit go on the coming soon tabs of the cinema in Kuwait today, countries around the world have already started selling advanced tickets for the Hobbit and many cities are lucky to be having their very own premiers, why can’t we have movie premiers in Kuwait? We are part of this world, aren’t we? Imagine if there was indeed a Hobbit premier in Kuwait, would you go? I’d be the first one scrambling for tickets to be honest.

Anyways, the Hobbit is set for a 17 December release in Kuwait and I hope the date doesn’t get pushed back. I will sure be bringing a lot of tissues to the movie with me and hopefully it turns out worth the wait.