Danderma's Blog, page 106

The Pizza Italia T-Shirt from Capital District

Early this morning I was browsing through the Instagram pictures when my eyes fell on the T-Shirt above from Capital District Kuwait. I was in love immediately!

Pizza Italia logo on a black t-shirt! Now that must not seem like much but to someone who lived through the prime days of Pizza Italia it just hit home! This is when fashion makes you want to dance, to sing the jingle of Pizza Italia's ad, to go back in time. There is no need to say that I've placed an order right away for one pizza italia t-shirt and I've been singing the jingle ever since this morning! If only they didn't have to close down 7safa 3lehom

7elwa mo? Etyanin! I've always loved Capital District's designs and the latest designs do not disappoint. I am also a self confessed T-Shirt-holic. I cannot resist T-shirts!

If you want one you head over to Capital District's website (link) and place an order for one. I can't wait for mine to arrive

Things 2 Do in London: Tibits Restaurant by Hiltil

One thing I can find in Switzerland and I cannot find in the UK is their super fresh salad platters. Salads in the UK are usually a bit meh in comparison. One of my favorite restaurants in Switzerland is Hiltil in Zurich which is also the oldest European vegetarian restaurant. The queues on the doors are always very long and they have a vast vegetarian buffet of salads and hot dishes that reminds me of Lenotre's salad buffet ALOT.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that the very same Swiss Hiltil had opened up a similar restaurant in London under the name Tibit? Right there in Regent St. next to Momo and Aubaine?

Tibits have a beautiful outdoors seating area. The weather was a tad too cold or we'd have sat outside.

At night it would feel magical for sure with all those pretty lanterns. If I had a garden I would have it styled this way.

We went inside and got seated right away. I loved the interior of the place, the wide big window panes letting in a lot of light and allowing us to watch passers by.

I loved the tiny table light with its birds nest like metal detail.

Now for the food. The idea of the restaurant is having a buffet or a "food boat" where you can choose from an endless selection of salads, fresh vegetables, dips, hot vegetarian dishes, or even desserts on your plate or plates. Then you weigh your plate and pay by the weight. You can have as much or as little as you want. You can also have your selection for takeaway.

Over 40 dishes are available each day. There is even a breakfast buffet available.

Their dishes change on regular basis and are situated on a bed of crushed ice so what you get is the freshest possible GM free selection ever.

The hot dishes are kept on hot plates under blazing lights.

They even offer gluten free bread rolls.

You don't wait to be seated, you don't wait for a menu, you just choose a seat, take a plate, pile it up, weight it, pay for it, and dig in.

If you don't want a buffet they do have a selection of fresh sandwiches and soups to order. My lunch.

My Orange Lemonade which was really really good.

Bu Tootee's Lunch.

You cannot imagine how happy I am to have Hiltl finally open up in London. What's funny though is that even though Tibits is now a popular place to dine in the British diners didn't warm up much to its dining concept at first but it seems to be growing up on them -Time Out's words, not mine-. Ma 3ndohom salfa wallah.

Anyways if you  are in the middle of a shopping spree in Regent street and want a very fast and very light lunch you can pass by Tibit and enjoy your meal especially in the summer when sitting outside is a must. Or if you want to have a picnic in Regents park you can have a takeaway from them. They also happen to open up late until 12 am if for example you want a light dinner after theatre or something.

Tibit is located in Heddon St. which is basically inside Regent St. next to Momo and Aubaine. For more information about Tibit you can check out their website (link) or their facebook page (link) or follow them on Twitter (@tibits_UK).

Shino '3adakom elyoom?

Thursday is here and the weekend is about to start! The weather is gorgeous today! What are you planning for lunch? Eating in the office? Bel zwara? At home? Skipping lunch?

I'm craving a big fat gooey messy starchy cheesy pot of Macaroni & Cheese! The best Mac&Cheese I've ever had was in Seattle in 2001 and ever since I've been searching hi & lo for a recipe that can mimic it to no avail. It had a rough grainy sand-like texture.

Anyways I do an okish version of Mac & Cheese. It is however a fattening dish yet so light you can eat up an entire pot of it and not feel its enough. I wonder why Kuwaiti restaurants don't add it to the menu? Its always pink pasta this and pink pasta that! Nabi Mac & Cheese!

So what about you? Shino '3adakom elyoom?

MyFavBlogs Application for Android Users

Our fellow blogger MadeinQ8 had just released an android application where you can view some of their favorite blogs in Kuwait, mine included (yay!).

If you are an android user then you will want to add the application for the favorite blogs updates straight to your android device. You can click here (link) to install.

Good job MadeInQ8 and thank you for including my humble blog. Keep up the good work

What's Your Favorite Spot in Kuwait?

I've recently encountered this question and I was about to answer when suddenly I was tongue tied. I love Kuwait, its my birthplace, my country, my family, my home, and my entire being. I take pride in being a Kuwaiti. I miss Kuwait terribly whenever I travel. Yet when I wanted to answer the question: where is my favorite spot in my own country Kuwait, I failed miserably!

Its just there are too many favorite spots! Some are still there, some are long gone, and some are still yet to come. Its hard to choose one. I know that in 2002 it used to be the Aquarium's walkway. That was long before people had discovered it and it was very serene and quite and beautiful. Another place that keeps flashing in my mind is the fountain that used to be in Avenues phase II and is now removed because of phase III construction. I loved sitting in Starbucks or Casper & Gambini's with a cup of coffee overlooking the colorful fountain when the weather was nice. I love the quietness of the place, how it was secluded from other parts of the avenues. But did I love it enough to be my favorite spot in my country? I don't know!

What about you? Do you have a definite answer to that question? Where is your favorite spot in Kuwait?

Event: Starbuck's Espresso Perfection

Yesterday we had the opportunity to venture into a place rarely seen by the general public, the Starbucks training room in the M.H. Alshaya head office!

It was a bloggers only event where a new Starbucks coffee was introduced, the new blonde roast! We were split into two teams where team one went to the Barista training room first. The training room was set up to resemble a Strabucks cafe with a white board and a fully functioning coffee counter.

Here is the coffee counter where my fellow bloggers were taking turns making their own lattes! It reminded me of my coffee training days of Gloria Jeans Coffee (post) and I immediately felt nostalgic to grinding, tamping, frothing, and getting a perfect shot of espresso

I got into a green apron and made myself a nice tall cup of Cappuccino with a beautiful froth! I have to say it was the best cappuccino I've ever tasted in Starbucks, after all it was made by moi, barista Danderma (3eshtaw) :p

7safa ma7ad 9awarny Anyhoo, after blogger team one made their coffees we moved into another room where Starbucks conducts the coffee tasting for their employees.

In the room various posters were hanging on the wall and there was a big table spread with freshly brewed coffee of different types alongside plates of spices, liquids, fruits, and jelly beans!

If you follow my blog you might recall the coffee tasting test I've posted about before in my coffee course (post). I recall the techniques of coffee tasting given that I've not only done it more than once but I've already conducted it on poor people :p

Basically they guide you on the ways your tongue can recognize flavors and aromas with different types of coffee. They however didn't say anything about the body of the coffee. They used jelly beans for the aroma technique which weren't very sharp. The mentos would work much better.

While tasting the coffee we jotted down our observations. When it was over we went into the coffee training room again to be treated into a feast of sandwiches and mini desserts then we were given goody bags with their newest coffee blend and a new Starbucks coffee mug.

If I was to describe yesterday's event it would be a crash coffee training course. Now Starbucks since you have this awesome specialized training room why don't you offer training courses? So many people would love the opportunity to learn about coffee training. I was lucky enough to get trained by Gloria Jeans coffee and many people were interested in a similar training course.

Thank you so much Starbucks for a lovely evening. I really want to open my own coffee shop one day. I enjoy making coffee as much as I enjoy drinking it

Help: Where Can I Find the Floating Lanterns in Kuwait

Do you know those beautiful floating lanterns that you lit and they fly away? I have seen them before in some movie that I cannot recall being lit in a movie and ever since I've wanted to try them. Then I remember someone posting about them on Facebook or on a blog and for the life of me I cannot remember where. I have developed the memory of a gold fish!

So help me please. Do you know if these lanterns are available in Kuwait? If so, where and for how much? I found them being sold in the UK for £2.99 each which is roughly 1.5 KD. 7safa I didn't get them

Book Review: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

The recent book from the Shopaholic series author Sophie Kinsella is sadly not another  Shopaholic book. I do however love Kinsella's writing and I am a faithful fan so I grabbed it and started reading right away.

The story is about a girl who loses her engagement ring which is a family heirloom of her fiancee's. She also loses her phone and as she was trying to balance everything: a wedding, meeting the parents while trying to hide her hand so they don't notice the missing ring, find the ring, and no phone, she suddenly finds a mobile phone in the garbage and decides to use it -and snoop on its owner's details while he keeps demanding she gives it back-.

The book is hilarious. So funny indeed. There are a couple of situations that made me go "OMG" out loud in the dark of my room at the crack of dawn.

Yet again it is still very similar to the shopaholic style: a silly heroin who gets into the most ridiculous situation and falls for the most successful man and of course he falls for her and he must have a work crisis that only she can swoop and save because she maintained intel by accident regarding the situation. I could have swapped the heroine and the hero with Becky and Luke et voila I would have ended up with another Shopaholic series. I don't understand what Kinsella won't just write another Shopaholic book if all her characters are exact replicas of Becky Bloomwood?

Anyways if you want a classic laugh Kinsella style this is the book for you. However I've had many better book and I've already got the entire shopaholic series therefore I won't be keeping it in my bookshelf. It is available in Amazon of course (link).

Review: Baking Tray's New Branch in the Avenues

Yesterday I was with Pink Girl in the avenues. We were starving so we decided to go to the newly opened Baking Tray and check it out.

The new branch has two seating areas: a small one inside the restaurant itself and a big vast one in between all the stores that serves as an outdoorsy seating area.

We decided to sit outside.

and soon the menu came.

As soon as we placed our dinner orders a bread basket with their signature spread came. I think its butter mixed with sun dried tomatoes but I am not entirely sure.

Next came our drinks. I was feeling very hot and thirty so I asked for something frozen and they brought me this frozen Raspberry drink!

Delicious and refreshing.

Next came the potato wedges.

BT's famous garlic bread. Its sinfully good

My order was the Shitaki Pizza. It was good but needed a little bit of salt. It had come a long way since the pizza they made when they first opened BT years ago.

Pink had ordered Aby Pasta but without the pesto. It turned out to be like a Macaroni and cheese pasta and very good, even better than the original Aby!

7yakom?

Mmmmm!

I loved baking tray's new branch. The only thing I didn't like is that the artificial plants on the border of the outdoorsy seating is too high to allow for people watching which is a vital thing in Kuwait. Other than that I was very happy. The staff even offered Pink a free Cookie with Rahash and were very friendly

Baking Tray Avenues is located in Phase II above KFH and The English Tea Room. If you haven't heard before, Baking Tray make the BEST chocolate chip cookies in Kuwait, period!

Do you Take Toiletries from Hotel Rooms?

Do you know how Ross Geller hords everything he can from hotel rooms whenever he stays there? I have my very own Ross Geller and his name is Bu Tootee.

He loves hotel toiletries: mini shampoos, shower gels, conditioners, body lotions, sewing kits, shoe shines, cotton puds, shower caps, bard so soap, etc.! Anything he can find in the hotel bathroom he either uses or stashes into the suitcase with a mischievous grin. Its not about the money as in he paid for them fa he must take them, no no. Its like he is a cave man and he is bringing back a collection of things that make him happy.

Now I am left with a MOUNTAIN of toiletries. Box upon box upon box of toiletries that we never use nor do we need! From all over the world and from every single hotel room we've ever stayed in for every single day. OK lets use them? The man refuses. I remember when we were kids in the 80′s we used two collect stationary and erasers and never use them. He collects toiletries the same way. It gives him a thrill just to have them there in bulk nearby! I don't understand why the unnecessary clutter! He won't use them or throw them away even though they must have expired by now!

The ones in the picture above are like 10% of what we have stashed!!! Is there anyone else who feels the same about hotel toiletries? If you do, why on earth do you collect them and what do you do with them?

While we are on the subject, do you take anything else other than toiletries from hotel rooms?