Danderma's Blog, page 124

Review: olloclip, the 3-in-1 Photo Lens for iPhone

After a long wait, I have finally been able to purchase an iPhone 4s yesterday! Even though it involved running back and forth in, shall we say, a circle around the avenues and me almost tearing my hair out in the middle of the avenues.  Anyways finally I took my SIM card to iCity to be punched into a smaller SIM when I looked behind the seller's back and saw this box!

The picture above -which is by the way the first picture I've taken and instagrammed with my new iPhone- is of the Olloclip 3-in-1 Photo Lens for my iPhone Camera! I've seen that with Jacquies on Vinny's bloggers night (post) and she said something about ordering it online since its not available in Kuwait. I bought it immediately.

The clip on accessory has two lenses on each side of the plastic that mounts on the edge of the iPhone covering the camera. The first side has the "fisheye" lens. Let me show you a picture of something I took with the fisheye lens using my iPhone camera.

Its fisheye lens all right. Although I am not a fan of fisheye photography at all but you never know it might grown on me one day. Any how, the second lens is a Wide Angle Lens.

This is a picture of the same coaster and chocolate I took with the fish eye but this time with the wide angle lens. It doesn't feel wide angel so I guess I should look for a better example.

The cool thing is to get a macro lens all you have to do is screw the Wide Angle lens off and voila! You've got yourself an amazing Macro!

The Macro power on the little lens is awsome!

I could see the printing dots on the coaster! Wow!!!

All you have to do is buy the Olloclip and mount it on your iPhone whenever you want to shoot something spectacular and professional looking.

The Olloclip is compact, very light, and even comes with two very cute tiny lens covers to protect the lenses!

And that's not all! The Olloclip also comes with a tiny microfiber cloth bag that can be used to clean the lenses and to contain the entire thing while putting the Olloclip in your handbag for example. Its so tiny it wouldn't take much space at all!

It can even fit inside your clutch if you are a clutch person like me! When I shared the picture of my new Olloclip 3-in-1 lens in Instragram it got a lot of interest! I found it in iCity the Avenues selling for the price tag of 22 KD which is a steal considering the price of Macro lenses alone!

Highly recommended! Would make a great gift for a photography lover who has an iPhone.

Review: Sunny Side Up Breakfast

I had gotten an invitation a while ago from the owner of Sunny Side Up to come and try their place. I couldn't make it then but I promised I will once I come back to Kuwait. Since yesterday was my first Saturday weekend in Kuwait we decided to go and try it.

As we went at 9:30 AM they were setting the outdoors area since it was raining all morning and had just stopped. Inside there were around 3 tables only: two with two couples already having breakfast and one table that is reserved. So we went outside and waited for a table to be ready.

It didn't take long for us to be seated and for the heaters to be started for us. It was a pretty cold morning. The menu was a huge sheet filled, front and back, with breakfast dishes!

I loved the design of the menu with the egg logo. Very funky. It took us a long time trying to decide what to have.

The first thing we ordered was the bread basket.

The basket came with a side of butter and raspberry jam. The toast was pillow-soft, the foccacia strips were tasty. We almost ate the entire basket before out breakfast came.

My breakfast was the New Yorker: Two scrambled eggs, a hashbrown, Turkey Slices, Sausages, and 2 pancakes. I asked for the Turkey and the Sausages to be on a side plate since I didn't want them touching my vegetarian food -Bu Tootee eats them- but I guess they didn't understand my request.

Oh and the salt and pepper shakers? Awsome! They are this big stainless steel thing that you shake and plenty of salt comes out! Ebardoon el chabd

Those are my pancakes which came with my order in a separate plate.

Oozing Maple Syrup.

Our juices: mine Orange juice, Bu Tootee's Pear and something juice which was amazing! A must try! Really fresh and good.

And my black American Coffee.

Butootee ordered the Late Miami Omelet. 3 Eggs with spinach and mushrooms covered with a creamy mushroom sauce with a side of Hashbrowns, toast, and sausages.

The sausages were really red from the inside!

Bu Tootee says this dish is good but quite on the heavy side. He didn't have lunch afterwards, it was that heavy. Eat it only if you are really hungry!

The cheque comes in a tiny orange skillet that is very cute! What's even cuter is their business card!

We enjoyed our breakfast very much. Surprisingly we had a good view of people coming and going even though I thought the location wasn't the best but it turned out OK!

Thank you Mr. Faisal Al-Saed for your kind invitation. We wish you the best of luck with Sunny Side Up. Sunny Side Up is located in Mbarkiya right outside Souq Al-Manakh parking. For more information you can check their website (link) or like their facebook page (link) or follow them on Twitter @SunnySideUpkw.

Meningitis Vaccination is Now Available for the Public

Remember my recent post about having a meningitis epidemic in Kuwait (post)? Apparently the ministry of health is starting a meningitis vaccination campaign on Sunday 9 January for everyone in Kuwait in all polyclinics. There are worries that the amount of available vaccinations in Kuwait will not be enough for everyone but then we will just have to wait and see now don't we?

So if you are worried about getting meningitis you can head to the nearest polyclinic on Sunday and get vaccinated. That should take care of your worries for you, god knows we have more than enough to worry about in life. Thank you MOH!

Celebration: Bloggers Night at Vinny's

We were invited by 7aji Dude's blog to a bloggers dinner in Vinny's, 52 Degrees, to celebrate the participants and winners of the "Cutest Baby Picture Competition". I didn't participate in it 7safa since I was travelling but I was glad I got an invite as I missed my blogger friends and wanted to see them all

Danderma, fashionably late as usual no matter how hard I try, arrived at nearly 8 PM while the invitation said 7:30! I walk into Vinny's to see a lot of familiar happy places. Dudette from 7aji Dude blog our host for the night handed me a carnet with my blog's name and a description that I loved Nice touch!

The Stupidest thing ever happened. After saying hello I noticed that I didn't bring my camera with me! My brain is scattered all over the place lately! Luckily Swera has a great taste in cameras and owns a Canon she was willing to share with me! Surely that saved the day! Thanks girl, I owe you one big time!

Bloggers who came early were served juices. I heard the pomegranate was a hit.

Chips and dips were available at the table as well.

Do you happen to notice the cake pops in the background of the above picture? It was a tub of cake pops made after the pictures of the bloggers who participated in the competition! Very cute indeed!

As we sat around chatting and laughing we were served dinners. The appetizers we got were a baked mushroom, a baked chicken and pesto pie, and a rocket salad. I loved the baked mushroom. A great addition to the Vinny's menu.

There was two kinds of pizzas: one Margarita and one with meat. I had a slice of Margarita.

The Spaghetti when it arrived made everyone happy and when Ansam was trying to serve it and held the spaghetti strips up high you could hear camera clicking a mile away! It was delicious but it was made with meat 7safa so I couldn't have any

Just as I was having a serious craving for pasta -spaghetti in particular- a huge plate of Pink Penne was placed in front of me by Vinny's owner Bader Al-Kulaib as he said "You like the pink pasta, right?". He remembered me! Plus he remembered what dish in particular I liked! And I just mentioned that on Twitter and not even in my blog! I was touched really, very touched indeed! O devoured my pasta ebroo7ee :p

The dessert from Vinny's was the Kinder Pudding! It came with strips of white yummy thing running down the side and then I had a hard time taking a picture of it alone, being attacked by bloggerettes and all!

I managed to take a picture of my bite. Kinder Chocolate Pudding? It RULES! The best thing I've had all night! I almost polished off the entire bowl -loma elfeshela y3ni-.

Dessert didn't mean the dinner is over as there were two more surprises: The first is that we had all received a blogger discount cards from Vinny's with our blog names types on it. I am so going to abuse it on ordering kinder puddings insah2 Allah :p

and the second was a huge cake from November Boutique with the winner's picture on it which just makes you laugh all over again I stole the picture from Pink Girl's blog, 7abeeba ma etgol shay

After a night of good food, good company, and laughter we left happy and content. Congratulations Pink Girl for winning the Cutest Baby Picture Competition. Thank you 7aji Dude blog for everything, it was a blast! Thanks to Vinny's and its owner Bader Al-Kulaib for making that night a great one indeed and your attention and good food! Best of luck!

Good Saturday Morning…

Wow! The first week of 2012 is here already! Masha2 Allah times does fly fast and before we know it 2012 will be over and we will be in 2013!

After my blessed stay in the UK the one thing I really crave when I am back home is Khobiz Irani. I want to have it with everything: White cheese and mint, dipped in tea with milk, with Nestle Qaymar,  stuffed with halloumi cheese and heated in the sub, filled with Kiri cheese. If I could I would eat nothing but endless loaves of fresh hot bread while standing at the khabbaz's window!

Shino ryogkom elyoom? O what's your favorite way to eat Iranian bread?

Shino '3adakom Elyoom?

Thursday is here at last, o BARD! What are you planning for lunch? Eating in the office? Bel zwara? At home? Skipping lunch?

So let me ask you the eternal daily q8y question: 'Shino '3adakom?' I craving a big warm meal: 3eesh Emfalfal with 7akook topped with meatless maraq bamiaya with a bottle of KDD's salty low fat liban. Mmmm ako a7la min el crunchy 7kook ma3a maraq el bamiya eb hal bard?

Shino '3adakom elyoom?

Do you have a friend who like all blogs except yours?

Lets say you have this friend, she is an avid blog follower and knows more about what is going on in the Kuwaiti blog scene than I do. She talks about the blogs all the time discussing their topics and latest news. Right up my alley you'd say. What a good friend.

Except she doesn't read my blog. Or follow me!

Of course there is no reason for people to follow or like your blog just because you are friends with them in real life. People are free and have different tastes. But its been bothering me a bit. I can't help but have the question "Why not my blog?" jump  out whenever she goes on about blog X and blog Y. What makes blog X so much better than mine that you rave about it all day long while you wouldn't spare 2 minutes glancing at my blog? What is missing? Is there something missing?

Its not so much the fact that she doesn't check my blog. Whats bugging me is that every time she talks I begin to doubt myself, my blog, my posts, my choices. I hate that. Really hate that. Eshda3wa ya 7afoth?

I know I shouldn't really care but on some level it hurts. Its just like saying I am not good enough or something. It makes me a bit blue!

So dear bloggers: have you ever had someone close to you not liking your blog but liking almost every other blog out there? If you do, do you think its OK to doubt yourself? Is that normal? I am really confused here.

Things 2 Do in London: Kahve Dünyasi

Walking along Piccadilly Street one freezing winter morning in December I walked to the entrance of a bustling cafe with a long line of customers sneaking around the cash register and scattered on the tables. Intrigued, I went inside for the first time and had a blast.

The new cafe's name is Kahve Dünyasi and is apparently is a Turkish coffee shop franchise. Apparently Kahve Dünyasi.in Turkey is the equivalent of Starbucks in the USA with over 200 branches in Turkey and this is their first branch in the UK which has opened late 2011.

Walking into Kahve Dünyasi is like walking into a coffee treasure trove! Yours eyes will keep doing double takes and running wildly all over the place! The first thing you see is the Macaroons section which we didn't try.

Then comes the chocolate section which is so vast it can have a post on its on. Small, big, slabs of chocolate, and much more!

Hot chocolate dippers in different flavors! Yay!

Chocolate coated candied fruits.

Chocolate covered Turkish delights. If you are a fan you will love these.

More chocolate displays.

There is an entire wall of boxes goods, silverware, and gift ideas.

Different types and sizes of coffee mugs and cups.

Turkish coffee maker, ideal for work and on the go.

They also have Ice cream on the menu but we didn't have the chance to try it 7safa!

As a coffee house of course a big attention was given out to coffee. Coffee beans were available all over the cafe.

Also tins of readily mixed ground Turkish coffee is available. Sa7lab too!

After touring the busy place a table finally opened up and we placed our orders. First we ordered coffee -of course-. Bu Tootee ordered Iced Turkish coffee.

How was it? Lets just say that by the time I brought it to the table, went back to grab the cake, and came back there was not one droplet left! It was that good and quite different indeed! Yum! Speaking of cake, look at this beauty.

Someone at the counter had ordered a Ferrero Rochet cake and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. What we did order however was this biscuit cake that looks like the prince William's favorite cake.

Its a simple straightforward uncomplicated cake that looked average. Yet it tastes like OMG-THIS-IS-LIPSMACKING-MY-OH-MY good! Really good! So good it was gone within seconds and we had to stand in line again to get us another slice for take away!

I don't know what these are called but they are a Turkish specialty. Pastry filled with Eggplant and potatoes or cheese and potatoes. In one order you get four pieces so we took two cheese and two eggplants.

The eggplants were nice but the cheese ones were much better!

I was saving the best for last: The Turkish Coffee! If you are a fan of Turkish coffee you will appreciate the quality of coffee served in Kahve Dünyasi and will be torn between the three available choices: Normal Turkish, Turkish Coffee with milk -or what we call French coffee-, and Turkish Coffee with misteka! I chose the Turkish coffee with misteka to taste it.

The coffee comes with a chocolate spoon of your choice (dark or milk) and a piece of chocolate covered Turkish delight. The dark chocolate spoon went so well with my Turkish coffee I actually bought more spoons to take home and enjoy with me. Did the misteka flavored Turkish coffee taste good? It tasted SPLENDID! So so good and flavorsome. It was so good I bought me a tin of Misteka Flavored Turkish Coffee to bring home to Kuwait with me!

Over all we enjoyed our short break in Kahve Dünyasi and wished we could stay longer. The table next to us had their Turkish coffee cups upside down on their plates ready to read the fenjan :p Reminded me so much of my childhood when we would gather around our Aunts drinking Turkish coffee and then they would turn the cups upside down and pretend to read the cup o making all those outrageous predictions. Ah to be a child again!

Anyways Kahve Dünyasi is a new place in London and is already a favorite spot of mine to hang out. The perfect place for a pick me up while shopping and great for souvenir ideas that people would love. Highly recommended!

 Kahve Dünyasi is located in Piccadilly Street and its really big which makes it hard to miss. For more information you can check their British website from here (link).

Ladurée's New Year's Gift

I arrived back home on the first day of the new year to find a light pistachio green colored bag waiting for me. It was from Ladurée!

Inside were several boxes filled with goodies.

Vanilla tea and Sugar Coated Almonds (Baith el9a3aw).

And a big box of their famous macaroons.

It was a really delicious and very thoughtful gift indeed. Thank you very much Ladurée for the lovely start of the year, much obliged

Things 2 Do in London: Dishoom Cafe

How many times did I pass by Dishoom's café without going inside? I don't know  frankly, I've always passed that part of London between Leicester square and Covent Garden in a quick sprint. I've never looked by Dishoom except for once in my life before but this year I had the luxury of going inside and regret the years that have passed without me trying it out.

It was an icy cold day when we finally decided to walk inside Dishoom. The air outside was so cold even though it was early evening time at nearly 3 PM. The first thing you notice about the place -from the outside- is the colorful painted bicycles strapped to the poles outside the restaurant and the funny sign.

With the swoosh of the door you are transported from the freezing bustling streets of London to what looks like a Parisian cafe in France, yet not quite. Dark wood, brass railings, brisk lights hanging and a warm buzz of the place makes you smile and you know you are in to having a good time.

The waiting area is small albeit very welcoming. Luckily since it was mid afternoon the place wasn't overly crowded and we didn't wait much for a table.

The thing that sticks out the most in the decor is the lights scattered around everywhere, hanging from cords on the tables. Reminds me of something that I cannot place right now. They are lovely!

We were seated at a nice table in the middle of the restaurant. The open kitchen was behind us were we could watch the fresh bread being cooked on their Tawa and the food being prepared -no pictures though- as we sat down we began to defrost.

Now to the food. My nose was red from the frigid air and my stomach was rumbling. The first thing I wanted was their much praised Chai. Like Chai Karak in the gulf. So I ordered it and enjoyed every single sip.

Bu Tootee had their Rose & Cardamom Lasse which he loved alot. I tried it and wasn't much to my taste because it was salty with rose and cardamom and I prefer those flavors with sweet beverages. El nass athwaq I suppose.

As I was looking for a light lunch that goes with my Chai I wanted something brunch like so I was torn between their Chilli Cheese Toast which I've heard so much about and their Paneer Wrap. In the end I went with the Paneer wrap because I was afraid my stomach would act up with the chilli on the toast. It was really good and very different!

On the table were three sauces: The green one I like, a Tamarind one, and a spicy thing :p

We also ordered vegetarian samboosa to share. The whole idea behind the cafe is to serve small portioned dishes that can be shared between the diner in a relaxed non formal atmosphere. The samboosas were good.

My husband ordered Dhal soup which he enjoyed a lot. I don't like dhal nor do I drink dhal soup but I know its very popular in the winter so if you are a fan you might want to give it a try.

He also ordered vegetarian byriani with raita. We were afraid that the portion will be too big but to our delight it was barely more than enough for one person to have lunch with. It was really good!

Our waiter was very helpful and very patient with us changing our minds at every two minutes. Service was quick and prompt. Atmosphere was very laid back and relaxed. We really had a very good time and a very tasty light lunch. Had we had more time on our hands we would have desserts (Kulfi on a stick). Next time insha2 Allah.

With our check came two money bills like £10 off coupons to use for our next meal in  Dishoom. We liked the idea a lot. Sadly we won't be there in time to use them before their expiry date.

Our afternoon felt refreshed indeed. I've also heard that Dishoom serves amazing breakfast which I intend to try one day in the future insha2 Allah. I like this place a lot.

Form more information about Dishoom you can visit their website (link) or facebook page (link) or follow them on twitter @DishoomLondon.