Danderma's Blog, page 147

Thing 2 Do in London: Comptoir Restaurant

To be frank I don't know how long this restaurant has been there in the back of St. Christopher's Place. I rarely look twice back at Middle Eastern restaurants in the UK but this year apparently it has been an exception. I was dragged to Comptoir by my husband who wanted a sandwich before we went home after a long day shopping.

I wasn't too happy to be dragged there by when my husband stopped me in the street infront of the sign above and said "Look at the place" I began to take notice.

Its not your average Lebanese food place at all.

The first thing I noticed was the style of the outdoors seating. What is this called? Industrial Modern? I don't know the name but I know I am a sucker for such style!

Of course I decided to go inside with a smile rather than a pout

O I am greeted by this lemon tree! Real lemons!

The first thing you notice is not the food, its the decor of the place with the "Chicklets" gum theme! Ayshaweg!

Then you start noticing the merchandise on the walls.

Then when you finally tear away your eyes from the store you notice the food. They have all the usual dishes you would expect to find in a Lebanese restaurant.

We ordered one Sheesh Tawooq and one Falafel Sandwich to go. Their bag doesn't lack style either!

The sandwiches were very good. We would go back again for takeaway or for a quick meal for sure.

For more information about Comptoir you can visit their website http://www.lecomptoir.co.uk/

Is Danderma a He or a She?

Lets have a show of hands here… how many of you think I am a guy and how many of you think I am a girl?

If you read my blog then of course you would know my gender. The problem is when people who do not know my blog and hear the name "Danderma" they automatically assume I am a guy! A guy, a his, a sir, a man! I don't know about you but what part of the name Danderma is masculine exactly?

At first it was OK. I laughed it off. But now I feel like I have two personalities: Danderma the Dude and Danderma the real girl! Danderma is a SHE not a HE… SHE! Do I have to dress my blog in pink and put a ribbon on top and add a girl's name to my nickname to be considered a female?

So the next time you decide to address me, email me, contact me, reply to my comment, talk to me, tweet me, retweet me, quote me, facebook me, remember this… I am a SHE not a HE. Do your homework! Make that very insulting mistake again and you will be ignored. Make it twice and you will go on my black list of blocked people.

Wallah!

Thing 2 Get 4m London: Flavored Earl Grey Tea

If you are a fan of Earl Grey tea then you will be very happy with the 3 new flavors the inventor of Earl Grey tea had come up with: Jasmine Earl Grey, Lavender Earl Grey, and Orange Blossom Earl Grey!

I wonder how long would it be before those flavors make it into the Kuwaiti market but until they do I would highly recommend them from the UK. They are available in tins of 20 tea bags and would make a great 9oo'3a for tea lovers back home.

 

The Cure to the Work Commute Blues

I was lucky enough to have a car with a DVD player and a screen to watch DVD's. In order to fight my depression driving from and to work every single morning insha2 Allah until I am all old and wrinkled before being allowed retirement, I figured I might as well make the most out of the drive. It is time out of my life after all.

Ever since I started listening to plays on my way to and from work, the road has magically felt shorter, I laugh all the time even if a crazy driver had just cut infront of me. I am more tolerant of my fellow drivers because I am happy and relaxed. I actually began to look forward to longer drives because I get to listen to a little bit more of the plays every day. My current favorite is Bye Bye London and so far I have rewinded it twice already! Its just too hilarious!

So if you have the work commute blues, do the same thing I do and see how your miserable time on the road will improve. Highly recommended

The Owner of Comment 15,000 is…

This post should have been published in early August! But with all the hoopla of Ramadan, Eid, and post Eid activities I didn't have the chance to. The good news is that I am nearing the 20,000 comments :p

I officially have 15,000 comments on my blog, wow! and the owner of Comment Number 15,000 is "Elegant Chic"!!!!

Congratulations "Elegant Chic"! You will receive a $150 Amazon Gift Card by email in a few minutes 

Thank you my dear readers and commentors for your faith and loyalty… 15,000 is indeed a very big number… thank you all :*

& Guess what?! I have an even bigger and better prize for the owner of comment number 20,000!!! The count down has started and lets just say we are very near the 20,000 comment  I promise it wont be an Amazon Card next time, it would be an option between two gifts since it's a 20,000 comment

Movie Review: The Killer Elite

We went yesterday to watch 'The Killer Elite' and I had high hopes for the movie. Based on the controversial 1991 novel 'The Feather Men'  the movie follows a retired assassin who has to do one more job in exchange for the freedom of his mentor when his mentor is taken captive.

The movie is good, long, but shredded by the censorship! The story revolves around a Sheikh from Oman whose 3 sons were killed in the Dhofar uprising in the seventies and he wanted revenge so his fourth son can be free.

What I don't understand is, how come this movie wasn't banned in Kuwait with all the mess surrounding the Dhafar uprising and the sheikh from Oman who wants revenge while the movie "The Kingdom" which was an amazing movie and actually made you fall in love with the Saudi policemen and had nothing against KSA was banned in Kuwait?

Anyways its a movie really worth watching though the translation is funny and misleading at some parts plus the scenes that are cut are important ones. But if you are planning to travel soon I would advise you to wait and see it abroad, at least you will understand more!

Help: Gifts Needed for Cancer Children's Hospital Party

Fellow blogger Q8 Rain has this plea to share with you. In short we need people to donate gifts for little kids who are also cancer patients in the NBK hospital. Something new, simple, light so they can hold and use to pass the time with.  I for one will be participating for sure.

Here is the email

"Dear all

I'm emailing all of you and hoping that i will find the support from each one of you , it's the TIME TO PAY BACK to our community . I'm committing as blogger to do a party to the kids with cancer diseases EVERY MONTH in the NBK Hospital, AND i hope that all of you will help me on that because they don't ask for alot of things JUST PARTY …

I will start from Next Monday 3rd of Oct from 10:30 till 12:30 .. The party preparation is handling by IYAA Blog almost done .. the food will be inshalah handling with Basma 13 cubs .. BUT still i need your help and participation … we need 70 Gifts if you can guys I need from each one of you to buy 5-10 gifts to the kids as much as you can "simple gifts even if its coloring books".. please let them be happy in one day of their life "some of them might not make it till next week" so Kindly support this case.

P.s: kindly confirm your participation with how many gifts."

To participate you can contact Q8 Rain on her blog www.q8rain.com or by emailing her at Q8Rain@gmail.com or on Twitter: @Q8Rain .

How Many Piercings are in your Ear?

This subject has came up in a conversation yesterday and it left me curious and thinking. 99.9% of girls in Kuwait have one ear piercing for sure. I love earrings, so much that one pair of earrings was never enough for me and I kept nagging on my mother to let me have a second piercing in my ear. When I was 20 she barely said yes before I was out the door with my baby sister, we both got second ear piercings.

Sadly my 2nd one didn't go well and I had to refrain from wearing earrings in them. I still can't wear earrings well in them, they itch and burn 7safa My mother still doesn't like our second ear piercings.

I would have gotten a third but, well, I couldn't tolerate a 2nd to start with fa no way a third. I would never however have a piercing elsewhere, it just freaks me out, especially the nose ring thing (khazaama). Somehow I always imagine if someone has a nose piercing and weren't wearing their ring and they sneezed the snot would come out of that ear, plus it doesn't look that classy either.

How many ear piercings have you got? What do you think of 3rd piercings and/or belly button, tongue, or nose piercings (khazamaa)? Would you do it?

Review: Afternoon Tea in Ladurée

Afternoon Tea, or Chai el 3a9ary as we refer to it in Kuwait, is a cherished tradition and as important to our society as the afternoon tea is in the UK.

As a child I remember waiting for my parents to wake up from their afternoon nap so we can have tea and cake together while watching the cartoon de jour -TV started at 4 pm back then-. Therefore when I got the invite to have Afternoon Tea in Ladurée with my fellow bloggeristas I was more than happy to do so

Danderma, fashionably late as usual, arrived yesterday in the Ladurée's Cafe, 360 mall and looks for the fellow blogerretes, none where to be found! I frantically call Ansam and she tells me they are taking a tour inside the Ladurée store so I head there to find the girls clicking away. I whipped my camera too o joined them

There is something satisfying about being in a room with other people clicking around at every angle trying to find a similar yet distinguished thread of story to tell. Do I make sense? Madry… anyways here are my threads of the story.

In the store you can find Macaroons, Pastries, different types of teas and Jam selections, and more. I am sure most of you have passed by Ladurée by now and are more than familiar with their merchandise. But if you don't like macaroons much and thought Ladurée was only about macaroons, you might want to revisit that though.

This is one of their best selling pastries by the way.

Looking at the rack of ribbons I have decided to build one for my gift wrapping station (post). I really really want one! A new project for me

After the girls were done clicking we went back to the Ladurée cafe for the much anticipated afternoon tea. I have had a bad experience dining with Ladurée before so I was a bit weary but I was assured that this time I will have a great meal and an enjoyable time.

This is my first time in Ladurée's new expanded cafe and I have to say I liked it better this time. The chairs for starters were very comfy. It was very quite in 360 as well, no screaming school kids walking around so we were expecting a very relaxed afternoon tea with no unnecessary interruptions, and I was right about that, thank god.

The pastries and cakes were on display in the cafe plus a big purple cake and another pink cake. The famous Ladurée Macaroon's Pyramid was also on display.

We were given the menu to help us choose the kind of tea we'd like to have. I chose the Earl Grey.

We were then presented with little bowls of ice cream in different flavors: Rose, Violet, Chocolate, Pistachio, Lemon, and Raspberry. I have to say I liked the Violet one. It is quite familiar yet different indeed.

However the Pièce de résistance is yet to come and it arrived in the form of a very classic small tiered purple cake, modeled after Marie Antoinette's wedding dress.

It was baked especially for our afternoon tea and completely ours to consume.After all, what is afternoon tea without a cake?

Each of us in the table got a plate laden with a big slice of cake.

Now I planned to have a forkful of cake only, maybe two at most. But when I did put that fork of cake in my mouth I nearly swooned!

'What is that', I thought to myself! Is it just a cake? It had raspberries, something like crushed macaroons or nouga or meringue, god knows! It is not your usual boring springy sponge cake filled with icing, no no.

It was an explosion of contrasting textures: smooth vs. chewy! It was lip smacking, honestly lip smacking and possibly the best thing I've ever tasted in Ladurée, ever!

I loved it so much I began eating it only, and concentrated on eating it. I do vaguely recall snippets of conversation on the table: Dudette saying something about someone and Pink Girl chiming in. I was silent and distant, me and my slice of cake in a world of our own, until this happened.

Yes, shamefully I had demolished the entire slice of cake! I would have demolished the entire cake if I let myself but I turned on my good girl attitude and decided -sadly- against seconds.

Meet the chef's behind this creation, who deserve a big round of applause. The picture is stolen from 7aji Dude's post by the way -sorry Dudette-. The chef sat with us on the table and explained to us about the cake. The cake comes in many sizes: from one portion for one person to as big as a wedding one for hundreds of people. The filling is called Divine and divine it was indeed. I am so going to order one soon

I wonder if the cakes Marie Antoinette had were as good as this cake? As we chatted with the chefs and our host, Ms. Mariyam, time had flown by and it was time to go. We didn't go home empty handed though…

Were presented with a big bag chock full of  Ladurée goodies!

Elegantly wrapped signature  Ladurée gift boxes containing: a selection of tea, Rose Jam, Sugar encrusted almonds, and a big box of Macaroons

Very generous indeed!

Thank you Ladurée for a great afternoon tea. Thank you Chefs and thank you Ms. Myriam for giving us a great and remarkable time, it was our pleasure to have your company yesterday

Picture of the Week: Frankie Says…

Relax! Relax relax just drop everything for a moment, take a deep breath, and relaaaaaaax! We need to learn the art of relaxing. I believe it would make the world an easier place to live.

Do you know how to relax?