Danderma's Blog, page 22

Al-Rawda National Day Festival

Last year I posted about the extravagant festive lights in Al-Rawda area that are put up to celebrate the occasion of the National and Liberation days of Kuwait. After visiting Ahmadi City this past weekend I decided to pass by Al-Rawda area and see if the lights and decorations were any different this year.

The lights are pretty much the same but to my surprise I made it there on the day of Al-Rawda festival which meant honking cars, children running around, a band playing traditional songs, people selling stuff, and plenty more lights! I wasted no time finding a parking and walking over to walk among the happy crowds.

The weather was lovely and as I walked towards the festival I forgot that I was in Kuwait for a moment. I wonder how it feels to walk in Vegas? I’ve never been but these lights come as close what I imagine them to be. Perhaps those were tad tacky but you cannot deny how jolly they make you feel.

The festival was held in an open area besides McDonalds, which by the way I think is the most awesome looking McDonalds in Kuwait because of its retro design. I think it was built to resemble the original McDonald’s in the USA or something but I’m not entirely sure. Anyways, the area surrounding McDonald’s had a small park of lit up figures where people where posing and taking pictures.

This Al-Rawda co-op mascot pushing a shopping trolly was particularly popular! Everyone was taking their pictures with the happy fella.

There was this long winding tunnel draped in a net of tiny twinkling yellow lights and dotted with big colourful light bulbs. Now tell me this isn’t lovely? I was the crazy woman with a camera who took almost half an hour to walk the length of the short tunnel! I couldn’t help myself, the lights were irresistible!

This is my favourite picture of the twinkling lights!

When you come out -finally- at the other end of the gorgeously lit tunnel you can are smack in the middle of the festival, the band was playing traditional Kuwaiti songs away and people were singing and clapping along.

There were these big blown-up jumping castles where a lot of children were waiting and plenty of people selling things around, mainly Kuwait flag themed items to celebrate the National day and Liberation day.

It was such a fun night! Everyone was happy and celebrating and I expect we’d be seeing more celebrations around Kuwait starting tomorrow or perhaps even tonight. Beware the children with the water guns however, they will be making an appearance tomorrow. Happy national and liberation day Kuwait

Chocolate Haven National Day Chocolates

Because the National Day of Kuwait is coming up on the 25th of February and followed by the liberation day on the 26th every where you look you’ll find the colours of the Kuwaiti flag  and the box of chocolates I received from Chocolate Haven is no exception! The box itself was lovely, clear acrylic with the Kuwaiti national anthem engraved on its side then tied up with a Kuwaiti flag-like ribbon, and with a little map of Kuwait pendant on top to seal the deal.

You cannot help but sing the national anthem as you try to untie the ribbon, its so sweet!

Then you lift the lid and you know you are in for a treat, while still singing the national anthem of course.

I’m still singing the national anthem by the way, now all the chocolates inside the box were made by chocolate haven and of one kind, a salted caramel turtle chocolate thingy. You know how I feel about salted caramel, the love of my culinary life

Thank you very much Chocolate Haven for the lovely and quite thoughtful box of chocolate,  kil 3am o entaw o el Kuwait bkhair @Chocolate_Haven).

Trying Chocolate Bar’s Hot Chocolate at Home

Last weekend we were at home, a tad bored and in need of a treat to enjoy while lounging on the couch and doing absolutely nothing, a luxury we seek these days. Browsing 965flowers website which is currently my source for gift and flower giving, I decided to take a look at Chocolate Bar’s newest desserts when I saw they had a new item: a hot chocolate kit! 

The hot chocolate kit is basically a flask of hot chocolate, either dark or milk chocolate, that comes with chocolate chip cookies, chocolate bar’s marshmallows, and plenty of chocolate flakes in white, black, and milk chocolate variety plus little plastic cups complete with their own plastic lids. You can either choose a 1/2 litre flask with 6 cookies or a 1 litre flask with 12 cookies and they can deliver it on the very same day you order it. How brilliant is that?

Of course I wasted no time ordering me two flasks: one 1/2 litre of milk chocolate and 1/2 litre of dark chocolate. It didn’t take long for the hot chocolate to arrive and the moment they did the chocolate feast had begun! I love it when things become in kits and packages, they are a treat on their own and my hot chocolate adventure on the go was all tidy and wrapped up, which also makes it perfect for both picnics or to bring along to a non-formal gathering.

The flasks, embossed with Chocolate Bar’s logo, are of a very good quality and they kept the hot chocolate steaming hot for a very long time! The cookies? Believe it or not the only cookies I had at chocolate bar were the ones that come with the fondue but those big full sized freshly baked ones tasted different! They were soft, chewy, and extremely dangerous!

The marshmallows! I personally am not a fan of marshmallows but I do like to sprinkle a few pieces on top of my hot chocolate. Those chocolate bar made marshmallows were really soft and quite different from the plastic-like ones you grab at the confectionery aisle in your Supermarket! The moment they touched the surface of the they were gone.

Dunking the cookies in the steaming hot chocolate and melting marshmallows with chocolate flake was the highlight of my relaxed lazy weekend! I’m ashamed to say that none of the cookies made it until Sunday. Ashamed, but not sorry.

The good thing about the little cups is that you get to pour a little amount of hot chocolate at a time and experiment with toppings and sprinkles. By the time the flasks were empty, we realised we had skipped lunch all together! A one litre hot chocolate flask is more than enough for a gathering of five or six girls or a dozen little children.

I had so much fun with the hot chocolate kit from The chocolate bar and I’ve added it to my list of comfort food to enjoy on lazy weekends spent uselessly sprawled on the couch in the company of my blanket and my TV remote. I ordered my hot chocolate kit from 965flowers website but I’m not sure if you can order it by calling chocolate bar directly or not? By the way, though I’m a dark chocolate fan I thought the milk chocolate was much tastier than the dark chocolate hot chocolate but you should order both and try! I think Chocolate bar should make an at home fondue kit next!

Have a happy weekend!

 

Visiting NEST’s Refugees Camp in 360 Mall

The first time I’ve ever heard the word “refugee” was on the 2nd of August 1990. I was standing with my distraught family in Heathrow Airport waiting to board a Kuwait Airways plane back to Kuwait after a summer vacation in Austria and London when a lady who worked in Heathrow informed us that there will be no Kuwait Airways counter, there is no Kuwait anymore, and that we were now “refugees”. I was ten, I barely spoke English, but the word Refugee stung like nothing I’ve heard before, bringing in a jumbled set of emotions: fear, loss, pain, profound sadness, all of which are bundled up snugly underneath a blanket of insecurity for whatever future we thought we had was erased in a blink.

I was considered a refugee during the 1990 invasion on Kuwait, but I was lucky to have a roof over my head, food on the table, clothes on my back, most of my family around me, and most importantly: an education. I was thrust into a British school where the teachers had to teach me the ABCD’s of English, quite literally, and after a few months I was transferred to the Kuwaiti section in King Fahad’s Academy in London. No one knew how long the Gulf war would last, it could have taken years, but providing a proper education for the children abroad was indeed a priority, because what future can you hope for any child if they weren’t provided with proper education?

Fast forward twenty four years and the world is still at war, only this time the world is watching Syria turn into ash. Its too painful to try and understand what’s happening, but the children now living in refugee camps are also left without an education. Not only do they live in dreadful living situations, but an education is a luxury they could barely afford when they can barely scrape together something to live on. Enter NEST, a non-profit organisation working with the Kuwaiti Red Crescent and dedicated to helping refugee students internationally and locally to have a chance at education. They started by sending me a plastic bag as an invitation with tagged with a card that said  ”This is how refugee children carry their school books”.

Inside was a beautiful blank notebook with my blogs name engraved in blue Arabic calligraphy plus an invitation to the #Ghadi initiative in the Refugee Camps they had set up in 360 Mall. Refugee camp, you read that right!

What NEST is trying to do is emulate the actual Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan by simulating the way a little girl, Ghadi, which also means “My tomorrow”, who is living with her peers cramped in camp tents. There are actual tents, videos, life-sized pictures of children from the Zaatari camp, and real children walking around. They are not pretending that this is all there is to camp life, they are just trying to paint a very vivid picture for the simulated camp visitors of how life in a camp must feel like, on a level.

When I arrived at the doors of the exhibition hall of 360 Mall I was stopped at the checkpoint by an eager young NEST volunteer who explained to me what the experience is all about and informed me politely that photography wasn’t allowed inside in order not to ruin other exhibition visitors shock element plus let visitors concentrate on their visit without any distractions.

Do I need to tell you about my visit? No, you must go and experience it yourself. However, at the end of the visit and in a place where photography was allowed and you come to a panel with lots of children’s first names. Actual names of actual children in the Zaatari camp, many names, all awaiting the chance of a formal education.

You choose a child’s name, or more, and you get to sponsor either their transportation to school (20 KD per year) or the book fees (30 KD per year) or their school fees (50 KD per year). You could also pay a 100 KD and sponsor a child’s education for a year, a 100 KD very well spent indeed. All the money is handed to the Kuwaiti Red Crescent which is an organisation I personally would trust with my donations.

If you cannot sponsor a child, you can place whatever change you can spare in the donations box by the door, also by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent and it will all go to help out the refugee in their dire living situation.

The #Ghadi initiative is a great project by NEST Kuwait, quite different and bold, trying to make a difference in the world. Just because a child is living in a refugee camp doesn’t mean he shouldn’t continue his education. You never know what the future hold, that child when armed with an education might be the future surgeon who will save your life on his operating table.

The #Ghadi camp in 360 Mall is still on and will stay until Friday 21 February from 10 AM-2 PM and from 4 PM-10 PM. If you haven’t been there already please do and a friend of mine who went there and is a parent made a point of taking your children there to let them see how other children are suffering in the world. For more information you can check NEST’s website (link) or follow them on instagram (@NestKW).

A Visit to Nagwa Traditional Sweet Shop

When Lenôtre threw us the flowery ladies brunch a few days back each guest was given an envelope containing a gift voucher from Nagwa, the new store that is actually a rebranding of the famous and long beloved and beloved Heil w Zafaraan traditional sweets shop that’s been recently acquired by MMC Group, the mind behind Lenôtre themselves.

The voucher was for 50 KD and a week after my receiving it I went to Nagwa, located in Kuwait City right next to Baking Tray, to check the store out and take a few pictures to share on the blog.

Just for the sake of remembering how Hail w Zafaran used to look like in the old days, here are a few pictures from my last visit where we accompanied our Omani friend and fellow blogger Standy to their first shop in Jabriya on the night of The Burgers Marathon so she could purchase some souvenirs to take back home.

The old branding didn’t look bad, not at all, just quite traditional and very befitting the style of sweets they were selling. Would you like to see what Hail w Zafaran had evolved to? Step into the new and improved Nagwa, traditional with a modern twist!

The interior of the shop is very cool indeed. Modern yet with the warmth of tradition still breathing in. The moment I walked through the door I was greeted with a tray of just baked qors oqaily cake and some a small cup of Arabian coffee was poured for me. I enjoyed sipping on it while I discussed with the sellers my options on how to use the voucher.

Now if I have one complaint regarding the way Nagwa is designed, it would be there is a bit too much to look at! Its a bit dizzying because you wouldn’t know where to start and whenever you see something you like you can look somewhere else and see something you like more!

Hail w Zafaran, or Nagwa now, are famous for their little cakes that come in a tin. Bite sized qors oqaily are my absolute favourite and I always make sure I travel with a small tin of them for my Eid breakfast even if I’m travelling! There used to be a version of them that is dunked in chocolate but they don’t make them anymore! Maybe Nagwa can bring that version back to life? Pretty please?

There are pretty and posh looking bowl already laden with different desserts that you can send out as gifts or use as coffee sweets when entertaining guests. I was tempted to get myself one, the bowls were pretty, but then I’d be stuck with the little goodies that I would have to finish on my own at home!

Then on the main display area you find an antique looking drawer filled with colourful little wrapped goodies! You can spend fifteen minutes alone on those, checking each and every one out and trying to decide what to take home with you!

A new wrapped item, dates framboise, looked really interesting.

You can get each of the above wrapped goodies on their own or you can find them in colourfully funky tins! Would you look at those?

I knew what I wanted… I wanted 50 KD’s worth of tins to take home with me!

The tins were absolutely creative, the downside to choosing the tins would be that they are already laden with set sweet items and you couldn’t choose what to put inside. The one I chose was the one with the mini cakes inside.

There are other less funky tin boxes but they are still lovely and modern to look at. However, they are also already laden with sweets and you couldn’t choose what to put inside but they’d look pretty good as a gift or if you put them on your office desk or something.

I knew I wanted to have a tin of darabeel from Nagwa and theirs came in three flavours: Saffron, Cinnamon, and Za’atar (thyme and sesame)! Now the cinnamon is the traditional flavour of darabeel, which are flaky and delicate long wafers that are eaten dunked in a cup of cardamom milk and tea and are absolutely delicious! Savoury Za’atar darabeel are new to me and therefore I chose to take a tin of them.

The tins are quite big and the amount of sweets inside are quite generous. However, it might be a good idea to introduce a tin of all three different flavours of darabeel instead of just one especially if I’m taking them as gifts or local souvenirs from Kuwait for example. What did I take with my 50 KD? This loot!

Three gift wrapped different boxes with three different funky tins and three more subtle traditional tins, all chockfull of delicious sweets: tiny cakes, digestive and date laden biscuits, za’tar darabeel that are highly recommended, and more!

It was one heavy bag to left on my way out of Nagwa!

At home I’ve been feasting on Nagwa goodies as tea time treats for the past few days and I’d be feasting on them for quite sometime to come! Though I’m sad to see Hail w Zafa’aran  go I’m quite happy that its being replaced by Nagwa and that the taste of the traditional desserts are still the same, if not better. Do pay Nagwa a visit soon and I am ending this post with one warning: the walls at Nagwa move, revealing offices behind the shelves, don’t be scared if that happens you might jump at first but its quite fun to witness!

Nagwa store is located in Jaber Al-Mubarak Street, Misha’al Tower, right next to Baking Tray. For more information you can give them a call on +(965)-22266879 or follow them on instagram (@NagwaKuwait).

Movie Review: American Hustle

To my luck I missed watching American Hustle in the UK by mere days and therefore spent weeks in Kuwait waiting for its release. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or something, American Hustle has been making quite a fuss and has been depicted as the best movie of the 2013, with an award winning and star-studded cast that makes it more alluring to watch than ever.

I’m usually skeptic when one too many of stars appear in one movie as somehow the movie seems to depend on their stardom to float rather than on the movie script or event themselves. I am also wary of movies that are Oscar nominated, not always do they watch into something I’d enjoy watching myself. However, I did want to watch American Hustle so very much and with such a delayed release I thought it was going to be skipped in Kuwait all together but, at last, last Thursday it finally made it into the cinemas and I wasted no time watching it.

I’m so sad I went though.

The movie is set in the late 70′s and early 80′s and is inspired from real live events that did happen in the USA when on an FBI operation that used two con artists and a fake Middle Eastern Sheikh to catch several corrupt politicians in the act accepting bribes and such. The movie is well made, it did feel like the 80′s and although I enjoyed my childhood in the 80′s very much, I think the adult world was quite a depressing place especially the fashion, cringe-worthy on all levels! All of the stars, especially Christian Bale was amazing and I don’t think he was donning a fat suit for the part, I read somewhere that he actually gained 50 pounds for the role!

I cannot, however, state an opinion I couldn’t form on the movie itself for I didn’t watch it, not really. What I watched was “shredded clips” put together where you had to guess the other side of the conversation between the actors and scenes of a “fake sheikh” from the middle east which we knew existed in the movie but weren’t allowed to see because of our censorship. However, we were treated to Robert Deniro speaking Arabic and particularly Khaleeji dialect saying “’3ashmara” and “Gool li shrayek”. It was quite funny!

I’ve had it with the censorship on movies, this is unacceptable on all levels! What they’ve done to American Hustle is a disgrace and if whatever they decided to cut is so offensive and feels best for our own “values and virtues” then I’d rather they had banned the movie all together and not show it in the first place. There is no point watching something that cannot be understood and actually paying money for it! Is it just me or as of 2014 the censorship has grown more ruthless and aggressive? 50 minutes cut out of The Wolf of Wall Street isn’t normal! Had I known that American hustle was going to be an American Shawerma a la Kuwaiti Style, I wouldn’t have bothered either. I think its the responsibility of the cinema companies in Kuwait to actually let us know how much of a movie is chopped off before we purchase tickets, this is the least they can do in light of how bad the censorship is growing these days.

Would I watch it again? Well, I left the cinema with quite a bad taste in my mouth and I thought American Hustle was the kind of movie you watch once and is better watched in the cinema but, just to spite the censorship in Kuwait, I am going to buy a copy and keep it on my DVD shelf, UNCUT. Do not go watch it in Kuwait if you value your sanity, wait a couple more weeks for the DVD is going to be out on March 18th.

Gathering’s New National Holiday Desserts

You know February has arrived in Kuwait when everything around you is dressed up in the four colours of the Kuwaiti flag and food is no exception. We celebrate the liberation and national days in February which makes it the festive month in Kuwait’s calendar and many local businesses produce special merchandise with a patriotic feel to celebrate the occasion. Last week I had the pleasure of receiving a big cooking pot and a jar from The Gathering, both of which are decorated in the flag colours and are special February editions.

Guessing what’s inside the jar was easy, the glass is see through and you can tell something round and colourful was waiting for you to open the lid. The pot, which was piping hot and smelled like melted sugar and chocolate, was a mystery that I kept for later as I reached for the jar first.

I prepared myself a flask of tea as I dealt with the goodies I was given. Opening up the jar I found what looked like little truffles decorated to look like tiny Kuwait, sugary, Kuwaiti flags.

The National day truffles were extremely cute! Too cute in a sense, I felt reluctant biting into one because I didn’t want to mess the decoration up! I did however devour a few up and I’m sorry to say they won’t last much if you are sitting in a camp by the fire with loved ones drinking chai faham.

Now back to the mystery of the pot, what kind of desserts arrives in a big cooking aluminium pot?

Lifting the lid I closed my eyes for a moment, the aroma of chocolate and cake was overwhelming! This is extremely dangerous, a pot full of molten chocolate cake! An entire pot-full, hot off whatever it was cooked in -or on-, and you can use a spoon or a ladle to dig into and enjoy the endless folds of fluffy chocolate cake.

The molten cake pot I got was Kinder chocolate flavoured and seemed bottomless! By the time you reach the bottom -oh yes, you can eventually- you will find a pool of liquid chocolate and kinder chocolate lurking and I have a tip for you: grab yourselves flakey croissants and tear them up, using them to mop the liquid chocolate remaining. I never said this is a diet blog and it is the festive season y3ni, o the weather is bloody cold!

There are no pictures for the mining in the molten cake pot process, not everything can include a camera especially when your fingers are sticky with croissant flakes and smears of chocolate. The size of the cake makes it the perfect thing to take to a family gathering and the idea behind the pot is that you can use it to heat the cake when you arrive to camp or chalet by placing it directly on the dowwa coals! Don’t forget to take some berries, bananas, cookies and croissants to dip in the chocolate when the cake is all eaten away!

Thank you The Gathering for the lovely goodies! They look good and taste even better! Kil 3am o entaw o el Kuwait bkhair

The Gathering molten cake pot, national day truffles, and many other treats are available in Al-Zahraa Co-op and in Yarmouk Co-op. Plus, you can also order from them by calling +(965)- 67667721 or following them on Twitter (@_Gathering_) or instagram (@_Gathering_).

A Mexican Dinner at Solo Tacos

Last Thursday night I was at my beloved local pizzeria Solo Pizza Napolitana planning to enjoy one bubbling hot pizza for dinner and pick up a bottle of their delicious Lulu Casa salad dressing. When I arrived there I realised that in the few weeks I’ve been away that a few new restaurants have sprung up around. My dear hungry husband decided to go exploring before we went into Solo Pizza and that is when we came upon Solo tacos door.

I almost had to drag my husband away from Solo Tacos when he found out it was a Mexican restaurant. We both are big fans of Mexican food and there is a serious lack of Mexican eateries around Kuwait -no, fast food Mexican does not count- so you can understand why he almost went in and had dinner alone. There are moments in a married couples life where one must compromise and that dinner moment was one of them: we decided to have half a dinner at Solo pizza and then come back for half a dinner part two at Solo Tacos, which worked out quite fine given that when we did arrive for part two of the dinner at Solo Tacos they were almost sold out of everything because of a big takeaway order.

Solo Tacos is located where Hashtag burgers used to be and is quite quaint and quirky. Tiny, with a couple of tables inside and four tables outside, a menu written in colourful chalkboard above the kitchen/cash register, a few Mexican wrestlers masks -can customers wear those?-, and a chandelier of hanging jars with metal lizards, or geckos, hanging on for dear life.

I looked down to the floor and I saw all these soft drink bottle caps, donned locally judging from the Arabic writing on the caps, and I knew, just knew, that’s how I want my future home floor to look like! So very cool!

And the retirement fund tin box at the register? Very funny! I need to have one as well, god I cannot wait until my retirement day!

Solo tacos is all about, well, the tacos. There are tacos in four different fillings: beef, chicken, beans, and veggies. There are also bowls laden with, again, chicken, beef, beans, or a vegan one which wasn’t also available that night. We decided to go with one veggie and beans taco for me with extra cheese and a grilled chicken bowl for my husband.

While placing our order at the counter we were also given samples of the drinks Solo tacos had to offer. The one I liked was the Horchata which was rice milk with cinnamon and lots of ice. It was sweet and tasted a bit like muhalabiya or sherbet baithan -almond milk drink- but in liquid form but it went great with my meal. I’d definitely order it again!

There are plenty of condiments, varying in level of heat, to use with your meal and we were told they were made fresh daily. We didn’t try the demon one, we were told it was extra spicy and my poor stomach cannot handle heat so I stuck with the mild Macho. You could tell that the sauces are fresh, for when we used them on our meal the scent of the herbs used was quite overpowering and screamed fresh.

Since the weather was great and the biting-cold temperature was a thing of the past we decided to sit outside. While waiting for our dinner -which didn’t take long- my husband kept humming the tune for the song “I am I am” from Jack Black’s movie Nacho Libre! I am blaming those wrestling masks and also realising now that there is a possibility he likes Mexican food more than I do. Hmmm, interesting!

Oh by the way when you sit outside you are sat besides three big colourful drums -they are called drums, right?-. The red middle one had what looked like a pepper bush growing on top! How cute! 

The one on the far left was, actually, a basin! For customers to wash their hands after attacking the tacos! It was very cute and according to the owner who we’ve met and had a nice sweet chat with it was something they found and decided to recycle into a basin for customers! Interesting indeed!

Now for the food, the taco and the grilled chicken bowl arrived together with a side of lime slices and a little bowl of pico de gallo. Again you could smell the fresh ingredients wafting off the bowl and I have to admit I had stolen most of the guacamole off the top of the bowl since I had forgotten to order some on the side for myself.

According to my husband the grilled chicken was excellent and the bowl didn’t last long on our table. I will definitely try the vegan version on my next trip to Solo tacos!

Now for my taco, it was a soft taco and not a hard crispy taco shell. It was also tiny and gone in three bites so if you are a hungry girl you might want to order two and if you are a hungry guy you might want to order three or more. Mine was a grilled veggies and beans taco with cheese and the cheese was already melted on the inside of the taco.

My only complaint is that the amount of grilled veggies was too little for my expectations but after topping my taco with the stolen guacamole, the pico de galo, a good douse of the crema and the mild macho, and a squeeze of two lime wedges the taco was quite bulky and almost too big to bite into.

Don’t you just love Mexican food? Next time I’m asking for my cheese to be on the side instead of melted inside and I’m ordering my own guacamole. That taco was excellent and, well, I’m quite hungry looking at its picture right now. I think they said they did deliveries, mo?

We had a quick and relaxed dinner at Solo tacos and they food was really good indeed. It was very nice meeting the owner in person, she is a Mexican from Tijuana and she did tell us how much she missed being able to have a taco from home which lead to a catering business in Kuwait and eventually into Solo Tacos which have been open for less than a month so far. Good job with both the food and the place, I’m a fan already and you’ll be seeing more of me around for sure

By the way as we made our way to the car we noticed a soon-to-open new restaurant called “Strings Balaleet Evolution”. A balaleet restaurant? Balaleet is a local Kuwaiti dish of sweet vermicelli cooked with saffron and served with scrambled eggs on top. I’m not a fan, I like the eggs though, but most people I know are therefore this new balaleet thing could quite work out to be something. We’ll have to wait and see of course.

Solo Tacos is located right next to Solo Pizza Napulitana and are open daily from 2 P.M. until 8 P.M. Saturday to Thursday. For more information and updates and to see the taco faces happy customers are making as they bite into their tacos follow Solo Tacos on instagram (@SoloTacosKuwait).

Movie Review: RoboCop

I went to see RoboCop, or rather the new modernised RoboCop movie the other day in the cinema and I’m sorry to say I am not going to be a fan. I don’t understand why all the new remakes of old successful movies turn out to be less enticing but then again I’ve never been much of a fan of RoboCop to start with.

RoboCop 2014 is not exactly similar to the original 80′s RoboCop, different partner, different  family situation, and the officer which becomes RoboCop was severely hurt and not dead. However, how he was turned into RoboCop is quite grotesque especially when they took his body apart to show him which parts of him is human and which parts are artificial. If you are squeamish or a bit sensitive to watching internal organs on screen then you might want to sit this one down. I’m not squeamish but I did avert my gaze off screen a couple of time.

This RoboCop is well aware, as the whole world, of who he is and does try to return to his family as a loving father in a way. He fights crime as expected yet I wish there was more of the “crime fighting” and less of the “putting together” action on screen. I was almost bored nearing the end, which is also predictable btw. I’m not sure if there is a sequel, it looks like it, but if there is I’m hoping it will be more interesting to watch.

One more thing, Samuel Jackson’s was hilarious! His appearance was one of the highlights of the movie if you ask me. You should go watch it, RoboCop fan or not, but I don’t think it will be joining my DVD collection anytime soon.

Shift Kuwait Film Night

Have you ever seen a Kuwaiti film before?

I’m not really sure why we have very few locally made films in Kuwait and why the ones that do exist do not make it to the big screen, I’m no filmmaker, but when I knew there was an event where local films are going to be played in an open air cinema and for a good cause, I knew I had to get my hands on a ticket and I did.

The ticket is priced at 5 KD per film night and there are two nights scheduled for Tuesday 4th of February -yesterday- and Wednesday 5th of February -today-. Both days will be playing a different selection of movies made and directed by Kuwaiti directors. The movies night starts at 7 P.M. but the gates to the venue open up at 6 and seating style is first come first serve.

The Shift film venue was at Kuwait’s musical fountain, a once majestic park with a collection of fountains that danced up high to light and music and is now nearly abandoned. I don’t believe I’ve been there since the very early 80′s but I clearly remember watching the fountain jets shooting up hight and dancing every Friday as we were exiting the Dhahiya after visiting with my late grandmother back in the 80′s and before the Iraqi invasion on Kuwait in 1990. It was good to finally enter the venue after living in Kuwait for three decades, winning me double points for doing something for the first time in Kuwait that night!

We got there at 6:30 and we managed to grab ourselves a beanie bag! There are also plastic chairs for those who are not too fond of beanie bags but you couldn’t possible sprawl on those now, could you? They didn’t look that comfortable to me. You might want to bring a little pillow if you prefer plastic chairs to beanie bags.

 

Where there are movies, there must be food and food there was! Once we secured our seats I went hunting for something warm for the night was freezing and we were in an open air area with a big fountain dancing in the background to the beat of the modern DJ. There were plenty of choices, but I had my heart set on trying Malabar popup artisinal coffee bar which I’ve heard so much about. Therefore I headed straight to them and stood in line, breathing in the heavenly scent of freshly brewed coffee.

I had a hard time steering away from Salt Bakery‘s booth, the baked goodies were so tempting! Luscious looking brownies and those sweet potato scone with spiced pecan maple glaze! How good do these sound? A picture of them is calorie-less though, I couldn’t resist!

I did make a stop at Chef Mimi’s and though I’m not a fan of food with sea weed I did oogle at those rice balls as they were being prepared! They looked -and smelled- so good.

Rice balls turned into “Onigiri” which according to Mimi’s board is “Crispy rice balls with garlic soy aioli, Jalapeño, miso, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, sprinkled with togarashi, nori, and black and white sesame”.

I didn’t order the Onigiri but I did get a cup of their steaming roasted Jalapeño miso soup topped with coriander, lime, and sliced Jalapeños with a hint of something creamy.

My husband saw the 7 guys burgers truck and began nagging even though it was still too early for dinner. He did go stand in line despite my protests.

According to my husband this caramelised onions topped cheeseburger was really good and quite juicy. He was acting good but not ordering some fries on the side, I’m thankful for that as well for I wouldn’t be able to resist fries.

Back at our beanie bags, all snuggled in, I began sipping my Malabar Mexican coffee and it was quite divine. Hints of Chilli, cinnamon, and cocoa coming out differently but brilliantly with every sip. You have to try it to know what I mean. However, by the time I drank it it was a bit too cold for my taste. It must be drunk the moment it is done brewing, period.

The show didn’t start until 7:20ish which, with almost half an hour late, isn’t too late for Kuwaiti standards. After a quick introduction by the organisers, Kuwait Healthy Living Organisation, the first of the movies started with the name “Saloon” by Meshal Al-Hulail. I had to put my camera and my phone away for photography and video taping weren’t allowed though.

As the night folded we lost track of time watching one short movie after the other. The movies were really good, some boring however and some quite funny with a lovely message. My favourite was “Wake up call” by Alzain Al-Humaidhi which was the sense of responsibility we had as a society during the Iraqi Invasion and how we lost it over time. By the end of the movie I was in tears, it was beautiful indeed.

The highlight of the evening was an interview with , the pioneer of Kuwaiti cinema and the director of the award winning Kuwaiti film “Bas Ya Bahar” which I’ve had the pleasure of watching on BBC in London of all places. After speaking about movie making the audience were treated to a first time viewing ever of the first ever Kuwaiti and Khaleeji film acted and directed by Khalid Al-Siddiq in 1964. Yes, 1964 and I don’t know why its never been shown before!

The movie name was “Alia and Essam” and is a short love story starring a young Khalid Al-Siddiq and a young Hayat Al-Fahad! It was a pleasure to watch for sure!

I loved everything about Shift film night, the relaxed atmosphere, the movies shown, the fact that no child was bowling and everyone was actually concentrating on the movies, the food provided, and how smooth and organised everything was. However, the weather was  too cold! At one point it was so cold, with wind blowing in and I guess the fountain made the air feel even colder, that I began to lose all feelings in my limps. My nose was reindeer nose red -and is still is-, my teeth were chattering, and I almost considered heading to my car and watching the rest of the movies from the passenger seat with the heat turned on to high. I was dressed as heavy as I usually would for London’s December weather but never in my life had I felt so cold.

We call this weather “The crazed man who sold his cloak” -don’t ask- and because everyone in the audience was shivering the organisers Kuwait Healthy Living decided to provide heaters for tonight’s viewing. However, do go prepared wearing heavy clothing, thermal, fur, ugg boots, and take your own blankets. At one point during the intermission I dashed to chocolate bar’s station and got me a cup of hot chocolate just so I could keep warm and it worked for about five minutes or so.

Tickets to tonight’s viewing of Shift Kuwait Film Night is available at Bayt Lothan in Salmiya and tickets cost 5 K.D. per ticket with proceeds going towards the renovation of Kuwait’s Orphanage which is said to currently be in a dire need of help. The event is so lovely and not to be missed especially if you are dressed warmly. If I could I would go again tonight and enjoy the movies which btw are going to be different than the one shown yesterday except for Alia and Essam which is going to be shown again. For more information and to check last night’s pictures you can check the hashtag #ShiftFilmKuwait on instagram or follow the @ShiftFilmKuwait instagram account or the organiser’s account @KuwaitHealthyLiving. Great job guys, keep up the good work and please do have more of these film nights!