Danderma's Blog, page 27

What to Get from Shakshooka Market Tonight?

Why should you go to Shakshooka Market tonight?

Let me show you what I’ve been indulging in this last week, all of which I’ve gotten from Shakshooka Market which was held in Q8books at Bait Lothan. I’ve yet to try something from Shakshooka that wasn’t scrumptious! On Friday morning I feasted on the bagels I got from Special Maryam’s. Sesame, poppy seed, oregano, and cinnamon bagels with orange juice and gorgeous coffee prepared with my trusty French press. 

Toasting those bagels and spreading them with luscious cream cheese, with sips of good coffee and tangy orange juice, on a cold calm Friday morning, is simply heavenly! Then you have the sticky sugary cinnamon bagel which deserved to be celebrated properly.

Cinnamon bagel, toasted, spread with Nutella, topped with bananas, sprinkled with nuts and pistachios.

Then drizzled with lucsious golden toffee sauce!

How’s that for a celebration? Simply gorgeous! If you go to Shakshooka Market tonight don’t miss Special Maryam’s bagels!

For lunch I had the lovely crusty baguette I got from Chef Mimi.

I turned it into sandwiches, toasted and filled with slices of grilled Granny Smith apples, brie cheese, honey, walnuts, and finished off with a drizzle balsamic glaze.

How good is this sandwich? Good enough to fight the crowds for the baguette!

Also from Chef Mimi I got me this tiny jar filled with this awesome combination of chewy fudgy brownie, salted caramel, and walnuts.

There are perhaps only two spoonfuls of the dangerous concoction, which I’ve enjoyed very slowly with plump juicy raspberries. Each bite tastes as good as it looks, even better!

Last but not least, I had a cup of Earl Gray tea in the calm weekend afternoon with the little bites of Aunt Marie’s caramels! This time I took the Lavendar and the pecan ones and they are as good as ever!

Shakshooka market is held each Thursday evening for one hour in a different location and its not to be missed! Take some spare change, a disposable bag, check the hashtag #ShakshookaMarket on instagram to get the latest location information, and be there EARLY so you can actually walk away with something. Happy shopping and bon appetite!

A Visit to Shuwaikh Market

A while ago, during last Ramadan if I’m not mistaken, I came to know of a new store/mall concept in Kuwait with the name Shuwaikh Market. I’ve been waiting for a few stores to open up there so I could go visit and I managed to do so yesterday. 

Shuwaikh Market is located in the area behind Al-Tilal mall. From the outside it looks like a warehouse but as you walk through the doors you are transformed into what actually looks like a market indeed. All steel, brass, and red brick walls. The interior is modern with an industrial feel and does feel like you are walking in a market abroad. The interior also reminded me of the All Saints store in London.

What makes the market special is the little details in every corner, like a wall filled with retro posters or a shelf/bucket filled with rubber duckies! Very cool.

There is a second storey to Shuwaikh market but I’m not sure if there is anything upstairs that’s open yet.

There are several stores that are open like Brown Luxe, Bougain Villea Home & Garden that’s affiliated with November Boutique, Denim Room, and a fourth store that happened to be celebrating its opening yesterday as I was in Shuwaikh Market.

There is a cafe that looks like its going to open soon and when it does I expect it to be lovely, I know that Bubbleology is opening up there soon as well. I loved the look and feel of Shuwaikh Market even though I got quite a telling off by the two employees working there for taking the pictures above with my camera. Photography is not allowed except if you use your smart phone to take pictures so if you are planning to visit do keep that in mind.

Shuwaikh Market is located in Shuwaikh Industrial Area behind Al-Tilal Complex. For directions and more information you can contact them by checking their website (link) or following them on instagram (@ShuwaikhMarket).

Recipe: Qunioa Kushari

For a few weeks now I’ve been trying to incorporate the protein-rich superfood quinoa into my daily meals. It works well in salads and is an excellent replacement for rice in various dishes but you can get bored after a while. Then one day shopping at Sultan Center Sha’ab I come across this bag of gluten free quinoa pasta!

Surprisingly the moment I grabbed that bag I wasn’t thinking of different pasta dishes, rather I found myself craving one dish in particular: Kushari! Kushari, if you don’t know what it is already, is an Egyptian dish of rice, pasta, and lentils served with onions and tomato sauce. As simple as it sounds, its insanely delicious and quite addictive. It’s also chockfull of carbs therefore not exactly diet-friendly. With the qunioa pasta and with quinoa instead of rice, I could try and make a much healthier lower in carbs version of the popular street food that’s also diet-friendly.

I had all the ingredients, but there was one simple problem: I’ve never made Kushari before! I don’t know anyone who makes great Kushari either so I couldn’t ask around for a recipe and I didn’t see myself walking up to a Kushari seller and demanding a recipe. Therefore I flipped through the endless cookbooks I had in my possession until I found a decent-looking recipe for Kushari that actually makes sense. The original carb-y Kushari recipe I’ve based my recipe on is from Abeer Al-Rashid’s cookbook “The Gourmet 5″ with recipes in both English and Arabic languages.

I didn’t follow Abeer Al-Rashed’s recipe exactly, I made alterations of my own but what I cooked is indeed based on Abeer Al-Rashed’s Koshari recipe. The ingredients I’ve used which are taken from her ingredients are divided by three since her recipe is for 6 people and I was cooking for two. You will need:

1 cup cooked quinoa.
1/2 a small red onion, sliced.
1 cup cooked quinoa pasta.
2 crushed cloves of garlic.
1/3 cup brown lentils or kushari lentils.
1/2 cup chickpeas.
1 tablespoon ground cumin.
1/2 vegetable stock cube.
1/2 crushed tomatoes.
50g tomato paste.
a pinch of paprika -or chill powder if you can take the heat-.
a pinch of ground coriander seeds.
salt & pepper.
1 teaspoon sugar.

The best way to prepare the Kushari is to first soak the lentils for about 30 minutes in filter water, cook the pasta as per the package directions, and prepare the quinoa (how to) and while waiting for all to be done you can start on the onions -or skip them entirely if you don’t like them on top, I don’t but my husband does- and the tomato sauce. Once you are done you can cook the ingredients together once and for all.

I started with slicing the half a red onion. They say if you chew gum while slicing the onions up you won’t cry btw.

Then in a tiny droplets of vegetable oil and some water I cooked the onions until they became translucent. I added a teaspoonful of sugar to the onions when halfway cooked so they’d caramelise nicely on a medium low heat and with a cup of water just in case the pan gets too dry.

Once you are satisfied with the state of the onions take them out and place them on a separate covered dish until serving time. Traditionally the onions are deep fried until browned to a crisp and not really caramelised but I find caramelising them yields a better taste -and less fat- but its up to you really, however you like them.

Now for the tomato sauce, it’s not your usual tomato “daqqos” like we use in Kuwait nor is it like an Italian spaghetti sauce. All you have to do is empty the crushed tomates in a pan -I use canned but you can crush your own using a grater- add the tomato paste, and add half a cup of boiled water. Stir and leave the tomato mix on medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes.

In the same pan you used to prepare the onions add the crushed garlic, half the cumin, the ground coriander seeds, and the paprika. Mix until you can smell the aroma of spices then add to the pan with the tomatoes.

Add some salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar then mix well for a minute or two. Then turn off the heat and cover the pan. Leave alone for fifteen minutes before using.

Now its time to prepare the kushari itself. First tend to the pasta which should be boiled already. Once the pasta is boiled make sure to take it out of the pan a minute before its entirely done.

The only quinoa pasta I found in Kuwait was the penne one which is too big for such dish so I cut each pasta into three pieces. If you happen to find macaroni or spaghetti you can use them in stead.

Measure one cup of your cooked quinoa and keep aside. Again if you don’t know how to prepare quinoa here is a video that shows you how.

I personally believe that flavour of Kushari varies from one household to another according to the kind of stock they use, whether vegetable or chicken. I can recall the flavour of Kushari from a well known diet place whose Kushari taste has strong hints of Maggi chicken stock. I used half a vegetable stock cube.

To start making the kushari, add a bit of cooking oil to a pan with one crushed garlic clove , the lentils, the vegetables stock, and the rest of the cumin and stir on a medium low heat.

Add enough boiling water over the mix to cover the lentils and let it bubble away, cooking the lentils. Keep an eye on it it only takes a few minutes to do so.

Now add some salt and pepper to taste, plus the quinoa and give it a mix.

Immediately add the quinoa pasta and give it another good mix.

Cover the entire mixture again with some boiling water and let the mixture boil, covered, over a medium heat until the water evaporates.

Once the water is almost but gone let it simmer on very low heat for about 40 minutes, covering the pan, until the Kushari is done. The 40 minutes will allow all the flavours to infuse together.

After 40 minutes, where you could clean up the entire kitchen and set the table, turn the heat off, take off the lid, and there you go!

Ta-Da! The entire kitchen smelled like Kushari which if you like it is a quite good smell

I have to say that I was astonished when I tasted my first forkful, it tastes exactly like a Kushari should taste and if I hadn’t known it I wouldn’t have detected the quinoa! This dish was the real deal!

Keep the tomato sauce and the onions in small dishes and add the amount you feel like according to your taste. I usually top my kushari dish with a 1/4 cup of boiled chickpeas and don’t touch the onions.

How good does that look? Pretty good! How does it taste? Awesome!

What do you think? Would you be trying this quinoa Kushari soon?

Farewell, My 1st Driving License

On an October day fifteen years ago, I stood on the black steel stairs of the dreadful brick building in The College of Science, 10 KH was its name? Anyways, I knew I was going to be late for my Calculus class but I couldn’t move my feet, for I had just been handed my first driver’s license ever! A small laminated card that said I was free to drive a car and go anywhere I wanted whenever I felt like it. Well, technically I had to take permission from my parents but you get the idea. I gazed at the expiration date and it said 11 October 2013 and I laughed, thinking to myself that fifteen years is a very long time indeed and god knows what will happen and where will we be in those fifteen years.

I went to my class, I aced my Caclulus with an A, and I drove around all of Kuwait in my car, making the most use out of that little laminated card and for two years straight I played nothing on my car’s cassette player -yes cassette!- but Brother Loui. Anyone who knew me back then and happens to hear Brother Loui these days immediately dedicates it to me. Fifteen years passed by like a droplets of water sneaking through a sieve without my counting them, until the day my husband asked me “What day does your driver’s license expire?”

I took out my now poor and dismantled drivers license which after fifteen years of service has come apart and is barely holding it together. I check the date and my husband was right, fifteen years have passed already! Where did the time go? How did this happen? Why am I supposed to give up my blue card of freedom with a picture of 18 years old me smiling up at the camera with all the innocence of the world in my eyes!

At first I refused to give my driving license up! This little plastic card means more to me than any other card I had in my wallet, she and I go a long way back, been through so much together, and she is the oldest official laminated card I have in my possession. Giving it up meant giving up the little wide-eyed teenager in me who was just starting up her life and had all the world to conquer. It meant that I am old, and that day I dismissed as very far off while being late to my Calculus class is finally here.

After an actual tug of war, where I kept retrieving my card from my now angry husband in the name of taking a final photograph. He finally pulled it away, muttering at my apparent madness. Its only a driving license, he said. I will be back with your new one. I cried my eyes out, asking him to at least have them give me back my old one, just for the sake of keeping it with me. He slammed his car door and drove away, leaving me longing for one last moment with my first and most beloved during license.

Only a sentimental person would understand my disappointment when I was giving my new driving license without my old one. I now hate the new driving license, which is not laminated and has a barcode and two scanned pictures of mine and says my profession is an employee, not a student. The expiry date of this new card is 6 October 2028 which is also fifteen years away. I truly hope that god grants me to live, well and healthy, until I see that date with my loved ones. I wonder how fast the next fifteen years would go and when the day insha2 Allah comes how I would be feeling then.

Farewell, my first driving license. You’ve been my trusted friend for a very long time now. I hope you are disposed off in a dignified manner and that you are not sitting somewhere, feeling cold and neglected

Have you ever felt the weight of the years as you handed in your official documents for replacement, like a driving license perhaps? Did you make a scene or just let go quietly?

A Visit to Q8Books in Salmiya

Last Thursday’s Shakshooka market was held in Q8Books at Biat Lothan. I’ve heard about Q8books a couple of years back when a the lady who ran it before offered me the chance to have my book signing in her little bookshop in Salmiya. Last Thursday I was introduced to Fajer, the lady one now running the Kuwait Book store which under the new ownership has relocated to Bait Lothan in Salmiya.

The Beit Lothan’s building is gorgeous to start with. A modernised old house from the 60′s which I totally adore. There is a plenty of parking spaces and Q8Books blue entrance isn’t hard to spot. Their opening hours are shown in the picture below.

The space occupied by Q8books is lovely! Not too big that you’d feel lost and not too small you’d feel suffocated. With the smell of book pages, the creaking wood panels on the floor, and the plush seating areas between the bookshelves you know you’ve come to a cosey place where books are appreciated and good times are guaranteed.

What kind of books can you find at Q8books? Their websites says new, used & hard to find books in most genres. There is a map of the different book sections and there is hundreds, probably thousands, of books on display.

You could spend an entire afternoon going through the shelves of Q8books and still not be done with all the titles. Most of the books are in an excellent condition and are almost new.

The comfy are in the charming bookstore to make your browsing more enjoyable and also to help host book club meetings, free of charge.

Well hello there, Mr. Holmes!

If you are a local writer you can have copies of your books displayed in Q8books, free of charge as well.

Got books? If you are not planning to read them again why not take them to Q8books where they could find a new home with another reader? 

I’m currently in the process of rounding up my unwanted books to take them to Q8books. I have many duplicate copies of books and books that I couldn’t finish and know I wouldn’t touch, I think its time to de-clutter my bookshelves at home.

Q8books is located in Bait Lothan, Salmiya, overlooking The Gulf Road and right next door to Marina Mall. For more information regarding Q8books and its services you can contact them by calling +(965)-97182730 , check their website (link), follow them on Twitter (@Q8BookStore) or on Instagram (@Q8BookStore). 

 

 

My Blog, My Virtual Pensieve

The other day a person who shall remain anonymous made a rather nasty dig at the state of my blog posts. Apparently I was supposed to post in a certain way concentrating on just certain topics that person would find interesting just so they’d approve of it, say for example post about fashion since fashion bloggers are so in right now. My dear person, I beg to differ to differ with you if you are reading this. Let me try and explain one aspect of what my blogs represents to me. If you are a Harry Potter fan then you’d know how a pensieve work. Have you ever wished you had a pensive of your own? Well, believe it or not, after blogging for over five years my blog did become something that resembles my very own virtual pensive!

Going back and sifting through posts from previous months and years of my very own life, I often come across something I’ve totally forgotten about. Sometimes, I go back to my blog and search for something I’ve forgotten, trying to jog my memory and you can imagine my delight when I do find what I was looking for, in detail! In a way, my little blog has turned into an extension of the memory part in my brain, like my very own external hard disk filled with information, emotions, and opinions I would not normally remember, not after I turned thirty and the saving feature of my memory began to decline. Even the event posts, which 99% of all blog readers hate, represent a slice of time where I was somewhere doing something, meeting a new person, or having a good -or a bad- time.

Therefore excuse me, dearest person, but I cannot dismiss the option of having my very own pensive just for the sake of your enjoyment. You always have the option not to read something I’ve written, I cannot churn out one post after the other where they are all made specifically to your liking, that would be unnatural and kinda creepy! If one day very far in the future I’d like a child or a grandchild of mine to know all about my young days and how I used to live, I for sure hope they’ll be able to come back here and read all about it, in details, and hopefully enjoy their time as well.

Lunch at Villandry Grand Café

Waking up to a foggy winter morning today made me reminisce about London’s weather. Then one thought led to another and I remembered an unpublished post of mine about a glorious lunch I’ve had in Villandry Grand Café on a cold foggy day just like today. Better late then never, I decided to publish it today and in the process I began craving the food badly! These pictures were taken in the Villandry Grand café of Bicester Village when during lunch time it began raining cats and dogs so we fled inside the warm doors of Vilandry, with its creaking wooden floor boards and brasserie like atmosphere. 

The London branch of Villandry Grand Café in great Portland st. is huge and lovely but somehow the smaller Bicester Village branch feels cosier to me. To the left of entrance of Villandry is the café where the coffee machine resides which means the first thing you enjoy after you feel the warmth of being indoors is the maddening aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Its so good, you’d want to start your meal with a big fresh cup even before you’ve been seated.

I love the food at VIllandry’s, rustic and wholesome, but for some reason I’ve never dined there with my camera. I sat on a table by the window, enjoying the romantic weather and watching the gleaming droplets of rain. I love it when it rains, I could watch it pour down forever and I couldn’t think of a better thing to do while I enjoyed my comforting lunch.

Our orders arrived promptly, first things first: a warm soup to start the meal and spread warmth to our frozen hands.

No cold weather lunch is complete without golden french fries.

Drenched in Heinz ketchup of course!

And somehow fries do not go well with any drinks but some cola, with a lime, with ice now that we are warm and toasty.

And a side of green salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar since we are watching our weight and trying to be healthy :p

Then came the main dishes, a gorgeous mushroom fusili pasta, so rich and earthy you couldn’t resist taking another forkfulls even when your stomach is begging you to stop.

The pièce de résistance of our lunch was this gorgeous baked camembert cheese, with a twig of rosemary, roasted garlic, and crusty baguette slices!

You cut into the camembert outer skin and the cheese oozes out into a puddle of warm, delicious cheese. You resist the urge to dip your fingers into it and you opt for the more civilised fork, then you ignore the fork and use the baguette instead.

The melted cheese with lovely bread always reminds me of the anime Heidi when she and her grandfather spread melted cheese on top of slices of crusty bread. Yum!

Even though I was stuffed I couldn’t wait for the end of the meal so I could have that cup of coffee I’ve been craving ever since I walked through the café’s door! I had me a rich and frothy skinny cappuccino.

And, err, a luscious good old custard mille-feuille to seal the deal.

If only I could be on my way over London right now. I’m craving that baked camembert cheese in this cold weather which we call “Landeni” because its very much like the weather of London. If you are lucky enough to be in London these days would you please have lunch in Villandry Grand café on my behalf? For more information regarding their locations and menu you can check out their website (link) or follow them on Twitter (@VillandryBakery).

Book Review: How to Fall in Love By Cecelia Ahern

Cecelia Ahern’s latest novel, How To Fall in Love, was one I couldn’t put down until I finished it. It starts with a bit of a mystery, when Christine is found next to a man who just committed suicide in a run down building. Not too long after, Christine finds herself on a bridge next to a man who is about to jump and in a bid to stop him, she strikes up a deal with him to give her two weeks to help him try and fall back in love with life.

The book is sweet, funny, and just what you’d expect from Cecelia. There was no touch of Irish magic in the storyline like in previous Cecelia novels, which I’ve missed to be frank, yet this book is a bit different given that it deals with serious issues like depression, suicide, and trying to reach out and help people in despair. The seriousness of the issue, however, doesn’t mean the book is dark and depressing, quite the opposite. I’d totally recommend it and once you are done with a smile on your face -the ending was predictable though but I didn’t mind it one bit- you are left with a feeling that you want to read a little bit more. The book is a keeper for sure.

Big Smoke Burger Opening at Divonne Complex

Last weekend and on an extremely gorgeous day, weather wise, I received a heavy paper bag invitation from Kuwait’s newest burger place, Big Smoke, whose opening I attended last night. Inside the big paper bag was the invitation card along with an apron and a salt & pepper or herbs shaker, a perfect gift for the BBQ season especially in such a great weather. 

Big Smoke Burger is a Canadian franchise and is located at Divonne, the newly built restaurants complex in Abu Al-Hasaniya area right next door to The Village. In Divonne you can find plenty of restaurants, a mix of old favourites and new ones, all of which are not open yet which makes Big Smoke Burger the first restaurant to open there.

Some of the restaurants that are opening up include Nino, IHOP, Johnny Rockets, The Salad Boutique, Hello Kitty Cafe, and Starbucks! All the restaurants are arranged around a big lovely fountain and once they open I can see their tables arranged around it, European piazza style, all that’d be missing is a few street performers!

The very first restaurant to the right and also the very first restaurant to open is Big Smokes, illuminated by colourful spot lights and live music playing to set the festive mood.

The inside of Big Smokes isn’t that big, perhaps enough for a handful of tables only. There is plenty of outdoors tables though and in this gorgeous weather I cannot imagine who’d want to sit inside. The opening of Big Smokes in the piazza like Divonne couldn’t have come at a better timing.

As we sat on a table waiting for the official opening, the Big Smoke waiters arrived with trays of Boylan’s Soft Drinks bottles. Boylan’s is a Canadian soft drink which is made with pure cane sugar. There were three flavours: Orange, Black Cherry, and Ginger Ale.

I tried the orange one and it was quite good, a tad on the sugary side but still good. I was told that the ginger ale was excellent, everyone was raving about it.

After the red ribbon was cut we got to take a few pictures of the burgers preparations.

The fries are freshly prepared in Big Smokes. Each day the potatoes are cut, soaked in water, then fried in oil before being served. I almost stole some of the other people’s fries as I was taking these photos!

Then it was time to place our orders. Big Smokes offer a veggie patty instead of their meat one in whatever combination you fancy and they have several “signature burger” options on their menu with ingredients like rosemary, blue cheese, caramelised onions, and chipotle mayo.

Once you place your order you are handed a number that you place on your table while you wait for your order to be brought to you. My number was 18 and it didn’t take long before my veggie burger was on the table. I took the liberty of photographing my fellow diner’s burgers though as I waited. One is the mushroom burger, one with caramelised onions,  and one with mashed avocado spread.

I didn’t order the onion rings but as I was waiting I stole some from one of my dining companions and I fell in love! Each ring was gigantic, crunchy, yet quite fluffy! I loved Big Smoke’s onions rings and I would recommend them for sure. 

The fries were as close to home fries as it gets. They were good but were a tad too salty for my taste buds and that’s why I couldn’t polish them off.

The poutine is basically fries topped with cheese curd and gravy. My dining companions said the taste of gravy was too prominent in the dish and that if you leave the fries for too long they become soggy and lose the crunch. If you are a fan of gravy then this dish is for you and make sure you eat it fast. If you are looking for cheesy fries with strings of cheese everywhere then this is not for you.

My veggie burger came in a whole wheat bun with pickles, lettuce, onions, mayo, and cheese.

The veggie patty was grilled and had that smoky grill marks on top and an excellent grill taste. However, the patty itself was a bit bland and is not made of mixed vegetables and/or beans but rather is of a soy or quorn meat substitute. The rest of the burger was excellent though, bun and toppings. If you are like me and don’t care much for soy or corn meat substitute then don’t go for the veggie patty but I suppose a signature burger without burger would do the trick just fine.

We were having a good time so we decided to have a bit of food art using the ketchup and mustard dispensers.

The weather was good, the atmosphere was jolly and bubbly, and we had a blast! At the end of the night each guest received a little heavy Big Smokes paper bag giveaways.

We had a great time at the opening of Big Smokes Burgers last night! Thank you Ghaliah Technology for extending the lovely invitation to the opening and thank you Big Smokes for your generous hospitality, wishing you the best of luck!

Big Smokes Burgers is located in Divonne Restaurant Complex in Abu Al-Hasaniya area right next to The Village. For more information and directions you can give them a call at +(965)-22495372 or follow them on instagram (@BigSmoke_KW).

Would You Let Strangers Share Your Table?

Yesterday morning I went to the international book fair in Mishref’s exhibitions ground. I was book shopping all morning and by the afternoon I was quite exhausted so I went to the cafe just outside the book fair and sat at a table with two chairs, nursing my deliciously cold blended coffee drink and trying to have a moment of calm before setting off again. Suddenly, a lady with lots of people and pushing a buggy with a baby stands over me, asking if there was anyone sitting with me while eyeing the chair. A bit shocked, I do confirm that my husband is indeed -he was- so she gives me a look and goes to sit on a nearby chair with the army of people trailing behind her.

Why was I shocked? I’ve never been asked to share my table with a stranger in Kuwait before. Well, OK it happened once in restaurant a long time ago when there was a waiting list on the tables and a lady thought she would intimidate me into giving up my table by sitting with me even when I refused but thankfully the manager of the restaurant stepped in and asked her to leave, he knew I was a regular customer. I saw it happen to a couple of ladies before as well who were having breakfast and suddenly a woman decides to sit with them and they politely asked for the check and left her without finishing their breakfast. Now that it happened to me again, and after I said no, it got me thinking about it.

Is saying no considered an anti-social behaviour? In some parts of the worlds sharing your table is considered the most natural thing ever. In Switzerland for example, there is no such thing as your “personal” space in, say, trains or cafes. Having two or more people share a table and paying separately in cafes is the way to go. I actually saw an old lady once ask a couple to leave just because she wanted to drink a cappuccino and there was no empty tables, and the couple obliged promptly and with a smile! In the UK they value your personal space unless they really have to. No one would sit next to you on the train unless it’s during the rush hour and there is no other seat. No one would ask to sit next to you on a cafe unless, which happened to me only once in 30 years, its lunch time and they have no other choice but to ask to sit down.

I have to say I don’t like sharing my table/train abroad but it isn’t that bad given that the people you share it with are civilised and would bury their heads in their books or mind their own business, taking utmost care not to disturb you so the both of you could enjoy calm and peace at once. Their intent is to genuinely share the experience and not to rob you of it and force you to leave.

Had I allowed the lady with the army of people and the baby to sit on my table yesterday, and by the way she only wanted to sit there and not order anything, you could imagine the pandemonium they’d have created with total disregard to my own comfort or peace of mind. The thing is, there were plenty of empty seats right next to the tables and the tables are designated for the cafe so unless you are ordering something you shouldn’t be sitting there. I still feel a tad guilty, but not so much. The lady took her buggy and entourage to the empty seats in a heartbeat, amazing me with her audacity and prompting me to write this post. I don’t like sharing my table, even abroad, I’m not comfortable with strangers at all and I personally would never bother anyone by asking to share their own tables. It’s not their fault they got there first, especially in Kuwait.

What do you think? Do you feel comfortable sharing your own table/train seat with strangers? Does it differ to you if it’s here or abroad? Have you ever been asked to share your table in Kuwait? What would you say if you have?