Danderma's Blog, page 6

Book Review: Disclaimer by Renee Knight

For the longest time I’ve been able to “guess” the plot of any thriller-style book during my reading and its becoming a tad boring especially when my guess turns out to be right in the end. What’s good about Disclaimer, however, is that whenever I’ve guessed at a plot twist during the course of my reading, which wasn’t very long because I wanted to know what happened, something would come up and negate my guess making me wonder what did happen and when I knew everything in the end, I was in for a good surprise indeed. 

Why I picked this? I was intrigued at the prospect of someone reading a story only to find themselves in the pages with their ugliest secret unraveling between the pages. The good thing is, you don’t get to know the secret until well into the story so page by page you are flipping with the distraught main character, trying to find out what was it that’s written and if what is written is really what happened. It was quite an enjoyable read, not so hard and perfect for a plane or a train ride when you have plenty of time on your hand and cannot think of something interesting to do. I wasn’t disappointed at all when the last page was finished.

A Trip to Richmond Upon Thames

There are spots on earth that seem to preserve older versions of one’s self, of what made them what they used to be in terms of thoughts, dreams, and aspirations. To me, Richmond upon Thames in Surrey, south of London, UK is the spot for I’ve spent most of my summer vacations there when I was growing up. I can literally say that I’ve transformed from a nerdy kid into a stubborn teenager then to a glowing young lady during that time. Glowing young lady cracked me up but I’m not how to describe my 20-something version to be frank so please let that one pass :p

Richmond did preserve endless memories of myself, and they are ingrained with the atoms of the air and the bricks of the buildings, the pavement slabs of the Richmond hill and the grass blades of the parks. They are invisible to everyone but to me, to everyone else I am just another hijabi muslim walking down the street but to me, Richmond was my second home and I left a part of myself there and the moment I stood outside of Richmond’s train station that part returned and latched itself back on. Kinda like Voldemort’s horcruxes only on a much innocent and humane scale.

I haven’t been there in almost a decade or more. Somewhere in the 2000’s era my parents sold their apartment in Richmond and moved to Milton Keynes therefore visiting the gorgeous town while realising you cannot live there anymore was simply heartbreaking. The first thing I do when I get out of the train station is walk through the shopping area, quite cosey and dotted with all the big high street shops with several side alleys with plenty of independent shops and cafe’s.

My current favourite British chocolatier William Curley started with a shop in Richmond that can be find in a small alley behind the main street. There is a lovely gelateria there as well, Daniele’s, that this time I stopped at and got a cup of gelato before completing my journey through Richmond.

Where did I have my cup of gelato? There is a park smack behind all the shops and buildings and its quite serene and calm. I don’t know what its called, I actually never knew its name. All I know is I have a lot of important moments of my life there. It is where I sat alone, with a Cadbury boost bar that I’ve just bought from Boots, on a bench under the tall trees to celebrate my 18th birthday. It is where I sat and had my first taste of the cheddar ploughman’s sandwich from M&S, it was also my first packed lunch on my own and I enjoyed it so much I subsequently spent endless summer afternoon eating lunch, alone, contemplating the world, right at that very green space. The gelato -which is awesome- was a nod to those happy days.

After the gelato I continue my journey through the shopping streets of Richmond and I see a young Nadooya at every corner, those memories precede the internet era-even let alone the Danderma days. I see the Waterstones where I first  I bought my Tin Tin comics, then the Baby Sitters Club books, and later own my first adult novel. If I recall correctly it was a Stephen King collection of stories. When Calvin Klein because the it trend one summer I bought my first navy CK jumper from that very House of Fraser and I think I wore it throughout high school. I got my first single from the HMV that is now replaced by Anthropology and I think I need to move back to Richmond just to browse that awesome two stories store again. When is Anthropology coming to Kuwait exactly?

See the doorway on the picture above to the very right? I recall standing with someone at that doorway and gushing about being accepted in Kuwait University’s College of Engineering while standing at that very spot, I don’t recall to whom though. I was going to study something I’ve wanted to study since I was seven and I was over the moon with happiness, thinking I was going to conquer the world one day. I actually bought my very first day of college outfit from The House of Fraser there! It was a long jeans skirt, a white shirt with a vest and huge crazy wedges spice girls style, spice girls were very big back in the day and I loved them then and still do now. Actually the song Viva Forever is my Richmond song, I’m actually singing along to it as I type these words.

As I headed out of the shopping area and onward towards Richmond Hill I noticed a new store for COS. I also noticed the newly opened HUGE Whole Foods Market and a Matches.Com shop! I wanted to go inside but I hesitated, I didn’t know if it was a shop shop or an office building. Plus, I had a limited time in Richmond and my eyes caught sight of the Odeon of my teenage days.

Half the time I’ve spent in Richmond was actually inside that Odeon. Think of any nineties and early 2000’s blockbuster and I will tell you I’ve watched it there -except Titanic-. My most vivid memory of that Odeon is having, and falling in love, with my first Twix ice cream when it first came out while standing in the longest queue waiting to be led to our seats inside that cinema to watch the premier of True Lies. Sigh.

Heading up the Richmond Hill I knew I would be coming into the most gorgeous view of the river Thames that I’ve seen to date, I think the view is actually protected by an act of the parliament or something. It is that hill that we’ve climbed to get back home every day. It is on that hill I was climbing with my love of my life and husband that I’ve seen a thirteen-years old me declaring to my peers that I wasn’t going to marry anyone ever because it seemed that marriage was a big hole and everyone on earth seems to be regretting getting married so why should I be so stupid? I was laughed at and teased, and I smile at the memory of the naive little me on her summer break from school.

I’ll get to the Thames view and Terrace garden later on, now here is Mace, the grocery shop near home that all the children had made it their daily favourite stop to buy sweets and spend their pounds. Babies of the family will understand what I mean. Across from it there was the most amazing French bakery that sold the hottest baguettes in town. It is where I also celebrated my 14th birthday with a breakfast followed by a river cruise. The river pictures are coming.

I went by our old apartment building, sitting there like no time have passed at all, next to the big Matthias Church whose bells rang every Sunday morning and the 371 bus stop that we often took towards Kingston Upon thames, a neighbouring town with a much bigger shopping area. We used to watch the bus passing by from our windows and would time the arrival of the next bus before leaving home. As I was posing next to the bus stop a 371 actually arrived and I was so tempted to board and go to Kingston but sadly I was running out of time.

It is on the 371 that we often passed by the gates of the American University in Richmond and watched students board. On many, many occasions, khaleeji students would board and would hear us talking in Arabic and they’d sit nearby and smile, obviously homesick, or chat with us. I so wanted to study in Richmond University, I think every child in the family dreamt of studying in that university but we asked we were told that it wasn’t recognised by the ministry of education in Kuwait. I’m not sure how correct is that or if its still the case, but its quite a pity I didn’t get to go there.

Oh yes the park, there is a park we used to go to on almost a daily basis for it was near home, Terrace Gardens. It was vertical and descended straight to the river Thames walk and if you stood on top you’d see the river. There is a little glass house with a few exotic flowers, Kew Gardens are just down the street btw, and there was also a little shack/cafe that you’d go in and order yourself something to drink and the view overlooked the Thames. The air you breathe in as you walk among the squirrels in that park is so pure and heavy with chlorophyll, I’ve never smelled anything more beautiful.

We often wondered about the little shack above, why it was empty and how did it come to be. We made up endless stories about it. There is a bench high on the garden with several small stone steps leading towards it that was my favourite bench. I often sat there watching everyone else or taking my breath after the climb of the hill, I always said that one day I’m buying myself a bench and engraving something about how much I loved Richmond then donating it to the park to be  placed there. Perhaps one day.

Once you exit the lower gates of the garden you need to cross the street and suddenly find yourself right at the river bank! To your left you’ll find the Petersham hotel, the cleanest most beautiful hotel ever, if I’m to stay for a couple of nights in Richmond I’d definitely stay at the Petersham. on your right is a long way towards the Richmond bridge, the oldest surviving Thames bridge built in 1777. In between the two a few cafes and eateries stand, there used to be a lovely pizzeria where a Gaucho now is but it closed a very long time ago.

Gorgeous right? The Odeon actually overlooks the river, so it Bill’s which I realise I haven’t still posted about but they have an awesome breakfast and is a favourite destination of mine in London, I will be posting about it soon. I walk along the river bank and recall snippets of conversations I’ve had once upon a time, I spent a good amount of time sitting by the river and taking whomever was visiting us to the riverside was obligatory.

I recall the boat hires, the river cruises, and the canoes though I’ve never dared to try anything but the cruise myself. I however do not recall the super soft ice cream van parked by the river! My heart skipped a bead when I saw it but given that I’ve just had a cup of gelato I thought it was sensible not to have another ice cream and ruin my appetite for supper. I regret my stupid decision now, it would have been one glorious picture.

Lucky pigeon living in Richmond.

After a long day and just before we went back home we passed by a famous pizzeria right by Richmond’s station, pizzeria rustica, and had a delicious grilled vegetables pizza and a beetroot goat’s cheese lentils and grilled vegetables salad for supper. Yum!

In case you were in the area and wanted to visit for lunch, pizzeria rustica is located right next to Richmond train station, you cannot miss it when you walk out of the station. By the way, if you are wondering, Richmond can be reached by London’s underground, it is at the very end of the green district line, you just need to change once at Ealing. It is also very close to the airport and when you stay or visit you’ll find endless planes passing by above – which means endless waving on my behalf to passing planes.

And for a sweet end to the trip, I passed by Richmond’s Humming Bird bakery branch and was in luck to get the last raspberry cheesecake brownie they had there. I also passed by an Australian tea shop by the name of T2 that sells awesome selection of tea and tea cups and got me a gorgeous tea cup to remind me of the trip, I will let you know the next time I post a picture of it.

When I returned to Kuwait I searched my old folders for any Richmond relics and found myself a few hazy pictures of the river cruise that I’ve taken back in July 1994 plus a few postcards I’ve written back in the day to my friends back home. I used to write a lot of letters but given the deteriorating state of Kuwait’s postal services it would take almost an entire summer to get a reply to one letter. Below is a postcard that I’ve never posted to my friend. I also had a Richmond Park postcard with a picture of the deers in Richmond Park all covered in snow during the winter, it is gorgeous but I cannot find it anywhere.

Last but not least, thats me with my camera taking pictures and composing this post in my mind while enjoying my trip. Can you tell I was happy reliving the memories of my childhood?

Now that I’ve shown you my Richmond, I’ve also shown you my dream retirement destination. The only problem is that I need about half a million pounds just to get me a one bedroom apartment without a view somewhere in Richmond and that’s not counting the yearly service charge and council tax fees. As of now, I have £200 in my retirement fund and one day, maybe one day, I will go back to stay. I love you Richmond, till we meet again one day.

6,880,158 Views of #KuwaitLive on Snapchat!

If you are on Snapchat then you must know that last week was a big day for us for Kuwait City was the city of choice for Snapchat Live! If you are not familiar with the concept, Snapchat chooses a city each day where residents of that city are able to take snaps and add it to the city’s story. Eventually, Snapchat admins get to choose which snaps (videos or pictures) they like the most and publish it for the entire world to see in a story and it stays on for 24 hours.

Six million eight eight hundred thousand and one hundred and fifty eight humans around the globe did click and watch on the Kuwait City live story! How do I know the -almost exact- figure? Well, you see, I’ve submitted quite a few snaps myself and lo and behold, one of them did actually make it! I couldn’t believe it, it was surreal to see your snap on the #KuwaitLive and even more surreal to check the number of views multiplying by the second and realise how many people have been watching, how in that single ten seconds you were connected to 6 million people around the planet! Six million, almost seven! I still cannot wrap my head around it!

My favourite snap that I hoped would go up was one of Thahab ice cream melting in seconds under the 43 degrees celsius sun with the liberation tower in the background while saying something about how we celebrate the start of our weekend. It wasn’t chosen 7safa.

The snap that did get chosen was one where I had unintentionally switched on the radio on the 103.7 FM channel and the radio announcer just happened to be on talking about Snapchat #KuwaitLive! That one was chosen and thank god I wasn’t the one talking in it. Talking and thinking whatever you say in your public-school English might turn out to be was too stressful in my case!

The lovely thing is, the moment my snap was chosen on Kuwait City story I knew about it from my friends, family, and followers on several different social media apps before I did notice it myself! People were genuinely ecstatic and whooping which of course made me even happier and I was very touched at the sheer happiness of some. I didn’t see that coming to be frank.

Afterwards I took quite a few more snaps up until midnight but none made it sadly. I however got a few comments asking me to send my snaps to an account that “promises” that if you should send your snaps they will be 100% published because they have the higher hand on submitting them to Snapchat. Personally I found that quite funny, I’m sure team Snapchat weren’t operating on the basis of Kuwaiti wasta! How it works is you post, they chose, finito! They didn’t choose your snap? So what, it happens. I also found it quite annoying how a lot of people thought they were “entitled” to having their snaps appear on the Kuwait story because they are awesome and of course their snaps are as well. I thought I had a couple of awesome snaps that weren’t chosen, and they weren’t chosen, and it doesn’t mean anything. Disappointed? Sure but again I don’t think Snapchat owed me anything, I will try my luck the next time a city from Kuwait is chosen. Why? It was fun, six-almost-seven million views fun Now that’s something to remember!

What did you think of Kuwait City live, whether you are a Kuwaiti or one of the six million on the planet who viewed it? I heard mixed opinions, some hated it and some loved it. In my opinion it wasn’t my absolute favourite live city story -Cairo was, followed by Manama-, and some more interesting snaps could have been taken had it been winter time with the majority of Kuwait’s population enjoying the outdoor activities and actually are in Kuwait, but it was quite decent given the circumstances.

Book Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

When I first stumbled upon what is hailed as “Harper Lee’s long lost unpublished novel” in the library while on my recent trip to the UK I didn’t think twice before picking alongside a fresh new copy of To Kill a Mockingbird then heading to the cash register. I spent my eid/summer/birthday holiday lounging around, relaxing, and reading both books back to back. I thought it was the only proper way to read what was originally the book to be published before Lee’s editors asked her to elaborate more on Scout’s memories and hence To Kill a Mockingbird was born and published and the original not. 

To be frank I never thought To Kill a Mockingbird was legendary. I’m not saying its not good or important, but I somehow felt a bit removed from the nine-years old child telling the story. The good thing about Go Set a Watchman is that I totally related to the grown-up Jean Louise who is visiting Maycomb back from NYC and feeling that she had nothing in common with her peers, nothing to talk about and no shared interest especially in the superficial matters. I totally understood how two people can live in a society but one is allowed to get away with being eccentric just because he is of the right sector while others who daren’t deviate from the social presets and expectations yet are constantly criticised still and should they dare to choose something else they become pariahs in an instant, they belong to the wrong sector after all. I read about grown up Scout’s society and I realized that discrimination and prejudice are almost the same everywhere, any time. That I can weave the similarities between any two societies and end up with two matching patches that can be hanged on the wall of human history.

My liking of the book ends there.

Now I’ve finished it, I realise why a lot of readers had their concerns and thought the newly discovered novel, the only other novel written Harper Lee, is a money-making sham. The novel I read was clearly never meant to be To Kill a Mockingbird’s sequel. A first draft perhaps, yes, but it hardly has enough material to stand alone as a novel in it’s own right let alone to serve as anything for To Kill a Mockingbird. It wouldn’t even do as an accompanying book. The things that’s been done, to Jem, to Calpunira, to Dill, and most importantly to Atticus! I hated the Atticus thing the most, those of you who read it would understand without spoiling it for anyone else who deserves to read it and make up their mind. Why? Why ruin Atticus in that way? I don’t understand and I refuse to accept it as a literature destiny for Mr. Atticus Finch.

I’ve decided that whatever happened in the book I’ve read, it was never meant to happen after all. This book needs work, and had it been intended as a sequel, or a prequel, or whatever it is in relation to To Kill a Mockingbird, then why was it forgotten in a deposit box for 50+ years or so? Why is it published now? I do not have the answer, perhaps no one will, but if you decide to read it for yourself I advice you to keep in mind that you are reading something more of a draft, think of it as reading something from the history of how To Kill a Mockingbird came to be, especially when I’ve read a few paragraphs that were identical to ones in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Would you read Go Set a Watchman? Have you read it already? What do you think?

The Quraish Celebration at Work

I know the holy month of Ramadan is almost over with less than one week to go, therefore I thought I’d post about this now or else it would be too late. Quraish is an event that takes place on the very last day before the arrival of Ramadan when, in the pre-oil Kuwait era, people used to gather around anything they won’t be consuming during Ramadan and have one last big breakfast. Now in modern day Kuwait many people celebrate several times, at work and with families, by having one last -or several last- breakfast meals. If you haven’t been to Kuwait before or don’t know this already, breakfast is a huge deal in Kuwait and I might very well say that if you are planning to visit, you must plan to have breakfast out every single day for it must be the breakfast capital of the world!  

This year, on a fine Tuesday morning before Ramadan we had one memorable quraish celebration. Usually for our work quraish different working sectors are each assigned a section in the main lobby and it was up to them to come up with a theme. I usually contribute with money but this year I was on the organising committee of our sector for the first time and after much deliberation, the committee decided to go with a “Turkish Garden” quraish theme. Garden like, with turkish food and a design to feel like we were spending the last day before the arrival of the holy month in Turkey, complete with Turkish music and a big picture of a mountain in turkey surrounded by flowers as a background.

The fairy lights were lit, the lanterns setup, flowers everywhere, and a cage with two love birds with the most gorgeous blue hue took centre stage at the main garden-like seats.

I’ve never been to Turkey before and wasn’t caught up in the Turkish TV series mania that swept the entire of the Middle East therefore I was of little help in deciding what went into the quraish decor wise. I know food though so I made my suggestions and also I was there to help out, organize, and take pictures of course.

There was a Turkish Simit cart with desserts, baklava, and other Turkish delights, complete with a friendly trio of Turks who greeted people in Turkish.

There were tables with several tiered serving platters that were filled with chocolates, how do you like my chocolate arrangements? I did those myself.

Other items you could find around our garden setup included a young Kuwaiti artist, Mohammed Al-Failakawi, who was drawing while the festivities took place around him, it did feel like we were in some piazza abroad and not in Kuwait.

There was also a nice hut-like corner for tea! The lady who owns it will be opening up a store in the fourth phase of the Avenues mall in Kuwait. Yes, we are talking fourth people! This little place is a haven for tea lovers like myself.

Its very cute, with different tea sets and several types of flavoured tea plus iced tea being served.

Of course a chocolate platter was placed there to go with the tea.

 For giveaways there were lantern with miniature jars of Tang orange juice powder, a miniature bottle of Vimto drink syrup, a small scented candle and a small pot filled with little pieces of chocolate.

It was a quite fun and memorable day at work. I enjoyed working alongside a team of extraordinary female colleagues who made this happen. The cherry on top of a exhausting but fun day? We won! Our sector won the first place for best decorated Quraish space! Hope you enjoyed our Quraish, its definitely something you don’t see every day at a work place, in Kuwait or abroad!

Rant: The Fall of the Bloggers in Kuwait

There is something that I’ve been meaning to say, type down really, but for the longest time I’ve kept my fingers back but I think its time I let it out. Not only for ranting purposes you see, rants always wash your soul somehow, but it will also be a kind of documentation, a stop in the social media history of Kuwait if anyone is keeping track. You never know, maybe someone in the future will want to have a study or thesis or something and noting this down will help them out eventually. 

The bubble that is the bloggers habba -i.e. trend- has finally popped. As of late 2013 and early 2014 the domination of the fashionista’s era has begun. Now before you read on please understand that I’m not attacking anyone, I’m just stating the facts as they are. Plus, I personally follow several fashionistas and am always happy to see what they have to offer and am impressed by the effort and handwork they put in their posts, I call a few of them friends and they are the sweetest most down to earth personalities you’d meet, I’m talking about the phenomenon and not attacking a certain fashionista or another.

Fashionistas exist everywhere else in the world and have been since forever but only in Kuwait would a model, a well-dressed chic lady, or a makeup persona be used to advertise each and every single thing, from car tires to food items and even cement and floor tiles. Who cares if the food is good or different? All it takes is a shot of a smiling fashionista with a pointed fork next to a table full of dishes and 20,000 likes and they call it a day.

While good old blogs are now vacant and provide almost zero commercial value, once booming instagram accounts are becoming deserted as well with everyone migrating to Snapchat and buzzing about the latest clownish attitude from their favourite “blogger”, yes blogger because apparently even though social media figures are not bloggers in the first place or in rare cases anymore, they’ve somehow all become “bloggers” somehow.

Now what brought this on? Well, two incidents that happened within two weeks of each other sent my blood pumping. The first was when I met someone who represents a business and they kept going on and on about how they gathered up Kuwait’s “most important bloggers” for ads and how beneficial they were to their business drive and how they were intending to hire them again for round two of advertisement. When I interjected that the people they were talking about weren’t bloggers, they were instagram fashionistas, the difference didn’t seem to matter. Now the interesting thing that happened is, when it become known that I was in fact a blogger myself and I began to take pictures for my own blog and record, I was asked by the very same person to take pictures of this and that and I was asked to share those pictures of mine, and they were pretty darn good pictures, for free. I didn’t share them of course, yet that didn’t stop them taking and using a picture from my own instagram account, without my permission and without a mention to me, those who are willing to pay huge sums of money so fashionistas cloaked in the name of bloggers to pose for one picture and one picture only.

How is that fair?

The same goes for numerous other businesses, ones that have started and received our unshakeable support. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures for them, believed in them and posted about them for free. My pictures are used till this day repeatedly on their accounts and never once have I asked for a one fils. Those businesses have changed direction completely and instead of continuing the mutual good-natured relationship we’ve had, they are now piling money and praise on one single picture of fashionistas while, the irony, still using my pictures and ignoring the once courtesy mention of the picture taker that is me and needless to say never again inviting me to any new event or theirs.

I suppose this is what you get when you post for people for free. People who once made sure you were invited to every single event of theirs no longer take your calls, people who once showered you with praise and thanks are now trying to remember who you are. Oh and let me tell you about the second incident before I put this post to draft, I’m not sure I want to publish it really just wanted to let the steam off.

In the past, lets say, year or so whenever there is an event with old school bloggers and social media figures plus fashionistas present, old bloggers have been feeling a bit left out. At first it began with a welcoming warm smile and you did your blog event thing while fashionistas gathered and took endless pictures of themselves attending the event. Rarely did anyone ask bloggers to join in the picture taking or make a fuss over them as well. Later on the event treatment have developed drastically, fashionistas have been invited to attend and they were paid, and old school bloggers were asked to attend, for free, and are expected to take pictures of the fashionistas, paparazzi style, and pile praise and hail their beauty as well. You’d be lucky if you were greeted in the first place, after all you are lucky to be asked in the first place and you are presented with a golden opportunity to catch a star in action and enrich your unknown social media accounts with it.

You can understand now, dear social media event planners, why a lot of people apologise and do not attend your events anymore. Its not only me who’s been complaining, its almost every single old fashion blogger who would actually post about your event if they’ve attended and not about themselves posing in your event.

Now the last story I swear, are you still reading? So I was invited to attend an event during the holy month of Ramadan. I was planning on going on my own anyway, I can still go places as Nada the person not Danderma the blogger, and as I expected I was ignored totally like a ghost, I didn’t mind that for I was there as Nada anyway. What I did mind though, is when I was standing there an announcement was made where the event organisers announced that they are being joined with “Kuwait’s most influential bloggers” and then a list of names was given out, and not one single person of them was a blogger, not even one!

Of course those non-bloggers who are apparently Kuwait’s most influential bloggers are all social media figures yes, with a good number of followers yes, some are similar to me in follower number and some eons ahead of me, but they are not bloggers. For the love of god they are not bloggers, and how come they were praised and hailed and their presence was made into a celebratory show when I was extended an invitation and ignored? Was the only blogger supposed to report on Kuwait’s non-bloggers attending or something?

I don’t understand this, and I hope I am not coming off as bitter or jealous, but it angers me when the term “blogger” is used as a synonym for anyone who has a social media presence and that’s it. Fashionistas are cool and beautiful and I consider a few of them my own personal friends, I wish them all the best but I really and truly wish they are called fashionistas when they are that. No one is a “micro” blogger or a “mini” blogger… say you are an instagrammer and proud, you are not a skirt so stop with the micro and midi and maxi thing. If you insist on being called a blogger or actually are presenting yourself as one, then at least maintain a blog with a one post a month, I don’t suppose that’s too hard now, is it?

Paid or not, invited or not, showered with gifts or not, it still doesn’t matter. My blog will always be here, I will still take pictures and post about what I love and live and laugh and be happy. I still have people who come up to me out of no where and tell me how much they’ve loved this, tried that, or enjoyed reading about something. However, I will not allow anyone to take pictures off my blog and cut my logo out then post it on their social media accounts without my permission or a mention of myself. I’m sorry but do that and I will have you reported.

Old school bloggers, have you any say in this? What do you think?

Recipe: Blueberry, Spinach, and Feta Pecan Salad

I cannot claim credit for this salad, I’ve seen a similar combination of ingredients on instagram and it somehow got stuck and for the life of me I cannot recall the exact location of the picture that I’ve seen it from. However, the salad I’ve seen on that sizzling summer afternoon while fasting and browsing instagram for iftar meal inspirations was of a kale and blueberries salad with feta cheese and pecans. I’m not even sure about the pecans, it could have been walnuts or nothing at all, but the moment I saw it I began tasting juicy blueberries bathed in salty feta brine and I knew, I just knew, I had to prepare that salad for my iftar.

The recipe called for kale and kale I cannot stand, perhaps if one day I happen to come across a fresh non-smelly patch I’d change my mind but for the time being no, me sorry. Lettuce seemed too crunchy and watery for the salad and rocket -which is the Kuwaiti nation’s favourite by the way and you can find it in almost every other dish- I cannot stand. Rocket (jarjir) is too peppery for the delicate berry flavour. Then I thought spinach! Spinach is perfect, the right subtle flavour and crunch texture, so spinach it is!

Normal feta cheese sounded boring to me, why settle for just feta when you can dress it up? What goes well with feta? I thought I’d drench my salty low fat feta crumble feta cubes with crushed oregano and plenty of lemon zest. You know what? We have a winner! I’m so getting myself a fresh baguette and stuffing it with zesty lemony feta for breakfast after Ramadan!

The pecans I’ve just bought so they were pretty fresh and I was intent on not using any utensils other than the lemon zester and the salad spinner therefore I simply sprinkled the pecans over the blueberries. If you have time, I expect crushing the pecans and heating them up on a pan with a hint of really good authentic maple syrup would elevate the flavours of the salad even further! Imagine them now in a hot white baguette? The crunch, the maple, the feta, the lemon zest, the oregano. Oh my!

Now we come to the matter of dressing. I don’t know what the dressing used in the original salad was, but I had a new kitchen gadget on me that I wanted to try and decided to get to use it. Its a salad dressing recipe + mix bottle that I got from the kitchen section of M&S in London. On the side of the bottle the recipes for five different popular dressings are mentioned and all you have to do is follow the recipe (or half of it), pour your ingredients inside, replace the cap, shake well and you are done!

I chose the balsamic Vinaigrette dressing, I thought it would work well. The dressing was perfect by the way, only the suction lid on top of the bottle is a bit of a hassle to open once its stuck, that’s the downside of that easy gadget.

And that’s it! Just assemble all five ingredients on a plate, pour the dressing over, and you have a light and juicy salad with a hint of summer.

That is by far the easiest salad I’ve ever made and is the tastiest as well. Sweet and salty, juicy and crunchy, and not that heavy on the stomach.

I will let you know if I ever turn it into a sandwich, I might not stuff it with blueberries though but you never know, you never know.

I long for a lazy walk in a lush, winding, green green park

For the longest time ever I though my lack of posting on the blog is because of not finding the correct words to put into paragraphs. With the Storehouse apps, I realised that words weren’t my problem, its the pain of having to deal with choosing, editing, and watermarking photographs that’s pulling me back. In any case this post appeared first on Storehouse last Friday when all was slow and peaceful in my world. If anything, I think I long for the peacefulness of a lazy walk even more. How did peace become the rarest commodity in our advanced and supposedly civilised world?

My current demands are simple, as I approach my mid 30’s I find myself longing more and more to peaceful surroundings and quiet moments on my own. Suddenly, I have a lot of thoughts to contemplate and I crave alone-time to sort through them.

I need to look up ahead and see no building obstructing my vision, no other dominating color but green, shades and shades of it. What people usually grant as a simple daily walk in a park is a luxury we don’t have here. We have gardens, yes, big and small green and grey, but not a huge winding quiet park with gorgeous fluffy clouds, small ponds and lakes teaming with quacking birds.

I need to find me some water, ripples running softly in soothing tones as my feet sink in the muddy soil as I walk besides it, relaxed yet afraid of the fish that lurk beneath. Yes, I’m afraid of fish, and ducks, and all birds, and almost all animals and insects, and yet I have the nerve to dream about parks. The irony!

I love how parks smell, crisp air carrying the scent of greens that I call chlorophyll mixed in with a bit of wood, a tinge of smoke, and plenty of earth after rain.

I don’t only crave a walk in the park, I want to bike there early in the morning, when dew can be found covering all things alive and green, look around at the artistic sculptures and breathe in the good air. I want to sit down under a tree, spread a picnic basket and have breakfast while I read a freshly published book by a favorite author that I’ve just picked up from the bookshop nearby.

I want to climb, and fall, and strut, and jog, and sprint and run and be free for one hour on my own. Something out of a Sound of Music scene. I want to laugh, and hear the echo of my heartfelt laughter reverberate among the old green trees.

I also don’t mind settling down with an artisan ploughman’s baguette and a bag of crisps for a quick get-away during the day

A Sad Day in the History of Kuwait

Initially I didn’t want to write about it, didn’t want a heinous act of terror to have a permenant mark on my memory and my future, but how could it not when we’ve spent an entire weekend in shock, tears streaming down our faces without the slightest attempt to stop them or wipe their residue of my glasses.

It started like any other happy weekend morning, I indulged in sleep that I was deprived off during the week, I woke up for prayers and read Surat Al-Kahf from the Holy Quran. My husband was just back from the mosque when I sat on my couch next to him, thinking about what to cook for iftar and deciding to check out a recipe I’ve seen earlier on Instagram, when I saw the video. 

At first I read the word “explosion”… tafjeer in Arabic, nasty word. Next to it came “Sawaber”, somehow it didn’t register, for Sawaber was an area in Kuwait, my Kuwait, as a matter of fact it was smack in the middle of the heart of Kuwait City in an area that is both beautifully old yet coming alive, dotted by hip and young establishments like Al-Makan and Vol. 1. A peaceful spot in town where old meets new, very near and dear to everyone. People were gathered for Friday prayers, a holy day in the holiest of the Islamic months, Ramadan. A hot summer day, and they are fasting, kneeling before god, and a coward in the name of a religion he knows nothing about comes from behind and blows himself up, thinking he is a martyr on his way to heaven.

My tears began pouring at once, and almost 48 hours later they wouldn’t stop. 26 innocent souls are lost, 200+ injured, families who were waiting for their men to come back from Friday prayer to ask what would they like to have for iftar, only they’d be waiting forever, and for what?

An act that tarnishes the name of a sacred religion like Islam is nothing but terror, and terror knows no morals, no mercy, no compassion, and almost certainly no religion for religion is the purposes of all that is good and pure. If anyone ever though Isis, or any other form of terrorist organisation, was killing innocent people and spilling sacred human blood in the name of any religion, then they must have never known a true religion in their heart.

All of Kuwait came together since yesterday as one, both Sunni muslims and Shia muslims whose mosque was bombed. The Blood Bank was bombarded with blood donors of both Kuwaitis and expats to the point of turning people away, asking them to come back tomorrow. The medical staff of all hospitals where working around the clock tending to the wounded and operating on them, volunteers and ministry of interior men were found everywhere helping out. I don’t think there was a house yesterday who cared much for iftar o had much to eat at all. Whenever you think that there are 26 families who were robbed out of their loved ones, and 200 others who are in the hospital next to their wounded, the searing pain it causes erases all other mundane needs

The 26 martyrs of Kuwait were buried today, condolences to their families will be given out in the grand mosque of Kuwait for 3 days. Today Kuwait is in mourning, our hearts goes out to the martyrs but as a country and as a community we’ve proven that, contrary to what the terrorists had hoped for, we are one united in blood and pain against all threats.

I think I will stop here. It still hurts to accept, to think such a thing did happen on our soil in the cherished month of Ramadan. Please stay strong, people in Kuwait and everywhere. Terror has no religion.

Book Review: Second Life by SJ Watson

I had very high hopes for SJ Watson’s second novel after my enjoying her debut, before I go to sleep, both on paper and on screen. In my recent haul of books from my trip abroad, Second Life was my most anticipated read and when I finally had the time to grab a book to read I didn’t hesitate twice and chose it, wishing for another really enjoyable read. 

However, I’d have to say that ploughed through the book just for the sake of finding out whether or not the “mystery” of Julia’s sister was worth the read. The story line was a bit, well, meh. The second life thing is nothing ground breaking, just another bored wife doing what she isn’t supposed to do yet enjoying it. The story it starts with, the one with the photograph, was quite predictable albeit the last puzzle piece I didn’t see coming, and all in all the entire book was just one big disappointment especially with the ending which, to be frank, after making myself reach the end for the sake of finding out what happened, was the biggest disappointment of them all.

I think it was a bit unfair and unfortunate for this particular story, to read it while expecting something in the same league of before I go to sleep. Perhaps if I had read this one first I wouldn’t have had too high of expectations and in extension, too low of an opinion but this is the way it was. I, however, wouldn’t personally recommend it and had I known how it would turn out in the end, ,wouldn’t have picked it up myself.