Danderma's Blog, page 73

Pictures: The Beauty of Fall

Kuwait’s climate is that of a desert. This means we have the hottest summers and the most intense winters. We never really feel the transition between the seasons. Spring perhaps for a little while but never really fall. It suddenly goes from extremeley hot to humid and then cold and rainy. I haven’t been to the UK during the fall for quite some time now and I’ve forgotten how beautiful it is with the bursts of color everywhere and the chilly yet still tolerable breeze. This post will serve as a reminder of the falls beauty

 

 

New Delicious Winter Goods from Dallah Bakery

If you are a follower of my blog -and instagram account- you might recognize my adoration of Dallah’s local bakery (post). Everything they make: the coffee, the Elba, the Ghraiba, etc. is a favorite of mine and I keep going back for more and would serve their products for my guests at my own gatherings (post) (post). Last weekend I tried not one but two of Dallah’s new and very delicious products!

Businesses that evolve all the time and introduce new products earn my respect. The first new item of Dallah’s is the Salted Caramel Squares. Salted Caramel is one favorite combination of mine but not everyone gets the saltness level right.

 In Dallah’s case the sweet/salt proportions were perfect. The squares were soft and crunchy, the caramel rich and buttery and sweet, then suddenly you feel a crunch and a wave of saltness invading your taste buds. They apparently use coarse sea salt on top of the squares. They are superb and highly recommended and currently available in their store.

The second new item by Dallah is not out yet but I being a faithful customer got to try it before its sold to the public for feedback, lucky me!

Well, its cake squares. Pumpkin and walnut cake squares topped with Vanilla Glaze. Just in time for the ruthless winter of Kuwait.

I had those cakes for breakfast with my favorite filter coffee and they were so soft, the glaze so velvety, I almost polished off the entire box. Delicious!

Imagine it with a cup of hot Arabian coffee, or better yet, a cup of hot spice Kuwaiti style milk with Cardamom and Saffron while sitting in front of the coals of the dowwa. Anyday now, anyday.

The pumpkin walnut cake is not available for sale yet but will be very soon. As for the salted caramel squares they are available but they tend to fly off the shelves very fast. May I also recommed a flask of Arabian coffee to go with the goodies?

Thank you very much Dallah, akramkom Allah and keep up the good work. To order your fix of Dallah or for more information you can pass by their store in Kaifan Co-op, call them on 99989824, email them on DallahKuwait@yahoo.com, follow them on Twitter on (@Dallah), or follow them and their delicious pictures on Instagram on (@DallahKuwait). Don’t forget your Dallah loyalty card and yes they do deliver.

Khaleejesque’s People Issue

Khaleejesque magazine, one of the first and prominent Khaleeji lifestyle magazine, sent me a bag with their name on it the other day.

Inside the bag were two copies of their latest issue they called the ”People Issue” alongside a box of Patchi chocolates.

The People Issue is also Khaleejesque’s fourth printed issue and last 2012 issue featuring Khaleeji individuals worth noting and had left notable print in their fields. The issue should be available everywhere starting mid-November but I’ve had the pleasure of reading it for a while now

Thank you Khaleejesque for sending me your People Issue. For more about Khaleejesque and where to find their printed issues you can check their website (link), like their facebook page (link), or follow them on twitter (@Khaleejesque).

Things 2 Do in London: The Cinema Store

There is this quirky little shop in London I frequent whenever I’m there called the Cinema Store. From its name you’d know what its all about: stocking everything cinema or movie related.

Since I took the pictures for this post in the week leading up to Halloween you can notice the Halloween spirit in the merchandise display.

If you are a fan of movies, or anything related to movies, theyn you would feel at home inside. For example you can shop for Movie DVD’s, Movie T-Shirts, Movie books.

Original Movie posters, some of them for really old movies like Sean Connery’s James Bond or Back to the Future.

Movie characters toys and figurines if you are a collector.

Autographed movie pictures, many of which are lining up one wall of the store.

Masks of movie characters and much much more!

I wanted badly to take home Mjölner, Thor’s hammer. Alas, I had to let it go.

How cute is this little Chucky? I almost got that one to myself but, err, I actually got spooked so I didn’t.

The Cinema Store is a great place to visit and given its location  in the Area between Covent Garden and Leicester Square near the Theatres district of London it would be an ideal place to spend some time shopping while waiting for a play to start. They are located in Upper St.Martin’s Lane right across from Dishoom (post) and St. Martin’s Square (post). For more information you can check their website (link), like their facebook page (link), or follow them on Twitter (@TheCinemaStore).

Zoya’s Limited Edition18 K Gold Flake Top Coat

The other day I came home to find a bag from Beautylicious, a well known local business providing luxurious beauty products. As I saw the bag I knew I was in for a treat.

Inside the Beautylicious gift bag are three items, a Black box with Zoya written on it, a golden letter, and a set of jewel colored try on Zoya nails from Zoya’s newest ornate collection of Winter 2012-2013.

As for the golden letter, this is what it said…

World’s first ever limited edition18 K gold flake top coat from Zoya? Well that’s what’s inside the black Zoya box then! The combinations of words in the previous sentence provide an equation for a new fashion trend alert: first ever + limited edition + 18 K gold!

White Zoya nailpolish, Black Zoya Nailpolish, and the Gold flakes top coat! Now if you had real gold flakes to dress up your nails with, how would you use it? On top of black or white nails is the classic way to go of course but its too tame in my opinion.

I had so much fun playing with the brush laden with real gold flakes in the clear polish that afternoon.

They are golden flakes all right, no doubt about that. The bottle, the brush, the droplets of the liquid inside are all dazzling.

How would I wear it? Perhaps on top of a bright green nail polish, YSL shade of vibrant green that is, or on chocolate brown nails. Someone on instagram did point out that it looks like fall and indeed it does!

Thank you Beautilicious for spoiling me with this golden gift. Thank you Dareen Awwad for sending this gift my way. For more about the golden top and where to get it from you can check Buautilicious website (link), or give them a call on + (965) 22653101/22653102 or email them on info@beauty-licious.net

The Variation 2012 Nespresso Coffee Flavors are Here

Last weekend I passed by Nespresso’s Store in 360 Mall to see if they have anything new and they did! They have the new Coffee Variations for 2012 with three new limited edition flavors: Macademia Nut, Hazenult, and Coconut!

I spent my Friday morning making one cup of coffee after the other and tasting them. I was a bit skeptical regarding the coconut flavor, not a big fan of coconut myself, but to my surprise it turned out quite good! My favorite however is the Macademia Nut.

Did you try the new Nespresso limited edition flavor? What’s your favorite?

Things 2 Do in London: Take The Harry Potter Studio Tour – Part 2

Continuing from Part One of the post (post), when you are finally done with the outdoors Harry Potter set, you walk into the makeup room where you see masks used in the set.

You also get to see the electrical props used in the movie, like for example a mandrakes plant that moves with a button, or Hedwig turning her head, or this vicious book Hagrid used to teach with.

Next stop… Diagon Alley! The Diagon Alley set!

My eyes were all over the place in Diagon Alley! I took a million pictures there! The amount of details involved in the set is overwhelming!

And because our visit was a day before Halloween the studio had a number of death eaters roaming around the set staring angrily at visitors. Here is one that wasn’t happy to see us in Diagon Alley.

What would you like to buy? Gryffindor’s robes? Wands? Broomsticks? Marauder’s map?

 

Perhaps some Horcruxes?

Or the Berty Bott’s Every Flavor Beans? No? I didn’t dare buy one either. Ugh!

I did get me a Muggle T-Shirt though.

Visiting the movie set of Harry Potter was one amazing experince that won’t be gone from my memory anytime soon. If you are in London, or going to visit London soon, and a Harry Potter fan then you must visit the studio and take the tour. There is so much to see and I don’t think I’ve had enough myself. Highly recommended but do book your tickets in advance from this (link).

Things 2 Do in London: Take The Harry Potter Studio Tour – Part 1

 

If you are a Harry Potter fan then you will love this. The next time you visit London make sure you have tickets for London’s newest attraction: The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour! Last time I was in London I booked myself tickets using their online website (link) and on the day of the tour I was in almost jumping up and down in anticipation as I got off the London Midland train on Watford Junction to start the tour.

Watford Junction is about 10 minutes away from London from Euston Station. Then at the entrance of the station you will find bus stop number 4 with the big Harry Potter themed bus that will take you to the Warner Bros. Studios in 15 minutes. The Warner Bros. Studios in the UK were used before to film movies like James Bond and Star Wars and you get a brief video history of the studios as bus ride entertainmant.

When you arrive you enter your booking reference number in a machine and voila your tickets are printed. Then you go inside to a hall with a clock room, the gift shop, the tour entrance, and a cafe/restaurant. We waited for our tour to start at 5:00 PM in the restaurant with a nice cupcake and espresso as we were there early.

Then when it was our time to enter the studio I took turned on my audio guide and we got in line. There is something thrilling about standing in a queue surrounded by Harry Potter fans who understandsd exactly how you feel about this visit. Very exciting.

The first thing you see before you enter the studio is Harry’s old bedroom: the closet under the stairs! Poor Harry.

After a nice audio and cinema like introduction, the tour begins by standing at the doors of the great hall, the actual great hall props used to in the movie of course.

And we are inside! Everything from the Great Hall is there except for the enchanted ceiling which was added via special effects later on! We took pictures, we oohed and ahhed, it was lovely!

Then we moved on to the other parts of the Harry Potter sets Sadly I can’t post all the pictures so I’m choosing my favorites. For example the Gryffindor Boy’s Dormitory. The beds were designed for the actors at age 11 so by the time they got older they’ve outgrown the beds and had to squeeze themselves in to fit.

Gryffindo’s Common Room.

Dumbledore’s Office!

Tom Riddle’s Diary and Horcrux! All items displayed are actually props used in the movie.

The Weasley’s living room with the knife chopping and the pans moving “magically”.

Umbridge’s office in the Ministry of Magic.

Magic is Might Statue placed after Voldemort’s return in the Ministry of Magic where Muggles are squished.

Some of Hogwarts student’s books!

There is also a section where you get to ride a broom and have your picture taken flying on a broom but there was too long a line so we moved on to the outdoors set! There is a cafe with selling muggle drinks plus a section selling the famous Butterbeers!

Sadly the line was too long and I didn’t know if Butterbeers had alcohol in them or not so I didn’t try them I took my time though taking pictures with the Knight Bus!

Harry’s Aunt’s house in Privet Drive was there as well plus Harry’s parent’s house at Godric’s Hollow still destroyed from the night Voldemort’s attack.

At first I thought the moon in the background was part of the props but then I realized it was indeed a full moon that night which made the visit even spookier! Nice!

Other outdoors props include Tom Riddle’s grave, The Weasley’s blue enchanted car, and The Hogwart’s bridge. Many people were milling around them and taking pictures so I didn’t get post-worthy pictures of them. However, I still have more as we moved on from the outdoors set to the rest of the tour. More pictures will come in part two very soon

Pizzetta and Prime & Toast’s Advantage Card

Well, apparently some wishes do come true! I’ve been wishing that we have more advantage and loyalty cards for various shops and restaurants in Kuwait (post) (post) and a few days ago my wish came true in the form of a knock on my door and a white envelope with my name on it.

What’s inside? Well, a special advantage card  with my blogs name on it entitiling me to a 15% discount whenever I dine in Prime & Toast or Pizzetta! Both restaurants being a favorite of mine that I frequent often.

I’m not sure if in the future the card will be available to everyone or frequent diners or not but hopefully it will be and I do truly wish that more and more restaurants and shops provide similar advantage cards for loyal customers! Thank you Chef Ahmad Al-Bader and Ghalia Technology, you made my day

Things 2 Do in London: The Lomography Gallery Store

Last year I was walking in Carnaby Street during Xmas day when I saw the “Lomography Gallery Store” which intrigued me and I wrote about the lomographic effect being a growing trend (post). I didn’t have the chance to actually visit the store again until last month when I was in London and finally made it in.

The store is chock full of different cameras all with producing pictures with the Lomography effect. Big, small, tiny, colorful, with filters, without filters, fisheye lenses, etc.

I have to say I was very tempted towards buying myself a colored camera. Especially this one that comes in a boxset with many little things to attach and play with even though I do have the lomography effect on almost every photo editing application I’ve used.

What’s notable though is that the entire ceiling plus the walls of the Lomography store are covered with tiny lomographs! I guess there are about 10,000 or more! Great idea!

If you are interested in a Lomography or want to buy a Lomographic camera which looks delicious and toy like by the way you should pass by The Lomography Store in Carnaby Street and enjoy the vast selection of cameras they have to offer. For more information and for the location of the Lomography Gallery Store you can check their website (link).