Danderma's Blog, page 79

Blast from the Past: Prizes Underneath Soda Caps

A very long time ago, back in the early and mid 80′s, we enjoyed drinking soft drinks for two reasons: the taste of course and for the bottle caps. You see, most of the time there were promotional giveaways involving opening the bottle cap and peeking underneath to know if you’ve won or not. Whenever a promotion like that took place we would be itching to open all the bottle caps and peeking inside, hoping to win the grand prize -whatever it was- and ending up with almost nothing. I think we once won an inflatable beach ball.

Then the times changed and life went on. Those promotions were either gone or morphed into something that involved finding a number underneath the cap and having to text it to another number so you can enter some draw. Not fun at all so I stopped peeking under the caps and almost stopped drinking soft drinks all together, going on them on and off. Then last weekend I noticed this…

I didn’t think much of it. I knew the days of looking underneath the soft drinks caps were long gone by now but then when my husband opened his fanta to drink I found, underneath the bottle cap, the sentence”Try Again”.

I was a kid all over again, itching to open up all the bottles and peeking underneath their caps! No more text a number to enter a draw again! I don’t even know what the prize I should be looking for is but those two words underneath the bottle cap made my day for sure. You might not get it unless you were actually around in the 80s and in on the scheme of opening the entire box of just bought Pepsi bottles just so you’d know if you’ve won or not and then trying to replace the bottle caps on.

Do you remember the days when we used to peek underneath the bottle caps for prizes? Did you ever win anything?

Book Review: Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale & Stan Redding

Though not a Leonardo Di Caprio fan myself, I loved him performance and role in the 2002 movie “Catch Me if You Can”. I knew it was based on a true story and I’ve seen the movie many times but it never occurred to me that there actually is a book where the story originates from. Then one day I thought to myself that there might be, and of course there was, and of course I got it and couldn’t wait to read it.

Published in the year I was born, 1980, and became one of New York Times list best sellers, its mind blowing to be reading a 32 years old biography of a cheeky teenager who roamed the entire world and conned financial establishment for millions, posed as an airline pilot, a Pediatrics doctor, and a Harvard graduate lawyer, and retired to live in peace all before his 20th birthday!

Of course the book is way way better than the movie. Not because the adaptation was bad, but because there are so many details that cannot be fully incorporated on the screen. You have to read them to understand them and with many of his cons I found myself laughing out loud even though I knew what he did was wrong. 32 years on and the book is still a very interesting read. I only wish there was more of the book after Frank ran away the first time after being extradited back to the USA, his jailing sentence, and how he ended up working for the FBI and all that.

The book is highly recommended. If you loved the movie you would love the book and its quite a quick and entertaining read. Its available on Amazon (link).

Saturday’s Dinner Party…

My dear friend FourMe is in Kuwait for a while so I’ve decided to throw a dinner party to celebrate her arrival. Since the guests on the invitation list are all girls I thought we would have more of a finger food party rather than heavy dishes esp. since it was dinner time. I also got to try my brand new PBF Mubkhar for the first time and I have to say I loved it

Drinks were easy: Water, Soft Drinks, and two juices I made myself: Raspberry Mojito and Green Apple with Mango. The latter was quite a hit.

Next the salads all made by me. Good old fattoush, A pasta salad (recipe), and a recent creation the popcorn salad which turned out to be quite a hit with my guests (recipe).

Next were the finger food from various different restaurants. This stand with its little yummy concoctions I ordered from Luscious Catering.

Those little fatayer balls are so much fun to eat! Bite, squeeze in the attached dressing, and take another bite!

Also from luscious those mini assorted sandwich doghnuts on a stick. -the tray is mine though-. Very delicious and fun!

Also from luscious these mini mushroom lasagna bites which were very delicious and very popular with my guests!

More finger food available: tiny bite sized stuffed vine leaves from Empress, tiny chicken and meat shawerma wraps brought over by dear Shaima, and of course the tiny coin sized cesars pizza I’m so fond of.

Also a tray of tiny Kubbah, plain and filled with labneh and pomegranate seeds.

The twins also brought over a very nice, tangy tray of vine leaves with molasses (waraq 3enab bel debs) from a local business called 3athab “Torment”. I’ve never tried them before but they were good indeed!

We had a great time digging into the food and to my sheer excitement some of the food items -and salads- were almost wipes clean! Then when we could take no more, we moved on to desserts with tea and coffee. Now, the Arabian coffee was from Dallah Kuwait with their signature Ghraibah and it was a really big hit!

An assortment of colorful macaroons from Chocolate & Macaroons.

Mini Kanafa bites from Empress.

The girls didn’t come empty handed of course. FourMe made us her famous basboosa, Palomino brought over two boxes of my favorite strawberries dipped in chocolate from The Confectioner’s Shop which I adore, and Mai brought over a big gooey chocolate concotion from Hot Pot.

Last but not least, portion sized Berry trifles from Cake Story.

Its notable to say that the cake story trifles matched my brand new PBF cake stand that I’m using for the first time.

The cake stand looks like a suspended dantelle throw in the air where you place the dessert and it hides underneath the plates and utensils needed to eat the desserts. Practical & gorgeous at the same time

 

It was a great dinner party with good food, good friends, and lots of laughter. Insha2 Allah we gather again girls soon

Picture of the Week: Street Signs Magnets

Whenever I’m abroad specifically in London I try to purchase a few magnets bearing the signs of my favorite streets. I hang them everywhere, my fridge, my work cubicle cupboards, my home office. What I enjoy most is the little reality break they provide for me. I’d be immersed in my work and suddenly I’d lift my eyes and I’d see the street sign magnet and right there and then I’m transferred there in an instant.

Today it happened, I was working at home and suddenly I saw the Carnaby street sign. I was momentarily back in the hustling and bustling street, just stepped out from Liberty to be hit with a croissant smell from Pret on my right, the sound of the guitar playing on my left from the street performers, and the lights dancing in the distance from all the decoration while people are milling below and all along the street. I so wish to be there right now.

So I grabbed my camera and took a shot of this street sign, capturing the essence of my wish. Whenever I look at it I remember my day dream and wish for an escape. I can’t wait to be back there.

If you, at this moment, can be wherever you want to be in the world. Where would you be?

Recipe: The Popcorn Salad

I had a dinner party yesterday and I’ve decided to make the salads myself. I was leafing through my cookbooks when I saw a recipe for a salad with popcorn as an ingredient. At first I was really? Then I thought why not? The salad recipe I found had plain popcorn and radishes with veggies and wasn’t that interesting so I decided to make my own version of a popcorn salad. After all, popcorn have officially become a craze in Kuwait these days so why not?

Danderma’s Popcorn Salad Contains: Caramel & Nut Popcorn, Goats Cheese, Vinaigrette, and Balsamic Glaze! It may not look like much but in reality it looks so much better and tastes really, really good! What will you need?

Ingredients:

A handful -or a cup- of Rocket Leaves.
2 handfuls -2 cups?- of mixed lettuce leaves, the ones with different shapes, shredded.
A handful -1 cup-  of normal everyday lettuce, shredded.
2 small packets of goat cheese.
1-2 Cups Caramel and nuts popcorn from any brand you like.
Vinaigrette dressing, you can Google it or buy it.
Balsamic glaze available in TSC.

How to? Very easy:

Shred and place all the lettuce leaves and the rocket in your bowl.
Slice the cheese and between your palms turn them into balls.
Make -or use a ready made- Vinaigrette dressing and toss the salad leaves with it along with a little salt or pepper.
Add both the cheese and popcorn and give it another careful toss so the cheese doesn’t break.
Drizzle the balsamic glaze all over the top and you are done!

 

Easy, mo? Its very quick, really easy, looks really good in reality, different, lip smacking tasty, on right on the trend! The popcorn will not get soggy since its all covered up in caramelized sugar and it gives a good crunchy texture to the salad. I looked all over Kuwait for some cherry tomatoes to add to my salad but everywhere I go they say it out of stock for some reasons so if you happen to find any you can use it or even better add very think Julian slices of red bell peppers.

What do you think? Will you eat -or make- this salad? If you do please do share with me

Movie Review: Brave

When my husband dragged me to the cinema to watch Brave I had pursed my lips and decided that I would be having a bad time. But I had to compromise because I do drag him to movies he doesn’t want to see as well and those 90 minutes watching another animation that I won’t like is a small price for his compromises. I didn’t see the trailer before hand, I have a new rule of ignoring trailers since they became too long and shows the best bits of the movie, so I just sat there, waiting for it to be over.

To my surprise, and sheer delight, this animation turned out to be spectacular! Its about time some movie was made where a female is the lead hero and there is no man for her to be his romantic interest. Its all about this Scottish princess with loads of wild red curls who loves her freedom too much but, alas, she had to marry someone because its what her mother, and her society, expects her to be. Therefore, she has to find a way to get around this dilemma and in her quest to do so, things go very very wrong.

I loved every moment of the movie, the Scottish accent, the way Merida’s big hair was all over the place, something only a curly head would identify with, her strong will, her determination and stubbornness. One more reason to love the movie is because Merida is, well, very much like myself -aside from the bravery thing, I couldn’t kill a bee if it flew in my direction-.

Its been a long time since Disney & Pixar came up with a sensational animation. Merida is right there with my favorite legendary rebellious women: Princess Ariel “Littler Mermaid” and Mulan. Can’t wait for it to come out on DVD. If you for some reason didn’t see it yet, what are you waiting for?

Book Review: Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes

Searching through the shelves at Waterstones I saw this book by Marian Keyes. I’ve read for Marian Keyes once before very recently, a book by the name “The Brightest Star in the Sky” and I set about buying more of her work. Luckily, I didn’t only find a novel, I found a collection of articles previously published and unpublished all about the writer’s life.

The woman is hilarious! I love her sense of humor and her wit. Her honesty in dealing with alcoholism, growing up, and weight loss. I could totally identify with some of her stories, especially the one about becoming the husband’s finder of things, I actually sat my husband down and read him that part while shooting him daggers with my looks because apparently men are the same all over the planet. Plus, it seems we are not the only nation suffering in trying to celebrate Mother’s Day, not everyone is happy about it it seems :p

I loved the book. I laughed out loud and kept laughing out loud while supposedly trying to sleep, jerking the poor husband awake from his slumber!

The book is a great read and I am more than glad to purchase the second book of its kind, “Further Under the Duvet”. I’m only sorry it took me so long to realize its out there. Highly recommended. You can buy the book from here (link).

Movie Review: The Watch

I’m not sure if the movie was shown in Kuwait or not but I know if it ever does, it will be cut up like a shawerma sandwich. The latest Ben Stiller movie “The Watch” is about a group of men (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade) who live in a neighborhood and decided to form a neighborhood watch to catch the killer of a security guard in Costco where Ben Stiller works as a manager.

There are funny moments in this movie, and lots of “scenes” as well. Jonah Hill keeps getting thinner apparently and the killer they are trying to catch is, actually, a group of aliens of outer-space sent to take over the earth. Its the kind of movie with that draws a few laughs from you with an edge of lameness but you laugh and munch on your popcorn knowing very well that once its over, you will not be watching it again nor purchasing it on DVD. I still think Meet the Parents was Ben Stiller’s best movie and The Watch doesn’t come even close but if you are a fan of Ben Stiller or any of the other co-stars you might want to watch it and maybe  you’ll like it more than I did.

A Delicious Elba from Bent Eldeera

My dear friend and fellow blogger Bent Eldeera contacted me the night I was due to fly out of Kuwait for my vacation letting me know that she had made me one of my favorite dessert dishes, the Elba. An Elba is like a Kuwaiti version of Crème Caramel yet infused with plenty of Cardamom and Saffron. Sadly I didn’t have enough time so she promised she will make me another one when I came back home.

True to her word, the day I came back she informed me that an Elba is coming my way and yesterday a knock came on my door right around tea time.

And there was a card too! I love cards

And there is was, a big byrex filled with the beautiful Elba. The exact same byrex my late grandmother used to bake her memorable Elba in.

The moment you take off the lid you are hit with the aroma of cardamom and saffron! There were plenty of both spices in the Elba as you can see and it has to be that way otherwise the smell of the eggs would overtake the taste, or in Kuwaiti we would say it would be zafra.

So I made my self a cup of Turkish coffee and brought my spoon over to my golden Elba.

How was it? Gooooooood! It had the right amount of sugar in it so it was more on the sweet side just the way I like it. Creamy, with the lovely flavors of saffron and cardamom clearly visible in every bite and most importantly no egg taste or zfarra at all!

Thank you my dear Bent Eldeera, this is not the first time you spoil me with a delicious dessert (post). You cannot imagine how happy you made me and how much you reminded me of Edida Allah yer7amha.

If you want to make an Elba at home you can check Bent Eldeera’s recipe on her blog (link). You can also order it from many different Kuwaiti home businesses given that its become a resurrected habba dessert from the past which I do not mind at all, the more the merrier indeed. I’d personally recommend Dallah’s Elba which I have reviewed before (post).

Picture of the Weeks: Foreign Coins

What do you do with your foreign coins from your travels? I do have a box for them but I feel that there could be more to them than just putting them away in some box. I usually try to spend them in the airport or exchange them for cash in countries with coin to cash machines but I still always end up with tons of coins.

What do you do with your foreign coins?