Danderma's Blog, page 80

The Fragrance Kitchen’s First Photography Competition

The Fragrance Kitchen is holding its first photography competition starting from 1 September 2012. If you think you have what it takes and want to participate then you should go for it. For more details you can click on the picture above to enlarge it or visit The Fragrance Kitchen’s website (link).

London Summer 2012

That’s why the blog was neglected, I was in my favorite city in the world for two weeks. I thought I’d share some of my favorite summer 2012 London trip pictures during which the olypmics, Ramadan, and Eid occured. Very busy summer indeed!

Watching movies the way they are meant to be.

Last futoor.

Cute Bombo car :p

Emba3?

Pret

Olympics…

Wait a second, do you see what’s there, above the bus?Kuwait’s flag among all the flags of the countries who participated in the olympics. I was SO proud

Covent Garden street performers.

Carnaby streer 

 Yes? Can I help you?

Of course, my eternal love, the 99 flake

Rain rain rain

And before you know it, its all over: Ramadan, Eid, Summer, Vacation. It was time to say good bye

I miss Ramadan and London already. I hope you all have had a blast during your vacation. Kil 3am wentaw bkhair o 9e77a o salama insha2 Allah

IKEA Catalouge’s Funny Mubkhar Mistake

As I was browsing IKEA 2013 long awaited and much beloved catalouge that was distributed a while ago, I noticed a funny blunder on page 152 which is supposed to be a picture of a living room with middle eastern design touches.

You see on the top left corner of the page there is a mubkhar which is an incense burning device we use in the gulf. The funny thing is that they used it as decoration but for some reason placed it upside down and balanced it on its sharp edges.

Looking at the familiar object in IKEA’s catalouge cracked me up. If only they placed it the right way upwards! I don’t think the designers of the catalouge -which is done abroad by the way and not in Kuwait- knew what the mubkhar is. Maybe they thought its just a decorative vase or something. I wonder if they made similar errors in other catalouges but it was really funny. Mubkhar style 2013 :p

Book Review: The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson

Mere minutes ago I set down my iPad, sighed, then turned on my laptop to write this review with my head still buzzing with Dorothy Koomson‘s latest novel.

I love Dorothy’s books. She is one of my favorite authors if not the favorite. I love her jumbled up story line where points in the story go back and forth in time. I love her realistic scenarios and even more realistic endings. No sappy endings in Dorothy’s books. The last book I read was in February 2011 and I stumbled upon it by mistake in Dubai (post). Afterwards I vowed to keep track on when the next novel was due and here newest one, The Rose Petal Beach, was out on 29th August 2012.

Sadly I was flying out of the UK on the night of 29 August so I couldn’t get a physical copy and we all know how hard it is to get books on time here in Kuwait. I really, really, really wanted to read the book ASAP so I had sadly resolved to checking out the iBook library while tossing and turning in bed on my first night back and lo and behold, I found it there! I downloaded it immediately, tucked the edges of my duvet tightly around me, and read and read until the battery of the bloody iPad died on me. That was Thursday night.

I’ve just finished it -I’m writing this book at 1 am on 2 Sep by the way- and I have to say it didn’t disappoint at all. I loved the story, I loved the different characters and how the story moves and gets narrated from their point of view.There was never a boring moment and at one point in the book I had lifted my head up, sighed in happiness, and went back to reading the book. I didn’t get out much either because its the kind of story that keeps you wanting more. I also had a tug of hate-love war with some of the characters but I don’t want to say too much so this doesn’t turn into a spoiler post.

Now that its, very sadly, finished, I have to say I’ve enjoyed it a lot. If you’ve ever known someone your entire life and then just had them stab you in the back. If you’ve ever fallen out with someone and thought to yourself was it all real before it went down hill. If you thought that people didn’t change, either to grow old or grow up or sometime grow more childish, then this is the book that’s going to set your perspective straight. Nothing is certain in life and you can never know if the next knock on your door will mean the end of your life as you know it, therefore, make the most of what you have right now and be grateful for it.

Also, there is a reason why the book is so special to me. You see, I’ve discovered that the author Dorothy has a twitter account (god bless social media!) and I’ve sent a tweet to her about missing the publishing date of the book. Guess what? She replied!!!

Yes I screamed a bit when I woke up and read the tweet. I’m so happy! Imagine if I did indeed get an early copy? I’d be over the moon! That was so sweet of Dorothy. I hope that one day I’d get to be as successful and amazing as a writer as she is

If you are interested, and frankly you should, here are the first two chapters if you are interested (link). You can also buy it on Amazon (link). Plus, here is a summary from the back cover of the book:

“Every love story has a dangerous twist. Tamia Brenett is horrified when her husband, Scott, is accused of something terrible – but when she discovers who his accuser is, everything goes into freefall. Backed into a corner and unsure what to think, Tamia is forced to choose who she instinctively believes. But Tamia’s choice has dire consequences for all concerned especially when matters take a tragic turn. Then a stranger arrives in town to sprinkle rose petals in the sea in memory of her lost loved one. This stranger carries with her shocking truths that will change the lives of everyone she meets, and will once again force Tamia to make some devastating choices…” 

Sneak Preview: To The Arctic 3D IMAX Movie

We were invited last week to attend a sneak preview of the newest IMAX 3D movie in The Scientific Center, To The Arctic.

I arrived late and the movie had already started but I grabbed my 3D glasses and sat, mesmerized, at the beauty of the North Pole and the white polar bears living there. How the mother bear would protect her children and how global warming is making life harder on these poor animals.

The little bears are so cute! I got out of the movie wanting a bear of my very own! The movie was interesting indeed and very educational. When it was over the guests gathered around in the Scientific Center lobby for some Ramadany refreshments.

and guess who the star of the night was? He was surrounded by almost every guest, the well known Kuwaiti astronomer Mr. Saleh Al-Ojairi! Thanks Q8 Path for taking this shot for me.

Before we left, Mr. Nawaf Al-Rudaini the PR manager of The Scientific Center asked me to wait, then he presented me with a special gift from The Scientific Center.

What’s inside? A Plasma Light from the Scientific Center gift shop!!! If you follow my blog you would remember that a while back I wrote about Plasma lights and how I wish mine was still there so I could try and take pictures of it (post). Now, thanks to Mr. Nawaf and The Scientific  Center my wish is fulfilled. I’m going to dedicate an entire post to is! Thank you Mr. Nawaf, you truly made my day!

It was a great movie night indeed. The”To the Arctic” will be available in The Scientific Center starting from the first day of Eid so if you want to take your kids somewhere both special and education why not to The Scientific Center? You can book the tickets online by going to The Scientific Center website (link) or for more information you can call 1 848 888.

Diet Care’s Healthy Cooking Cookbook

A few days ago I received a big fat new cookbook from Diet Care. Being from Diet Care meant it wasn’t any ordinary cookbook, it was a “Healthy Cooking” cookbooks with recipes that would satisfy your appetite without adding to your waistline.

There are a lot of recipes and all are by Mariam Al-Othman. The steps are easy and the pictures are tantalizing. For example this light pizza dough that would work on a variety of dishes and recipes.

Many comfort foods are available too, like potato salad for example.

Plus drinks and hot beverages.

The book came with a customized bookmark in my blog’s name, a gesture I truly appreciated.

Thank you Diet Care for the book and customized book mark, it did indeed make my day. The book comes in both English and Arabic and is available in all Diet Care’s outlets in different co-ops plus in Diet Care offices in Sharq and Bairaq Mall. For more information you can contact Diet Care by calling 1806 050, visiting their website (link), liking their facebook page (link), following them on Twitter (@TheDietCare) or on instagram (@TheDietCare).

Habba Alert: Retro Casio Watch

A weird habba has been hanging on Kuwaiti girls wrists for a while now, something that reminds me of the 80s, a retro golden Casio digital watch. Back in 2010 I saw retro Timex watches in Selfridges and wrote a post about would you wear one of these (post) I guess now it has indeed become a trend but with Casio.

I think back in the 80s some male in the family had a silver watch but its fuzzy. I remember young boys in the mid 90s going crazy over some Casio watch with buttons that made phone calls or something and the girls going crazy for Casio Baby G’s. The only Casio I’ve ever went gaga over was the Casio Magic Diary back in 1992 or 1993 (post).

I surely don’t understand this habba even though it reminded me of the golden Swatch watch habba back in the mid 2000s. I don’t really like the watch much even though it has a retro look, its just not something I’d pick up and wear. I’m also not a habba girl so I wouldn’t buy something I don’t love just because everyone is doing it, whether Kuwaitis or fashionistas around the globe. I don’t think I will follow that habba anytime soon.

What about you? What do you think? Do you understand the appeal on this watch besides the fact that its habba? Would you wear it? If you want to, here is a link to where you can purchase it online just in case all Casio sellers in Kuwait had already run out of it. It costs around 9 KD (link).

Chef Adoola’s Special Ramadan Cookbook is Out

I received an invitation to attend Chef Adoola’s Ramadan book signing last Friday in souq sharq. I couldn’t make it because I had plans that evening but I really really wanted to get a copy of the cookbook given my slight obsession with books in general and fondness of cookbooks in particular. 

I’ve been over to many Co-Op stationary stores plus TSC Salwa trying to locate the book and failing. I finally found it in TSC Souq Sharq last Tuesday afternoon.

The book comes in white with light gray writing and the design is beautiful. I love everything about it sleek modern look and the pictures are mouthwatering indeed. What about the content?

The content is all about Kuwaiti traditional dishes made easy. For example the recipe for stuffed vine leaves which I’ve been searching high and low for was there. Or for lqaymat which I plan to master one day. Its written in both Arabic & English so its a good gift for foreginers interested in the Kuwaiti cuisine.

Of course there are many recipes in a wide range of options in the book. My husband was standing over my head flipping the book and pointing every other page to a recipe and saying “See… I want this” and “I want that”. He loved it too and that’s saying something since he doesn’t really like much of my cookbooks.

For more information regarding chef Adoola’s Ramdan Special Edition Cookbook and  where to find it you can click this (link). I wish you the best of luck Chef Adoola, the book is a real treat to have in my library.

Breadtalk New Packaged Baked Goods

The other day during Tea after futoor time I received a bag from BreadTalk containing a selection of their new line of pre-packaged bakery treats be ready sold in Co-Ops.

I have to say there were plenty of packages to try! My poor tea cup was swamped.

There were three types of pound cakes: vanilla, chocolate, and marble. I love pound cakes, they remind me of my childhood when my father would wake up for tea time and cut us different slices of pound cake to go with our tea just as the TV schedule would start showing us our daily 20 minute episode of cartoon. That’s all what we had back then.

Next came the Vienna biscuits in Vanilla and chocolate.

The vanilla biscuits come with a coating of sesame seeds and tasted like Qers Ogaili biscuits and were my husband’s favorites.

Next came the muffins, there were three kinds: Vanilla, Chocolate, and Marble.

 

The muffins were my favorite and were really really good! Moist and tasty.

Really good!

The good thing is that every packaged baked treat came with a break down of nutritional information. Something I really appreciate and wish everyone would do.

Thank you very much BreadTalk for sending your baked treats my way. BreadTalk’s baked goods are available in Co-Ops near you. For more information regarding BreadTalk you can give them a call on 25714140, follow them on Twitter (@BreadTalk_KW) or instagram (@BreadTalk).

Making Cheese Stuffed Qatayef

The easiest thing to do as a Ramadan dessert is stuffed Qatayef. Every other co-op has a station producing the pancake like round qatayef dough and all you have to do is pick them up, take them home, stuff them then cook them.

This Ramadan I’ve been craving gatayef but the one place I ordered from had them stuffed with horrible cheese. I wondered how it would taste if its stuffed with Alban Dairy’s amazing Akawi cheese so I bought myself a box and planned to purchase the qatayef dough after I unsalted the cheese by drenching it in water for two days.

After the salt had left the cheese I bought 1/4 kilo of fresh bubbling hot qatayef dough from our co-op and brought them back home. I chopped the cheese and placed one tea spoonful of cheese on top of one qatayef dough round sheet.

Traditionally the qatayef dough would be folded to look like a half moon and the edges glued together by water but I didn’t do that. I saw another way of making it in a cookbook by Abeer Al-Rashid where she placed another sheet of qatayef dough on top of the one with the cheese.

Then using a cookie cutter you cut through both sheets which would seal them up nicely resulting in a round shaped qateefa. I didn’t have a cookie cutter so I used a glass to cut into the qatayef.

A cookie cutter would result in a cleaner edged qatayef but this was fine. I didn’t throw the edges, I cut them up and tossed them with cinnamon and icing sugar and baked them into cinnamon twirls, they were good.

1 entire box of Alban Dairy’s akawi cheese would need one kilo of qatayef dough to stuff. I stored the qatayef in the freezer inside a Tupperware box and whenever I craved any I’d just make some.

Later on that day during futoor I baked three qatayef to have with the tea. Traditionally qatayef are deep fried but I don’t deep fry anything in my kitchen so they were simply baked until golden brown.

Then I drenched the baked qatayef with my own homemade sugar syrup infused with saffron. Hmmmm.

Et Voila! They were ready to be devoured. Totally effort less and didn’t make much time or effort to prepare at all! They tasted amazing by the way, alban dairy’s cheese gave it a very nice posh upgrade, taste wise.

Mmm I’m craving some right now! So easy to make and even easier to eat. Have you seen anything easier? Just like making a toast and cheese sandwich!