Danderma's Blog, page 92

Picture of the Week: G63!

The other day I saw this taxi parked in Kuwait city with a hugest amount of bird droppings I’ve ever seen! Now who in his right mind would allow this to happen to his own car? How long have that car been standing there exactly? Shouldn’t there be a rule against these ugly dirty sights? Like a fine for littering the street with a dirty car with this amount of dirt? I think there should be! Wallah fashla!

Boot’s No 7 Beautiful Skin Products Range

Last week Boots Kuwait had sent me over a couple of their No. 7 skin products to try last week.

No. 7 is Boot’s own exclusive brands sold in its branches around the world. I am not sure if the entire No. 7 products range is available in Kuwait or not though. I’ve been given a catalouge of their product range.

What I received was the hypo allergen day cream. I have dry skin that is very sensitive and prone to flare ups especially when I use moisturizers or makeup on it so I’m glad this one takes into consideration skin allergies and what’s not.

Also I received the dry skin rescue to soothe and hydrate the dry skin patches. Which is exactly what happens to my face. I find one oily patch and another dry patch! Qa99 o lazg walla! Perfect.

I’ve never tried any of No. 7 products before but I am a sucker for skin care products so I will happy to try them and see how they feel. I just wish more Boots products from the UK were available in Kuwait: the gift sets, the quirky different items and new gadgets, the self service photo developing booths, the food range, the hair care range, etc.

Thank you Boots and Ms. Rawan Farahat for sending me this gift, much obliged

Once Upon a Time Book Reading Summer Camp

As I child the highlight of my week was Wednesday afternoon. Not only because it was the weekend, but also because it meant my father would come back home with several weekly magazines for me and my siblings to read: Majed, Sa3ad, Mickey, Sameer, Mickey Jeeb (monthly), Al3arabi el9a’3eer. Every single week, I’d grab them all and spend an hour reading through them all. Every single week, my father brought them to me on the dot. Sometimes he’d throw in a Tin Tin comic or another story he’d find and I’d be ecstatic. I’ve loved books every since I could read.

I wish we had something like a book club back then in the 80′s. I’d spend my entire summer sprawled on the floor of the library reading. You cannot force a person to like reading, they either like it or not. But you can introduce the world of reading to them, let them navigate the alternative universes and lives it would have on offer, and see if they can click with it or not. Therefore, given the opportunities we have in this time and age, why not subscribe your child to the summer camp provided by Once Upon a Time library and give them the opportunity to discover what reading is all about?

My god, I’d have loved to spend my summers reading -and eating ice cream :p-. To be a kid in this day and time is a blessing. I want a book camp for grown ups too!!! Mako?

Anyway, if you are interested the Once Upon a Time summer camp starts from 17 June until 19 July 2012. There are two timings: day time from 9:00 – 12:30 and evening time from 4 PM to 7 PM.

For more information and location you can contact Once Upon a Time via phone 94045500 or email them on info@ouatq8.com or visit their website www.ouatq8.com or follow them on Twitter/Instagram @OnceUponATimeQ8

Naora, Summer 2012 limited Edition Coffee from Nespresso

Guess who got herself a new treat? Nespresso have a new limited edition coffee tablet for the summer and the name is Naora!

I got myself a the big promotional box with the three boxes inside.

Naora, the new summer limited edition flavor, is supposed to have hints of blueberry in its flavor. 

I’m actually a little jealous: why doesn’t anyone name anything after my name? Naora’s out there have their own tablet with a lovely purplish pink hue!

The color goes so well with my favorite dark chocolate and the golden tablets.

What about the flavor? Its OK. The hints of blueberry is very faint but the good thing it doesn’t taste fruity at all. I like it as an espresso but its not my favorite limited edition. My two top favorites are still the Caramel and the Dark Chocolate. Can’t wait to stock back on those. Naora however deserves a try especially if you know a noora who loves Nespresso, it would be the perfect gift

Project-X’s Day: The Bloggers Cooking Competition

Ya shamatat abla ’9a’9a feyya! We, team Pink Girl and I, lost in the bloggers cooking competition with flying colors! I believe we came last b3d :p

When we arrived at the Chef Boutique yesterday for the bloggers cooking competition, we felt a buzz of excitement in the air. Everyone was chatting and saying hello. The place was well stocked and rearranged, ready for the competition to start. Guess who joined us b3d?

Bo Throos (post)! The bloggers were very happy for his appearance to support them y7lelah, was a little tanned after a short trip to Dubai b3d. Sadly makan wayed wayh khair 3lena :p By 4:00 PM on the dot, it was time to head to our stations and wait for the start bell.

Lets see what mystery ingredient we’d be using in the first round…

Avocados! The guys on day one got mangoes, not those were yummy and you can do one million things with them: mango raspberry cheesecake, veggies and halloumi glazed in mangoes and grilled to perfection. Avocado? Not a fan really. The only dish I know that would go ok with it is guacamole, then so be it. Chop, dice, mix.

And this was the end result. A revolting looking semi nachos salad. 

Winner dish? Yeah right -insert sarcastic tone here-. Judge’s opinions? I frankly don’t know. We didn’t get feedback on that one but it is a classic salad dish I’d do to have lunch -with the right ingredients-. I wish there were tortillas, I’d done mini salad tortilla wraps instead.

Between rounds there was a break for prayers and lunch. Lunch boxes were provided from Lo Fat for everyone. Healthy and tasty.

Inside the lunch box: Chicken Byriani, yogurt, apple juice, and Chocolate shortcut cake.

At around 7:30 PM round two kicked off with the mystery ingredient. Here is my hands innocently unwrapping the ingredient, hoping for the best.

Right there and then I knew we were screwed. It was a box of bacon. Yes, indeed, bacon. Pink hates bacon, I’m a vegetarian who specifically stated that I won’t be cooking meat and I was assured they will keep that in mind. Yet here I am, staring at bacon. Hallelujah!

Oh why couldn’t it have been a burrata? They got blue cheese int he first day! I want cheese, cheese is my friend. I would have whipped up a fancy macaroni and cheese baked inside red bell peppers with the blue cheese. This 3ella shasawee feh?

Pinkgirl mixed it with some honey and chopped peanuts with a bit of Siracho from the judges tray -to earn us some points- plus some rosemary and thyme. Why? Well I thought we’d do some coating. Don’t they do that on TV? They crust the meat with things? maybe it needed some eggs? god knows.

Then came the joker ingredient: Nuttella! I don’t like it, nor the bacon naturally. Thank god I didn’t go with a pasta option! Imagine creamy bacon pasta topped with Nuttella? Ybooy!

What did we do with it? We mixed 3/4 with the bacon mix which already has honey, and the remaining 1/4 we spread it inside a baguette. Mixed some other stuff, made a salad.

And the “dish” was done! What is it? Well, a sandwich of course with a side salad. Very complex mo?

What’s inside? Kil khair insha2 Allah. A white baugette spread with a thin layer of Nuttella. Stuffed with the Bacon Peanuts Siracho Nuttella and herbs mix, and topped with the tomato pickles cream cheese mix, some rocket leaves, and some tomato slices.

Taste? Are you kidding me? It has Nuttella and tomatoes and bacon. Ugh! The side salad however I thought was okish. Chopped herbs, diced tomatoes, rocket leaves, and a tiny little chilli pepper chopped with the herbs. Dressed with a lemon thyme peanut butter dressing and topped with chopped peanuts. You know the peanuts to go with the peanut crust of the bacon.  Bo Throos wasn’t happy though.

Can you tell from the reaction on the judges faces if they liked our dish or not? Why of course not! They said it was too spicy and the Nuttella spread on the bread didn’t work. 

While waiting for the judges to finish tasting the other dishes and make their verdict, we found that someone had brought over a box of Brown Diamond sweets so jabalnah o gazarnaha chai o gahwa. I loved those little chocolaty bites! Whomever brought them, thank you!

In the end we did get something, or should I say some things, for we didn’t leave back home empty handed.

The set of knives we’ve been using, Brown multi quick devide, the apron , a 20 KD voucher for Xcite website, a collection of pinapple scented fruttini shower and body creams set, and lazurd biscuits.

Though we lost, we had a great time because we laughed so hard! It was one of those nights where you laugh so hard your facial muscles start to ache. We are also very happy and proud of the winners who totally deserved it: El-Derwaza, Triple F & Urban Q8, and His & Hers. Congratulations guys! A big thank you goes to the guys behind project-x: Basma Al-Musallam, Ahmad Al-Hendi, Chefs Victor & Olga. Last but not least a big thank you goes to the brave judges who endured the disasters we called dishes: Fahad Al-Yahya, Basil Al-Salim, Jumana Al-Othman, Ziad Al-Obaid, and Chef Mongkon.

In conclusion my dear blog readers, I have learned yesterday that I am nothing but a big, obese failure who can’t do anything. The reality check moment is now recorded for the world to see, as soon as the videos are ready will post them so stay tuned.

Another Fire in Kuwait City…

About an hour ago I was in Kuwait city when I suddenly noticed some light pale grey smoke in the air.

As I got closer it looked like the smoke was getting heavier and was from a building that was under construction.

The smoke kept getting heavier and there was a distinct wood burning odor in the air. I wonder if they had put it down by now.

I truly wish no one is hurt in that fire. Allah ya7feth el Kuwait insha2 Allah.

Movie Review: The Flowers of War

It was the weekend and we had nothing better to do so we looked up the movie listings. a Christian Bale movie was on so we decided why not? Went to see it without much expectations especially given that its release date is December 2011!

To our surprise the movie theater was almost empty! Of course seated behind us was one noisy child in his mama’s lap but then that’s just our luck now right? Of all empty seats in the movie. The moment the movie started my husband groaned “Its in Chinese!” but its not. Its in English with some Chinese and Japanese subtitles, and the movie was very good!

Its the story about an American undertaker who makes his way to a church in a Chinese town, Nanking , to bury the priest who had just died. His visit however coincides with the occupation of the Japanese to that town in 1927. The war scenes are both brutal and disgusting but also quite touching. You see the tears flowing freely from your eyes at how low human beings can get.

As the undertaker finally makes his way to the church, he finds out that the girl students are there all alone and that no one can pay him his fees. He wants to leave, but finds that he cannot leave those girls behind so he was stuck with them. In q8y: ebtalash fehom 3adl. It becomes even more important to get the girls out of the church when the Japanese soldiers get a particular interest in those girls.

The movie is very honest, the human feelings very pure and at their rawest element. Its ironically funny and very touching. If you don’t mind a bit of Chinese with English translation -the movie is in English- you will love this one. We didn’t expect it to be that good. I have now added both the movie and the book its based upon to my Amazon shopping cart, yes that good!

Review: “Let’s Ninja” Popcorn from “Let’s Popcorn”

I finally had the chance to grab a jar of The “Let’s Ninja” popcorn from Let’s Popcorn created by and named after Fahad The Diet Ninja.

The Let’s Ninja popcorn is popcorn coated with caramel, peanut butter, Nutella, and finished off with a finely ground Digestive biscuit crumbs. Diet Ninja describes it as “The world’s first digestive biscuit popcorn“.

How was the popcorn? To me it tasted like I was eating balls of crunchy chocolate cheesecake. It is really good though you cannot eat more than a handful, it becomes too much -bel q8i yqeth-. But it is quite good indeed and the best thing about it is that you cannot taste the PB or the Nuttella -if you are not a fan of one or the other you needn’t worry-.

When the Let’s Ninja flavor made its debut in the madry mino Expo last month, it sold out on both days of the exhibition. That’s how popular it was -and still is-.

To order the “Let’s Ninja” or any of the other 30 flavors of popcorn Let’s Popcorn has to offer, you can call them up on 96677677 or you can order it online from Let’s Popcorn website www.LetsPopcorn.com and pay with K-Net. Their popcorn is air popped and oil free plus it pops Mushroom cap style and not butterfly style which I personally prefer.

Best of luck Let’s Popcorn and Diet Ninja, keep up the good work

Today is Project-X Cooking Competition’s Day!

The day has finally come! By the time this post is published, we’d be all in Chef Boutique and starting the second day of the blogger’s cooking competition. Project-X Day 2 is on roll!

Do you think me and my partner, Pink Girl, will win? Who knows, only time will tell

You will be able to see the videos of the competition rounds on our blogs very soon, so wish us luck and stay tuned

The Cutest Invitation to Pretty Little Thing’s Summer Festival!

I love it when I see local events coming up with the cutest most unique invitations! This time I received an invitation from Miss Noaf Hussein, the girl behind Pretty Little Things expo (post) and this invitation is quite different indeed, it was intriguing

It asked a simple question: What could be under the paper grass, Danderma? Why, I don’t know! Lets see now shall we?

First a bag of what seems to be like dried herbs but its in fact white tea with roses! I love both: white tea and rose infused tea! I don’t know if it was intentional or not but if it was then Noaf must be stalking me :p

And underneath the paper grass, there was a card! Lets see what it says…

With so many trips to the dentist :’( Quite true, I have another appointment on Monday and another in about ten days! But there is an indoors garden tea party! Ice watermelon bites? Now that’s what I call a party.

This thoughtfully personalized invitation is for the upcoming Pretty Little Things Summer Festival for the Saudi brand Sotra and the local store Dar Usha. Both brands will be launching their summer collections in Dar Jassim… Today!

According to the

When? Saturday-Sunday 9-10 June 2012. Time? 6 PM – 10 PM. Location? Dar Usha Store, Burj Jassim, Kuwait City.

For more information regarding the event you can check their facebook events page and even RSVP (link).

Noaf? Loved the invitation. Will be there insha2 Allah on Sunday