SOME contrast

Posted By Yousef

I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by the awfully talented Khaled Hosseini. I should first say that the writer didn’t drift away from what made him famous; his first novel. The story is set in Kabul, afghanistan and it sees much of what we already have read in The Kite Runner, and it adds some more.

I enjoyed the novel, I enjoyed the plot, the characters, the war-zone atmosphere and above all I very much enjoyed and marveled at the way he writes. Its a story of a young harami (bastard), her name is Maryam, who lives with her mother in a hut away from her father, who came to visit once a week. She awaits his arrival every week with patience, every single week, and loves him dearly and relentlessly, inspite of her mother’s constant bashing and warning that one day he won’t come to her anymore and will forget about her exactly like how he forgot to publicly own his mistake and let her, Maryam, live legitimately with her other sisters from his other wives.

The writer then starts another story with another girl who lives down the street from Maryam, her name is Layla, who is in love with Tariq. Fate plays the cruelest games with these 2 girls. They learn much about life and how, at times, it means nothing and everything at the same time. You learn much about how life was not so nice to Afghan girls during the 70’s, 80’s and ofcourse their worst days in the 90’s during the Talibans stage.

I recommend this very well written novel to everyone. Its like what you’re probably going read if you ever (not possible) read one of Amir’s* novels.

* Amir is the boy in Hosseini’s first novel.

Posted By Yousef

We went to an italian restaurant the other day, it was recommended by Hamad’s boss. When we first saw the street it’s located in and the neighborhood we had our little doubts. We know that restaurants in europe and especially in switzerland aren’t flashy and the best restaurants always look kinda cheap, but still, the place looked weird for some reason, maybe being behind the train station and all.. I don’t know. We wanted to sit outside but the waiter told us that we only have this cramped table to sit at coz the other section is not being served for the night. We didn’t sit outside and went in. The restaurant is small and not so cozy, there was a football game being played on TV and italian waiters arguing loudly. My brother couldn’t have been any happier, being an AC Milan fan and all, he couldn’t have wished for a more italian restaurant to be in.

We sat and the Pizza oven was right next to us, the smell was killing us, it smelled so good inside! we skimmed through the menu. We knew we’re going to order pizzas for starters, it was only a matter of quantity and we all ordered the same maindish (by accident, I’d like to believe), a home made tagliatelle with creme and mushrooms.

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Posted By Mishary.

Today we decided to have our lunch at Al-mayas restaurant. I went there with my wife, 9K2HN and Labeba. This time we decided to take my family there.

So we went ahead and ordered our appetizers (mazaat). We ordered 3arayes (basically its a round bread, cut in quarters with meat mixed in with some spices)

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Posted By Yousef

This place is relatively new to the scene, I think its been only 2 years since its opening. I go there every time I need a haircut coz my favorite barber works there, he used to work somewhere else and when he told me he’s changing his work place I went along with him to this new place.

They offer massages, facials, manicure & pedicure and a lot of other things. I haven’t tried their massages yet, But I intend to have one.

The place is very well designed and have nicely set rooms for the facials and massages, I’ve taken a look inside and it looks great! soothing music, dimmed lights.. the whole nine yards.

I think this is the first place to have a real menu to select your kind of hair cut and shave and view their other services

It costs 6 kd for a hair cut and 3 kd for a beard shave. I know its cost more than the regular barbershops but hey I go there once a month, so its okay.

Its located in Adaylia, near Kabab-ji restaurant. Tel. 2542807

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Posted By Yousef

When I was looking for a gift for my nephew I really had to go everywhere! There is nothing much you can buy for 1 year old boy if you don’t want to buy him clothes.

I tried many places, I went to Khalid bin ilwaleed street, I remember I enjoyed going there when I was young, but I found nothing! I also went to Waleed (ma7al waleed) shop and I think that shop needs some serious revamp.

I went everywhere, including this Fantasy world shop but couldn’t really find a toy that made me go “THIS IS THE TOY!” they all looked ehh and so so.

One thing caught my eye and stayed with me was this little train, and although it is not made for a one year old to play with it alone, but atleast He could enjoy it with a parent’s help until he’s a bit older.

If you’re looking for toys, I think this place is one of the best in Kuwait. They have many things for different age groups. There are even things fro grownups, like the pool and board games. auto freaks may also enjoy Fantasy World’s collection of miniature cars. I personally liked how they had some thing for everyone. Ofcourse you’re always better off buying online, but if you’re buying a heavy gift, like the one i bought, then you wouldn’t want to pay the gift’s worth on shipping.

The one I went to, which I think is the biggest branch, is located in Shuwaikh, on Alghazali street, across the street from Electrozan and near the fourth ring road. They have other branches in Soug Sharg & AlBustan Mall.

This whole thing made me realize how fortunate we were to grow up in a time when we could always find the prefect toy in Kids ‘r’ Us in Salmiya. *1..2..3.. group sigh*

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Posted By Mishary.

Yesterday after ANM’s birthday we went to the Avenues and wanted to taste Häagen-Dazs Fondue, so we went there and placed an order. BTW its in the Avenues phase II.

Its says that it serves 4 persons in the menu, but actually it serves only 2 (Kuwaiti person) you know what i mean by Kuwaiti .. ya3ni etha 7ag 4 beseer bas e7alfoon 3alaih

It comes with 2 large plates

First plate contains:

• Strawberry.
• Kiwi.
• Banana.
• Brownie.
• Cookies.

Second Plate contains:

4 choices of their ice cream flavor.

The ice cream melt so quickly if you dip it in the chocolate sauce, so beware. I think it deserves 2/5 due to the cheap tasting chocolate sauce.

FYI: they are accepting cash only at the moment.

Posted By Yousef

The elections period is finally over and I just want to say Congrats to those who lost and hard luck for those who won in this parliamentary election, and With that being said, and everything going back to normal (hopefully) in Kuwait, what is there to talk or write about other than a good old restaurant review

Shabestan In Crown Plaza hotel is the restaurant for me whenever I’m in a mood for a nice iranian meal.

The restaurant is never too busy and you can always go there without prior reservation. The atmosphere is very warm, real and authentic (if you can overlook the multinational staff), I like that the place has many little seating areas, giving it a cozy feel. One of the things that first caught my attention was their attention to details in everything from the furniture, the paintings on the wall, the carpets.. down to their chinaware.

The food. Now the food obviously is whats keeping me loyal and coming back this restaurant. Surprisingly I’m not a big fan of traditional iranian food. Kebabs, Humus and iranian bread are not among the things I like to eat when I’m in a restaurant, But I go there for their Halim Bathenjan (a puree of aubergine, lamb, fried onion strips and traditional kashk) for starters & my favorite Baghalah Polo-Ba-Mahicheh (leg of lamb cooked in its own juices over a slow fire for hours and seasoned with spices and broad beans with my choice of rice) for the main course. The only thing I wish they’d work on is there stews. I love me some Ghormeh Sabzi, but theirs are not really special. Other than that, there food is to die for.

The staff is friendly and very efficient. when you first sit there, they offer complimentary Iranian greens with salty white cheese and freshly baked iranian bread (baked infront of you).

The restaurant, in my opinion, is one of the most consistent restaurants I’ve been to, which is a great quality in a restaurant if you ask me. I never go there more than once a month, and when I’m there, I expect a perfect meal, and they never fail to meet my expectations.

They get a 4.5 out of 5 from me.

Kuwait Branch’s Link & Dubai’s Link

Posted By Mishary.

Yes, it arrived yesterday with the wheel too! what can i say?! Hmmm.. I have been a fan of Mario Kart ever since it first came out. Before this game came out, the best one, hands down was Mario Kart 64. This game takes the Game Cube version, improves it, and adds all of the elements that made the game famous in the first place.

The wheel is a great toss in, and is fun to play with, and the response is much more accurate than expected. Even better is that you can go online and play different people from around the world in versus mode or battle mode. This is so much fun when you don’t have someone you can play with at home… all you have to do is go online and you can play whoever you want. If you have a friend that has a Wii you can add their friend code and race each other too.

My Score:
Graphics - 4.5
Audio - 5
Replay - 5
Fun - 5
Controls - 5

Overall 5/5 (its a must for a wii owner!)

Posted By Yousef

I went yesterday to the Mayadeen shooting range with my friend. It was my first time in Kuwait, I went once in Dubai and I loved it over there. In Dubai I used shotguns which made quite an impression on me.. and my shoulder.

This time it was time for a Handgun! I was very curious as to how it would feel in my hand. At first It felt awkward and got really nervous while loading the the bullets into the magazine then it got weird after hearing the sound my friend was making while he was firing away. It was loud.

I guess I’m a natural

The place was very professional. From the moment we stepped in and until we left, all the people working there were very friendly and welcoming. There is a guy there who helps you and teach you all what you need to know before you touch the gun. He stays behind you and watches you and gives you advices. The shooting ranges were empty when we first came in, some people, guys and girls, started coming shortly after but it was still considered empty imo. There was lots of other shooting ranges. even a virtual range! where you hold a play gun and point it to a big screen.

We shot 20 shots each, and paid 12 KD, thats 6KD a nafar.

Their manager was so nice! He saw me taking pictures of the place so he came over and invited me to his office to show me all those old guns, some of them were used in the 1st world war and other were used in Aljahra war in Kuwait in 1920! He was also nice enough to let me use his personal M16! that one was out of this world! for a second there I felt like a SWAT member lol! Seriously the manager was very nice. Thanks manager!

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Posted By Yousef

I went to the avenues mall the other day to buy a laptop bag & take some pictures of the flowers they had set up there. I took my camera with me and ended up taking zero pictures. It was way too crowded for a weekday’s morning! I felt too embarrassed to be taking photos while everybody’s watching! so the camera stayed in its bag and was only taken out for the pics in this post. BTW I just want to applaud the guy who was clicking away near starbucks.. everybody was staring, including me , as he sat there in the middle taking thousands of pictures. Can’t say I wasn’t envying him.

Anyways I’m digressing. This shop I’m posting about, Carbon Fiber, is in the Avenues (Duh) above Baroue and opposite Guess Kids. It has a branch in Kuwait Airport (Airport Mall). I loved that they had 2 of the best bag brands, JanSport and Eastpack. I also liked the big collection of backpacks and messenger bags.

They’re also selling clothes, but they’re way over priced.

The staff are really friendly and will help you go through everything. I know I did. I spent over 20 minutes going through the bags and trying them out (yes I brought my laptop with me). The Filipino guy who works there was very helpful and was trying out the bags himself. He was quite happy to be working there.. Actually, He was a bit too happy. I finally bought a JanSport laptop bag for my laptop. it comes with a 30 year warranty