360 mall shuttle service.

Noticed something interesting last night while on for dinner at 360. The mall has started their shuttle service for people who may want to be transported if parked at a distance in the parking lot all the way to the mall. although it was tempting to try it we were rushing to feed our empty stomachs. 

I remember being in the ibn batuta mall in Dubai last year and noticing that they had an in mall shuttle service which simple takes people around through the 9 concept mall.

For those that havent been there, the mall is basically 9 different malls under one roof or was it 6 i forget .. anywho it conceptualises on the key locations that the great arab scholar Ibn batuta travelled to. Now for a mall of that size its only fair to have such a service given that it would be super helpful for people such as

- Handicapped folks
- seniors /elders
- mothers with babies and lots of things to carry
- The ocassional lazy folks who dont wannna walk the parking lot distance.

I wonder if avenues would start something similar when all 5 phases are complete.

Barney sunny Friday

Hope everyone has a brilliant friday with lots of sun,relaxation n chilltime.

noticed Barney in the parking lot this morning...wonder if he was upto the same.

cheerios all

XO

City Centre to open in Dajeej.

just realised after reading a post on 248am( pic taken from same blog) that city centre has decided to step in to the dajeej foray. now this is gonna be music to several folks living close by. on passing by their location which id bang at the bsck if commercial bank dajeej i noticed that the place is still being prepped. couple on inhouse restaurents to look for are peppes pizza, shaik olait,chesters.

anywho a lil birdy also tells me the likes of carrefour and lulu heading that way also. how does this all translate to me...more 6 th ring road circus feed. sigh!

Ramadan fitness camp by Aymstrong.

Here`s how you can ensure that those extra pounds dont take permanant residence on any strategic location of your body during ramadan.

Aymstrong is at their best again.check out their intensive special tailor made program for the month. So now you have a choice...be stationery or lap more than the potato couch...regardless of whether you are fasting or no!

When: 22 July to 16 Aug
Where: Australian college of Kuwait

For more on this, check their website aymstrong.com

Global Obesity : The ticking Bomb.

248am posted today an interesting article from the Business week on the obesity situation in the gulf and how it has been tagged as the Other Gulf War Syndrome.

Although much debate may be persistent on how the western culture may have plagued the dietary habits of the khaleejis ( aka GCC nationals) and residents, it somehow seems more logical to believe that it all trickles down to behavioral norms and habits.

An individual choosing to be sedentary can practically do it with any amount of temptation available to him regardless. Nevertheless, the availability of such temptations do bear some relevance in the argument.

Some of the findings highlighted in the article:

·         One out of three Kuwaiti adults is obese. 10% is morbidly obese.

·         Only 12% of Kuwaitis have a body-mass index (BMI) below 25. (The ideal range is 18.5 to 25.)

·         This means at least 88% of Kuwaitis, in other words, are considered overweight.

·         Kuwait is the second-most obese nation in the world, behind the U.S.

·         10 years ago, Al Sanea says, there were only two bariatric surgeons in Kuwait. Today, there are 20. By 2015, he predicts, there will be 40.

Some recent findings as stated in another article on a Global level are :

·         From 1980 to 2008, according to the World Health Organization, worldwide obesity rates almost doubled.

·         A recent studyin the Lancet medical journal concluded that in 2008, about 146 million adults globally were overweight and 502 million were obese.

·         Around half of the adult population in Brazil, Russia, and South Africa are overweight and about 8% of all African adults are obese.

·         United Nations suggeststhat, existing food supplies are so poorly distributed that hundreds of millions have too little for their own health, while 2 billion-plus have too much.

Weekly Reminder.

Its only June. There's half the year left..for change of the bigger, better and brighter.

Have a productive week all.

cheerios

XO

Bon Apetit.

The long weekend although was preconcieved to be a much need hiatus (Translation : time to experiment with new receipes and get on with some book reading, I hardly managed the time to break an egg or flip a page). Anyhow, not the one to complain, I did make the most of it to plan and ensure I manage to find some time to get some therapeutic bliss this weekend.

On doing some random culinary research online, I stumbled upon Bon Appétit's series on their blog called “Fake It or Make It. The series basically compares store-bought items to homemade ones and evaluates what is worth the cost and time investment.

They have already done their analysis on a range of easy to make recipes to some complex ones. So here's another way to laze away in a fun way this summer if you have nothing better to do and find solace in kitchen disasters such as yours truly.

You can check them out Here

Have a good one all.

Apetite Check: Deep Fried Ipad.

If you think you have an apetite for deep fried food..check this out.

Any conscious consumer would freak at the thought of deep frying an iPad. But in the name of art, one Brooklyn-based man has done exactly that. It sounds crazy, but there really may be similiarities between people's appetites for deep fried food and for ever-changing technology. Don't worry - no real gadgets were harmed in this art project! They're merely foam representations of mobile gadgets. Check out more "devices" that are feeling the heat. ( sourced from NYdaily news)

More here

Flashback Mondays : Takeshis Castle

 

By far the most hilarious and pointless show still running :)

 Takeshi's Castle brings back memories of early childhood when watching reruns of the show in the late afternoon on KTV never became too mundane given the crazy tasks and games the show created for its contestants.

 

The two gentlemen who most of us as kids presumed were the guests of honour that would just how they could make things the tad bit more tricky for the contestants on the show just for fun sake :)

 

The most scariest looking people that were alive back then. Would scare the hibijibees off you! This task that involved these two monsters was by far the most difficult on the show as the contestant would never know where to expect them as they would go through a maze of doors.

Several channels still show reruns of this show and you can never get tired of it. Period!

Have a good and crazy one all!

cheerios

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

Pink Slime, Flavored milk and poisoned candy! Those were the words that brought about the revelation in eating for me after watching 2 seasons of Jamie Olivers " Food revolution". A Must watch. The documentary takes Jamie Olver across the least healthiest states across the US of A during both the seasons and picks on the bottom level of our societal pyramid and its eating habits..the School Cafeterias.

Here are some of the quick pointers to remember from the show :

Pink Slime: 70% of America's ground beef contains leftover cow parts (a.k.a. "pink slime") containing e.coli and salmonella that has been treated with ammonia. Ammonia treated meat can be found in virtually all conventional grocery stores, fast food restaurants, many national restaurant chains, and school cafeterias. The saddest part is that the USDA allows this ammonia treated meat to enter the marketplace and with no labeling requirement on the packaging to inform the consumer that the meat their about to buy contains ammonia, thus hiding the truth and pulling a wool over the consumer's eye.  Find out more facts here

  

Flavored milk: How kids are continually encouraged to drink flavored milk in schools and homes. NEws flash.. Milk is naturally white and any form of coloring means its artifical and not fit for anything remotely close to healthy.

Poisoned Candy: When was the last time you knew where your icecream toppings or candy came from. Toppings like sprinkles, syrup, and candies are made of ingredients such as Shellac made from the secretions of the female lac bug. It is used to make candies look shiny, L-Cysteine – derived from duck feathers or human hair. It is used as a dough conditioner keeping it nice and soft.

                         

The show literally spells out common sense issues to parents, reminding folks to get back to the basics of cooking at home more and eating out less and buying fresh produce and not ready to eat meals.

A must watch for everyone.

Summer Cleanse.

Cleanse and declutter this week, spiritually, mentally and physically...and most of all

Have a productive week

Cheerios

XO

Weekend Food Review: Potbelly

A Random Saturday at the Avenues out of the blue is always fun. Especially if its timed towards mid day with slow mall traffic. 3 hours of window shopping and walking relentlessly later, appetites were developed to peak levels. The siblings and I headed to the food court for a quick bite to Potbelly.  From the looks of it people are still in the process of discovering and trying this place and its working to their advantage. I recognize this place as the warmer served version of Subway. So if you’re not a fan of cold cut sandwiches, but yet like less greasier warm sandwiches with a healthy twist..Potbelly is definitely your place.

So this is what we ordered: 3 regular sized sandwiches on brown bread namely the vegetarian, the Italian and the Wreck all with toppings listed on the menu with exceptions to mayo and oil dressing.

We ordered an additional order of baked steak fries with 1 diet coke, a mango shake and water. Total Damages Kd 7.8 which I thought seemed quite pricy for a sandwich place..but I guess the  additional shakes and such did the damage.

Now the verdict

The Good: The vegetarian and the Wreck sandwich were hands down the best bit about the menu. Crisp, fresh and delish! My personal bias is for the vegetarian sandwich, given the fact that for a meat loving person it didn’t fail to satisfy my palette. The regular sized sandwiches are all big enough to fill one when hungry. If you are a person who has a well endowed appetite the large size sandwich should definitely do the trick.

The ambience of the restaurant is quite disconnected from the rest of the food court given their separate seating area. It has an old Louisiana diner styled restaurant feel to it with interesting portfolio style pictures hung across the wall.

The staff are simply amazing..always friendly and always nice.

The Bad: The menu seems to be oddly styled. Although they do have a variety of items such as salads, sandwiches and soup.. the soup selection seemed quite weak with just 2 options. These 2 were hardly something that would incline on the healthier size. I recall corn soup being one of them.

The Affordable: For a sandwich place that is styled similar to Subway they are quite competitively priced hence you wouldn’t feel any pinch of the pricy element unless of course you are restaurant biased. Personally, I felt as thought the shakes were too pricy given the fact that you could easily get more reasonably priced shakes just across the food court.

Anywho, I loved the sandwiches and would definitely go back. Im thinking soon..perhaps this weekend over the sale madness :P..you should too !

The place lives up to its byline..Good vibes, great sandwiches

Cheerios all!

XO

Monday Night Ladies Night at Hard Rock Cafe.

When: Every Monday

Where: Hard Rock Cafe (Salmiya, Arabian Gulf Road, Marina World) in the heart of the main shopping and nightlife district of Kuwait

What: Every Monday, starting at 7:00 PM it’s “Ladies Night” at Hard Rock Cafe. Get 2 FREE delicious drinks with your meals, and start socializing!

Contact:  Hard Rock Café, 2571-0004

Toning Shoes: Do They Really Work?

As an avid runner, one of the key things I don’t tend to slack off using is a good pair of running shoes. Much has been researched, debated and proved on the right shoe for the right posture and work out. It does stand true..Period! However, with the advent of new fads within workout necessities how far are the new products valid?

                         

Take for example the Reebok easy tone shoes which guarantee to tone your legs while doing the most mundane errands or physical activity. Here is an interesting article where they talk on how Toning shoe companies claim these “special” shoes work by supposedly activating more muscle fibers than standard running shoes meaning to be more effective at toning your thighs and hips.

   

The article shares an exercise conducted to study to see whether the claims live up to the hype.

The results indicate that toning shoes really are too good to be true and make you think that the shoes will work..but in reality only slim your wallet. Infact, given their unstable base sometimes they would more likely make you trip and fall.

Based on my personal experience, I honestly think a good pair of running shoes has nothing to do with technology unless of course in the words of my running buddy LordAymz they have an engine underneath and run for you (well saidJ). Luckily the price of the pair of easy tones I bought was half off on sale and I did manage it at a steal of 10 KD.

 

Somehow it still feels as though even post a 10K in them, Im breaking into it. My heart of course still belongs to my old Adidas Climacool gifted on my birthday for reasons best known to me. J

 

Have a good one.

Cheerios

Comfort Zone.

Time to step out of the zone..regroup..push the paradigms and not be comfortable.  ‘Cause if its smooth sailing, then you’re not headed towards greatness.

Push yourself and step out of the comfort zone to do the ordinary extraordinarily.  Now is the time.

Weekend Review : Breakfast and Brunch.

Last week post a good early AM workout, my best S and I decided to go try out a new spot for our early morning breakfast. Now given that we weren’t really hungry and didn’t want to ruin our mornings worth of workout we decided to zero down to a place that does simple wholesome breakfasts.

In comes “Breakfast and Brunch”, a small cozy place strategically located adjacent to Marina Mall just across from the Shisha Bars ( 7 bars and such). The place houses a 4 table space with a very homy touch. Anywho their breakfast items are priced pretty comeptitvely compared to what is availble in the market.

So here's how it went

Given our appetite levels we decided to order something filling enough but split it between us. Our order was the english breakfast which by far is a well endowed meal size and taste wise. The order came with 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of brown toast, 2 sausages, 2 bacon strips, about a small cup size of white beans, some grilled mushroom and half a grilled tomato.

We split the entire mean smack in the middle half way between us and ordered a small bottle of water and sunkist for drinks and were happy satisfied once we got done.

Now the verdict.

The Good : Practically everything. As soon as you sit yourself on the tables, you'll notice the dettol wipes on each table, along with cookie jars lined across the walls,with the review board with peoples review on posted on it, the board over at the cash counter chalked with their specials and not to forget the bill bucket which is an itsy bitty holder for the cheque..all just shows how the place is particularly interested about the attention to detail.

The food is simply fresh, cooked well and does not have too much oil.

The Bad : Sunkist being overpriced. 7 times of what its retailing at. Yowza!

The Affordable :  Our entire bill came to about KD 3.5 for breakfast, which in a perfect world and real world is not only a steal but a heavenly deal :)

Make sure you guys try this out this weekend. The place is tucked away in a quick corner and is worth a visit.

Cheerios

XO

Quest for the perfect Office time lunch continues.

For a person who holds the highest regard for the carbohydrates food group particularly “Rice” within the everyday diet( serious weak point), anything remotely close to eliminating it from an everyday routine is close to a religious sacrifice.

Post joining the workforce and logging in the culturally famous 9-5 stretch (in my case 7-6 or sometimes even 7…yes..that’s a 12 hour run through), establishing an eating pattern that would strike a balance between providing the right amount of energy and not contribute too much to the posterior chamber and rest of the body was becoming a challenge as time went by.

Several generic salad attempts and “no rice or carbs” lunches later, I had almost given up on creativity for brown bagging the perfect lunch (not a big fan of take out). Yet I continue to do my usual salads which more or less is basic dark green veggies ( bell pepper, cucumbers, tomatoes, frozen carrots, the occasional asparagus and artichokes..easy on the budget and waist J).

Anywho I haven’t given up hope and here’s why …Salads as a main course and/ or side dish is so crucial especially during the summer given their antioxidant and hydration contribution to the body.

Given this belief, I was ecstatic to come across Mark Bittman’s 101 Simple Salads for the Season article for The New York Times..101 simple salads? Are you kidding… that takes care of my entire years lunch option ideas. I’m in the process of trying a few of them. J No. 1,3,4,7 and 18 are my personal favorites. They are easy and quick to make, refreshing for the summer and the ingredients are easily available and not too pricy!

You can read more on the 101 simple salads for the season here.

They might just give you ideas for your lunch box for the month / year :)

Cheerios

XO 

Save the Date: Don Bosco Garage Sale.

What: Garage Sale (Fashion, footwear, accessories, sports wear)
When: 8th June - 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM
      9th June - 8:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Where: Don Bosco School, Salmiya

Thou Shall develop a thick skinned attitude to random questionable public behaviour

Walking out of the office parking space, I often see banana peels littered around from time to time. Now, the strategic location of this peel tends to change from time to time which I’m guessing is clearly dependent on the time and mood swings of the litterer but on the other hand this clearly proves 2 things:

There clearly is someone extremely healthy around with the least bit of regard for public safety and cleanliness and

That person happens to share the same parking lot as I which could be hazardous to an absent minded Joe like yours truly.

Public behavior and attitude often tend to have an element of questionability inbuilt in them. People more than often tend to take everything for granted within the public sphere particularly with regards to their own actions.

Based on my own experiences from certain recurring events I have come up with a list of behaviours that continue to happen from time to time yet I fail to understand its basic premise.

The article featured in this month’s Bazaar Magazine and you can read it here

Cheers.

XO

Flashback Mondays. VHS

To the millenium kids..

how it feels like to operate a VHS,

how it feels like to capture memories onto tape and not have to worry about the exterior getting scratched and it not working,

 how it feels like to salvage a VHS still in working condition when stuck in the VCR,

how it feels like to rent the latest movie on VHS and ensure returning it on time to avoid late fees..

You'll never know the charms of old school VHS!

Be the child in you.

From time to time,  let out the child in you. Loosen up, chill out a little, dont take everything too seriously, cut some slack among your peers and siblings..especially the younger ones..dont forget what being a rebel meant like at a that age.

Have a productive week all.

Cheerios

Friday Goodness. Wholesome breakfast

Have a wholesome Friday all.

XO.

Topshop Insta-Style.

Here's a cool Instagram contest by Topshop for all those peeps that practically instragram everything.

Snap a photo of your Topshop style and e-mail it to Topshop@alshaya.com along with your instagram nickname. Top photos will be posted to Topshop’s instagram account and the style with the most likes will win a Topshop shopping spree! The contest is on for June 3^rd to 12^th .