Friday, April 30, 2010

Revamping my Living Room

So the time came to revamp my living room. Every year I say this year I'm going to make some changes and for some reason or another I have never got around to do it. I have reached the last straw. My boyos haven't left anything without being stained, torn or scratched! It is so embarrassing that I stopped having friends over. Not even to forget the overflow of books I'm facing. I have to give up some of my books. (anyone interested in romance books?) I love colors and I get drawn to them very easily, making me forget my objective in finding something stainproof and durable, for at least the next five years. Like the other week I was in Thajeej to get my computer checked when I passed by Midas and decided to stop and have a look. I've been there only once, and several times at their other branch in Shuwaikh, although I like some of their furniture and accessories they haven't had new items since they opened and some are really overpriced. I had my cam with me and wanted to snap few pictures but a sales person told me I wasn't allowed. Still I managed to snapped some pics with my mobile like a thief. So I apologize in advance for the quality of pics.
If I buy this sofa... I will need a disco ball and
Go Go Boots to go with it ;)
Nasty!
This is a tacky LV imitation coffee table.
I found this terrace round tent lounge chair.
Not sure what's the technical name.
Price tag KD600
I just love vibrant colors! Sometimes I go to extremes with
colors but not this time. I'm going to take care of
what I'm going to chose and be very cool about it.
*Sigh* Sooo beautiful cabinets and consol and mirror.
I love this parrot folding partitions.
This table and matching chairs are amazing! I can just imagine it
in my dinning area.
Still I'm going to stay away from these. I need something sturdy and within a realistic price, 3ashan ma at7asar if my monkies inflicted some damage on the furniture pieces.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Have a Lovely Weekend!

Hilarious!!! So where are you breakfasting on the weekend???

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dream On!

I tried to think of some kind of comeback...
but couldn't...
No wait...
اللي ما تطولا بيدك اوصلا بريلك و ما تشوف شر
Vive La France!

Sandra Breaks Her Silence

Sandra Bullock has dropped a different kind of bombshell than her estranged husband, Jesse James. (malat 3aliah) The Oscar-winning actress reveals to PEOPLE that in January she adopted a boy from New Orleans. Her newborn son, Louis Bardo Bullock, is three months old. She and James began the adoption process four years ago, before becoming parents earlier this year. His name was chosen because Bullock heard Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ when she first met the baby boy. The couple decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Oscars. “I did not want him brought into a world that would not have been too sincere to him as I wanted. I wanted to be alone with him as long as I could then we had to tell his story,” she said, MSNBC reports. Unfortunately, just days after Bullock took home her trophy, James’ many affairs came to light. The actress says she is now adopting as a single parent and is divorcing her husband, according to PEOPLE. “Yes, I have filed for divorce,” she told the magazine, adding that she is “sad and scared” about it.
I say: Cute babay....YOU GO GIRL!!!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Home Made Chocolate...Yum! Yum!

The other week I went out with my friend Balkis on few errands and then we went back to her home for dinner and a little gossiping ;p In the middle of our chatter she brought a platter of samples from her home business of delicious chocolates and I tried almost every single one of them. Yes... the diet went South ;p but honest I didn't over do it. Her chocolates were light and the fillings infused with lots of flavor and just can't get enough of them. I also sampled her '3raiba...just amazing and a bestseller. However, when I thought I was far far away from those yummy chocolates, I go to the family home for lunch and what I find??? A large box filled with a wide selection of Balkis's Home Made Chocolates, which my sis. Reem has ordered. I am doomed!!! I went back and forth trying every single one of them...until I found my favorite and just couldn't stop. I had to skip dinner that night :s Fahad liked the Rahash chocolate. It is pure yumminess!!!
Rahash chocolate is also yummy and Fahad's favorite.
That is my favorite! sha3arbanat (cotton candy) chocolate.
Biscuit and nuts... I liked this one.
Mango chocolate
I loved the chocolate '3raiba. It is tiny mouth watering
and can't get enough of it.
The most amazing mouth watering '3raiba I had ever tried!
Cute wrappings for special occasions
To Order please call 97656999 للطلبات ارجو الاتصال على 97656999 Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=556073234&v=info#!/group.php?gid=137482425319

The Blind Side - Movie Review

Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.
I finally got round to watch Blind Side. A very nice story, which makes you want to do lots of good to this world. Amazing performance from Sandra Bullock.

A Dessert For Your Diet!!!

So summer is here!! And I bet you're on a diet...
trimming off the excess weight to get into your fabulous light summer outfits...
Yet... you're craving an icy delicious dessert! Well don't go far!
At Gelato Italiano we have the icy selection for you!!
Dairy free!!! (3an taf5at al ba6en!) Sugar Free!! Gelato!
Flavors: Chocolate - Vanilla - Coconut - Cappuccino - ACE -
Lemon - Strawberry - Bran - Green Apple

Monday, April 26, 2010

Super Foods!

Super Foods in your Fridge!
Apples With a heart healthy trifecta of antioxidants, fiber, and flavonoids,
apples work to keep your ticker in top shape.
You know what they say, an apple a day . . .
Spinach
Spinach is a warrior when it comes to fighting cancer,
promotes better brain function, and is an excellent source of iron.
Even frozen spinach will do.
Romaine Lettuce
The vitamin C and folate content make this a standout salad choice.
Romaine is the lettuce used in a classic Caesar Salad,
but I like this green with just
a simple dressing — the crunch is so satisfying.
Tofu
Soy is a great way to get protein without cholesterol
or saturated fat and it's loaded with nutrients that have
been found to promote cardiovascular health. I don't like it.
Black Beans
Get your fix of antioxidants and fiber from hearty black beans.
For ease you can use canned beans, since soaking beans
overnight means you have to plan ahead — not always my strong suit.
I get the black beens from the frozen fresh section at TSC a
mix of health veggies from the Green Giant.
Bell Peppers When it comes to bell peppers, the question is, what doesn't the vegetable do for your health? From your heart to your lungs, eyes, and beyond, bell peppers give a powerful nutritional bang for your KD. Onions More than just a flavor enhancer, onions serve several aspects of your health: your gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems benefit from the vegetable, not to mention its effect on cancer and your blood sugar levels.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

In the Mood for Pavlovas!

The Cooking bug bit me hard one day! I spent half the day in kitchen preparing a yummy feast! Among the goodies I prepared was a Pavlovas... not the kind you're used to... no...NO!! In my home no dessert is worthy of notice if it doesn't have chocolate with it. So I added chocolate cream instead of the normal vanilla whipped cream. This is what I used: 4 egg whites - 1 1/4 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. For chocolate cream : 150g of semi sweet chocolate & 140ml cream. Chopped Berries of your choice and toasted nuts!
In a heat proof bowl in a double boiler,
Whip the egg white and gradually add the sugar,
until it thickens, Spread the egg whites mixture on
a tray lined with baking paper.
Place in a 110c oven and back for 1h30
Just perfect! leave it aside until it cools down. In a sauce pan combine the cream and the chocolate on low heat. Mix untilt he chocolate is melted. Leave aside to cool then put in the fridge for 30min
ET Voila!!!
Decorated with Strawberries and toasted nuts!
Just perfect! Crunchy on top and chewy in the middle!
By evening time it was completely gone!!!

Bright Star - Movie Review

I loved the fashion in this movie.
Bright Star
John Keats
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the nightAnd watching,
with eternal lids apart,Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors
No, yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

Honestly I don't know how to really discribe to you the movie... I was speachless and is if living among them, just a ghost in the background. I ended crying at the end! Really really crying! I can't remember when I cried for a movie. Just amazing. Loved it!
Review about the movie taken from the Boston Globe by Ty Burr
Bright Star’’ is ripe with the eroticism of a proud woman being seduced by words and undone by emotions. If that’s not worth more than a year of Megan Fox movies, I can’t help you. The film, writer-director Jane Campion’s first in six years and best in 16 (since 1993’s “The Piano’’), tells the story of the poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his relationship with Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), an 18-year-old Hampstead seamstress who lived with her family near Keats. The romance was brief and unconsummated, cut short by the poet’s death in 1821, at 25, of tuberculosis. Yet the 39 surviving letters Keats wrote to Brawne are wrenchingly passionate; if their love was a small pool, it was also bottomless. The normal Oscar-season treatment of this subject would be to spotlight the great poet’s struggles with his art and his muse: thunder on the soundtrack and Fanny sitting in the back of the bus. Campion does something shocking, even subversive: She makes Brawne the subject and Keats the limpid love object. Fanny’s emotional journey becomes the focus; the poems mostly shimmer in the background haze. At the same time, “Bright Star’’ is so far from the pejorative term “chick flick’’ as to make your head spin. This is a woman’s film in the deepest ways possible. That extends to the pace, which is hushed and intimate; some will mistake it for dull. The film at first seems the opposite of drama, as Fanny and Keats almost casually come into contact in their rural corner of England. He is staying with his friend and backer Charles Brown (Paul Schneider), she’s a tart-tongued woman of modest means and practical outlook. If you think that Fanny is a Jane Austen heroine, so, in a sense, does Fanny. The movie’s explicitly about how the age of Austen was vanquished by the Romantic era of Keats, Byron, and Shelley - how sense tumbled helplessly and willingly into sensibility. Fanny’s attempts at intelligent banter thus fall flat because, simply, Keats doesn’t play that. She’s still drawn to his gentleness and to the sensitivity that makes him quiver like an antenna in a top hat. By the time the two share a kiss by a sleepy riverside, the planet itself seems to wobble on its axis. Some may be disappointed that “Bright Star’’ is lacking in the transgressive kink of “The Piano’’ and other Campion films, but the emotions here are no less galvanic and no less profound for the characters keeping their clothes on. In fact, the people around the couple are slightly freaked out by what’s happening. The penniless Keats is no fit match for Fanny, yet even her mother (Kerry Fox) has to respect the urgency of their feelings. Brown is the closest the movie comes to a villain, a cynical boor who knocks up his housemaid (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) and banishes Fanny so the boys can work on their plays and poems. His love for Keats humanizes him, though, even if he loves the art more at first. For Fanny, the art and the man are inextricable. You could sooner separate white from milk. Schneider gives a canny, outsized performance - one I didn’t think this North Carolina-born indie actor had in him - but the movie belongs to Cornish, who stays with Fanny as she moves from corseted certainty to the wildness of raw infatuation. The actress has dyed her blonde hair a mousy brown, and she fills out the period dresses with period solidity. She’s a woman, not a twig, and she lives up to Keats’s description of Brawne as “beautiful, elegant, graceful, silly, fashionable and strange.’’ There’s not a single overdramatized gesture to the performance, yet it crosses immense distances. If “Bright Star’’ has a weak link, it’s Whishaw’s Keats, so passive as to seem nearly prostrate. Tuberculosis will do that but so will objectification; it may be that we’re not used to seeing the heroes of our movies side lined onto pedestals. (For this reason and others, certain men will despise this film.) Because he comes to us through Fanny’s eyes, John Keats remains a mystery. Whishaw gives him a grave charisma, though - we want to know him better. In fact, Campion says we can know him - and Fanny, and her family, and Brown - through the society they make. “Bright Star’’ is rapturously attentive to period detail, to the sounds and rhythms of early-19th-century life, the better to ground the emotions that bleed from the central couple. Grieg Fraser’s camerawork works in earth tones and stays at a respectful remove, or maybe it just wants to crowd John and Fanny’s world into the frame. There’s a party scene early on in which a group of men, Keats included, perform as an a cappella “human orchestra,’’ and you can feel the deep, inarticulate fellow-feeling that knits these people together. It’s this essence, the real behind the everyday, that Keats got on paper and that Campion works to capture on film. She comes close enough to make other movies seem shiny and disposable. “Bright Star’’ is a thing of beauty and a joy for a movie season that needs it.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Have a Lovely Weekend!

Samuel Yervinyan!!! Simply Amazing!

My Secret Lab

Few days ago my home ice cream maker just stopped
working so I headed this morning to Eureka and
got me a new one to Fahad's annoyance.
Let me tell you a bit about myself ;) I'm wife, mother and product manager at Gelato. My job is to come up with new recipes and flavors. For every flavor we have at least three recipes, just in case one of the recipe's ingredients aren't available in the market, we have a back up. Yes, most of our Gelato are made from scratch. Anyway, I used to be a banker, which I hated every single day of the nine years I worked at two different banks. My friends constantly ask me do I miss having a stable job? No. I do not! I love cooking, and coming up with new recipes and trying them out is a dream job! I'm also a self taught cook and baker. I have Wicked Bites, which I was forced to close for the time being because of location. However I still bake for friends or when I'm craving a delicious sinful dessert which I don’t find at any other place. The best place I like to work at is my 'Secret Lab', my home kitchen where all my equipments and ingredients are close at hand and away from the noisy machinery at the Gelato factory. So I'm going to invite you from time to time to my 'Secret Lab' and share with you (on occasions) the yummy stuff I prepare. Hope you'll enjoy them :)

Gift Shopping

Arts and Crafts toys. One of my favorite kind
of toys I like to purchase for my kids and as gifts.
One of my friends got me this
knowing how much love these kind of games.
It is addictive.
Final wrap. Silver and Gold. What do you think?
I'm one of the mothers who hates useless toys! It is a nightmare for me when I walk into their bedroom and see the loads of toys cramped in their toy chests. Every now and then I clear those they lost interest in and give them away. When they go out with their aunts I always warn them if they buy them toys they better not bring it back home because I will just throw them away! You may wonder what I consider useless? Remote control cars, those expensive gizmos which the child will throw and lose interest in after an hour or so, weapons (which sadly Ahmed loves) and similar toys.
What I love? Books! but here they don't appreciate books as gifts, so I go for toys that would challenge and built the Childs character, such as Society Games like board games, puzzles, Lego and unfortunately we do not have this brand in Kuwait called Playmobile, which helps expand the Childs imagination and I usually order on the net. Similar to Playmobile toys are found at Early Learning. When I shop for birthday gifts I usually go for these kind of toys. Today I stopped at TSC for some last minute missing ingredient shopping and remembered Abdulaziz is invited to a Birthday party of one of his classmates. So I got her a couple of those arts & crafts kit boxes, where she'd make her own handbags and another designing a paper fan. They are very cute and I hope she'll like them!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Dave Pelzer

OH! MY GOD!!! I opened the book this afternoon and I can't put it down! A friend of mine recommended the book for me and I have it in my basket among my amazon.com orders but I found it today at Sultan while shopping and picked it up without hesitation!!! Just horrifying and amazing! It is a light read and I'm halfway through, feeling emotional and crying on Fahad's shoulder from time to time!!! I consider myself a strict mother but nothing as twisted and cruel as Dave Pelzer's very sick crazy mother. How as a child he was clever enough to learn survival techniques from his mother's constant twisted torture and to have a hope that someday he will have a family who will love him. Just heart wrenching!!!
Book Description:
A CHILD CALLED 'IT' is Dave Pelzer's story of a child beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. Dave was no longer considered a son, or a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement and when he was allowed food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. Throughout, Dave kept alive the dream of finding a family who would love and care for him.
THE LOST BOY: the harrowing but ultimately uplifting true story of Dave's journey through the foster-care system in search of a family who will love him.
A MAN NAMED DAVE: the gripping conclusion to this inspirational trilogy. With extraordinary generosity of spirit, Dave takes us on a journey into his past. At last he confronts his father and ultimately his mother. Finally, Dave finds the courage to break the chains of the past and learn to love, trust and live for the future.

Monday, April 19, 2010

At The 3aza

The past few days I was at Fahad's grandmother 3aza, 3asa allah yer7amha w yesakenha fasee7 janata, allahom ameen. I was sitting in my corner and observing the people who came to give their condolences. I was aghast! Is there no respect and decency left in our society? Don't you have any feeling for those who lost a loved one? Here is what I saw. People greeting people at the entrance of the house. "Hala wala flana. Eshloonich w shloon 3yalich. bla bla bla...bla bla bla... Ta3ali zoorina fee alshalaih." Wella nas etbarek 7ag wa7da tawha ma'76ooba. Hatha 3aza! Not a social gathering! Or those who come with Make-up on!!! Not eyeliner, or just foundation to cover almela7a w alchel7a… laaa full makeup!!! Laish yayeen??? Wela wa7ada dasha w emsawya tasree7a!!! wella elli ma7tarma nafs'ha, mako makeup w alsha3ar marbo6 bas al nail polish al 7amar yabrig!! These kind of people who have no respect should be turned at the door! There I said it! But what really annoyed me w ashkara mafhooma, almara alli dasha w sa7ba banat'ha weyaha 3lashan alnas yeshoofoonhom. 7asha marriage mart mo 3aza! Emsaween esh3orhom fee al9alonat w falinha!!! Al3bi 3ala alchetoof w yetbasmon! shelsalfa? Sij…. I didn't know how low people could sink with no respect and feeling for the deceased and their family, until now. Up Date: While typing this post I failed to clarify that I don't mean all those who came are like this. Only some who were just too obvious.

My New Incentive

The 3 Club Triathlon will be held on 3oth of April
Facebook Group :
I have always been fascinated by triathlons. I sit glued to the TV (can I say TV or is it now Flat Screen? Well whatever… you know what I mean) when it is played on the sports channel. I love it when human strength is challenged and tested. I just can't imagine the rush of adrenaline pumping in their blood stream. I want that high too!!! Now, Triathlons is brought to Kuwait by the 3 Club!!! Their first Triathlon will be held on the 30th of April. Will I join them? Come on let's be realistic! I'll drop on my knees at the first five minutes of the race! But it wouldn't be for this year's race that I'll start training. Inshallah! W etha allah a7yani w eb9a7a w 3afia, I will join next year's triathlon. I announced it first to Fahad and as usual he started laughing saying "It would be interesting to see you achieve it!!!" HEY! What does that mean? No trust in my ability??? Or is it some kind of reverse psychology? Well, to be honest, just thinking about it is intimidating. Can I do it? How fit and strong should I be to even go through the first phase of the race? I'm a very good swimmer, I love cycling, but I hate running!!! Do you think there is the "Dummy Guide to Traithlon" Book? Ah! Well I'm crazy!
Wish me all the luck! ;p

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Crazy Weather This Morning!!!

These pictures were taken within minutes of each other!!!
I wake up this morning thinking... ah what a beautiful day!!! I'm going to call my sister to pick up the kids and take them out for a couple of hours to play and take out the crazy edge out of them, since I have other obligations. I haven't finished the thought when everything around me turned dark! As dark as night!!! I was disoriented for a moment wondering if I blacked out and woke up at night! But then the phone started wringing and it was my mother in law, telling me "NOT"to go out. Well I did, that's how I took these pictures and I was drenched from the rain!
Hmmmm now is it because of Global Warming?? Or because 2012 is nearing and with it the end of the world?? After the storm passed I had to go assess the damages at the stores. Al7amedellah... nothing serious.