Summer Program

 The best decision I made this summer was to confiscate the computer and video games from Abdulaziz and Ahmed. It made them less tense and agitated for one thing, and the best thing, they get to entertain themselves with their toys and books. I just love watching them sprawled on the rug with their cars and garage or their pirates and pirate ships role playing and using their imagination.
What really breaks my heart, is kids in this country are not reading enough, and some parents are not encouraging their kids to do so. Wallah…I know it isn't an easy thing. Normally my boys like to read, but sometimes they view it as some kind of homework. Abdulaziz loves comics, and I do encourage him to read them. However I want him to read other books and we started with something as simple as The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and a French story called Une Affaire de Lunettes, about a young boy who gets transported to different worlds through his magic glasses, which he enjoyed reading both books. I'm also planning to make him read stories from history and mythology before the summer is over. I also have a couple of books in Arabic lined up for him to read. What I do is we have 30 min. of silent reading every day, and sometimes he gets captivated by the story that he continues on reading after the 30 min. are over. The best part is reading for them stories from the Quran on some evenings before bed time. Ahmed still doesn't understand but Abdulaziz is enjoying it.

This year I didn't put my kids in Flex summer camp as I usually do in the past. Last summer was a huge disappointment. So why waste money and time to something that doesn't benefit them? Ahmed is going to Little Gym for three hours every day and enjoying it a lot. Abdulaziz spends the mornings with me. We study and read, and prepare for his new blog which will start soon (he gets to work on my computer an hour every day once his blog is working). In the afternoon he goes to a private instructor for swimming and Squash lessons 4 times a week. By the time he gets back home, he could hardly keep his eyes open!
Before I end this post, please try to encourage your kids or siblings and even yourself to read. No matter what kind of book or in what language or genre, reading shapes a person's character and it makes a huge impact in one's life.

Gelato Italiano After Lunch Dessert

After lunch we went for desserts to Gelato Italiano in Ahmed AlJaber St. with the weather as it was I didn't expect to see anyone, but surprisingly it was full! Apparently, most who were there came for desserts after they had their lunch, just like us! The boys took the M&M's covered Gelato Sticks made by their Papa ;) and they loved it!

Gelato Sticks garnished with nuts & M&Ms

I took my usually chocolate fix, Bountico Gelato

 Yummy! YummY!

Abdulaziz saved the M&Ms to pick on

at the end.

Gelato Italiano, Ahmed AlJaber St.

Gaz Tower, Tel: 22434434

Friday Lunch - Pizzetta

As you may have noticed, I've been posting about places that are less crowded during the weekend, not that Pizzetta was empty. But you don't find the noisy crowd there, except for my boys! We took the boys and our nephew who is back for the summer from the States, for the best pizza in K-Town. It was a first for Fahad too. We ordered Mozzarella sticks, Bruschetta with baked goat cheese (eaten before I could take a pic). Baked Tortellini, Chicken Lasagna, Cheeseburger Pizza, and can't remember the name of the last pizza. The food as usual, mind blowing! The quality and flavors incredible!!! 

Mozzarella Sticks



Cheeseburger Pizza

Ahmed Loving his Cheeseburger Pizza

Baked Tortellini, I loved it!



Chicken Lasagn. It was Fahad's order.

It was good.

I can't remember the name of this Pizza

but it was really delicious.

Abdulaziz loved the food, he wants to

have a party here!

All in all we had a wonderful meal.



Design Change

I'm bored... so I'm dabbling on some desings and backgrounds. So what do you think of what I chose so far?? Soothing blue, with white, green and a bit of orange..very summery, no? Not sure if I'm going to keep it that way. I guess I'll change it again very soon :)

Mother In Law From Hell!

 I am very lucky to have a mother in law as

 sweet and generous as my mama in law!

When I read this article I couldn't stop laughing and wanted to share it with you! Wallah poor girl, I feel so sorry for her :p

The acerbic message was sent by Carolyn Bourne, 60, to bride-to-be Heidi Withers and attacked her for “uncouthness” and “lack of manners”.

Withers, 29, who works as a PA in London, forwarded on the email to friends and it quickly went viral.
Son Freddie took Heidi to meet the family at their home in Dawlish, Devon. The visit, it seems, did not go well.
Bourne branded her “an ideal candidate for the ‘Ladette to Lady’ television series” and suggested she, “take some guidance from experts with utmost haste” if she wanted to be included in the family.
“There are plenty of finishing schools around,” she said.
Bourne’s email then goes on to list examples of Wither’s poor etiquette during the visit. “It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.”
Her faux pas included:
“When you are a guest in another’s house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat - unless you are positively allergic to something. You do not remark that you do not have enough food. You do not start before everyone else. You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.”
“When a guest in another’s house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early - you fall in line with house norms.”
“You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.”
“You should have hand-written a card to me. You have never written to thank me when you have stayed.”
“You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why.”
Most insultingly of all, Miss Wither’s behavior left their pet dog Bomber “profoundly upset, depressed and anxious”.
Mrs. Bourne also slammed the couple’s wedding plans: “No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.”
“I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters’ marriages.) If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.”
According to The Daily Mail, Carolyn Bourne is well known in Dawlish for growing prize-winning flowers and manages a large plant nursery.
She said it was “unfortunate” that son Freddie, who runs an online bicycle shop in Putney, had fallen in love with Miss Withers.
“Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you. It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so.”
She added: “One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man”.
“I pity Freddie.’
One thing’s for sure: The wedding should be interesting.

By Yahoo Link

Finally Nail It!

I call my cousin Shosho to chat with her, after saying our "Hi's", she suddenly asked me if I had anything to do tomorrow. I said, "No."

"I'm going to go do my nails. Do you want me to book you an appointment?" She asks.

"Ok. Which place are you going to?"

"Nail It." She replies.

I've been wanting to try 'Nail It' forever! And it is only few minutes away from my office, but I don't know why I haven't gone there yet. Thanks to Shosho she booked me an appointment and I met her there the next day.

 

I love this chair!

The place was nice, very organized and clean. I love the white, black and blue with a hint of silver décor. I loved the shelves with a large and up to date fashionable collection of nail polish colors. I loved the flat screen in the middle between the two seating areas. But my favorite…was their comfy chairs! As soon as I sat, and sunk into the chair I knew I didn't want to move at all! ;p

Next time I want to do some nail art.

The ladies suggested I try their Organic Treatment, for a much needed Mani & Pedi. The ladies, Janet (the tall skinny one) and Jennifer took over. They were sweet and kind and constantly asked me if I was feeling comfortable. The treatment they gave me exceeded my expectations. It soothed and relaxed me. I am hooked and I'm certainly going back very soon, and this time I want to try the Almond Treatment.

Oh yes! and I did catch up with my cousin Shosho

(garagna garga!).

It was a wonderful day!

Nail It Website: Nail It

Facebook: Nail It

Chocolate Rahash Cake

Chocolat Rahash Cake is a ticking BOMB!

Qatuliya! (Killer!)



I'm going through most of my cooking books, marking pages of interesting recipes I want to try during Ramadan. It isn't a grantee I'd cook all of them, but I'll try some nevertheless. Actually I've already started, I've been spending a lot of my free time in the kitchen lately, trying out new soup recipes and others such as main meals and desserts.

One of the recipe I tried is this yummy "Qatuliya!" Rahash Chocolate Cake from AlThawaqa cook book.
Here are the ingredients:
3 packs of chocolate pound cake (I used 1 1/2 pack)
250g Rahash (I advice you use good quality rahash sold at AlWatan Sweets instead of the packed one sold at super markets.)
300g Nutella
11/2 cup of chopped pecans (I used sugared hazelnut which we use at Gelato)
1 1/2 cup of Thick Cream (KDD Qaimar)
Chocolate Syrup (I didn't use)


- Crumble the Rahash in a deep dish with a fork then add the Nutella and thick cream.
- Cut the cakes into slices and line them up side by side in a serving dish, pour 1/3 of the chocolate rahash mix and spread evenly, add some little pecans.
- Line up on top the remaining cake and spread some the remaining chocolate rahash mix and garnish with the rest of the pecans and decorate with chocolate syrup.


Note: Rahash is a sesame seed sweet. In this recipe I used a trifle bowl instead of serving dish, and I used regular pound cake instead of chocolate pound cake just to ease on alsa7na (density of the chocolate on chocolate).