by: Faisal Al-Nashmi (PofR Food Critic)

Edo, Faris’ all time favorite Japanese restaurant the target of the night. Delivering Japan’s original cuisine to Kuwait with many orders ranging from miso soups, salads, and rolls, all on the table for us to destroy. The order that really stood out from the others was the Kyoto Roll, and as I mentioned in my Sushi Samba post, I’m not really a big sushi person, however the Kyoto Roll was a perfect choice. Very light yet extremely savory, combining great fresh flavors in a bite-sized roll, finished off with a tiny squirt of creamy spicy mayo.

I would guarantee any eater that one order of Kyoto isn’t enough, two might be acceptable. The minute my back teeth clamped the sushi I got a fresh burst of mint all over my mouth with a crunch from the ginger side-kick, then slowly kicked in an aromatic yet distinctive sharp spicy flavor… Oh Wasabi! The extreme creaminess of the mayonnaise and crab, deliberately added, turns off the startling tongue fire for the wasabi haters, and lastly a nutty after taste from the browned sesame seeds on top. The combination of flavors is what makes me eager enough to take time in analyzing and posting my critiques on the best foods out there. Ingredients such as sesame seeds, fresh mint, wasabi, mayonnaise, and ginger all come from completely different cuisines, yet, chefs and food fanatics really take time in producing food that hum in a completely new note. I would definitely recommend this roll for all sushi lovers, thus placing it in my top 10 best sushi rolls.

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by: Faisal Al-Nashmi (PofR Food Critic)

I’m in Kuwait for summer and I finally had some time to look at the endless restaurants we have here. I started off placing Slider Station on my ‘Star’ critique restaurants list, because it has to be one of the most important and famous burger joints in Kuwait. I myself am a huge Slider Station fan, and have tried nearly all of their recommended sliders, however, I stumbled upon what has to be the tastiest and most flavorful slider I’ve tried so far. Ancho & Maple Braised Short Rib was the target of the night, who would have thought of inserting so much flavor in something as small as my palm. As usual I can’t order something from any menu that doesn’t attract the reader, and from reading the slider’s description my mouth watered from imagining its great combination of flavors. Finally my plate of wonders arrived in front of my eyes, and just as I expected, took a bite… as described, a fresh burst of braised short rib tenderly braised screaming to be eaten. Short rib is a very tender piece of meat cut from the ribs, so to keep the braised beef from falling apart, the beef is cooked again adding this amazing charr flavor. What actually makes this slider my favorite is their special Ancho & Maple sauce, marrying their sweet and tangy taste with the braised charred short rib, and being topped off by an extremely crispy golden brown onion ring. Ancho, for you that don’t know is a mild Poblano Pepper grown in Mexico, and this name is given when it is dried, Maple is the sweet honey like sauce drizzled on pancakes. Thus, infusing both ingredients (chili and maple) creates somewhat of a new era in sauces. Thank you Mr. Slider Creator for this prodigious slider creation.

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I was buying books one day from the library we have on campus. The reason I go there is because they sell the randomest books — classics — for close to nothing. I end up leaving the little shop with ten or more books. One of the books I got just so happens to be a gigantic encyclopedia from 1950. I love encyclopedias because whatever you need to know most likely might be written somewhere in there. Now, I know it’s from 1950 but it’s cool to see what certain countries and other things were like back then and how people thought of certain things.

So I looked up Kuwait and this is what I got…(Notice the population)

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The Kuwait 1/4 mile Club was closed for a few years now, but recently I saw a group on Facebook that says they’re are back. (Link to Facebook Page) I’m not sure why they closed it down in the first place. I heard two different stories. Some people told me the residents of South Surra were too bothered by the loud sounds, which didn’t make sense to me because there was quite a distance between the track and the houses. Others told me that the South Surra residents story was fake and it was more of a lack of budgeting. Anyways, they’re back now and Kuwait officially has a 1/4 mile track. Next step, Formula 1 track please!

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I’m not sure how long this map was out on the internet, but I got it yesterday and I thought it was really interesting. The map is not 100% accurate, but a close depiction of what Kuwait looked like in 1795. It was put together by a group of history scholars and local artists.

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Even though I’m not a fan of Blackberry, I was extremely shocked by the rumors about the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Communications’ collaborative attempt on banning BlackBerry Messenger. The reason behind this attempt to ban BlackBerry Messenger services is because the messages that circulate between the phone users cannot be traced or monitored, and according to the Minister of Interior, these messages are considered a ‘threat’ to Kuwait’s security. Is every phone call, message, email, internet browser or internet phone call monitored in Kuwait? I really doubt it. The ministry does not have the physical capacity nor the technology to monitor every single split second or byte transferred via phones or computers. So why are they banning this service that even if they had security access to, they won’t be able to keep up with real time monitoring? To me, this doesn’t make sense at all, that’s why I don’t think it’s true.

There are many possibilities to this irrational move. My first thought was that Zain, Wataniya or Viva might have had a hand at this. These companies could obviously realize greater profits if they charged the old .20 fils per message rather than the current flat rate for unlimited internet services and BlackBerry Messenger. Let’s say you send about 100 messages a month, if you send these messages through SMS, it will cost you a good 20 KD. On the other hand, if you BBM anywhere between 1 message to an infinite number of messages, it will never cost you more than 13.5 KD. In an economic/political structure such as Kuwait’s, this is very possible. Businesses exponentially rise and fall in value at the hand of government decisions and contracts that are favorable to parties that are heavily involved financially.

My second thought is that banning BBM is an attempt from specific individuals on limiting personal freedom, and the reason for that is because these are the same people that attempted to place restrictions on blogs, Skype, and numerous social networking websites. The only common grounds between the programs and sites they attempt to restrict is that people use them to get together and share ideas. I admit that my second thought might be a bit extreme, but considering that Kuwait attempts to scan every media related item that is sold or circulated to make sure it’s not ‘offensive’, I believe this thought is possible to some extent.

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I sit there and ask my self sometimes: Did they create this just to shut us up? Was it just for show? When are they going to build this thing?

People complain about the crowdedness in Kuwait and expensive property and what not. Well, this so called city is the solution to those problems.

Someone answer. I couldn’t find reliable articles online to be honest that talk about this City of Silk therefore my questions are yet to be answered. So I decided to see what everyone else could be thinking.

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Wings’ grand opening is today. Wings offer exquisite Turkish Kiftans and home accessories.  The shop is open from 10 am to 1 pm, and later in the evening from 5 pm to 8 pm. The shop is located in Shuwaikh Industrial Area in Al-Humaithi Complex next Tilal Shopping Center and Home Center.

نتشرف بدعوتكم لزيارة محلنا الجديد للاكسسوارات المنزلية و الجلابيات التركية. الكائن في منطقة الشويخ الصناعية مجمع الحميضي بجانب مجمع التلال و هوم سنتر وذلك ابتداءا من يوم الأثنين 3-5-2010 من الساعة 10-1 صباحا و 5-8 مساءا

Contact: +965 99944402

Facebook Fan Page Link

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Being one of the sponsors of the proposed drafts to allocate oil refineries, Al-Anjiri asserted his opinion and took a seat. Right after, Al-Tahoos requested a motion of reply and was denied by Al-Khurafi. Watch the video on the bottom, it literally took about 9 minutes to get Al-Tahoos just to sit down and stay quiet. I do not know that much about Kuwaiti parliamentary procedures, but it’s about time they implement what every other parliament has. A point penalty system that will force parliament members to be formally ejected from the parliament if they do not comply with parliamentary procedures. 9 valuable minutes just to get someone to take his place is absolutely unacceptable and is one of the major reasons our political development is hindered.

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I thought YouTube was only used to waste time during class and work. According to this picture, I’m wrong! It is also used to pass those long boring parliament sessions as well. Good job parliament members, you guys make us proud. Also, if Al-Tabtaba’i just bores you to death with his long speeches, you guys could also check out digg or reddit! There are so many cool topics on those sites that kill time so much faster than YouTube.

Source: Frankom.com

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