Back :-)

I am back home after this long weekend... Spent the holidays in chalet away from the madness... well, kinda.... I was having a massage earlier... I go back to my car and see a dent and scratch! Perfect! The a$$hole who hit (and run) my car did not even leave a note! Nor did the small store next to my car or the guard at the building near by! Lucky me!

Enjoy the pics!

Copycats!

Earlier this year Wataniya had those similar to "Baby On Board" ads stuck on windows on randomly chosen cars with funny quotes referring to life on the internet. Yesterday VIVA came up with a copied idea of the ads.. only with different color and text! This is ridiculously funny! Can they be more creative than this? And this happened when I was all about how I love their VIVA Internet - Anytime Anywhere ad campaign! Why take a step back! Why COPY!!

Hopefully its Today ;-)

I will be on today... hopefully :-)

Al Watan TV: 8:00am and 11:00am
Al Watan Plus: 1:00pm and 4:00pm

If you dont know what I'm talking about.... click here.


UPDATE: I am so sorry to tell you that Al Watan changed my report timing AGAIN... so I wont announce it next time until I actually see it on Al Watan TV.... THEN I will post about it here for you all to watch Al Watan Plus... this way I wont be bothering you with it.. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience I may have caused :-S

ANOTHER UPDATE:
OK! This is interesting... I got so many calls JUST now saying that AlWatan just announced Ansam's Kitchen segment is on and I tune in to www.watan.tv and I see Ghanima Al Fahad!

So Maybe I will be on?

Word Vomiting?

I am a recipe for disaster :-S

I am sure I did upset some people....!

Someone today showed me something and was like I hope "this time" you will say something "positive" about it... WTH!

Another someone said something really harsh to me earlier today :-( Someone I dont even know!!

My dear friend R.O. told me its the Sunday blues... I think its more than that! Its more of 2009 blues.. started with a car accident + health issues in the family + things I cannot say + things I cannot explain + people.... hmmmm who did things that seemed to be simple to them but not to me and its hurting me badly!

Its all those mixed emotions and feelings of the surroundings that are upsetting me badly! Yes I am smiling and my day seems to be going just fine but I am not telling ANYONE what is really wrong! Its killing me, and I wanna deal with it alone... so there you have it! I am NOT fine! I am NOT OK! I am upset and I am feeling down....

HB... I have no idea why the things I say come out like word vomit! You are a special friend to me and I did not mean to bother you in any way or get you in trouble! God knows what you mean to me and how I see the true friend in you! You are the one I can depend on with no fear... I feel like crying just typing those words :-S

Mrs. Doubtfire... I know even if you read this you would not know who the hell I am talking about, but I do feel that you resemble Mrs. Doubtfire (and I do see some Kramer in you too)... See... I am doing it again! Being mean and calling you all that! But you are driving me crazy! I know you are a nice lady but I can't seem to find a common ground for us where we find mutual understanding.. I try but you staring at me sometimes for no reason freaks me out! And it makes me vomit words as well :-S eeeeek!

"Someone" I vented to about what is happening regarding the health issues in the family. I dont know if you know who you are, but you are awesome! I mean it! "You dont just say things to make me feel better" yet you say things and you do make me feel better... Thanks :'-) Oh and you are super funny in your own ways!

And to all my unanswered calls/messages/email please know that I do acknowledge it all but I swear to God I have no time to answer you.....

Oh and many more things I cannot even start to list.....

Kuwait Paper Dump... Thanks!

My coworker and I wanted to order almond raspberry muffins from the Coffee Republic... which is my new addiction... yummm! Anyway.. I called them up and their line was busy for like 30 mins, I go on 6alabat and their menu there is not updated and does not include muffins... Their Live Chat people wont even help in that! What to do! I need the menu to check if there is another phone number to call and Kuwait The Paper Dump "KTPD" pops into mind! Voila! I found it here.

Ohhhhh I <3 KTPD

Salmon Avocado Salad!

I was having lunch at Maki earlier today... my friend asked if I wanted to share Salomon Avocado Salad.. I agreed, only problem is that she do not want it with Salmon or Avocado!

Me: One salmon avocado salad please and I want the salmon avocados on the side.
Waitress: OK.. so just lettuce and crab.. and you want the salmon and avocado on the side, right?
Me: Yes please
Waitress: OK :-)

A while later, another waiter comes..

Waiter: Excuse me ma'am.. but can you please pick between having either the salmon or avocados on the side? You cant have both as sides!
Me: No, you dont get it... I am ordering the salmon avocado salad but I want to have the salmon and avocado on the side and not mixed!!
Waiter: Yeah.. still, you have to pick only one side!
Me: Why?
Waiter: You can only pick ONE side....

The manager was at this time near our table listening... and to my surprise he was the one who sent the waiter cuz he was waiting for me to say "OK FINE" which I was not planning on saying..

Me: OK let me get this straight... I am ordering THE SALMON and AVOCADO salad, I only want those two on the side and not mixed... do you get this part?
Waiter: Yeah I do... its not possible.. errr... hmmmm

The manager calls for that waiter... after five minutes he comes back..

Waiter: OK, done
Me: Thanks!!!

Explanation? ANYONE??

Yahya!

Sticky -Hunny- Wings

To make up for the show that was not aired today... I am providing you with the recipe for my chicken wings...

Ingredients:
5 medium-size chicken wings
2 tbsp pineapple juice
1 tbsp mixed spices (garlic powder, seasalt, mixed pepper, Moroccan spices)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 soy sauce
1 lime juice
1 tbsp fresh ginger (shredded)

Method:
Place the chicken wings in a bowl and add all the above ingredients. Mix'em well. Let the wings marinate for AT LEAST an hour (over night if you're not in a hurry)

Preheat oven first to 130 degrees.

Place the chicken in an oven tray and cook for about 45 minutes while using a spatter to keep it moist with its juices between now and then... that is 30 minutes on one side and then flip them over for the remaining 15 mins.

Enjoy!

Ansam's Kitchen

Watch AlWatan TV today for the show "Sabah AlWatan" 8:00AM-11:00AM OR alWatan Plus from 1:00PM-4:00PM.... ;-)

UPDATE I:
Day TBA :-) It has been moved!!



UPDATE II:
The email from AlWatan Tv...

"Dear fans of Ansam's Kitchen,

I apologize for not airing Ansam's report on the morning show today due to unavoidable circumstances. I will notify Ansam as soon as I find out when it would be aired. Hopefully sometime early next week. For now, live well...eat well :-)"

Working Late Hours

Moral of the story: In these days of cost cutting, leave the office EARLY!


Thanks Youssef :-)

email-Psycho

Hmmm... OK, get this! My cousin's wife sent an email with a question that you dont have to really answer but it was somehow misleading (with wrong piece of info). So, I replied to all and wrote the correct info thinking that all people on that list are civilized enough to understand that my email was more of informative! I wasnt looking for friends or anything!

So the story begins when I received an add request on my gmail account for msn from someone I dont know. I basically deleted that request and did not accept it.

Earlier today, I started receiving email messages from that same person... Forwarded messages! I did not want that person to flood my inbox so I replied with a simple question (and I added a :-) face): Who is this? :-)

The war just started! Just like that! That guy simply took things personally and attacked me as if I was asking for a fight or something!

You sent me an email first!

It was then... at that moment that I connected he was one of those people on that email list I "replied all" to! I tried in so many ways to explain to him that I meant well by sending an informative message to all the recipients.. I also told him that he was the only one acting in that weird way! And dont get me started when he made it all about him!

I did not email HIM as in just him! What! He thinks the world evolves around him!!! Whatta self-centered kid he is!! He wont stop emailing me with stupid explanations on how I was the one who contacted him first! On how I tried to make friends with him!! On how illiterate I am when it comes to sending and receiving email!! ME!! Yeah! Is he friggin kidding me! I have been using the internet/email since 1995! Why would a kid come to me now and try to "TEACH" me on ways to use the email!!!

I explained it to him! NOT once... not twice, but THREE friggin times...

I was trying to send out an informative message, I replied all... he was the only one who thought it was personal and rushed to conclusions and whats not! I had to tell him in the end that I was NOT in the state of mind to argue and blocked him!

I only regret one thing.... I should have blocked him 3 emails ago! LOL

LightWedge LED Book Light

Vintage Ads

Yawning!

I was reading "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell and got tired/sleepy/dizzy because of the following...

"Have you ever thought about yawning, for instance? Yawning is a surprisingly powerful act. Just by reading the two yawns in the previous two sentences--and the two additional yawns in this sentence--a good number of you will probably yawn within the next few minutes. Even as I'm writing this I've yawned twice. If you're reading this in a public place, and you've just yawned, chances are that a good proportion of everyone who saw you yawn is now yawning too, and a good proportion of the people watching the people who watched you yawn are now yawning as well, and on and on, in a ever-widening, yawning circle.

Yawning is incredibly contagious. I made some of you reading this yawn simply by writing the word "yawn". The people who yawned when they saw you yawn, meanwhile, were infected by the sight of you yawning--which is a second kind of contagion. They might even have yawned if they only heard you yawn, because yawning is also aurally contagious: if you play an audio-tape of a yawn to blind people, they'll yawn too. And finally, if you yawned as you read this, did the thought cross your mind--however unconsciously and fleetingly--that you might be tired? I suspect that for some of you it did, which means that yawns can also be emotionally contagious. Simply by writing the word, I can plant a feeling in your mind. Can the flu virus do that? Contagiousness, in other words, is an unexpected property of all kinds of things, and we have to remember that if we are to recognize and diagnose epidemic change."

The Battle

Which one do you believe in....

"Absence make the heart grow fonder"

or..... "Out of sight out of mind"??

Red Carpet Event

A la Arabian Style!!!!

More Random Thoughts! (More of Rants :-P)

Problem is I am a bit on the edgy side these days hehehe! So no room for bright happy posts I guess! Is that a problem? No! Its my blog and I'll cry if I want to! X-P

I order from Coffee Republic a lot at work! My food/drinks get delivered in a timely manner! I've noticed they bring in the "expected" exact change with them when they deliver! Say my order is KD2.800, the delivery guy will have KD17.200 ready (so he can give you the exact change back starting from paying him KD20!) I also noticed that same thing with many restaurants I order from... Salad Creations, Q Cafe, Caribou... and many more

BUT NOT HOLIDAY INN - Downtown!

See... I mostly order through 6alabat just because I find it easier for me to deal with them electronically rather than by phone! I can write whatever I want in the comments (such as no mayo, brown bread instead..etc).. I am kind of documenting my order just in case, if something goes wrong... I have it documented! And plus its easier for them to read it rather than have me repeat it over and over, right?!

So the first time I ordered from Holiday Inn, the delivery guy was 200 fils short... so I was like thats ok. Next time I ordered I wrote a note "Please give back exact change for a payment of KD5.000)... he comes and hes 300 fils short!! The third time, he was 150 fils short but I told him I would wait! I was in a that mood! Yes! I wouldnt mind he walk around for as long as it takes for him to give me back my God damn 150 fils!!!

PS: This Holiday Inn incident happened some time ago! I dont even know why I posted about it NOW! LOL

474 Megapixel Image

As received by email!
Thanks Sara ;-)

**************

Here is a photo taken using a a panaroma image capturing device called gigapan created by the carnegie mellon university and a canon g10 camera.

The photographer had to click 220 snaps from that camera to get this complete view of the Obama's inaugural address. It took a macbook pro around 7hrs to process the complete image. The final size of the image is over 2GB.

Click here to look at the image. zoom in and see, you can easily kill several hours checking out all the faces there.

Super Mario

Random Thoughts!

ONE: How would you feel about someone who is clearly trying to test your stress level! Like testing his/her limits until you burst!? I am kinda stuck in such situation and as much as I try to smile back and be nice... it is still getting into me?? :-S

TWO: How would you feel when someone comes to you with simple-answer questions... and like come to you without being courteous enough to ask...

"Do you have a minute?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Are you busy?"

No... they just come and expect you to drop all for you to be free to help them out!

THREE: And how would you feel when someone ask you to check on something that you agree to check... and in return when you ask them to check from their side on something similar but they say its not in their area! Or they cant!?

FOUR: And how about when you see people taking credit for things you've done... as simple as good deeds, nice gestures, or even some things you've done!?

FIVE: Now imagine all that happen when your....
Stress levels are already SO HIGH,
You have personal problems (related to family health issues), and
You're not sleeping much

I keep on smiling and doing the best I can... I believe in Karma! I really do! So dont mess with me! Oh and I hurt myself while carrying loads of paper, talking on the phone, and holding my bag while going down the stairs...... OUCH!

Fettujani Salad

About the name... DONT ask! My sis named it this way cuz its Fettoush with Bathinjan (egg plants) salad that she came up with the recipe for!

Recipe:
2 diced large cucmbers
2 medium size tomatoes
1 cup shredded lettuce
Parsley (as much as you like)
1 LARGE cubed egg plant and fried in olive oil
1 pomegranate
Green olives (as much as you like)

! pita bread cut into small fried (or in the oven) - squared

Dressing:
1 tbs dibbs Arruman (Thick pomegranate sticky sauce)
1 lemon juice
1 tbs white vinegar
3 tbs olive oil
Summac
1/2 tsp Salt
(Mix all the dressing ingredients and set aside)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients (without the bread) together. Add dressing and garnish with bread.


Oh... and you can use chives at the end for garnish ;-)


Enjoy!

For more recipes, join Ansam's Kitchen Facebook Group

Wataniya @ Infoconnect '09