i received this picture from rose who was at arraya with her girlfriends - they spotted this store called "bel air" in english but apparently, and rightfully, they cracked-up at the arabic translation! this is rose's first official post at our blog and frankly we didn't expect anything less!
by the way rose, this is the wife posting so spare the jokes with my husband!
i was at arraya the other day and spotted these cute collectibles at home selection - right at the entrance, you can find two collections, the coots collection (senior men) and the biddys (senior women).
some of the figurines are really funny, like this senior punk saying "aging ain't for sissies", he looks hilarious! the below figurine is also quite cute and funny, it says "a bit older but still a heart-breaker".
these figurines are sold at 10.5 kd, though i found the same on the net for as little as $17 - you can check prices for coots here and biddys here.
i was at arraya a couple of days ago where i came across this awesome pvilion exhibition by kuwait university's college of architecture.
there were 2 wooden structures, one inspired by sea urchins and the other y a slinky -the sea urchin is a modular structure consisting of a group of units with different sizes, giving a naturalistic inconsistency orienting themselves into a dome - as for the slinky, it is inspired by the inability of a snail to hear, reacting to the vibration of sounds on her outer shell - similarly, this wooden structure is an interpretation of the sight of sound.
if you happen to be in the vicinity of arraya, do visit the ground level where both structures are exhibited - they are amazing and you have to check them out, they're like a fresh breeze of creativity!
crêpe café has been closed for most of the winter, but i thought this was only seasonal - unfortunately, i passed by arraya today and saw the signs off the booth, so it is a complete shut-down!
too bad, i loved their crêpes! see our post a year ago meet crêpe café's omelets.
i visited horeca's exhibition (hotels, restaurants, cafés) yesterday and what a disappointment! to start with, you can't simply walk in, you are stopped cold at the entrance and redirected to a side table where you're asked to give a business card and wait for a few minutes for data entry - then your personalized entry card is printed, which by the way, i had to assemble myself and attach to the lanyard - once this is done, you are welcomed in and given a bag full of brochures, which feels light for the first 3 minutes, but soon becomes a real burden!
as for the participants, i wasn't impressed at all, there was nothing new, same old food products left right and center - perhaps starfruit had some cool vegetables and fruits, like these new colorful baby potatoes and the wide choice of fresh mushrooms, swiss, french, white, black.. you name it.
the fruit carving competition drew some crowd, and four films (printing press) stand was the most outstanding.
my understanding is that such events are the cradle for the latest inventions, cutting-edge technology and newest products, but what i saw was a far cry - so if you really, really, really, really bored, do visit the exhibition today, but i recommend you watch a movie instead or even take a long nap, it will do you some good!
christmas is in a couple of days and holiday decoration is starting to show in sporadic places - i'm sure you've noticed these lovely holiday napkins at caribou - i seriously love them! take a pen and try to fill in the blanks, you can come up with some nice stories, traditional or crazy, you decide - here are a couple of examples, one written by a friend (christine) and one by me - guess which one is which :)
i was at arraya center yesterday and spotted a photo exhibition by hessa almaian - i loved this picture which basically represents hessa's wishes that she hanged on a wire inside her room - i think this is a beautiful idea, not only it is a reminder of what we wish for, but also how often we make wishes - it reminds me of the japanese festival "tanabata", but on a more personal level.
hessa's exhibition ends thursday, so i wish her all the best!
chay shop is an online teacup shop that offers beautiful design cups & accessories, from trendy to traditional - chay shop is opening soon at arraya, mezzanine 2 - i personally loved the traditional teacups above - all the best!
most of the middle east is lagging behind a recovery in retail rents across the world, according to a new report published by consultants cushman & wakefield.
however, and according to the same report, the best ranked shopping locations in the middle east were the abc mall achrafieh in beirut, arraya mall in kuwait and city stars in cairo.
too bad arraya center still doesn't even have a website, but most importantly, how come other malls in kuwait are not even listed?
you can read more on arbian business.com
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i was having lunch yesterday at burger boutique arraya mall and learned from the waiter that the restaurant will close down the 1st week of july for renovation and resume operation after ramadan - is that why they were out of hot dogs and wet napkins?
back in february we made a post announcing the opening of paul & shark at arraya which you can read here - today we spotted the shop open for business so we walked in and checked the stuff out - first of all the official opening will be on june 5th and the shop is on a soft launch mode currently - as for the clothes they are really cool, but mostly targeting male, the female section is infinitesimal!
i think you'll love paul & shark - i for instance fell in love with this leather helmet... it is simply stunning! but more stunning were the prices, i spotted a couple of shirts ranging from 60 to 85 KD! that's damn expensive! well for me at least...
