Green Island, Kuwait City

Spent Christmas morning with my family at the Green Island in Kuwait City.

The famous Kuwait Towers

The park reminded me of the Quezon City Circle where people can rent bikes.

The park was pretty empty, I guess everybody else was busy celebrating Christmas at home or at their relatives'/friends' houses.

OHANA ♥  

My ass-grabbing parents :))))

The weather was perfect that day.. Not too cold, not too warm. Just right.
There weren't too many people around and it almost felt like we had the park all to ourselves.
I really had a lot of fun with my whole family that day.. Thankful that we got to celebrate Christmas together.. ♥

Johnny Carino's, Kuwait City

Christmas day for my family wasn't anything too grand. We had breakfast together, drove to Green Island and then had lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant in Q8-- Johnny Carino's.
I love the fact that their restaurant is located just along the beach. You can enjoy strolling around after having a nice meal. :)

One of the MANY things that we adore about this place is the complementary herb bread that they serve right after they take your order. I think my family is well known in this restaurant for ordering too much of this stuff. We just can't get enough of it! They ALWAYS serve it fresh off the oven.

 The herb bread also comes with a small plate of olive oil.

Olive oil with toasted garlic

 For appetizers, we ordered the following:

HONEY-PECAN SALMON - KD 5.400
Marinated Salmon Fillet with a honey-pecan crust over chopped romaine, tossed in a tangy lemon vinaigrette with sundried tomatoes, red onions, capers and roma tomato wedges.

COMBO APPETIZER - KD 5.200
A triple treat combination of fried calamari, sicilian fire sticks and fresh fried mozzarella served with spicy bold marinara sauce and ranch dressing.

 This stuffed mushrooms is DEFINITELY our #1 choice from their selection of appetizers. :)

BAKED STUFFED MUSHROOMS - KD 4.000
Mushrooms stuffed with three kinds of cheeses, fresh spinach, red onions and freshly chopped garlic topped with lemon basil cream sauce garnished with freshly diced roma tomatoes and fresh basil strips.

 As for the main course, we had the following:

SMOKED TURKEY AND BACON PANINI - KD 3.850
Grilled sandwich with smoked turkey ham and beef bacon, gorgonzola, mozzarella cheese and fresh roma tomatoes.

 SUPER CREAMY FETTUCINE!

CHICKEN FETTUCCINE - KD 4.500
An Italian classic sliced grilled chicken sauteed and tossed with fettuccine in a creamy romano cheese sauce.

It's really difficult to choose which is the best because everything from their menu is absolutely mouth-watering. But if I had to pick just one... It would be this dish.

JALAPENO GARLIC CREME DORI - KD 5.400
Fillet of creme Dori pan- sauteed with fresh garlic, diced roma tomatoes, jalapenos and spinach in lemon butter cream sauce over a bed of angel hair pasta.

I also have to complement them for having the friendliest staff and also, you don't have to wait for ages before you get your food. :) Excellent service!

Their servings are quite big too so their prices are definitely worth it.


Ambiance ★★★★★
Food ★★★★★
Service ★★★★★



Johnny Carino's is located at the Arabian Gulf Street (near McDonald's), facing 3rd Ring Road, Exit No. 5.
Open on weekdays at 11:00 AM to 12 mn and weekends from 11:00 AM to 1:00 AM.

The Ring

Last night, I was chatting with one of my guy friends who is planning to propose to his girlfriend before the year ends. And because I'm a girl, he thought of asking me some details about what would make his girlfriend happy and if I had any idea on how much its gonna cost him. LOL :)))

The first thing I told him was to take note of the 3 C's.. Cut, Color and Clarity. I went through all the trouble of explaining to him what that meant but after the discussion, I realized that I had no idea how much it actually costs.. So we went to the Tiffany & Co website and to be honest, I was so shocked to find out that diamond engagement rings cost about $12,000. That's about.... more than half a million pesos!!!! I mean, I know diamonds are expensive but I seriously didn't expect it to be THAT expensive. He almost had to re-think whether he was still gonna propose or not. It was so funny at the beginning but for a moment I thought, should you really delay/postpone your proposal just because you can't afford to buy her a diamond ring? What about all those people who really can't afford it even if they try to save up for it for a whole year? Does that mean they have no right to propose to a girl?

It made me think about the significance of an engagement ring... 

Would you require your man to propose to you with a ring? 

Does it have to be a diamond ring? 

What does an engagement ring mean to you?

My thoughts:

-I would really appreciate a proper proposal. Call me a hopeless romantic but I think it would be really sweet if a guy puts some effort in asking if you would like to go through the pain of child bearing and be his partner in everything for the rest of his life.

-I'm not saying that all girls who require a diamond ring are materialistic... but if he can't afford it and if he's going to get into a marriage with financial debt, then I think that he should consider other alternatives such as sapphires or rubies instead of diamonds. If he really can't afford any of that either, that's fine too.. Just as long as he is sure that he's financially ready to raise a family of his own. Some people opt to skip the engagement process anyway so.. to each his own.

-Not exactly sure what it means to me yet hahahaha but I would like to think that (since he has to save up before he can buy that ring), it's a symbol of how much a guy is willing to work hard just to make you a part of his life. It has to be something special so that every time she looks at it, she will be reminded of that special moment when you got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of your life with you.

Whether you're a guy or a girl, I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this.. So I hope you take the time to leave a comment!!! ♥ Hopefully your comments will help my friend decide on what he should do for his proposal. ;)

My Dream Wedding

A whole bunch of people I know have recently either gotten engaged or married or preggers.. Their pictures and invitations are all over Facebook! And I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like when my time finally comes.

I don't like anything too grande. I would like it to be just among family and the friends who have been such a huge part of my life and who have also witnessed my relationship with my very lucky future husband HAHAHAHA. 

But then again, what if he wants it to be a really big celebration and decides to invite the whole barangay? 

If someday I post an invitation on my blog, that's the time you'll find out if we went for the small, intimate ceremony or the grand big finals. :))

The dress..

It's all about the dress!!! Maybe it's just me, but everytime I find out about anybody getting married, its the dress that I always check out first. Forget the cheesy save-the-date videos, or the fancy invitations... Let's get real.. On your wedding day, everybody's focus is on the bride.. Who cares about what the groom is gonna wear? Hahahahaha I kid!!

But okay.. Seryoso na.. I have a lot of designers in mind.. Veejay Floresca for the gown and Mich Araullo for the entourage. 

But maybe I won't be in Manila by then? So what about a dress by Vera Wang (which will probably cost me $10,000)? Or who knows, maybe I'll just buy something off the rack ala Carrie Bradshaw? 

Whatever, I cannot be bothered by this at the moment. I don't wanna get too carried away.... yet.

The venue..

If you asked me about the venue 5 years ago, I would've answered the "BEACH" in a heartbeat. But now I'm not so sure anymore. I've seen a lot of beautiful garden weddings and the church weddings look pretty amazing too.. So I really don't know. I haven't put much thought into this yet.

So far, it looks like I have NO IDEA what my dream wedding is gonna be like.

But no matter how much I try to deny it.. the truth is, my dream wedding has been playing over and over in my head for a few years now.

I might not be sure of the venue, or how many guests I'll be inviting, or which designer will create my super amazing dress, but there are a few important details that I am 100% sure of.

Someday, when its finally my turn to walk down the aisle..

It's going to be like its just me and him in that room.. 

We're going to feel like we can't wait to start a new chapter in our lives together and there will be no feeling of pressure because "we've been together for too long" or "I need to have babies now!!"... It'll all be because

 "I love you so much and we worked SO hard for this moment to arrive and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you".

That wedding will be like a special prize we won for holding on to each other through thick and thin. 

I could care less of the venue, the guests or the dress..

On my dream wedding, I want the guy who loves me to be there and promise me that even if we get old and wrinkly, every single day with him will still feel like we just got married.

BAM!!!!!

That's my dream wedding.

And if it's not too much to ask, Lord please give us enough money to spend our honeymoon in Paris.

:D