Random Thursday {September 13}

What time is it? I know, I know. It's late and I'm still typing this entry away. The Pink Tarha is getting busy for the upcoming workshop. It's our first time to hold it so imagine the rush. That's next week, folks! And we're excited!!! 

Anyway, on to this day's random finds and photos...

Oh breakfast, what would we do without you? Chos. One of the most popular breakfasts in the city can be found in a furniture store. IKEA's SR6 breakfast is composed of two long sausages, beef breakfast, loaf bread, eggs, jam, and butter. Plus coffee and tea, of course. In my case, I pair it with cold iced tea. Greasy, cheap, filling... what more can you ask for? 

Posting photos of malls in Riyadh proves popular in our Facebook page. A few OFW kids who grew up in the city and are now back in th Philippines, or somewhere outside Saudi Arabia, are the ones who share these photos and say they miss it. The Faisaliah Mall's Ramadan decor proved to be popular garnering more than 50 likes and 30 shares. I'm sharing you Riyadh Gallery's fountains this time. It's a little oasis in the usually crowded shopping center.

Homaygahd, Jollibee's chicken joy! JOY, JOY, JOY! What more can I say? :)

This is the popular King Fahd Road. (Ehrmn, this Random Thursday entry is becoming a compilation of "popular" things. Hehe.) I took this one Ramadan morning and I couldn't believe it... the road is empty. EMPTY. This doesn't happen on an ordinary day. If you go out now, you'll be stuck in one of the worst traffic you'll ever be in the desert city. Oh well... let's charge it to a day in the life of a Riyadhizen. :P

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Eyecandy and our friend, KSA-born and raised Jamila, loves the kunafah, a traditional cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup. The one above is from Kusebasi and it's quite good. The cheese is chewy and the long threads of "noodles" were crunchy. I'm not fond of Arabic sweets because they're soooo sweet! Proof? How about soaked in sweet syrup? As in soaked?! Haha.

That's it for today. Hope to be churning more entries this week! :) ~ Sundrenched

Home Centers of Riyadh

A reader was asking where to buy home decors and what we did during the Eid vacation came to mind.

If you may recall, we had ideas on how to spend your "staycation" at home. Those weren't just suggestions for you. We also did them, especially the organizing and decorating of our rooms and the many things on it. Eyecandy who acquired a new room was excited to paint and decorate it according to her "bohemian" theme. Being the supportive friends that we are (haha, "enablers"), we spent one day with her looking for decors and lightings for her room. We went to two of the biggest home centers in Riyadh and did we find what we were looking for? Yes and more! Er, except one.

First up, from 10am to 3pm, is IKEA in Exit 14. This one needs no further introduction. We featured it a long time ago but for today, let me show you the items that got our attention...

We love this bed, with a pull-out bed. And the floral sheets.

For the vibrant colors snob. Love the mirror.

Huge painting for your bare walls.

More paintings...

A neat bathroom fixture. Love this for a condo unit.

I saw this polka-dotted sofa so I decided to put my polka-dotted bag too. HAHA!

Not ordinary plywood. These are tables, minus the feet. 

The warehouse... now where do I find (fill in the blank)?

Our filled trolley

IKEA has fabulous, modern, and minimalist items that are affordable. I would not divulge how much Eyecandy spent in IKEA that day. It's enough to elicit coughs and throat clearing from all of us but what can we say? She has a fabulous room now. Also, she got me the Vika Amon table for my birthday. With a chair to boot. Yey! Ever since I first set foot in IKEA, it's been my dream to get one but I somehow manage to evade buying it. I had to organize and re-arrange some of my stuff too just to accommodate a "study corner" in my room. Lovely!

PROS:
- Modern, functional designs
- Inspirational and kid-friendly showroom
- Easy to take home in slim packages
- Easy to assemble products
- Delivery and assembly
- IKEA restaurant and snack bar 

CONS:
- Limited themes
- Far from city center
- Flimsy products (some)

There's one thing missing from our IKEA trip that Eyecandy needs badly and that is a lamp. Yes, a LAMP. So, we asked our friendly driver Mr. Joy to take us to Home Centre in King Abdullah Road.

Glass wares and candles

In different themes like this red/black Japanese style

Floor lamp with an Arabic feel

Solo chairs and pillows in vibrant, bohemian designs

Ball decors perfect for Xmas trees? Hehe.

Who uses these?

The pink tarha sofa. HAHA. 

Who doesn't need flowers in their homes?

Home Centre is Centrepoint's lifestyle home store. It has a variety of home decors, lighting fixtures, kitchen wares, pillows, and furniture sets for the living room and dining area. It's a complete shop that will give you more designs and choices according to the theme you're envisioning. Bohemian? Mod? Oriental? Wood? Their prices are affordable too. E got a few pillow cases to complete the look of her room. Unfortunately, we still didn't get the table lamp she was looking for.

PROS: 
- Lots of choices and variety
- Products/stuff organized according to theme and colors
- More than one branch in Riyadh; one is in city center
- Assembly and delivery
- Centrepoint Department Store and Lifestyle

CONS:
- Limited space
- Narrow aisles for furniture sets
- Can't try some products/furniture

All in all, we enjoyed visiting these home centers. They gave us more insights and ideas on how to re-decorate our rooms here in Riyadh, and our own future homes in the Philippines (ehermn). If the choices in IKEA and Home Centre aren't enough for you, you can also check out Abu Riyalin and Haraj. You might wonder why do we even put so much effort in decorating a room in a house that we're just renting? Hey, even if that's not our own room, we still spend more than half of our abroad life in the rooms and flats. We like to claim it as our own for the time being and lend our personalities to it. You should too! ;) ~ Sundrenched

IKEA Riyadh
Exit 16, Eastern Ring Road
See map here
T: +966-1-2442233
E: infoRyd@ikea.com.sa
Store Hours: 10:00am - 12:00mn (Sat-Thu) / 4:00pm-12mn (Fri)

Home Centre Riyadh
King Abdullah Road
T: +966-1-4554879
Exit 9, Imam Saud Bin Abdul Aziz
T: +966-1-2786452
Othaim Mall, Khurais Road
T: +966-1-2338214

Random Thursday {August 30}

We're introducing a new section in the blog called "Random Thursday." It will feature anything under Riyadh's sun. Remember when we said we take a lot of photos? Well, I do! And I have a lot of random photos of things (food, places, stuff, etc) on my phone. I want to share them with you every Thursday. Who knows, someone out there needs whatever it is I'm featuring? Haha. It will also serve as a filler entry for the week because I rarely write entries on a Thursday, when every one, including your Pink Tarha ladies, are sleeping until the wee hours of the afternoon morning.

This cute polka dot pattern came from Kitsch Cupcakes' box. If you haven't seen a Kitsch's box for their cupcakes, it's long and filled with this pretty pattern. It's interesting enough to serve as a wallpaper for your phone. Or just something nice to look at.

I was browsing the aisles of Whites Pharmacy in Riyadh Gallery when I saw this ermn, "Virginity Soap" from YC. If you look closely at the list of effects it promises, there's "tightening". I have no idea how it can do that! Haha.

I saw this very pretty wall photo in IKEA last Eid holiday. It's so dainty! Perfect for your white or light pink walls. It's priced at SR39. I was tempted to buy it for my room's re-decoration plan but I have other ideas for my white, empty wall. ;)

Ate in Sushi Yoshi for the nth time last Eid with Eyecandy and our friend Jamila. Can't resist ordering something with octopus, because I haven't had anything with octopus in Sushi Yoshi. Ever. So, this octopus gyunkan was my choice. It wasn't great tasting or anything. Just ordinary. I love the spicy sauce though. If I could take home a jar of it, I'll be the happiest girl ever, and I promise to eat my green salad all the time.

This is the best mug ever... because it speaks of what happened (still happening) to my money here in the city. Hahaha. Oh, and yes, it's literally just 1/2 of a mug (shaped like half moon). Available in Camel Corner for SR10.

Want more colors in your life? This lush chair is a quilt of colors! So loud and vibrant, perfect for your boring living room. I would have bought this if I still have space for it in my room... and if I have SR2000+ in my wallet. Too bad, my wallet, like my wall, is empty. Available in Home Centre, King Abdullah Road.

Yesterday afternoon, it was drizzling. It's the first sign of "rain" in the desert since summer started. I was telling the ladies that it took 5 months' worth of evaporated water for the clouds to deliver because there's little water in Saudi Arabia's surface. The drizzle was short but it produced this very nice vision in the sky. Took this at an intersection in Takhassosi Street going to Mecca Road.

So there's our first Random Thursday. Anything caught your attention? I couldn't move on from that Virginity soap. Someone tell me it works! Hahaha. So funny.

www.ikea.com.sa

Last Wednesday, we went to IKEA, the largest home furnishing store in Riyadh. A Dutch Kamprad family originally owned it.

When we’re still in IKEA's parking lot, two muttawas walking behind us approached and told us to cover our hair and wear our tarhas. I opened my bag and took out my tarha in a very calm manner but since I was still walking without the tarha on my head, the Muttawa kept on saying "cover your hair!". So I wore my tarha and apologized. The muttawa replied:

Muttawa: “Okay”

and I said again..

Me: “Sorry ha.”

He just smiled at me and proceeded to the IKEA store.

My friend who with us that day told me that whenever someone says sorry to the religious police, they become courteous.

Anyway, enough of my story.

Take a look at some stolen shots I’ve taken in the IKEA showroom:

A combination of white and black, not bad.

Color it red.

I love it when its pink.

I wish i have a small study room in our house.

I will take photos again of the wonderful furniture and stuff IKEA offers when we come back one of these days.

Trivia:

IKEA is an acronym of the initials of the founder’s name Ingvar Kamprad, the farm where he grew up Elmtaryd and his home country Agunnaryd in Sweden.

Anatomy of a Shawarma

Because the Pink Tarha Team is craving (madly) for shawarma today, here's a look at the innards of the most famous Middle Eastern spiced meat sandwich:

The Shawarma.

It may look unappetizing and unappealing on the photo (even verging on "gross" for the clueless) but this humble wrap packs a lot of wonderful ingredients and flavors. Seasoned and marinated shawarma meat (chicken in photo but can be beef, lamb, goat...whichever you prefer) is roasted and then shaved off a large rotating cone of layered meat (I'm one with you in wondering how they debone and stuck the meat flat in there). Pieces of the meat are then sliced off and served in a folded pita bread with garnishes and condiments (mostly fries, pickles, and garlic mayonnaise).

You'll never have a hard time spotting a shawarma stall in the Kingdom. They're everywhere! See the shawarma servers do their thing in a flash! They're so fast they can feed an army in no time! Mama Noura Restaurant near the King Fahd Medical City, IKEA's snack stall in Exit 17, and Assaraya Restaurant in Thalatheen street are famous for having the most delicious shawarmas in the city. (Contenders anyone?)