Happy Birthday XTR:

Dear XTR,

I would like to wish you a very very very Happy Birthday. You have been my best friend for a very long time (it's exactly 19 years since we've known each other) and I can't thank you enough for being there for me. You were always there for me, whenever I wanted to talk, you supported me with everything I have done, You even introduced me to blogging and to many other things like Heroes, Roswell, Gossip Girl and so on.....

We still have many things in common. And we're always meeting up almost every weekend. Well it has come to my attention that your 22nd Birthday is right around the corner and I would like to wish you a very Happy Birthday again.

From

Your Best Friend

Retrotrut :D

P.S: Don't forget about dinner on Saturday for Iftar :D

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Coming Soon To A Blog Near You: Retro's Famous Mouthwatering Vanilla Cake.

How do I make my cakes nice & soft? What are my special ingredients that I put on my cake?

Retro's Icing Tips?

ALL of that to be revealed soon!

Ramadan Kareem:

Just thought XTR & I would wish you a Ramadan Kareem. As you can see, I have just added a better picture of the moon. Notice the message ^__^

Retro's Life:

Now the summer vacation is coming to an end. No more fun times anymore, it's just time to hit the books and start to say hello to exams and quizzes. *sigh* do I love summer vacation. Who doesn't like it? I'm sure there are over a million people who love it and hate it. Well it's their choice, whether or not to like it but does that mean that we should like doing quizzes and tests. Of course not!

Oh man, this is one of the saddest days in history, since the summer vacation is coming to an end. Why do all good things come to an end? By this coming Sunday, it's time to say hello to the new semester of college/university and start suffering.

Retro's Homemade Vegetarian Pasta:

There are so many types of pasta, so go ahead and pick one

Today I will give you my recipe on how to prepare one of my famous vegetarian pasta's. There are over 10 ways in how I make my pasta. I will be showing you one way on how to make it.

Ingredients:

• Pasta of your choice (Curly, straight or even tagliatelle...)
• 2 different brands of pasta sauces (I would highly recommend you get Ragu Pasta Sauce & Prego. It gives your pasta a nice taste)
• mustard
• 10 garlic cloves that are crushed(extremely important
• 2 large onions
• tomato paste
• lemon juice
• salt
• black pepper
• Freshly cut mushrooms
• Assorted peppers
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• basil (very important)
• ketchup
• Green Peas (important)
• Squash
• Asparagus
• Carrots
• Olive Oil

Preparation:

First you take a bowl and you just add the 2 diffrent types of sauces you bought (Ragu's Chargrilled Vegetables and Prego Bolognese Sauce) and then you mix it with the crushed garlic, some thyme, some rosemary, some basil, some lemon juice. Then after you mix that, you should add some ketchup & mustard to it. Don't add a lot of ketchup & mustard or else it will taste bad. Just add about 2 table spoons of both and 1 table spoon of tomatoe paste and to top it off, you should add about 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top and then continue to mix it with the spoon. While that you're mixing that, make sure that you are boiling your pasta in a seperate pot.

Now for the next pot, you will need to boil the rest of the vegetables on the list of the ingredients. Don't boil all until you slice them into thick slices and you should chop the onions with the squash seperatly. The chopped squash and onions will be added soon.

Once the pasta is almost done boiling, you can then take the boiled vegetables and add them into the pot of boiling pasta . You can tell once the pasta is almost donw boiling by seeing the water evaporating into the air. Now once you have done that simply, add the pasta sauce into the pot of pasta & vegetables and then add the chopped onions & squash into it and keep mixing it. Let it keep cooking for about at least 15 minutes.

Once it's done cooking, you may serve it in a serving bowl. This will serve for at least 5 people or more.

This Recipe can be used to share with your friends and families :)

Technical Problems Affecting My Life:

Ever since I came back to Dubai, I have been having so many technical problems. I think that now with all the high tech gadgets and things, that ALL those technological items hate me.
Here is a brief summary of what has happened to me ever since I came back from my holidays:

• My desktop computer has stopped working (I will be explaining these issues in details)
• My satellite box has stopped working (Thanks a lot Showtime & Orbit :@ )
• My Internet has literally been driving me crazy (I hate you Etisalat, you and your so called "good services". Hah!)
• My mobile has also been on the fritz (Talk to Etisalat's services)

All those points that I have just mentioned has been bothering me for the past couple of days.
My Desktop Computer:
My desktop computer is my main computer that I use (other than my laptop) for doing my university assignments, printing papers and who could forget play some games (The Sims 2, Spore & Simcity Societies and of course surf the Internet). Now all that has changed. When I came back to Dubai, I had decided that I was going to use my desktop PC to play my games and of course the computer was running normally for about 2 days. I had decided that I was going to play my games for about 3 to 4 hours max and not more than that and then of course something happened the very next day.The very next day my desktop computer was running normally and I had decided to check my email before I went to sleep, so I checked my mail and then I went to sleep. Suddenly at around 4:20 AM in the morning, my computer started making a lot of noise but I was confused since the Internet was off, it was still making a lot of noise. So I woke up and I went and clicked on the start button and then clicked "shutdown without updates" and I pressed that and the computer shutdown safely.The very next day, I went to switch on the PC and my PC started to make 3 beeping sounds and then it turned off without me touching the PC. So I was confused with all this and I called the repairman (who didn't bother showing up on Thursday but he will come hopefully on Saturday) and I explained the problem to him on the phone and he told me that the RAM and the video card might be a little loose, so he will come and fix it. So I asked him what was I supposed to do? He said just switch the PC off my the power outlet and don't touch it till he comes to see it. And I did, eventually the PC got worse as I had decided to check whether or not it would work today but it didn't, and I think the video card burnt out *sigh*.Let's talk about Showtime:
Showtime offers everyone a great variety of movies and shows to watch but now they have recently merged with Orbit. Now for the past few months my Showtime satellite box has been running normally until Wednesday, when it decided to quit on me. Now the box is making a loud buzzing sound, louder than ever and to make things worse, the satellite box keeps restarting ALL the time and the buzzing sound keeps getting louder. I already called and cussed the daylights out of Showtime and I told them that I was unhappy with their service. Of course they are finally going to change it sometime this week.

Etisalat: The Biggest Frauds EVER
Oh Etisalat, you are one of the worst services I have ever used in my entire life. Your phone services suck, and your Internet services are ridiculous. So please just stop lying to everyone about your worthless services. Let me tell you what I think of your Internet services.
Your Internet services are one of the WORST services I have ever used here and just to be blunt, you guys are blocking almost the ENTIRE Internet. Well if you wanted to block ALL the Internet, then why did you bother getting the Internet services in the first place. Sure, I understand that you don't want people to look at explicit content and illegal content but does that mean you have to block sites such as the PMBD and certain news sites. Say hello to Simslice, you guys even blocked that, when there was NOTHING bad with it and I had to send you over a 10000000 messages just to tell you to unblock it and you didn't bother unblocking it until 3 weeks later and what about the PMBD, when are you planning to unblock that site? Don't worry, the ENTIRE world goes on that site for "oh I don't know" downloading some items for your SIMS and this is how you treat the Simmers Society. Well if I had to dedicate a song to you I would dedicate that song by Lilly Allen -#### You Very Much!
Now let's also talk about your Wireless Internet. What does a wireless Internet give you? it gives you Internet access on your wireless devices, am I right? Now imagine, people are paying to use their Internet services and just think, what would happen if you are spending a lot of money to use something that doesn't even work. That is money down the drain and with Etisalat they guarantee "Great Services". Well the Internet connection down in Jumeirah Sucks BIG time. So If you guys have anything to say about that? Please be my guest and say it because You guys are Thieves.
Also you guys say that your phone services are amazing and you also say that you can hear EVERYTHING whenever you call someone, you will be able to hear everything. Well I'm sorry but that is not true at all. For example, if a person goes to any public place such as the mall, their signal for the phone is really weak and why is that? The answer is that simple. It's bad service.
Now another thing, let me ask everyone on this blog. Who here thinks that Etisalat's international calls are expensive *everyone raises their hands*
OK We understand that if you call the U.S and you talk for about 30 minutes it's going to cost around 20 Dirhams but let's call Dubai's next door neighbor Saudi Arabia. "Hello Saudi Arabia, Yes I would like to inform you that for every minute I talk to you. It's going to cost me 10 Dirhams per minute. It seems that my phone services is ripping people off, ALL the time".

I feel that Etisalat's services are just unfair with everything (even their prices). Come on Saudi Arabia is Dubai's next Door's Neighbor and they are just ripping us off. Well What they should do is move Dubai next to the U.S, because then in that way the price will be cheaper than ever. I meant that in a metaphorical way about moving Dubai. Not literally speaking!

Retro's Homemade Baked Chicken Thighs:

Ingredients:

• 2 packs of raw chicken thigh, either with the skin or without
• 1 pack of fresh mushrooms
• assorted peppers -red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers & orange peppers (it's not spicy)
• 2 onions
• 2 large tomatoes - boiled
• 7 garlic cloves - crushed
• 1 Maggie vegetable cube
• Barbeque sauce
• ketchup
• honey mustard
• 3 drops of soya sauce
• salt
• black pepper
• basil
• rosemary
• thyme
• sesame seed oil
• 1 tea spoon of lemon juice
• worcestershire sauce
• 16 string beans
• 2 large carrots

Marinating The Chicken Thighs:

First you take the raw chicken thighs and you wash it and then put it in a large bowl (I recommend using a steel bowl). Then you start adding 2 table spoons of ketchup to it, then 2 table spoons of mustard, add about 1 tea spoon on thyme and rosemary and at least sprinke some basil on to the chicken. Then you should add a 3 drops of soya sauce and then splash some lemon juice on to the chicken and then you should add about 2 tea spoons of Worcestershire sauce (for the flavor).

After adding all of that, you then should start mixing it with your hands, not with the spoon. While you're mixing it dump some garlic into it, it will make the chicken nice and tender.

Retro's Special Chicken Sauce:

OK for this you will need to use some vegetables. Take the carrots, string beans, mushrooms and 1 onion and start slicing it into thin slices but don't make it so then until it's transparent. While you're slicing that, make sure you have a blender next to you. Add the sliced vegetables into the blender and then add about 4 table spoons of water and then add the vegetable cube into the blender as well and start blending it until the vegetables turn into a liquid substance. Make sure it's not too watery because then you will have to cook it for a longer time. Then you should add the boiled tomatoes into the blender with it so that it will improve the flavor as well.

Once you finished blending the sauce, you should get ready to put it into a baking tray. Now for the baking tray, you must simply cut some pieces of the assorted sweet peppers into long slices and you should also cut the onion into that way as well and then just spread it around the tray. After that you should then add the chicken thighs on to of it, followed by the sauce of the chicken and the special sauce. If you have any more extra mushrooms, you should then add it on top of the sauce for decoration.

Once you've done that, you should then stick the chicken into the oven and cook it for about 2 hours. You should cook it for at least half an hour with out the cover on the tray and then the rest of the time, it should be covered. The temperature should be around 180 degrees C.

Once the chicken is done cooking, you may serve the chicken in a plate and then you can eat it. It has enough servings for about 5 - 8 people. This will taste better with bread and if you want you can serve it with rice.

Note: If the chicken tastes like it still needs to be cooked, stick it back into the oven and let it cook for about another hour. Make sure you DON'T burn the chicken!!!!!

Coming Soon:

Retro's Homemade vegetarian pasta - to be released on the 26th of August

Retro's Homemade Fruit Salad -to be released on the 5th of September

Retro's Death by Chocolate cake to be released on the 1st of October

Retro's Crazy Cooking Ideas:

This Ramadan, expect to see some more of my recipes posted on my blog. I will be posting some new recipes that are really easy to make and it doesn't require much skills. Anyone can cook, so try out my recipes and tell me what you think of them.

Here are some more recipes to look out for:

Retro's Homemade vegetarian pasta - to be released on the 26th of August

Retro's Homemade Fruit Salad -to be released on the 5th of September

Retro's Death by Chocolate cake - to be released on the 12th of September

Retro's Chocolate Chip Cookies - to be released on the 17th of September

Retro's Death By Chocolate Brownies - to be released on the 29th of September

and much much more. Expect to see some more recipes on December.

All of these recipes are NOT found in any cookbook and it's not located anywhere else online except on my blog!

Retro's Homemade Death By Chocolate Mousse:

A chocolate a day makes you happy, healthy and wise and it will help you to relax and play

Here are the ingredients for my homemade chocolate mousse:

• 150 grams of marshmallows
• 50 grams of salted butter
• 290 grams of Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips
• half a cup of water
• 280 ml of whipping cream that is whipped
• Shredded chocolate flakes
• 2 bananas
• 1 small box of McVites digestive biscuits
• 3 large spoons of Milk Powder

Garnish:

• toasted almond flakes
• Nesquick chocolate powder

Preparation:

On the stove, put together the marshmallows and the butter and the chocolate chips and the hot water until the marshmallows and the chocolate chips have disappeared. While you're doing that start making the whipped cream. In the whipped cream add at least 1 large spoon of dry milk powder to enhance the taste. Note: the chocolate chips and marshmallows tend to burn easily, so make sure you heat it by using low fire on a gas cooker.

Remove from the stove and carefully mix it in the whipped whipping cream.Then add the chocolate sprinkles on to it and then keep it to cool for 3 hours.

After 3 hours you then slice the bananas and crush the biscuits and mix it in the mousse, then you keep it to cool for 1 more hour.

After an hour, you then garnish the mousse with the chocolate powder and the toasted almonds. Then you serve it cold.

Note: Do not keep it to cool overnight because then the mousse will harden and it would have been a waste of time to make this.

Coming Soon:

Retro's Homemade baked chicken - to be released on the 20th of August

Retro's Homemade vegetarian pasta - to be released on the 26th of August

Retro's Homemade Fruit Salad -to be released on the 5th of September

Retro's Death by Chocolate cake to be released on the 1st of October

Note: This dessert contains nuts and milk, so if you're allergic to any of these try another recipe of mine :)

Do NOT replace the milk with water as it will ruin the whipped cream.

You CAN avoid adding the almonds, if you're allergic to it!

Ramadan Kareem:

"RAMADAN KAREEM "

From XTR & Retrotrut

Ramadan Preperations:

As you all know the Holy Month Of Ramadan is right around the corner and this means that there will be NO music and there is going to be a list of changes made on my blog. The list follows:

• ALL music will be disabled until the Eid Holidays
• No SWEARING allowed during this month
• Less information on Dido & The Sims (basically it's like my previous blogger diet)
  
• More information on life in Dubai
• Quran Videos to replace "Music Bar"

and more things to be added on the list. All of this will take place as of TODAY!

Let's Talk About Dubai Mall:

Today, I had decided to go to the Dubai Mall and let me tell you this time they have really updated their stores. It's not like the Mall Of The Emirates, where it's just boring, the only good thing they have there is the Virgin Megastore and the Ski Dubai but that's it. Now Dubai Mall has finally opened some brand new stores. They have finally opened quite a few stores, and they have also opened what everyone has been waiting for. They opened the Cinema, SEGA Republic (which will be explained shortly), Geekay Games, The Gaming House and much more.

What is the SEGA Republic?

SEGA Republic is more like Nintendo World Store. It's basically like a SEGA store/ Theme park. Think of it like a smaller version of the Disney World but except minus the fact that it's less childish and more like you are in the actual gaming world. For all Sonic Fans, YOU should go to this amazing place!

Now other than that, KinoKuniya (The Thai Bookstore at Dubai Mall), has updated their books and magazines. You can now find almost everything here. You can find things from A-Z such as Computers to Japanses Mangas, Self Help Books to Fittness and Health, Comics to Prima Guides.

And the good thing about this bookstore is that they sell Prima Guides, not like Magrudy's or Borders. Who don't sell those and they always tell you "I'm sorry sir/madam, we do not sell those books".

SEGA Republic Information: Catch a glimpse of SEGA Republic, the 76,000 square foot indoor theme park coming to The Dubai Mall this summer.

Timings: Open during mall hours; Location: Level 2, Food Court.

Coming Soon to Dubai Mall:

Bloomingdales -February 2010

Next Gen Game -TBA

Debenhams -August 2009

More coming soon!

Where On Earth Is Retrotrut?

OK, so I have been going around Europe for almost 2 weeks and I have been moving so much that I haven't been able to update my blog, as you can see I have blogwebs (also known as cobwebs but it's virtual blogwebs here on my blog) all over my blog. Not to worry I will be clearing them shortly, once I return back to the U.A.E. I will definitely clear up all the mess on my blog.

Where have I been in Europe during this summer?

I have been to:

• Munich, Germany
• Salzburg, Austria
• Zell Em See, Austria
• Zurich, Switzerland
• Lake Geneva, Geneva
• Lake Leman in Evian, France

and thats about it. Now I'm by Lake Leman and I'm going to spend about one more night here and then I am heading to London for 2 days and then I come back to Dubai. I will be back on the 15th of August 2009.

Note: There will be no pictures published until I get back to Dubai due to internet issues.

The Sims 3: World Adventures

What is this? People across all many gaming forums (mainly The Sims Forums) have been talking about what will be the next expansion packs. Some people say that it should be about "work related things" or "travelling related things". Well EA has finally answered all their fans. They have officially announced a new expansion pack and it's called "The Sims 3: World Adventures". And this ladies & gentlemen will be released worldwide on November 16 2009.
For more information, please check out this interview. It seems that IGN had managed to get an interview with EA Producer Lyndsay Pearson. The link is found here.

Note: These pictures were taken from Snooty Sims.

Dido Answers Your Questions:

To whom do you dedicate your success?

Dido replies: There's a few people but one of the main ones is my brother Rollo. He brings a lot of joy into what I do. To be able to work so happily together has made this an amazing experience from the beginning for me. A combination of being so much fun working together and also the fact that when he criticises me (which older brothers do) it just spurs me on to write an even more beautiful song if I can. Sometimes I feel like his brain has all the parts mine is missing. We're working together at the moment on the next album and I'm loving every minute.

What is your favourite board game?

Dido replies: Scrabble. All my friends hate it apart from one. So no one will play with me. I miss it.

How many songs do you have on your iPod?

Dido replies: 14,336.

Energy 52 Remixes

This video is one of the longest videos I found on Youtube and this is just all the remixes of Energy 52's "Cafe Del Mar". This is all the songs remixed from the year 1993 till 2008. The video that you are about is at least one hour long. So take your time and enjoy these songs.