Battle of the Instant Coffees

Instead of being depressed by the prevalence of instant coffee, I've decided to put the ridiculous number of instant coffees in this place to the test! Every 2-3 weeks, I'm going to buy a few new varieties of instant coffee. Then, I'll do a side-by-side comparison, as well as individual cups over the course of those weeks. And then, of course, I'm going to record my opinions/findings. The best of each set will then be put into sets for the final showdown(s) and then I'm going to post a huge review of my personal decision about the best instant coffee readily available in Dubai. Boom!

SET ONE: 

L to R: Davidoff Rich Aroma, Casino Gold and Tchibo Gold. 

I took a good whiff of all of them today, and the Casino definitely smells the worst. The Tchibo smells similar to the Davidoff, though less potent. All still have that hint of chemical smell, though the Casino has it the worst!

This morning, I had the Davidoff, which was miles better than the Nescafe Red Cup that it seems like everyone drinks out here. It was very sweet naturally, which I wasn't a huge fan of, but once I added some creamer it was actually palatable!

This weekend will be my first side-by-side taste test. But tomorrow, I'll be trying out the Casino Gold (with Davidoff in tow, just in case it is as bad as it smells). 

P.S. I'm just going to keep adding to this post as I go, so as to not explode this blog with Instant Coffee and also to keep it all in one place!

P.P.S. SCIENCE! OPINION!

I will be using the Ruth Scale of Instant Coffee-ness, where 1 is the Nescafe Red Cup flavor (blech) and 10 would be a coffee that's indistinguishable from freshly brewed coffee (probably unattainable).

Reviews (Set 1):

Davidoff (Rich Aroma): Much better than Red Cup. Naturally quite sweet, not very acidic. Smooth, but still a slight chemical flavor. RSIC: 6

Casino Gold: Flavor is very similar to Red Cup, though a little more acidic and bold. Strong chemical flavor right off. Not the winner of this set. RSIC: 2

Tchibo Gold: A step above Casino, but still that strange chemical taste I have learned to associate with instant coffees. Fairly balanced flavors, though somewhat mild. RSIC: 3

This set's winner was pretty clear. The Davidoff's flavor was the closest to that of regular coffee, though it still had those strange hints in the flavor profile that give away the instant-ness of it.

SET ONE WINNER: Davidoff (Rich Aroma)

Bought some Colombian Supremo and had it (drip) this (28/8) morning. I don't think I can drink all this instant all the time! But I will persevere on my quest!!

Mall of the Emirates

After Ibn Battuta Mall yesterday, and Mall of the Emirates today, I'm all mall-ed out for a bit! (Though I did get a lot of helpful housewares, and I'm sure I overlooked a lot of things.)

Mall of the Emirates was like Caesar's Palace on the strip. A classier mall than IB Mall, and also about 3 times bigger! MoE is the mall with the indoor ski slope: 

Tiny luge and little buildings.

That's the slope. Probably takes 10-20 seconds to go down.

I didn't go skiing here. Seemed like setting myself up for disappointment after only ever skiing in Utah. But I did meander around (took about 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other!), and went to a a HomeCentre (like a British Ikea) and Carrefour (a huge France-based WalMart-type shop) to get more things to make living more comfortable. Tried to find a Roku for my TV, which turned out to be impossible! Sooooo I may just wait and get a PS instead of spending $ on a crappy WD streaming device or the Apple TV. 

The center of the mall had this huge train-station-like dome with skylights and ornate tiling everywhere. Much more elegant and classy than the IB Mall's crazy domes!

My coworkers are much more used to this and kept walking, so I only had time to snap one picture!

I didn't take a picture, but the mall has these ramp-escalators, which were super cool when combined with using a cart! The carts magnetically stuck to the ramp surface, so it didn't roll down the ramp as you got conveyed up or down a level. I love science. 

Tomorrow is the first day of regular inservice meetings (time to meet ALL the coworkers, not just the new-to-CAS ones)! Also, I get my class schedule (finally) and get to meet my Science department head! 

Ibn Battuta Mall

Remember how I said malls aren't just for teenagers? That was an understatement!! There are over 15 malls in Dubai alone and the two biggest are the Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall. And today I'm going to the MoE.

I went to one of the "smaller" malls yesterday, and it was huge! The ornate decor reminded me a lot of the casino malls in Vegas, but much more regional to the Middle East. The people there are so diverse, it is like a people watcher's dream! I have so much to learn about the different religions out here. There were probably 10 different religious ways of dress that I saw, and I had no idea which ones were which. I'm excited to learn about so many new ways of life here!

Here are some pictures of the fancy "domes" of the Ibn Battuta Mall:

China Dome (that's a ship, yep.)

Animatronic people on a fake elephant. 

More animatronic people.

In the India Dome!

This dome was like a museum! Ibn Battuta was a famous explorer here.

Egypt Dome!

Observations/Realizations so far

• Sunday is the new Monday. (Weekends are Friday & Saturday.)

• Milk gallons (still available here, pew!) have rectangular bases, not square ones. Genius.
  
  
  
  
  

• Everything feels just a little bit sticky.

That's a Smartboard! Back to my roots

• I am one of three members of the secondary math department.

• The other member has been nicknamed "The Nutty Professor."

• Still no textbooks or curriculum map for any of my classes yet. School starts in 9 days. O_o

• Produce is sold by the kilogram (no wonder it all seemed so expensive)!

• There is no stopping the Arabic subtitles on the TV. I've tried all the things.

• Sounds like an ad, but my Venture credit card is my new favorite thing: ZERO fees for any purchases!

• I miss having adventure buddies around. Getting to know people takes time, ugh. :P

I miss this guy. SO MUCH!

• Malls aren't just for teenagers anymore - seriously! They are a main source of entertainment for everyone.

• Scuba is huge with expats. So glad I have the gear and the certification!

• Wifi isn't friends with brick walls/I need another router.

• Hang-dry seems to be the way of things.

• So much instant coffee everywhere. EEEEW.

• Take-out is super inexpensive. I got dinner for 3 dollars. THREE DOLLARS!

• My residence visa needs to be done soon, so I can get on with my life! (Car leasing, liquor license, phone contract, bank account, shipping address, etc all need it.)

Getting Situated - Discovery Gardens

Dubai - First Full Day

I was awake starting at about 4 AM today. Unfortunately, I got a giant migraine headache at about 5, so I was pretty miserable until 9 ish when the Tylenol kicked in. But, it was Tylenol PM, so I passed out until 4 PM. Ooops!

Once I was awake this afternoon, I walked to a grocery store in the humid 107F weather. HOT. Most things were easy to find, just a very different set of options than I'm used to! There is a whole aisle of bagged beans and rice varieties, many types I've never seen before. Found a beverage I'd loved in Samoa - Mirinda Orange soda - yum! When I'd finished buying everything, they asked if I wanted it delivered to my apartment. I tentatively wrote down my address, and left my groceries behind to get some take-out food before heading home.

Went to The Green Chillies restaurant (lots of good misspellings here), and ordered a Greek salad, some Chicken Korma curry and something called Vegetable Hakka. It took longer than I expected, but I was feeling antsy about the delivery (since I'd forgotten what my phone number was), so it may have been a normal wait. Got my food and walked the few minutes back home. Ate some food (the Hakka noodles were yummy), and about 15 minutes later, the shop boy came to my door with bags in hand. I could get used to this!!

Things I didn't find at this little grocery store:
Lettuce - A couple bunches of wilted spinach doesn't count.
Tampons - They only had pads. WHAT.
Chili - I know, it's pretty regional, but I love canned chili.
Popsicles - With the temps as they are, I'd expect there to be some!
Tortillas/chips - Again, regional to the Americas. Oh well!
Real cheese - Nearly all the cheese is processed icky stuff. YIKES.

That's pretty much my whole day. Gotta love jet lag! Tomorrow is my first day of "work," though it is just an orientation day at the school. Since the work-week here is Sunday-Thursday, I'll have Friday/Saturday to get more house supplies, and then more meetings all of next week. Whew!