Any Foodies Out There??

Food. Let's talk about food. There are differences between what is available in the USA and what is available in the UAE.

Not available in the UAE (Al Ain) or VERY difficult to find:

Grape jelly (I'd give my right arm for a jar of Welch's grape jelly about now...)

grits

corn meal

brown gravy mix in envelopes

But there is so much that is available:

 The beef  that is sold here is amazing. I had stopped eating beef in the USA, but when I arrived in the UAE I started back eating it again like an alcoholic on a weekend bender. The beef I buy is imported from Australia and is not shot full of hormones. It is lean and cooks with virtually no grease left behind. Unbelievable what they have done to American cows back home. Should be a crime.

And Milk. In the states if I bought a gallon of milk at the local Piggly Wiggly, the stamped expiration date would graciously give me two weeks to use it. Here, due to very little preservatives being used, the milk only lasts for four days, tops. I buy it in small little containers now. It tastes fresher somehow, but that might be my taste buds playing tricks on me.

 Vegetables and fruits? I  haunt the produce aisles of the grocery stores like one of those spaced out looking zombies in "Night of the Living Dead". There are fruits and vegetables that I can't even identify, much less know how to cook. I need to start taking photos so I can google them in my spare time.. One fruit, rambuten, looks like a spiny pear. Lanzones,  durian, jackfruit... names I have never heard.

Fresh produce is imported from the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and India, so the selection is almost as varied as the imagination.

Dates are plentiful, in fact popular, because they are grown around Al Ain.  Emiratis are proud of the selection and quality of their dates. No UAE breakfast would be complete without at least three different types of dates included on the menu.

Pale amber honey, from right over the border in Oman, is said to taste like liquid gold. I haven't tried it yet because I don't want to become addicted. I am still dealing, unsuccessfully, with my Oreo habit..

I guess when I visit Georgia in December I will be transporting dates and honey packed away in my check-in luggage. But on the return flight back to the UAE on January 1st, grape jelly and brown gravy mix are going to take top priority. Screw the school supplies.

The local grocery store near me sells baby Cokes! I have never been able to finish any can of Coke, except the baby Cokes served on airplanes. Now I don't have to get on an airplane to drink one. I love my little 5 ounce baby Cokes... It's the little things that matter, after all.