[Akula1992]

The first time I visited was in 1996 and it was a dusty trading outpost. The road between Dubai and Jebel Ali was just a barren stretch of sand. There was some building going on but no too much.

Last year I went there three times and was floored. The amount and scale of construction was awe inspiring and the architecture was beautiful. Do you remember what the skyline of San Diego looked like three years ago when viewed from Petco Park with cranes everywhere? Imagine that same scene stretching over about 15 miles unbroken but with taller, more modern buildings being built. Simply everything was on a grand scale. City planners were projecting that over the next few years that the population would grow about 9-fold and be centered on trade and finance. Some of my friends and I looked at what was going on and what they planned and we all thought the same thing – “Unsustainable.”

They did a lot of things right. They dumped a ton of money into infrastructure: the port facility at Jebel Ali is world class, the new rail system is state of the art, power(and yes, water) was well planned out. They are the most western of places I have seen in the middle east. You walk through a mall there and you will see some women dressed in traditional dress and covered head to tow and you will also see Brit ex-pats in tube tops and skin tight jeans. They serve alcohol – do not underestimate the importance of that piece when you are trying to attract westerners.

They did a lot of things wrong. Despite the western feel of the place it is certainly not as free as the veneer would suggest. One Brit Ex-pat friend of mine had recently moved there after many years of living and working in East Africa. He told me in a rather wry tone, “Living in a police state isn’t all that bad, as long as you are on the same side as the police.” The simple truth is that the rule of law is inequitably applied and is capriciously administered. The TCN’s(Third Country Nationals) are treated like dirt and basically have few rights. Hospitality workers make almost nothing.

I was surprised to how, even at “reputable” shops, people were willing to try to take advantage of you. While looking for a particular type of rug(a Mohammed Jamshidi Qom rug) I had a couple different shops try to pass off imitations as the real thing(with real thing prices). When I pointed out the problems it was always, “Oh yes, yes my friend. I thought you wanted one that “looked” like a Jamshidi. Please, let me show you the real ones.” or some other similar crap…

It will be interesting to see how things shake out there. I think I liked it better as a sleepy backwater.

And not to be a picker of nits, but the currency in the UAE is the Dirham(AED) not the Dinar. They used to use the Dinar but they moved to the Dirham some time ago(1973 ?).

[Akula1992]

I have devoted a bit of time to figuring out how to cook the perfect steak. Despite the fact that I usually prefer something lighter, my wife is a devotee to nice red meat, so I acquiesced.

Her favorite cut is filet (no surprise there I guess) so I cook it thusly:
Get a filet 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inches thick. Olive oil on both sides and fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Get the grill as hot as it can go. Turn it on high and let it heat up for at least 15 minutes. Make sure the grilling surface is clean and open the top up. Oil the grill with a cloth or paper towel just before putting the steak down on the grill. I use extra virgin olive oil. As soon as I lay the steak down I lower one side of the grill to the lowest heat available. Close the top to conserve the heat you have built up between each flip of the steak. I first cook the steak on the high heat for three minutes on the first side. I then flip the steak over and grill it over the high heat for an additional 3 minutes. After that I flip the steak and grill it on the low heat side for three minutes and then an additional 3 minutes on the opposite side. Take it off the heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and tent for 5 minutes with tin foil. Perfect Medium Rare. Add 30 seconds for each degree of doneness you desire on the second part of the cooking (on the cooler side of the grill). It has worked like magic every time I have done it.

For a New York Strip it is just slightly different. Instead of using olive oil I use clarified butter and corn syrup with the same sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The cooking times are still the same assuming the 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inch steak but the butter and the corn oil give you a very good crust without overdoing the meat.

I have been to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and the steaks tend to be great but I am sure if I had access to the same dry aged steaks that they do I would at least equal their results. Save you money and cook from your own home.

[Akula1992]

I have devoted a bit of time to figuring out how to cook the perfect steak. Despite the fact that I usually prefer something lighter, my wife is a devotee to nice red meat, so I acquiesced.

Her favorite cut is filet (no surprise there I guess) so I cook it thusly:
Get a filet 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inches thick. Olive oil on both sides and fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Get the grill as hot as it can go. Turn it on high and let it heat up for at least 15 minutes. Make sure the grilling surface is clean and open the top up. Oil the grill with a cloth or paper towel just before putting the steak down on the grill. I use extra virgin olive oil. As soon as I lay the steak down I lower one side of the grill to the lowest heat available. Close the top to conserve the heat you have built up between each flip of the steak. I first cook the steak on the high heat for three minutes on the first side. I then flip the steak over and grill it over the high heat for an additional 3 minutes. After that I flip the steak and grill it on the low heat side for three minutes and then an additional 3 minutes on the opposite side. Take it off the heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and tent for 5 minutes with tin foil. Perfect Medium Rare. Add 30 seconds for each degree of doneness you desire on the second part of the cooking (on the cooler side of the grill). It has worked like magic every time I have done it.

For a New York Strip it is just slightly different. Instead of using olive oil I use clarified butter and corn syrup with the same sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The cooking times are still the same assuming the 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inch steak but the butter and the corn oil give you a very good crust without overdoing the meat.

I have been to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and the steaks tend to be great but I am sure if I had access to the same dry aged steaks that they do I would at least equal their results. Save you money and cook from your own home.

[Akula1992]

I have devoted a bit of time to figuring out how to cook the perfect steak. Despite the fact that I usually prefer something lighter, my wife is a devotee to nice red meat, so I acquiesced.

Her favorite cut is filet (no surprise there I guess) so I cook it thusly:
Get a filet 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inches thick. Olive oil on both sides and fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Get the grill as hot as it can go. Turn it on high and let it heat up for at least 15 minutes. Make sure the grilling surface is clean and open the top up. Oil the grill with a cloth or paper towel just before putting the steak down on the grill. I use extra virgin olive oil. As soon as I lay the steak down I lower one side of the grill to the lowest heat available. Close the top to conserve the heat you have built up between each flip of the steak. I first cook the steak on the high heat for three minutes on the first side. I then flip the steak over and grill it over the high heat for an additional 3 minutes. After that I flip the steak and grill it on the low heat side for three minutes and then an additional 3 minutes on the opposite side. Take it off the heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and tent for 5 minutes with tin foil. Perfect Medium Rare. Add 30 seconds for each degree of doneness you desire on the second part of the cooking (on the cooler side of the grill). It has worked like magic every time I have done it.

For a New York Strip it is just slightly different. Instead of using olive oil I use clarified butter and corn syrup with the same sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The cooking times are still the same assuming the 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inch steak but the butter and the corn oil give you a very good crust without overdoing the meat.

I have been to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and the steaks tend to be great but I am sure if I had access to the same dry aged steaks that they do I would at least equal their results. Save you money and cook from your own home.

[Akula1992]

I have devoted a bit of time to figuring out how to cook the perfect steak. Despite the fact that I usually prefer something lighter, my wife is a devotee to nice red meat, so I acquiesced.

Her favorite cut is filet (no surprise there I guess) so I cook it thusly:
Get a filet 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inches thick. Olive oil on both sides and fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Get the grill as hot as it can go. Turn it on high and let it heat up for at least 15 minutes. Make sure the grilling surface is clean and open the top up. Oil the grill with a cloth or paper towel just before putting the steak down on the grill. I use extra virgin olive oil. As soon as I lay the steak down I lower one side of the grill to the lowest heat available. Close the top to conserve the heat you have built up between each flip of the steak. I first cook the steak on the high heat for three minutes on the first side. I then flip the steak over and grill it over the high heat for an additional 3 minutes. After that I flip the steak and grill it on the low heat side for three minutes and then an additional 3 minutes on the opposite side. Take it off the heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and tent for 5 minutes with tin foil. Perfect Medium Rare. Add 30 seconds for each degree of doneness you desire on the second part of the cooking (on the cooler side of the grill). It has worked like magic every time I have done it.

For a New York Strip it is just slightly different. Instead of using olive oil I use clarified butter and corn syrup with the same sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The cooking times are still the same assuming the 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inch steak but the butter and the corn oil give you a very good crust without overdoing the meat.

I have been to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and the steaks tend to be great but I am sure if I had access to the same dry aged steaks that they do I would at least equal their results. Save you money and cook from your own home.

[Akula1992]

I have devoted a bit of time to figuring out how to cook the perfect steak. Despite the fact that I usually prefer something lighter, my wife is a devotee to nice red meat, so I acquiesced.

Her favorite cut is filet (no surprise there I guess) so I cook it thusly:
Get a filet 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inches thick. Olive oil on both sides and fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Get the grill as hot as it can go. Turn it on high and let it heat up for at least 15 minutes. Make sure the grilling surface is clean and open the top up. Oil the grill with a cloth or paper towel just before putting the steak down on the grill. I use extra virgin olive oil. As soon as I lay the steak down I lower one side of the grill to the lowest heat available. Close the top to conserve the heat you have built up between each flip of the steak. I first cook the steak on the high heat for three minutes on the first side. I then flip the steak over and grill it over the high heat for an additional 3 minutes. After that I flip the steak and grill it on the low heat side for three minutes and then an additional 3 minutes on the opposite side. Take it off the heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and tent for 5 minutes with tin foil. Perfect Medium Rare. Add 30 seconds for each degree of doneness you desire on the second part of the cooking (on the cooler side of the grill). It has worked like magic every time I have done it.

For a New York Strip it is just slightly different. Instead of using olive oil I use clarified butter and corn syrup with the same sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The cooking times are still the same assuming the 1 and ¼ to 1 and ½ inch steak but the butter and the corn oil give you a very good crust without overdoing the meat.

I have been to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and the steaks tend to be great but I am sure if I had access to the same dry aged steaks that they do I would at least equal their results. Save you money and cook from your own home.

[Akula1992]

Well, this sounds like fun.

My bet is that you saw a Carrier doing flight ops off San Clemente. A launch and recovery cycle will often last about 45 minutes before the carrier turns out of the wind and heads back down wind for a re-set. It will usually start off with launching 12-15 planes of catapults 1-4. When they get down to the last few planes they wrap up the waist cats(3 and 4) and launch the remaining planes off the bow cats. The recovery cycle can start before the last planes on the launch cycle have even launched.

At night, the planes coming down to land on deck are several miles aft of the ship in the “Marshal Stack” and split up into altitude blocks by aircraft type before being called out of the stack in order to make their pass. My bet is you probably saw the planes in the Marshal Stack or the tankers flying in orbit overhead mother.

Red and green nav lights can appear to be blue and orange over long distances if the atmospherics are right. The shift from red to orange and green to blue would represent the same frequency shift in the same direction in the visible light spectrum. The luminescent strips mentioned by another poster and visible only at very short distances and are usually only turned on for launch and recovery.

Even after watching years and years of flight ops on carriers the the lights can get confusing on planes at night especially if they are flying in a two ship or four ship. It can really make them look like they are jumping around from one place to another.

[Akula1992]

Well, this sounds like fun.

My bet is that you saw a Carrier doing flight ops off San Clemente. A launch and recovery cycle will often last about 45 minutes before the carrier turns out of the wind and heads back down wind for a re-set. It will usually start off with launching 12-15 planes of catapults 1-4. When they get down to the last few planes they wrap up the waist cats(3 and 4) and launch the remaining planes off the bow cats. The recovery cycle can start before the last planes on the launch cycle have even launched.

At night, the planes coming down to land on deck are several miles aft of the ship in the “Marshal Stack” and split up into altitude blocks by aircraft type before being called out of the stack in order to make their pass. My bet is you probably saw the planes in the Marshal Stack or the tankers flying in orbit overhead mother.

Red and green nav lights can appear to be blue and orange over long distances if the atmospherics are right. The shift from red to orange and green to blue would represent the same frequency shift in the same direction in the visible light spectrum. The luminescent strips mentioned by another poster and visible only at very short distances and are usually only turned on for launch and recovery.

Even after watching years and years of flight ops on carriers the the lights can get confusing on planes at night especially if they are flying in a two ship or four ship. It can really make them look like they are jumping around from one place to another.

[Akula1992]

Well, this sounds like fun.

My bet is that you saw a Carrier doing flight ops off San Clemente. A launch and recovery cycle will often last about 45 minutes before the carrier turns out of the wind and heads back down wind for a re-set. It will usually start off with launching 12-15 planes of catapults 1-4. When they get down to the last few planes they wrap up the waist cats(3 and 4) and launch the remaining planes off the bow cats. The recovery cycle can start before the last planes on the launch cycle have even launched.

At night, the planes coming down to land on deck are several miles aft of the ship in the “Marshal Stack” and split up into altitude blocks by aircraft type before being called out of the stack in order to make their pass. My bet is you probably saw the planes in the Marshal Stack or the tankers flying in orbit overhead mother.

Red and green nav lights can appear to be blue and orange over long distances if the atmospherics are right. The shift from red to orange and green to blue would represent the same frequency shift in the same direction in the visible light spectrum. The luminescent strips mentioned by another poster and visible only at very short distances and are usually only turned on for launch and recovery.

Even after watching years and years of flight ops on carriers the the lights can get confusing on planes at night especially if they are flying in a two ship or four ship. It can really make them look like they are jumping around from one place to another.

[Akula1992]

Well, this sounds like fun.

My bet is that you saw a Carrier doing flight ops off San Clemente. A launch and recovery cycle will often last about 45 minutes before the carrier turns out of the wind and heads back down wind for a re-set. It will usually start off with launching 12-15 planes of catapults 1-4. When they get down to the last few planes they wrap up the waist cats(3 and 4) and launch the remaining planes off the bow cats. The recovery cycle can start before the last planes on the launch cycle have even launched.

At night, the planes coming down to land on deck are several miles aft of the ship in the “Marshal Stack” and split up into altitude blocks by aircraft type before being called out of the stack in order to make their pass. My bet is you probably saw the planes in the Marshal Stack or the tankers flying in orbit overhead mother.

Red and green nav lights can appear to be blue and orange over long distances if the atmospherics are right. The shift from red to orange and green to blue would represent the same frequency shift in the same direction in the visible light spectrum. The luminescent strips mentioned by another poster and visible only at very short distances and are usually only turned on for launch and recovery.

Even after watching years and years of flight ops on carriers the the lights can get confusing on planes at night especially if they are flying in a two ship or four ship. It can really make them look like they are jumping around from one place to another.

[Akula1992]

Well, this sounds like fun.

My bet is that you saw a Carrier doing flight ops off San Clemente. A launch and recovery cycle will often last about 45 minutes before the carrier turns out of the wind and heads back down wind for a re-set. It will usually start off with launching 12-15 planes of catapults 1-4. When they get down to the last few planes they wrap up the waist cats(3 and 4) and launch the remaining planes off the bow cats. The recovery cycle can start before the last planes on the launch cycle have even launched.

At night, the planes coming down to land on deck are several miles aft of the ship in the “Marshal Stack” and split up into altitude blocks by aircraft type before being called out of the stack in order to make their pass. My bet is you probably saw the planes in the Marshal Stack or the tankers flying in orbit overhead mother.

Red and green nav lights can appear to be blue and orange over long distances if the atmospherics are right. The shift from red to orange and green to blue would represent the same frequency shift in the same direction in the visible light spectrum. The luminescent strips mentioned by another poster and visible only at very short distances and are usually only turned on for launch and recovery.

Even after watching years and years of flight ops on carriers the the lights can get confusing on planes at night especially if they are flying in a two ship or four ship. It can really make them look like they are jumping around from one place to another.

[Akula1992]

OK, here are my 2 cents.

After a long weekend of studied and careful consideration of the two candidates I have come to the following decision: It seems I really like peanut butter. Honestly, I just love the flavor, the texture and everything about it.

On a related note, it seems that sharks do not like peanut butter at all. Apparently, the tasty bread spread that we all know and love causes their little shark tongues to stick to the roof of their mouth cutting off the flow of water across their gills. According to the latest CNN/USA Today poll, most sharks prefer not to take the chance.

[Akula1992]

OK, here are my 2 cents.

After a long weekend of studied and careful consideration of the two candidates I have come to the following decision: It seems I really like peanut butter. Honestly, I just love the flavor, the texture and everything about it.

On a related note, it seems that sharks do not like peanut butter at all. Apparently, the tasty bread spread that we all know and love causes their little shark tongues to stick to the roof of their mouth cutting off the flow of water across their gills. According to the latest CNN/USA Today poll, most sharks prefer not to take the chance.

[Akula1992]

OK, here are my 2 cents.

After a long weekend of studied and careful consideration of the two candidates I have come to the following decision: It seems I really like peanut butter. Honestly, I just love the flavor, the texture and everything about it.

On a related note, it seems that sharks do not like peanut butter at all. Apparently, the tasty bread spread that we all know and love causes their little shark tongues to stick to the roof of their mouth cutting off the flow of water across their gills. According to the latest CNN/USA Today poll, most sharks prefer not to take the chance.

[Akula1992]

OK, here are my 2 cents.

After a long weekend of studied and careful consideration of the two candidates I have come to the following decision: It seems I really like peanut butter. Honestly, I just love the flavor, the texture and everything about it.

On a related note, it seems that sharks do not like peanut butter at all. Apparently, the tasty bread spread that we all know and love causes their little shark tongues to stick to the roof of their mouth cutting off the flow of water across their gills. According to the latest CNN/USA Today poll, most sharks prefer not to take the chance.

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