Airplane dining

After rereading Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte, I decided to follow her example and to take my own food on the plane rather than submit to a standard transatlantic airline meal. She recommended, among other things, a high-quality sandwich, which transports easily and requires no extra tools to eat. A good sandwich requires good, fresh bread, which was available in East Lansing (my starting point) only if I drove to Goodrich's, which I had no time for.

Instead I decided on a rice salad. A rice salad is a wonderful way to use up leftover rice. Almost anything can go in it. I used half an avocado, part of a red pepper (cut small), cherry tomatoes (halved so as not to spurt), a scallion (chopped), green olives (with pimento, though really I prefer them stuffed with garlic) and some sharp cheddar cheese (the kind that is aged and crumbles, rather than the rubbery US store variety). Normally I use my own vinaigrette for rice salad, but this time I tried it with a hot salsa. To eat it on the plane, I brought a spoon, which I hoped security would not reject as a dangerous weapon.

The rice salad was good -- as it must be if one likes all the ingredients -- but would have been better with something to accompany it: a crisp bread, perhaps, in order to give a contrasting texture. The main problem came in the eating. The salsa made it sloppy, enhanced probably by juices from the tomatoes. I had to be very careful when eating not to let it drip onto my new suit jacket (or on the people sitting next to me in those very very closely packed seats).

Since I only had time to prepare one meal and my trip involved several, I had to eat the food Continental provided on the flight to Berlin. For years I have complained that Continental consistently has the worst food on any airline that I use regularly. I was therefore pleased to discover that the pasta and meatballs they served on my flight were (by industry standards) quite acceptable even boarding on good. The salad was the usual mass of iceberg lettuce with a slice of tomato and a slice or two of cucumber, but the Caesar dressing was significantly better than the usual oily mix that is supposedly Italian. Getting the Caesar dressing out nearly involved spraying it all over me (and the young man next to me), because the container suddenly collapsed and dressing came spurting out. Flying may be relatively safe now, but it still has hazards.

Stratford Festival 2010

Joan and I have visited the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford Ontario for the last 17 years and we have never grown tired of it. It is also an ideal blog topic that combines theater, food, and friends. This year it also includes a car story.

Probably everyone reading this knows how actively I dislike cars, even though we own one. It is almost impossible not to in Michigan and still be able to get groceries or visit a restaurant. Our car is officially a 1997 Geo Prizm, which means that it is essentially a Toyota Corolla since it came out of the experimental factory in Freemont, Ca., which GM and Toyota operated jointly. The car has Toyota reliability with a GM nameplate -- useful in Michigan. In 13 years we have only had to replace tires and a battery, and occasionally feed it gas and oil. Otherwise it is perfect. Or was, until we came onto the highway to Canada.

A sickening scraping sound started to come from the underside. Joan, who was driving, pulled over and I investigated. A plastic housing next to the front wheel had come loose from its bolt. I had no tools to deal with the bolt, but tucked the plastic under a convenient metal part and hoped the highway would not shake it loose. Once safely across the border in Sarnia, we looked for that miracle repair substance, duct tape (electrical tape, if you rather) and found it in a Dollar Store. I taped the car together and so far it has been trouble free. Just in case, the duct tape is still in the car.

We stayed at the Queens Inn in Stratford (linked from the photo below). For years I had wanted to stay there, but never tried because we imagined that it was enormously expensive.

In fact it is quite reasonable for Stratford (which is a relatively expensive town) and the location is ideal, because we can walk to everything while the car sits happily in its parking lot. The Queens Inn is also near Balzacs, Joan's favorite place for breakfast because of the excellent coffee. They had good tea at one time too, but have sunken to teabag level and imagine that a single small bag suffices for a whole pot of water.

We saw three Shakespeare plays this time, perhaps to compensate for seeing no Shakespeare last year: Winters Tale, Two Gentlemen from Verona, and Tempest. All were good. Two Gentlemen is a weak early play that was performed with admirable energy and 1920s staging. Winters Tale has its implausible moments (such as the famous seacost of Bohemia), but is a strong later play. I loved the bear, and the understudy who played Perdita is one of my favorite Stratford actresses. The performance was Joan's favorite in this set. Tempest was not among my favorite Shakespeare plays until I saw this version, which made the Prospero-Ariel relationship more affectionate and made Prospero less pretentious than in past versions. ... My father tells me that grandfather used to play the comic roles on the German stage.

Food is always a memorable part of the Stratford visit. I especially liked the vichyssoise at Bijou. It was both light and creamy, and the slices of very lightly braised tuna balanced the wonderfully against the starchiness of the leek and potato.

This has now become a very long post and I should stop here. Recently a dear friend in East Lansing hinted that I more than a bit behind on maintaining my blog. More than once I have resolved to write more regularly and failed to follow through. A blog needs a theme. The move to Berlin provided one for a year or so. Berlin is still wonderful, but it no longer seems like news. Recently I have been re-reading Amanda Hesser's book "Cooking for Mr. Latte", which grew out of a food diary. And of course Julie Powell's "Julie/Julia Project" began as a blog. I like to cook, so perhaps I should try a food-based theme. Anyone want to predict if this resolution will fare any better than the others?