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.
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.
posted by Michael Seadle at 6:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home