Chow Times » Airline Food

Space Food of Space Shuttle Atlantis

Ben — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:26:40 +0000

This post is written upon free samples from beefjerky.com. Beefjerky.com sent us 2 packets of jerky to try. We are not paid for this post.

Last week, on November 16th, NASA launched it’s latest Space Shuttle mission.

Image Credit: wikipedia.org

That mission, code named STS-129 is to send spare equipments to the International Space Station to prolong the operations of the 11-year old space research facility. STS-129 is the first of five missions needed to complete its objectives.

A few weeks ago, a food manufacturer wrote to us asking if we would like samples of one of the food that had been selected for this NASA mission. What do you think?? I know this will be interesting reading to our readers … so we said, bring them on.

Three days before Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a package landed in the chowtimes Operations Center in Richmond. That is Richmond, BC … not Richmond, VA.

Have you ever tried Space Food before? I bet you have. Tangs comes to mind for one. Do they still make it these days? Anyway, we did not get Tangs. What we had was …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Space Food of Space Shuttle Atlantis (176 words)

Emirates Airbus A380

Ben — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:39:50 +0000

Here is something about travel and a little about food too. I received this series of pictures from the folks at work of the new Airbus A380 of the Emirates. I think you will enjoy marveling at these pictures as much as I did.

Working in the airline industry we are very well aware of the buzz caused by the Airbus A380 when it was first delivered to Singapore Airlines. With the Airbus A380, the Emirates has taken air travel to new heights.

The Airbus A380 is the worlds largest passenger airliner in the world. Each plan can carry a minimum of 500 passengers. It can even squeeze in over 800 passengers if configured to be all economy class.

The plane is not only wide body but it is also fully double decker. So, not many airports are configured to handle the passenger load that big. For instance, the Airbus A380 require a airport gate with at least three aerobridges to make sure they can move that many passengers without excessive lines.

I get to travel business class on mission if I need to work directly with the airline. I still remember the awesome flight on Singapore Airlines’ Raffles Class which I blogged about here.

The Emirates is a whole new thing altogether. Too bad I am managing only internal projects these days or else I would want to volunteer to work with the Emirates!

The Emirates even has a shower spa! Can you beat that? That would come in handy for a 12 hour flight from Toronto to Dubai for sure.

BTW, you know how much First Class from Toronto to Dubai and return costs? It is sixteen thousand dollars … $16,000 Canadian. Come to think of it, it is not too expensive considering the same 1st class flight on Air Canada is already $13,000.

Alright, I’ll let you enjoy these pictures. The food images are at the end of this post …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Emirates Airbus A380 (16 words)

Seville: From Barcelona via Girona on Ryanair

Ben — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:10:56 +0000

I am picking up from where I left off on our vacation in Spain this summer. This is a continuation from our first stop in Barcelona (link to to the entire series here).

After spending six days in Barcelona, I was flip-flopping about where to head to next. On one hand I think Suanne would love London but I also wanted to go to Morocco. Alternatively, we could go to Seville with the primary objective of dining at the alternative El Bulli.

So I went and try to book a flight to London. But it was so expensive when I booked it just 2 days before. The cheapest was something €300 per person return. So it immediately kiboshed the idea.

As for Morocco, the flights were cheaper. So we asked the people at our hotel and they advised that we should not travel especially when we are not with a group. We did not want to follow a tour group because we don’t like being brought to shops and stuff. Our guide book also said pretty much the same thing — third world country and needing to be careful about being fleeced, etc. Moreover, Suanne is not too keen for that kind of adventure.

So our decision was hinged on getting a table at the El Bulli Hotel in Seville. After three days, we got a confirmed table for a Friday evening. That clinched it. Seville it is.

It was really last minute. We decided to fly from Barcelona to Seville instead of taking the train. So we booked a flight on Ryanair, a no-frills budget carrier at €85 per person. It was not a very good idea!

Firstly, Ryanair flies out of the Girona-Costa Brava Airport which is a good 90km outside of Barcelona. It did not occur to us to check before we booked the flight. Good thing that there is a regularly scheduled bus from Barcelona city center to the airport. The one hour bus ride costs €12 per person.

The airport was like a market! There was thousands of people. The check in process is really confusing that caused to line up twice — once to check in and another time to pay for the extra luggage we had (€20). Budget airlines are not really cheap if you are not careful of the extras that could add up.

We were so afraid of missing the flight because the line was moving so slowly. We managed to get it all done with 30 minutes to spare. So we decided to grab something quick to eat since it will be quite late by the time we get to the hotel and settle down.

The above is €14. If you do the conversion, it is $22 Canadian. On hindsight, we should have bought something before we left for the airport.

This is a series of complains. Sorry for being negative here but the flight was really bad. Here goes …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Seville: From Barcelona via Girona on Ryanair (469 words)

Spain: Flying from Seattle to Barcelona

Ben — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:49:44 +0000

It was Sleepless in Seattle … we hardly slept the night before. It was partly because the bed at the cheap $49.99 hotel room we stayed in was as hard as a rock and partly because we were excited. It was more like due to 90% excitement and 10% bed issue. Yeah, yeah … it felt like it is our first visit to Disneyland when we were kids!

The flight from Seattle to Barcelona was at 8AM. We took the motel’s complementary shuttle to the Airport shortly after 5AM. We wanted to get to the gate with plenty of time to spare because being standby passengers, I was afraid we get processed in the lowest priority. The shuttle to the airport was not really complementary because we tipped the driver $2. He was a nice guy and helped us with the bags and all.

We went through the normal staff check in. They issued us the boarding pass with no seat assignments. We had to go thru security and all that to get to the gate … and then endure the agonizing wait until the last moment before they issue us the real boarding pass with seat numbers. If the flight is full, well … we go out and wait for the next flight … the NEXT DAY! So we were quite anxious up to the point when they issued us the passes.

Seattle’s airport is beautiful. I did not recall seeing it this way the last time we travelled via SEA. They have floor to ceiling glass wall looking out to the tarmac at the eating tables area.

After clearing security, we had one hour. So we went to get some breakfast. Really, we were not in the mood to eat.

The Verona Scramble sounded good and ordered that. It came in a box and looked really unappetizing.

I saw them making it. The scrambled “eggs” were already all mixed and beaten up in a pail. They just scoop the mix and make it on the griddle. That is American efficiency for ya!

It costs $6.55 USD and came with a slice of bread on the side. There are potato wedges and “scramble eggs” with green onions, tomatoes and sausages. Not too good.

Suanne got her breakfast from Starbucks. The Cafe Mocha was USD $3.70

The Chocolate Chip Scone were USD $1.35. It was really dry.

We got on the plane without a problem. The flight to Barcelona took a total of 13 hours in all with a 1.5 hour stopover in Philadelphia.

US Airways has one of the worst record for flight delays and to no surprise to us, our flight was delayed.
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Spain: Flying from Seattle to Barcelona (444 words)

Flying United Airlines from Vancouver to Altanta (via Chicago)

Ben — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:00:43 +0000

Here I go again. The bad news is I am embarking on a new Travel series. The good news is this will be the last travel series for this year.

A couple of months ago, I was requested to attend a 2 hour meeting. For just a 2 hour meeting, I assumed that this will be done through voice or video conferencing. But to my surprise, I was requested I attend the meeting in person. Oh well, I am OK if the boss deems it important that I spend two days traveling just for a 2 hour meeting.

I put in my travel request to Atlanta and was routed through Chicago. Seeing I had never been to the third largest city in the US before, I made a quick change of itinerary to include a few days stop in Chicago.

So … this is the series on my trip to Atlanta (again) and the Windy City, Chicago.

As usual, the flight to Atlanta means a very early start. I normally opt for the first flight of the day which is about 6AM. I like early morning flight because by the time I land in Atlanta, it will just be 5PM’ish and that leaves me a lot of time to settle down and prep for the next day.

This time, I flew with United Airlines. I vividly remember flying United Airlines the only one time before. You see, a few days before I started work in my company, I had a phone call asking me not to report to work in the Vancouver office but instead get in the flight to Atlanta on the first day of work. It was one of the most stressful thing I had ever been put into … I was supposed to meet my project team in Atlanta. I hardly know the company, the processes, the people, the products, the airline industry … zilch. And they expect me to say something smart to the team?!?!?

Bad thing about United Airlines … the legroom is non-existent. Some of you know I am not a tall guy and my knees are touching the back of the front seat (OK, OK, I am short but I have you know that many great people are not tall … like Napolean and Hitler for instance). To think that someone of an average height finding this a squeeze too.

It is impossible to use the notebook to do work and type on the seats. So, I ended up flipping the notebook screen all the way up and do reading instead … and watching a movie which I brought along.

Good thing about United Airlines … they provide free headsets. Some other airlines charges $5 for the crummy plasticky ones which you end up throwing away after the flight. These are free and so I cannot complain.

My trusted travel companion is the noise-canceling headset I bring it along in all my travels. I simply love this. The noise-canceling feature while not the best does its job in drowning out the engine roar. I am not sure how this works but it works.

I like also the fact that it is very comfortable and fits my head well. Moreover, it folds neatly into a lump and comes with a felt pouch. If you travel a lot, you should get one of these things.

Cookies are free but I got the United Airlines Snack box. They have a variety of to choose from, four I think. I opted for the one called the SmartPack. The last time I travelled United I had the MiniMeal which I blogged about here .. almost three years ago.

I must declare that United Airlines Snack Boxes are simply the best I had ever had. It is laden with goodies packing in the box you will never believe. And all this for only $5.

The cover of the box doubles up as a receipt … a simple and neat idea. This helps me claim travel expenses easier … having paper receipts attracts no question from accounting.

For drinks I had … what else … Bloody Mary Mix. I simply love this drink on my flight. The beauty with United Airlines is that they drop a couple of wedges of lemon into it too. What a nice touch. Other than the size of the seat, I like United Airlines.

I took an awfully long time to finish off the snack box as I documented every item in the box. There were about seven different items in the box alone. I used to be self-conscious taking pictures of the food but not anymore. Some people might think I am a country bumpkin taking the first flight in his life but … he he he … I don’t care! Generally, people do not care what I do and pretend not to notice.

I had a 1 hour stop in Chicago. I could see the Chicago downtown very clearly from the plane. The Sears Tower and the Hancock Tower was clearly imposing with its black exterior and sheer height. In just a couple of days, I will be heading that way.

The leg from Chicago to Atlanta was shorter and they only serve snacks for flights lesser than three hours. I had coffee and it was pretty good.

Ginger Ale is another of my favourite inflight drink. I love the refreshing smooth color of the Ginger Ale … certainly looks more refreshing than Coke.

I landed at the Atlanta airport at about five in the evening. This is just in time for me to get to the hotel and have a nice dinner somewhere nearby (the hotel is 30-40 minutes from the airport). I had been in the airport many times and I know this airport as well as I know YVR! Ask me about any food outlet here, I could probably tell you which terminal it is on … almost.

OK, this post is too long. So, if you want to see what is in the SmartPack snack box from United Airlines, click on “read more” below.

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Flying United Airlines from Vancouver to Altanta (via Chicago) (13 words)

New York: Flying Continental from YVR to EWR

Ben — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:00:00 +0000

This is the first time I flew with Continental. I must fess up regarding the $110 flight ticket … there are no direct flights from Vancouver to New York. The connection is in Houston. Thaaaaat’s right … instead of just fly east-west directly, I fly way south and then up north.

But I must say I am most pleasantly surprise with Continental. Like I said, never flew with them before. I had always thought that United and Delta was the best but Continental is better to me. I will tell you why further down the blog.

My destination is the Newark airport in New Jersey. Despite that Newark is in NJ, it is basically a New York area airport. As a matter of fact, Newark is closer to NYC than JFK.

The stopover in Houston was good with just an hour wait before the connecting flight. My “Plan B” in case I don’t get on to New York was to stay a night in Houston and visit the city. It was not necessary because both Houston and Newark are Continental hubs and there are hourly flights between them … lots of empty seats on my connection flight.

It is on flights that I try drinks that I had never tried before. This is not overly exciting I know … Seagram’s Ginger Ale? Well, heard of it but never tried it. How does it taste … well, all pop tastes the same to me.

This is what I like about Continental the best … they provide food … for FREE! It was nothing to shout about but considering that all other American airlines who provides free peanut packs or sells snack boxes, this is simply awesome. The box includes a surprisingly nice moist & soft muffin, some Cheerios (with milk!) and a small pack of raisins. I am happy.

Continental does come by quite often asking if anyone wanted more drinks … three times during each sector. Most airlines will just come by twice … maybe once. I get dehydrated quite a bit on flights and I do make it a point to drink a lot (before and during the flight). BTW, the coffee was pretty good, I must say.

They even provide free packs of peanuts on their drink rounds despite them already also provided the meals. Can’t beat that can you? For international flights, this is pretty standard but for US domestics, it’s mighty impressive.

I like Sudoku and have purchase a computer version of it for my notebook. I even have one of those books with hundreds of Sudoku’s which you find so commonly in bookstores. Sudoku is a great time killer … that kills about 30 mins of my time.

On the following sector, there are more food. This time it’s over lunch time and therefore they serve a more “lunchy” meal … burgers and greens, with a small bar of choc snack.

I am impartial to burgers but the cheese burger was pretty good. It came warm (see condensation on the wrappings above?). Moist and juicy too … it was not great-great but I enjoyed it.

The greens too was cold, fresh and crunchy. Fresh … that’s very important for salads huh?

You guys have seen this many, many times before. My favorite inflight drink. I must have blogged about this drink on EVERY flight report I had made on this blog. LOL!

Another thing I like about Continental is that their planes are new. I think they are the one that claim they have the youngest fleet in North America. So, how do you know if the plane is new? Well, a dead give-away is that they have flat screen TVs. You just can’t believe how many other airlines still have the ancient CRT TVs which is way past their date.

One of the shows I caught on flight was Harry Porter Potter — I don’t know which episode. Maybe it was the one that had “phoenix” in it. Dead boring for me but I know Arkensen and Nanzaro would love this show. Something about Harry Porter Potter I don’t quite understand … my boys can watch this show a hundred million times and they won’t get bored with it.

I spent the rest of the time planning for the trip. That’s right. Being a procrastinator that I am, I had hardly planned for the trip. I managed to complete the plan 30 minutes before landing.

I’ll blog about Manhattan tomorrow … stay tuned.

Atlanta Trip: Snack Box from Northwest Airline

Ben — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:00:00 +0000

I flew Northwest Airlines for the first time. I can’t say that I like it. Not only do they not have inflight movies, why, they don’t even have earphone jacks on their seat for music. That was a bummer. If I had known that, I would have charged up my notebook a bit more and keep myself entertained with the movies I brought along.

Like most other airlines, they have snack boxes for sale. It’s $5 each cash … and USD too.

Although the box looked bit, there is nothing much in it. There’s Oreos, Trail Mix, Wheat Crackers and Beef Sausages. Compared to United’s snack boxes (click here and here to see United’s) which costs the same, this is rather disappointing.

About the only thing I enjoyed is the O’Brien’s Beef Summer Sausage … it’s all beef, no fillers.

The Wheat Thins was quite OK.

It felt a bit dry eating this until after I had finished half of the pack that I realized …

… that this Wheat Thins is supposed to go with the Cheddar Cheese Sauce.

About the only thing I really enjoy is the Bloody Mary Mix. Until today, I have not seen this sold here in the stores. Anyone have seen this in the store somewhere in Vancouver before?

Las Vegas Vacation: Allegiant Air Flight from Bellingham to Las Vegas

Ben — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:00:00 +0000

We had originally planned for a road trip this summer to North California but decided to change our plans when we found cheap airfares out from Bellingham, WA to Las Vegas. I came across it quite accidentally when I heard over the radio of the news that a lot of Vancouverites had been coming over to Bellingham for cheap flights.

Although the airport is called the Bellingham International Airport, I don’t think they have scheduled flights to airports outside of the US. It’s a small airport really and that means that checking in and out is so much more faster and easy.

The flight tickets we bought were just $89 one way from Bellingham to Vegas. We decided to fly Bellingham-Vegas on our way there and take a return flight from Reno (which was just $39 or $59 depending on the day of travel), Taxes and all came up to about another 20% more. They do charge $3 for each baggage checked in. All in all, it’s a good deal — I figured it could be actually cheaper to fly than to drive from Vancouver to Las Vegas. You should check out their prices on their website … you’ll be surprised I’m sure.

One thing though … you need to be careful about all the additional charges they put on. I am not surprised because this is a no frills fare they are selling. For instance, if you book the flight ticket over their website, they will charge you $7.50 convenience fee, It is not charged if you buy it from the ticketing counter at the airport. To select a seat of your choice, it will be an additional $11. If you want a choice seat, you have to check-in early … at least 2 hrs early.

Everything about this flight is really basic. You don’t even board the planes via aerobridges but a walk-up stairs. Gosh … the only time I had boarded a plane via stairs were in Phnom Phen, Cambodia about 10 years ago!

The flight was smooth and pretty short. It took about 2.5 hours only. We were quite late checking in and got seats on the last two rows. The last row had no views at all … the engine was just by the window.

Can anyone recognize the mountain below? The give-away is the half crater.

They don’t serve anything for free at all during the flight … you have to pay even for a bottle of water.

Nanzaro loves the airline snack boxes I bring home from my business trips. So when he learned that they also have snack boxes for sale inflight, I just knew he wanted one. Each box costs $5.

Allegiant Air’s Snack Boxes were no where compared to United’s which costs the same (see here and here for United’s Snack Box review). They are all very dry snacks and simply not worth the money. You should bring along your own snacks.

Just before we landed, the stewardess organized a raffle on board. Everyone who wanted to participate have to write their seat number on a dollar bill and put it in a bag they pass around. The winner takes all the money in the bag (about $80!).

As we land we can pick out some of the hotels on The Strip. The LAS airport is just about 5 minutes from the Strip which I think is awesome.

Allegiant Air is an airline based in Las Vegas. You should check out their airfares on their website (http://www.allegiantair.com/). What I like about the website is that they show you a table of the prices by a range of days so that you can see at a glance all the options available.

Amsterdam Series: British Airways from Amsterdam to Vancouver

Ben — Fri, 04 May 2007 09:00:00 +0000

Hey all, hope you enjoyed my series on Europe as much as I had enjoyed blogging about it. This is my last on the series and will focus on the flight back home.

I took the British Airways flight from Amsterdam with a transit at London. I was really glad to be on my way home.

I like British Airways — definitely more than Air Canada which I took the last time I went to London. Oh yeah, I forgot to share about some weird thing about the Brits on flights — at least on the flights I was on. When the plane landed on Heathrow, people actually claps! I guess it’s something they do … so of saying the pilot did a great job or something … *shrugs*

What I like is having your own video display on your seat. That way I have a choice of movies I wanted to watch. Forget about the computer games … they were crappy.

So, bye bye London and Europe. I think I’ll be back again as long as I am in the same job. Although the hours were irregular, one of the perks of this job is that I get to travel.

My fav drink … tomato juice. One thing I notice … my Asian friends mostly does not like tomato juice. I can’t really figure out what it is. Asians will drink orange juice, watermelon juice, but not tomato juice. Just the other day in a friends gathering, I made Bloody Caesars for everyone and guess what, none of them were even half-finished.

The main meal … same old stuff. At a glance they look like a feast because the tray looked so busy.

The bread is terrible … you see, I am now comparing this to fresh French Baguettes. I broke off a piece, spread some butter, ate it and left the rest untouched. Really, they are cold, hard and dry.

I did not drink the wine they gave. I kept it to-go and thought I let Suanne try if she likes it.

The salad looked colourful and pretty. It’s good cold but definitely not so cold that you see condensation all over the bowl. I’ll score 1 out of 5.

Now, the curry rice is much much better. The rice is fragrant and the curry gravy was rich. I like it and finished it off.

Suanne loves Cheesecakes … so I kept this for her too.

There is only one bar of chocolate. I could have kept this for Nanzaro and Arkensen but no … they’ll only fight after that one piece. It’s a boy thing I think … they seem to need to assert themselves on one another these days.

Ain’t Canada beautiful? This is over the BC-Alberta border … somewhere around where Banff is. It is still spring and there are still a lot of snow in the mountains. I can’t help by thinking that with global warming, one day all these will be much different.

This is so familiar. I like window seats and have always made sure I get one. I have always enjoyed the view of Vancouver from the air. It is so beautiful … and the city looked so different from the sky.

So here I am … home in Beautiful British Columbia. The hardest part is always waiting to clear immigration, and wait for my luggage. It always took so long. Suanne and the boys were there waiting for me. If you have never been to Vancouver’s International Airport, I can tell you that it’s one of the most beautiful airport in the world. It is not a big bust airport but certainly very beautiful.

There you go … the end of my series. I had more than one month of blog. Again, I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I enjoyed sharing it. I can’t help feeling that I am so fortunate to have a chance to travel to Europe largely on company’s expense.

So, for the next three to four weeks, it will be mostly Suanne who will be blogging … about recipes and other food related topics.

Thanks for the feedback and taking time to read … [getting off my soapbox]. :-)

London Series: British Airways Inflight Meals

Ben — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:00:00 +0000

I went on a two-week trip in Europe a few weeks ago. During that time, I had amassed over 30 blog entries on the travel and the food I tried. This means that I’ll be blogging the next one month and Suanne will have a long hiatus from blogging … i.e. no recipes or cooking class for the next little while.

I had a scheduled 4-day training in London. I thought that I take advantage of the free flight there to visit a bit more of the parts of Europe that I had never visited before. Over the 16 days, I was in London and the cities in the “Low Countries” — Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. It was a great trip.

I bought some new photographic toys for the trip. Besides doing the normal touristy stuff and trying out the food, I planned to have a great time taking lots of pictures. So, I went and get myself a new long lens, the Canon 70-200mm 2.8L. The lens is a classic among the extensive Canon lens lineup. I also got myself a new Manfrotto tripod and a new software that allows me to make HDR (High Dynamic Range) pictures.

The picture below is taken at the YVR Airport of the Spirit of Haida Gwaii. It is extremely difficult to produce a shot like this in a dark indoor but with the HDR technique, one could bring out the details all round.

Enough of photography. I traveled for the first time on British Airways from YVR to LHR. Overall, it was much better than Air Canada. Trust me, if you travel in this sector choose BA over Air Canada anytime. It is an economy flight. During the 9 hours flight, they serve drinks, a main meal and a snack box.

The main meal is pretty normal, consisting of bread, salad, dessert, chocolates and coffee. British Airways does not publish their menu on the inflight magazine like other airlines. So, I had no idea what was really served except that there is a choice of chicken or beef.

The bread as usual is nothing to shout about. Airline bread for some reason is just soft, dense and not crusty.

The tomato and cheese salad is OK. I like the cheese though. It’s a tasteless type but am not sure what this type of cheese is called. What is this called anyway?

The main dish looked unappetizing. The mash potatoes looked so flat. The beef, I think, is the pot stew beef. Taste wise, it is OK … I had tasted worse airline food.

Here is the dessert …

… and ended up with coffee and a bar of Kit Kat.

About an hour before we landed, they came around and pass us the “All-Day Deli” snack box. It is meant to be the breakfast for the day.

As the name implies, the All-Day Deli is a general purpose meal. It consists of a pastry, energy bar, yogurt and juice.

For drinks, wine is served in mini bottles. I am not much into wine but did try their red wine (red wine with red meat and white with white, right?). I don’t know what great wine tastes like. I think this is the cheapo type … I did not like it a lot.

I landed in London and headed to the city immediately after I checked into the hotel. How do you like this shot of the Big Ben? It’s a HDR shot. Under normal conditions, this shot would have been impossible. It’s a simple technique really. Let me know if you want to know more. Go on … click on the picture below and see the amazing details captured using HDR.

This is it … day 1 of day 16.