Please lower your tray tables

So day one of the holiday and I'm now under serious pressure to produce a post given that I have told scores of people of my intention to write a fabulous, hilarious and utterly compelling food blog. I figured if I told enough people about this blog…then I would have to do it.  I have used this strategy successfully before so I was confident of its successful outcome. It reminds me of my childhood experience at swimming lessons.  Jumping off the diving board becomes necessary to avoid embarrassment once you've walked to the top of that big ole ladder.  So here I am. Just blogging away like nobody's business.

We left Vancouver for Barcelona, via Toronto.  A wonderful highlight of the journey occurred in Toronto Airport where at the end of a particularly long concourse, there appeared as if by magic, a lovely man from Johnny Walker who offered us a shot of whisky wearing some sort of logo wear that said 'Keep Walking'.  This made me feel like the holiday had finally begun and gave me the necessary fortitude to make it to the international terminal, where we soon boarded our flight to Barcelona.

I confess that I secretly enjoy Airplane food…not necessarily for it's deliciousness, but more for the miracle of engineering that allows it to exist. I am one of those people that wonders what people mean when they say they detest it.  I mean really, you are suspended 35,000 ft above the earth in a steel tube - this is no time to start complaining about the food.  Rejoice in this miracle. Besides, as a picnic planner, I admire the organization…the compartmentalized nature of the offering.  Mini plates set out as 4 course dinner with dolly sized cutlery. What I always look forward to is the cheese and cracker. A nod to the cheese course. It's an acknowledgment that cheese is necessary for any complete meal, something I can get on board with quite easily.  So imagine my disappointment when the tray arrived 'sans' the usual 'fromage'. I'm sure someone in accounting figured that the removal of this item from the tray would save many millions from flight operating costs….just another chip away at the full service airlines used to provide.

I've just started Michael Pollan's, The Omnivore's Dilemma which upon reading, if you are not already questioning where your food comes from, you soon will. Tonight on Air Canada, the Omnivore's Dilemma is Chicken or Beef. Normally when I fly, I make my choice based on the carbohydrates…potatoes usually winning out over rice or pasta. But somehow Super G convinces me to have the chicken with rice…which turns out to be pasta.  For a few minutes we amuse ourselves by doing tasting descriptions as if we were judges on Iron Chef.  "The mustard sauce gives this dish a rich unctuousness one would not expect'"  "Interesting and imaginative use of zig zag carrot shapes" This kills about 5 minutes of our 8 hour flight but it makes us happy.  The only thing to do now is to eat the brownie. Why not, I'm on my holidays!