Air Canada Airline Food - London UK to Ottawa

Wow, I cant believe how quickly time - and life - passes sometimes. I always have intentions of updating my blog, and then BAM, a few months go by.

I always go back and forth on whether or not I should continue blogging given the frequency I now post. However, what brings me back everytime is that I still get excited to take photos of my food, whether I write about it or not, when I'm out. I still stop and pause, after cooking a really delicious meal, to admire the concoction I have cooked up where I then kindly ask everyone involved to refrain from eating until I have taken a photo. And moments like that tell me that I shouldn't stop sharing what I love and enjoy.

The truth is, a very close family member has fallen ill and has been very sick for a number of years now. In between trying to keep my life as normal as possible, I have been a full-time caretaker, which has been extremely consuming. It's not that I have been trying to conceal the truth from my readers, but I just kept thinking that it would all end soon. The reality is is that it hasn't, and that this is just the new normal.

In saying that, I've learned that life just keeps moving and you either grow and blossom from the challenges that life brings, or you become stagnant. I choose the former for myself and continuing to write is a way for me to do that.

One of the best ways to take a step back and get a good perspective on what is really happening is to get away and change your environment. Being removed from the typical day to day, and allowing yourself to be inspired by the new and different helps me appreciate the good things that are happening in my life.

I got to do this a few months ago by visiting my sister-in-law in London. I discovered some really cool places and will share some of my new favorite places to eat and drink with you soon. In the meantime, here is what I ate on my Air Canada flight back from London. I love sharing airline meals because it is such a rarity these days. It's like snapping a photo of an animal in the wild for me :)

In economy class, the London to Ottawa flight serves one main meal at the beginning of the flight, and one snack towards the end of the flight.

For my main meal, I had pasta bolognese with a dinner roll and 3-bean salad fennel salad with a vinaigrette dressing. For dessert, I had a currant and dark chocolate cookie. Air Canada has been really creative with their salads recently, which is nice to see.

The snack served was a Monty's Bakehouse hot posh wrap. The choices were chicken or vegetarian. I chose the chicken fajita wrap. I have tried a few other Monty's Bakehouse wrap flavors (tomato and olive frittata, smoked cheese) on other flights and all have been pretty good.

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Thai Airways Airline Food - Paris to Bangkok

Thai Airways airline meals from Paris to Bangkok in economy class.

Dinner
Starter: Savoy ham and creole salad
Main: Stir-fried beef with oyster sauce, steamed Thai Hom Mali rice and bok choy
Dessert: Pecan Tartlet
Sides: Rivoli bread roll, crackers, cheese, butter, tea, coffee

Breakfast
Starter: Fruit salad and yoghurt
Main: Emmenthal crepe, Spanish omelet, roasted tomato and green asparagus
Sides: Croissant, baby bread, jam, butter, tea, coffee

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Thai Airways Airline Food - Sydney to Bangkok

Because airline meals are so hard to come by these days, it is more the reason to post airline meals...JUUUUST in case they ever go obsolete. What's neat is how airline food differs so much between country to country, and airline to airline, depending on where you are going and who is operating the flight.

Here are the meals served on a Thai Airways Sydney to Bangkok flight in Economy class. Here, you can see a blend of Asian elements with Australian ones.

Lunch

Lunch
Starter: Potato salad with mayonnaise, lettuce, shaved turkey and cherry tomato
Main: Chicken in red curry with bamboo shoot, steamed Thai Hom Mali rice, and stir fried vegetables
Dessert: Orange almond cake
Sides: bread roll, Arnott's crackers, Cracker Barrel cheese, butter, tea, coffee

The curry didn't look like much in the photo, but it was really flavorful! The Arnott's crackers were a nice touch.

Dinner

Dinner
Starter: Fresh fruit salad
Main: Stir fried prawn with black bean sauce, rice noodles, choy sum
Dessert: Wattle seed cookies

The noodles were not soggy and the prawns were huge. This dish was really good and the sliced chile peppers on top gave the dish an extra kick.

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Air New Zealand Lounge, Sydney

Of all the airport lounges we've set foot in, one of the most memorable is Air New Zealand's lounge in Sydney. The overall lounge had a very nice clean design and they really made an effort to serve more than the traditional sandwiches, soup, salads and snacks that you see in the lounges.

The food in Air New Zealand's lounge stands out among the rest, and this is comparing it to North American lounges, European lounges and Asian ones as well. Their presentation was nice and they put an effort into serving warm dishes over and above the typical sandwiches, soup and easy to serve items.

There were two things that stood out - the presentation of the food and the hot meals served. In addition to the typical food you would find at an airline lounge, they also had two hot meals served in little chinese lunch take-out boxes. They had a beef bourguignon with garlic mash, and a tuna and vegetable pasta bake the day I was there. Both were really good.

Roast Beef Sandwich, Chocolate Mousse, Mini Blueberry Muffins

Fresh Fruit Salad with Passion Fruit and Mint Garnish

Hot Tuna and Vegetable Pasta Bake

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Emirates Airline Meal - Christchurch to Sydney

As you are reading this, I am on a plane on my way to Vegas. Soon after, I will be in hot and humid Singapore. Yes, way too much fast paced travelling. I have scheduled some posts while I am away so that you don't miss me too much ;-)

Flying with Emirates rocks. I'm not on an Emirates flight this time, but I was a few months back when I flew from Australia to New Zealand. I specifically chose to fly with Emirates solely because of the food they offer. Their airline meals are always exotic and excellent in quality. For my 2.5 hour flight in Economy class from Christchurch to Sydney, I was served an awesome meal that was just as good as some of the business class meals I have had on other airlines.

Right before the meal, a hot refreshing towel, and the menu for the flight was brought to us. The menu was a nice gesture because it helps you get excited for the food to come. For the short flight, we were served an appetizer, main, and dessert.

Our appetizer was the char siew duck served over a bed of Asian style vegetable salad. This was the first time I had ever seen duck being served on a plane! CK found the meat a bit too fatty, but I didn't mind at all. Duck is supposed to be a fatty meat.

Char Siew Duck with Asian Style Vegetable Salad

There were two choices for the main: lamb or salmon.

I ordered the pan fried salmon topped with coconut & lemongrass curry sauce. This was served with pulao rice and stir fried vegetables. The salmon was cooked very nicely, and was surprisingly not overdone. Oh! And the curry sauce. It was delicious! I wanted to lick my plate clean, but I didn't to save my husband the embarassment.

Pan Fried Salmon with a Coconut and Lemongrass Curry Sauce

CK ordered the Moroccan lamb tagine accompanied with a vegetable mash, buttered peas, and roasted potatoes. The lamb was also very nice. I had a bit of food envy at first, but my salmon was too good to share. Both dinners were extremely flavorful, and spiced very nicely.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Dessert was a white chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis.

Other items served with our meal included a bread roll, cheese & biscuits, chocolate, water, and beverage of choice.

Compared to other airlines for the same flight, this was about $40 more expensive at the time. However, the great meal + free magazines + great inflight entertainment make it all worth the extra money paid.

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Emirates Airline Food - Sydney to Christchurch

This was our view as we landed into Christchurch. Our trip to New Zealand was amazing but much too short. I wish words and pictures could describe what we saw and experienced.

I chose to fly to Christchurch with Emirates specifically for the food. For a 2.5 hour flight in Economy class, you get a nice meal that includes a starter, main, and dessert.

Before the meal, a hot refreshing towel is brought to you. On the flights I've been on in North America, hot towels are only provided in business class.

After the towels, you are presented with a menu for the flight. For the Sydney - Christchurch flight, brunch was served.

The starter was fresh seasonal fruit.
For the main course, it was a choice between a swiss cheese omelette or pesto tortellini.
Dessert was New York cheesecake with a sweet caramel sauce.

Cheese, crackers, chocolate, and orange juice were also served.

I chose the pesto tortellini as my main course. I expected the pesto part to be the sauce. Instead, it was tortellini stuffed with pesto, and topped with a rich three cheese cream sauce and roasted capsicum relish. On the side was steamed broccoli.

The pasta was ok, just a tad plain. I wish I had gotten the swiss cheese omelette instead. You know how it works, you want what you can't have.
Other perks on the flight included:

- Free magazines. I picked up Vogue Australia, and Vogue Living Australia.

- Complimentary stuffed animals for young children.

- Extensive in-flight entertainment. They had over 100 movies, TV shows, etc. I couldn't believe the selection they had. They also have a large selection of World movies in languages such as Mandarin, Bengali, Tagalog, and Farsi.

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Lufthansa Airline Food - Frankfurt to Toronto

As you are reading this, I am on a plane to Sydney. I'm finally going to see my hunny after 7 long months. Because of this, I figure a post about an airplane meal would be fitting.

I have a large collection of airplane food photos. CK and I started taking pictures of such meals when we discovered airlinemeals.net, a website dedicated to airline food. We used to travel together quite a bit, and had planned to post all of our airline meals onto this site. Of course, we got lazy and never did.

Last Spring, I got to fly business class on a Lufthansa flight. My flight from Germany included a dinner followed by a breakfast.

As a starter snack, I got a bag of dry roasted macadamia nuts. This was the first time in a long time I have seen nuts served on a flight.

Dry Roasted Macadamia

For my dinner, I had an appetizer of smoked salmon carpaccio, mixed greens salad, and an assortment of cheeses. I also got a cool pretzel bun on the side.

The smoked salmon carpaccio was very nice. It was garnished with an olive, fresh dill, cracked black pepper, and a slice of grapefruit.

Smoked Salmon Carpaccio

The cheeses included herb roulé, havarti jalapeño, and cheddar cheese. On the side were veggies and a piece of dried fruit.

Assortment of Cheeses

My entree was the duo of shrimp and sea cod accompanied by wild & white rice with chopped green onion, and broccoli. I was disappointed with this dish but I should have known better than to order fish on a flight. I was curious to see what the fish would be like on a business class flight, and it turned out to be dry and chewy. The rice was also a little sad. It was basically white rice with a few specs of wild rice. The shrimp, however, was ok.

I definitely should have ordered the beef tenderloin or agnolotti pasta instead.

Duo of Shrimp and Sea Cod

They offered a crème brûlée for dessert, but I passed and asked for a platter of fresh fruit instead. The fresh fruit also included some biscotti.

Fresh Fruit and Biscotti

Breakfast was German style: cold meats and cheese. The meats were turkey breast and salami, and the cheeses were emmental, port salut, and cream cheese. On the side were fresh fruit and a bun.

Cold Meats and Cheese

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