I was in Seattle for work, so they provided us boxed lunches during our training. The first day was from Gretchen’s Shoebox. It’s a cute name. It’s a jam packed box. This was a turkey sandwich with swiss. There wasn’t enough turkey and the sourdough bread was a bit on the tough side. It was hard to eat and rather boring. Also included were some Tim’s chips, a fruit salad, bottled water, and a cookie. I preferred everything aside from the sandwich.
The next morning, S brought in some donuts from Top Pot. It’s a local Seattle chain.
My goodness. I did not even try any of these because they look too darn hardcore for me. I actually prefer very simple donuts, like just plain cake or plain cinnamon. But everything in this box had a thick shellac of glaze or frosting or chocolate or cream and it just scared me. It probably would have given me a heart attack. So I skipped it, but it does look intense!
This day’s lunch was from the Firestation Deli. This boxed lunch was so much better! This sandwich was the california turkey: served on soft sourdough with turkey, home made ranch dressing, bacon, avocado, shredded lettuce, and tomato. I absolutely loved this sandwich. I devoured it! It also came with Tim’s chips, a cookie, bottled water, and apple slices, along with a germ x soft wipe, which I thought was a most excellent touch.

So I just went another work trip to Seattle and had the worst flight experience ever. Yes, I said ever. In all my years of flying, I’ve experienced cancellations and delays to no end, but this one blew my mind. I was supposed to get to seattle at 6:55PM. I arrived at 1:30AM. In all, I boarded the plane twice and exited the plane twice. Yes, it was only one flight. I guess I shouldn’t complain, since we did eventually make it, even if 6 1/2 hours later. So during the first stint on the plane, where we probably waited for several hours, I finished reading the Sushi Economy. It was an excellent book and it makes me think just a bit more every time I have sushi now. It’s pretty complex and amazing how that tuna lands on your plate. All I had to eat were a bag of chips and a little biscotti. And this is only because I happened to be in first class. The coach people got bubkus.
After being 6th in line for takeoff, then having to go back to the gate, getting off the plane, and getting back on, it got to be so darn late, 9PM actually, that everyone was cranky and starving. And on a Sunday night at 9PM in PHL Terminal A, there isn’t much foodage to be had. So I ended up going to some horrible place and picking up a wrap that was who knows how old, some fruit salad, and a tastykake pie. Ok, this pie was gross. I remember liking these back in the day, but I guess my palate has changed. The fruit salad was also terrible. The wrap actually was a nice surprise. It wasn’t the greatest, but it was definitely more than meets the eye. You’d think it was just a boring turkey wrap, but it was more like a thanksgiving wrap. There was turkey, some cranberry type of spread, and brie cheese! If it wasn’t for the fact that it was super old and the lettuce wilted and brown, the rest of it was quite fine. The brie was a lovely touch!
Finally, probably at about 10 or 10:30 or so, we actually took off. Once airborne, the flight was flawless. It’s just the taking off part that always gets you. Much of the second hunk of waiting time was due to waiting for catering. Again, since I was in first class, I did get fed a real meal. Coach people, if they were still hungry, could purchase a meal. Man, if I was in coach, and I had to purchase a meal after waiting for 6-7 hours, I would have blown my friggin my top. Anyhoo, I was lucky. It was a simple fetuccini alfredo with some roasted red peppers. There was optional salmon, but most of us opted out of it. It was fine! The salad was fine too and the warm roll was really good.
And man, they really did it again with their cookie. I don’t know who makes these or what recipe they use, but it’s so good! And they serve it to you warm and ooey gooey with the chocolate. Maybe if they kept on giving these to me the whole entire flight, I could have possibly forgotten about that unacceptably long delay, but I don’t think so. Excuse me while I write my formal complaint letter…

I met some great local bloggers at an event hosted by Casey from TasteStopping. Held at HomeCooked, it was to learn about Picnik, which is a free online photo editing tool. We had a couple samplings of some of the dishes that HomeCooked offers, including the pretzel-crusted chicken tenders with honey mustard and some kind of delicious buffalo dip. Both of these were quite delicious, so if this is any indication of the taste and quality of the food that you can pick up at HomeCooked or prepare yourself, then they definitely get a thumbs up from me!

Casey also brought some of these spinach pinwheels that she makes. These were not only tasty but also incredibly beautiful! They were almost too adorable to eat. But don’t worry, I ate them up!

Casey also runs Kitchen Witch, so she baked up some of her amazing cookies. The oatmeal cookies are at the top and they don’t have raisins. They’re are chewy and delicious! In the middle are the peanut butter cup cookies, which is a peanut butter cookie with peanut butter cups and semi-sweet chocolate. Man, these were beyond decadent! Lastly are the ultimate cookies. They are chocolate chip cookies with semi-sweet and milk chocolate, homemade toffee, and crunchy pecans. Well really, these are fairly decadent too! It was a fun afternoon of eating and learning with ladies who love to do the same!