You know when you're sitting on a plane waiting for take off and that harried passenger runs up on the plane within two minutes of take off? And all you can think is "man, that person should get it together!" Yeah, that was me...
I arrived at the airport TEN MINUTES before take off. Who does that?? We underestimated how long it would take to get to the airport from home--it seems like it's only 10 minutes but ended up taking a good 30 minutes. Of course I had a bag to check. BUT get this, the airport is small enough that I could run up to the window next to the boarding area, wave at an agent, and get her to come out and check me in. Again, WHO DOES THAT?? Not only did she check my bag, but she took care of everything and told me to run to the gate and she didn't give me one ounce of attitude. LOVE HER.
Granted, running to the gate means going through security and taking 5 steps to the doorway to the tarmac. But since it's such a small airport, it took me 30 seconds to go through security, even with them performing their duties to the fullest. And everyone was super nice even at 6 in the morning. I just can't believe how nice and lucky I was. There's no way you could get onto the airplane arriving 10 minutes prior to take off at any other airport. I love flying out of our local airport. =)
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Fat Tuesday
A year ago today, I was in Sweden. It was actually quite a fortuitous time to have been there because a storm had just passed through and covered the countryside in beautiful snow. Not much unlike here, our current home. However, the real reason it was great to have been in Sweden on Fat Tuesday, or I believe it's more commonly known as Shrove Tuesday there, is because I got to be introduced to their traditional Fat Tuesday fare--you know me and food!
So where New Orleanians have their King Cake and Hawaii Portuguese have their Malasadas, my hosts in Orebro were excited to share their Semla.
Semla is this wonderfully soft yeasty bun flecked with cardamom in the dough. It was a surprising and unusual flavor but mostly because it was difficult to identify at first bite and it was quite faint-not strong or overwhelming at all. Here's the best part:
They scoop out the middle, mix the crumbs with some milk and almond paste, put it back inside the bun, pipe some lovely fresh whipped cream and top it off with the 'cap' of the bun.
Semla is sometimes even served in a bowl of steaming milk. I purchased this second semla at the airport while waiting to board the plane and it was fabulous with a cup of strong, black, Swedish coffee (which by-the-way, is so well protected you cannot import, mail, or ship other coffee to Sweden without permission). I still dream about Semla a year later. In fact, I wanted this post to be about making Semla but my house is too cold to properly rise any yeast dough without extreme effort so you just get to dream with me.
Since we're on the topic of food and Sweden, I was only there for literally 30 hours. So I cannot review Sweden and all it's glory but it doesn't seem to have a strong cultural identity surrounding food. Their fare is rather simple (which I really do like) but there was nothing that really stuck out. This is what I had for dinner one night and this was as close as I could get to Swedish food:
I opted for chopped steak (essentially salisbury steak or hamburger steak) instead of Swedish meatballs since I can get that IKEA (hahahaa....) and the lingonberry sauce was quite good. They seem to like to drink beer with every meal, like any other European country, I suppose, and they serve boiled potatoes as their primary starch.
On the topic of food, some of you might get a kick out of this--look what I found in the middle of the town square:
Weight Watchers in Orebro!
I did get to see the town's castle and take a tour but I won't bore you with all the pictures. It did look lovely covered in snow though.
It was complete with a moat and everything!
The people were very friendly and many could speak enough English to explain to the dumb American girl how to find her hotel, and how much money she was holding, and what would be best to eat at the hotel bar. I would love to go back and visit during summer where the countryside is said to be the most stunning.
Hope you're having a happy Fat Tuesday in your corner of the world!
Sugar*mama
So where New Orleanians have their King Cake and Hawaii Portuguese have their Malasadas, my hosts in Orebro were excited to share their Semla.
Semla is this wonderfully soft yeasty bun flecked with cardamom in the dough. It was a surprising and unusual flavor but mostly because it was difficult to identify at first bite and it was quite faint-not strong or overwhelming at all. Here's the best part:
They scoop out the middle, mix the crumbs with some milk and almond paste, put it back inside the bun, pipe some lovely fresh whipped cream and top it off with the 'cap' of the bun.
Semla is sometimes even served in a bowl of steaming milk. I purchased this second semla at the airport while waiting to board the plane and it was fabulous with a cup of strong, black, Swedish coffee (which by-the-way, is so well protected you cannot import, mail, or ship other coffee to Sweden without permission). I still dream about Semla a year later. In fact, I wanted this post to be about making Semla but my house is too cold to properly rise any yeast dough without extreme effort so you just get to dream with me.
Since we're on the topic of food and Sweden, I was only there for literally 30 hours. So I cannot review Sweden and all it's glory but it doesn't seem to have a strong cultural identity surrounding food. Their fare is rather simple (which I really do like) but there was nothing that really stuck out. This is what I had for dinner one night and this was as close as I could get to Swedish food:
I opted for chopped steak (essentially salisbury steak or hamburger steak) instead of Swedish meatballs since I can get that IKEA (hahahaa....) and the lingonberry sauce was quite good. They seem to like to drink beer with every meal, like any other European country, I suppose, and they serve boiled potatoes as their primary starch.
On the topic of food, some of you might get a kick out of this--look what I found in the middle of the town square:
Weight Watchers in Orebro!
I did get to see the town's castle and take a tour but I won't bore you with all the pictures. It did look lovely covered in snow though.
It was complete with a moat and everything!
The people were very friendly and many could speak enough English to explain to the dumb American girl how to find her hotel, and how much money she was holding, and what would be best to eat at the hotel bar. I would love to go back and visit during summer where the countryside is said to be the most stunning.
Hope you're having a happy Fat Tuesday in your corner of the world!
Sugar*mama
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Love
How sweet is this face?
Everyone, meet Cody. He's the softest, sweetest, golden retriever you'll ever meet!
Have a sweet day!
Sugar*mama
Everyone, meet Cody. He's the softest, sweetest, golden retriever you'll ever meet!
Have a sweet day!
Sugar*mama
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sacramento
Secret Agent Man and I traveled to Sacramento for one of my childhood friend's wedding.
We drove 90 miles to the nearest international airport and this was the beginning of our daylong trip:
Now this airplane may seem small but believe it or not, if we flew out of our local airport, we would have flown in a smaller propeller plane. Just to give you an idea of how small our plane was, the seats were arranged as 1 seat, an aisle, then two seats. And just to give you an idea of how far we traveled, this was only the first of three flights we had to take.
Once we got there, it was a non-stop eating spree!
Here's just a glimpse of the food we had during our short trip.
Oh how I miss sushi...
And while in Sacramento, we really did take a vacation (and catch some food!)
This one was a little small so we kept trying.
All of this was BEFORE the wedding!
Happy eating.
Sugar*mama
We drove 90 miles to the nearest international airport and this was the beginning of our daylong trip:
Now this airplane may seem small but believe it or not, if we flew out of our local airport, we would have flown in a smaller propeller plane. Just to give you an idea of how small our plane was, the seats were arranged as 1 seat, an aisle, then two seats. And just to give you an idea of how far we traveled, this was only the first of three flights we had to take.
Once we got there, it was a non-stop eating spree!
Here's just a glimpse of the food we had during our short trip.
Oh how I miss sushi...
And while in Sacramento, we really did take a vacation (and catch some food!)
This one was a little small so we kept trying.
All of this was BEFORE the wedding!
Happy eating.
Sugar*mama
Monday, November 9, 2009
Philadelphia
We went all the way to Philadelphia and DIDN'T get a Philly Cheesesteak.
And get this...we went to the Reading Terminal which is a neat collection of markets, kinda like a daily farmers' market. When we first entered there was this really looong line of tourists waiting at a Philly Cheesesteak stand.
Then we overheard one of the workers talking at another market stand (specializing in fresh local produce) mentioning a much better food stand deeper in. So we decided to check it out and boy were we glad we did!
DeNic's served up simple, fresh roast beef, roast pork, pulled pork, or steak on rolls dipped in au jus. These two sandwiches--the roast beef and roast pork-- must have weighed in at 5 lbs!
These sandwiches were the only meal of the entire day and we went to bed full! Secret Agent Man was so happy. Secret Agent Man was especially happy about the super sharp provolone in his sandwich. It really added a whole new dimension--you must try!
Sugar*mama
And get this...we went to the Reading Terminal which is a neat collection of markets, kinda like a daily farmers' market. When we first entered there was this really looong line of tourists waiting at a Philly Cheesesteak stand.
Then we overheard one of the workers talking at another market stand (specializing in fresh local produce) mentioning a much better food stand deeper in. So we decided to check it out and boy were we glad we did!
DeNic's served up simple, fresh roast beef, roast pork, pulled pork, or steak on rolls dipped in au jus. These two sandwiches--the roast beef and roast pork-- must have weighed in at 5 lbs!
These sandwiches were the only meal of the entire day and we went to bed full! Secret Agent Man was so happy. Secret Agent Man was especially happy about the super sharp provolone in his sandwich. It really added a whole new dimension--you must try!
Sugar*mama
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