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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!
Food on Fridays with Ann
By the time Charity and I squeezed into seats 26E and 26F, we were hungry. We thought we had a full hour layover in Houston, but our plane arrived late and we weren’t paying attention to the time. Instead, we were hunting for an airport Wendy’s. Just as we were anticipating a satisfying meal of a burger and fries, we realized with a gasp that we only had fifteen minutes to catch our flight. We rushed to the gate burgerless.We strode down the long hallways, turned a corner and continued down more long hallways. Eventually, we saw the gate. Over the sound system, Now boarding all rows flight 1155 to Indianapolis. We made it. Just in time.On the plane, as we jammed ourselves into Continental’s economy class seats, all we could think about was food. The stewardess said they were serving complimentary drinks, but no free food. We could buy a snack, though, so Charity pulled out the airline magazine to study the selection. One of us guessed they’d charge four bucks for a bag of five M&Ms. We were close. They charged $2.99 for a 4 oz bag of Twizzlers. But while Charity leafed through the magazine, she also spied a photo of tapas.Bruschetta on crackers, boursin-style cheese spread, olives, hummus, almonds, and a little candy mint. The selection seemed classy and European, like something a first-class passenger would be served with cloth napkins and a mixed drink.Tapas.It’s all we could think about.How much would the tapas cost?Would they serve tapas on this flight?Would so many people buy tapas that none would be left for us?Afraid that they would only offer the overpriced Twizzlers on this flight, I started to manage my expectations. telling myself to stop thinking about the tapas so that I wouldn’t be disappointed if they were out.The plane took off, and when we were at cruising altitude, the stewardess wheeled a cart down the aisle. “Snacks!” she proclaimed. “Would anybody like to buy a snack?””Look!” Charity nudged me. “Sticking up on the end.””Tapas!” I exclaimed. We counted them and wondered if any would be left when she rolled past row 26. The stewardess moved slowly, calling out “snacks” like a vendor at a ball game, but no takers. Plenty of tapas on hand for us.We waved our hands excitedly. “Over here!””Snacks!” she continued, turning away from us as if she didn’t hear.Charity let out a little gasp. “We’d like tapas, please?”
The stewardess started laughing. Good joke. Except we were starving. She was grinning big as we paid for our tapas, handing the slender packages to us as we giggled and thanked her. We could barely wait to rip off the plastic while I snapped pictures. We unpacked the little dips and spread, selecting the ideal cracker to carry the hummus and considering which would complement the cheese spread. We crunched almonds and poked marinated olives with toothpicks. Fancy.”Look at that poor chump,” I whispered to Charity as we munched our goodies, gesturing to the guy sitting next to her. He was quietly reading a book. Unlike us, he was snackless. “He’s stuck in economy class with nothing to eat. But not us! We’re flying First Class, eating tapas.”
We scraped every last smear of spread from the containers and crunched every last crumb of the crackers. At the end of our feast, Charity unwrapped the mint and popped it in her mouth. Immediately, her face reacted. “Ewww!””What?””This mint. It’s not a mint. It’s licorice!””What a shock, to expect a mint and get licorice.”
She subtly spit it into a paper napkin and tucked it into the remains of our First Class feast—a disappointing end to our moments of luxury flying. Nevertheless, we were satisfied. I even tried the licorice, just to see what it was like.We were stuck in coach, but faked First Class, just for fun. Well, we were hungry, but why not amuse ourselves—even treat ourselves—in the process? We’ll never afford First Class, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make life special in small ways. Even at home in our everyday activities and meals.Why not use cloth napkins and light candles at dinner and pretend our table is newer and classier than it is? We Kroekers do that. It’s easy to make small choices that turn a simple meal into something special.I once wrote about 10 Ways to Class Up One’s Act a Notch, everyday things that make me feel a little more civilized. Here is a selection demonstrating ways my family and I have “faked First Class” in our everyday lives:
- Goblets. Drink everyday beverages from goblets. I picked up a pair of pretty goblets from a neighbor’s garage sale and drank my iced tea from one. Nice. The kids think so, too–use goblets for their milk, juice and Kool-Aid. If someone accidentally breaks one, no big deal. Keep your classy cool and simply go get another from Goodwill for a dollar.
- A Toast. Now that you’re holding glasses with a stem, how about a toast? “Here’s to unexpected elegance”–ching, ching. Seriously, a little toast gets our minds thinking differently. What is special about our lives? How can I piece together a one- or two-sentence speech? It’s an interesting little exercise for our kids (me, too).
- A European Course. Serve something kind of European at dinner. I skimmed the book French Women Don’t Get Fat a few weeks ago, and one idea Mireille Guiliano had was to slice tomatoes, spread them out on a bed of lettuce, salt heavily and sprinkle them with goat cheese. Simple to prepare with an unexpected flavor combination (for a normally unclassy American). And delicious (you could substitute feta, if you like). That’s just one idea of many simple courses one could add to dinner (another common dish is to serve each person a slice of melon with a slice of prosciutto as a course before what we would call the entree. It would, in France, actually be called the entrée–the “entry,” if you will, to the main dish.). Go ahead, drink another toast to goat cheese and French simplicity: “Vive la chevre! Vive la simplicité!”
- Candles at dinner. They’re cheap, and the kids love ‘em. Turn off the lights and they’re even an alternative source of lighting in this age of low-impact adaptations. Might as well make it a regular thing. It’s funny, but when we use candles at dinner, the kids are usually quieter, less restless, and a bit kinder and more reflective. It makes me wonder why I’ve been so stingy with candles in the past. All those rowdy, tiring dinners might have been redeemed with the magical, classy touch of low lighting.
- Classical music. Now, I don’t mean to advance from a tiny notch classier to downright snobbish, but honestly, something happens to the family when we play classical music during dinner. Just as the candles seem to have a calming effect, classical music seems to provide a classier mood and mentality. Even kids who prefer rock or pop or country will tolerate classical style music if it’s just “dinner music.” Stop by the library to borrow a Vivaldi CD, or just flip on the classical station and accept whatever they have to offer.
- Flowers. While we’re still at the dinner table, may I suggest setting out a simple bouquet of flowers beside the candles? Today, I picked six or seven flowers from the garden and stuck them into glass Coke bottles for vases. The kids loved them. Class meets casual. I know a few classy ladies who can serve meals in the dining room with kids all around while an ornate vase bursting with roses graces the space, but I’m just a daisy-in-a-Coke-bottle gal most of the time. I guess I’m casually classy when I’m classy at all, and this illustrates why I qualified this whole post by saying it would only be classier by “a notch.”
How do you fake First Class, not just on airplanes, but every day?
:::
Continental’s Tapas Snack Box*
- Oloves Marinated Olives, Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta Spread, Wild Garden™ Hummus, Rondelé® Peppercorn Parmesan Cheese Spread, Fratelli Laurieri Scrocchi Al Rosmarino Crackers, Jacobs® Cream Crackers, Partners® Olive Oil and Sea Salt Crackers, Emerald® Natural Almonds, Fantis® Ouzo Candy Mint
- $8.49
*Item is offered on select flights onlyCredits: Tapas photos by Ann Kroeker.
I so enjoyed this post, Ann! I also loved your tips for bringing easy elegance to everyday living. Thank you for sharing them, and for hosting 🙂
We’re not very elegant people, so every small effort seems huge! 🙂
It sounds like you and Charity had a lot of fun faking first class! And tapas? Really? All I got on Delta was a free bag of peanuts and some tomato juice. 🙂
We laughed so hard the entire trip. Or maybe I was the one doing all the laughing? We’ll have to ask Charity. Her post about the flight was much more serious in tone…all I remember is my stomach muscles feeling like I’d done a hundred sit-ups because I’d been laughing from my gut so long and so hard.
No free peanuts on our flight. We would have had to pay for them.
Tomato juice is good. Charity got the Bloody Mary mix, which had some spices and felt very fancy and First Class. I had ginger ale.
YES! I highly recommend the “spicy tomato juice,” as one flight attendant called it. Turns out it was Bloody Mary mix, and suddenly I am reminded that I was planning to look for it at the grocery store.
And laughter was the main course of our first class meal, indeed. We laughed and laughed and laughed. I’ll bet that guy sitting next to me wished HE was in first class for real – away from the riff-raff that sit in economy eating tapas!
Of course, if you girls had taken my lead and eaten a hearty breakfast followed by a full brunch 2 hours later, it would have held you a bit longer! =) Hugs to both of you.
Loved this post! I also have a “Faking First Class” experience, although very different from yours. I was flying from Seattle to Raleigh with a plane change in Chicago. I had strategically scheduled my flight to increase my chances of getting bumped. And it worked. They were asking for volunteers to get bumped in Chicago and I quickly volunteered. The flight I was supposed to be on was the last flight of the day so I would have to spend the night in Chicago. The airlines paid for my room and gave me money to eat. However, since I like to deal with as little as possible to carry on the plane I was totally unprepared. I had no change of clothes whatsoever, no toothbrush, no makeup, no deodorant, not even a hairbrush. The next morning, I made my way back to the airport. Wouldn’t you know it, the plane was full and the only seat they had left for me was in first class. So here I am in first class, looking like a waif. But I succeeded in what I had planned to do, get bumped, and I had a free ticket to show for it, a good story to go with it and a great lesson on being prepared.
Brilliant plan! (Except for the forgotten toiletries and clothing.) Did they serve the waif any tapas? 🙂
That is awesome…made me smile…
Glad our antics could offer you a grin!
I laughed out loud, trying to picture you and Charity taking pictures of your food on the plane!
P.S. I absolutely love licorice.
I sure hope we didn’t drive everyone around us nuts with our giggling and tapas-talk. And photographs.
Not fond of licorice, and I can only imagine Charity’s surprise, expecting spearmint or peppermint when she popped that in her mouth. They actually called it a “mint.”
What was so funny about those pictures is that Ann had to take them from six inches away because it is SO cramped in economy!
And no, I am NOT fond of licorice! Twizzlers on the other hand, that might have worked out ok form.
I think you got a much better value for your money than the Twizzlers would have been! Thanks for the tips on classiness–and for hosting Food on Fridays.
Thanks for your note, Becca!
Wow, I’ve never seen those tapas on Continental – and I fly them a lot. Will be more observant next time! I’m so high class I always make sure I have swedish fish or gummi bears in my bag for a plane trip – just enough to get you to a real meal later. one time I was bumped up to first class and I was SO disappointed – the treat was just glorified cheez its. Loved your ideas too for making everyday seem more first class…
I wondered with Charity if there would be a way to take the right kinds of snacks along to mimic the Tapas, but I think the liquid/gel/squishy-stuff rules won’t allow it.
Cheez-its (or fancy equivalent) in First Class? Seriously?
Tapas on a plane? Wow, last time I flew they were giving away some tiny bag of pretzel mix and we got skipped,lol.
Thank you so much for hosting and for a cute story.
Thanks for your note, Bibi. Keep in mind we had to purchase the tapas–and maybe it has to do with the length of the flight?
They definitely gave out nothing for free except simple drinks.
Airplane travel ain’t what it used to be!
I have a delightful mental image of you and Charity chowing down on all that First Class goodness! I agree. It’s those special little treats that make life fun.
It was hard to be dainty when we were so hungry, but we tried to act all first-classy! 🙂
I hope you have a First-Class moment today, Linda. I wish I had a fancy chocolate right about now…
Dainty? You mean like when I had to rip open the hummus using my teeth!
Oh, man, you can take the girls out of the country, but…
Oh, how I loved this story! Not THIS is the Ann I met at the Frio! You two are a riot – and kudos for making those hideous econo seats feel like 1st class. We got bumped to 1st one of the various legs of our 2 week adventure and we were amazed at how VERY much more comfortable those seats are. Convinced now that the best use of mileage is to purchase an econo seat and use miles to upgrade. But you know, traveling with a good friend who helps you to laugh along the way – that counts for a whole heckuva lot. To say nothing of tapas!
I love it when people make do and turn a situation into an memory experience. Being silly once in a while and laughing until your “belly” hurts is actually good for you. We are too serious for our own good at times. Thank you for Hosting and for sharing such a memoral time in “first class.”
You are such an encourager–thank you for this note. And I’m honored to host Food on Fridays, encouraging stories and fun and recipe sharing.