Text 33207, 80 rader
Skriven 2015-11-16 09:03:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: to Hap's 479
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After eating I still had time and went down in the other direction 
to the United Club for a shot and/or a Coke or something.

Plus I still had stomach space to check out the snacks in the 
club. There was a substantial display of healthy choices - 
julienne red peppers, tabbouleh, rather fancy mixed 
Mediterranean-style olives, and that cuminy fatfree hummus that
I've learned to become fond of (Air Canada's is I think better,
but you take what you can get).

Alongside these were tubs of pita chips, perfectly okay, and
brownie crisps, which I think are an enormous waste of time in
the first place and offering the potential for culinary disaster
when served here next to the savory snacks.

Also cubes of yellow cheddar with crackers that looked like the
Pepperidge Farm ones but loose.

The drinks in the cooler included cherry Coke and Barq's in
addition to the more usual Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Diet Sprite,
and Fanta. I had a Barq's and afterward a Cherry Coke - more
caffeine than my usual intake by a fair amount, but I've found
that I can sleep during the day under the influence of caffeine,
the tradeoff being that nighttime is likely to be troublesome.

One strangeness of this club - I found a working public phone.

UA1840 IAD SEA 1414 1656 739 3F

It was a good hike to the gate (which was next to the other club,
but I'd wanted the one in D), and by the time I got there, boarding 
was well under way.

Our flight attendant was attractive and in her 40s. One weird
thing was that I could see her turn on and off her smile - in
the galley she looked tired and unhappy, but on stepping out
into the cabin, wow - people talk about aging stars shedding
thirty years upon going on stage; this was that sort of thing.
I was a little creeped out by the toothiness of that stage
smile, though.

She offered portobello mushroom ravioli, beef stew, or Buffalo 
chicken with mac and cheese. I asked for the stew with the
chicken as a backup choice. She said that I would get my first
choice, because of my exalted status with the airline.

We got a salad of assorted greens with one lettuce that I'd 
never  encountered before, large roundish leaves, quite bitter.
The little secrets hidden in among the greens were bits of
craisins, raisins, and spiced apple. Also a little pile of
rather hard barley. Carrot julienne. The usual tub of balsamic 
vinaigrette.

A pretzel roll was smaller and saltier than usual, so less 
appealing to me.

The beef stew wasn't altogether bad. It was made of chuck
trimmed of all fat but retaining a little gristle, quite
tender but not obviously tenderized. It came in a brown 
sauerbratenish sauce with clove and fruit flavors, reminding
me a bit of A-1 sauce. Next to it was an assortment of hashed 
vegetables that  were shriveled and tough and seemed almost
freeze-dried -  parsnips, carrots, redskin potatoes, celery.
The gravy helped some of these down.

The red on offer was Fortant de France Cab-Merlot. I remember
when this was a Languedoc wine that did a reasonable imitation
of a cheap Bordeaux; it came in a sleek perhaps fashionable
bottle and cost a princely $1. Now the bottle is a facsimile
of a Bordeaux bottle but the wine is less Bordeauxish, more
Mediterranean-tasting. I had a glass and returned to Courvoisier.

Lemon sorbet arrived frozen to dry ice temperature. After it
warmed up a bit it was quite tart, somewhat lemony, pretty okay.

More Courvoisier.

As usual, a wait for a gate crew after we landed a bit early.
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