A post about what I ate on the plane.

Or, why my stomach hurts and I never want to see Saskatoon Berry Mousse ever again.

But before I get to that:

O man, that flight was long. I've actually been traveling since 3:00 pm on August 21. It's now 9:00 pm on August 23. I managed to miss August 22, 2009 somewhere along the way. So, let me add it up.

1.5 hours on the BC Ferry
1 hour on BC Transit
3 hours at the Vancouver International Airport
13.75 hours Vancouver to Auckland
9 hours trapped in Auckland International Airport
8 hours Auckland to Perth
1 hour Perth Airport to Perth City YHA
= 37.25 hours in transit

I am SO GLAD I don't have to do that for another 4 months because it's too much. I have a lot more to say about that, but I am exhausted so I'll just give you a rundown of the menu.

Disclaimer: if I actually manage to make this sound delicious, don't be fooled. It wasn't. I will say that the packaging was absolutely adorable though and I do love airline food service containers and such.

Vancouver to Auckland:

Dinner

-Beef curry (Where was the curry? No where. They should probably call this overcooked beef cubes instead)
-Basmati rice that was somehow undercooked, though it resided in the same dish as the overcooked beef. You could feel each little sharp rice piece.
-Green peas. great addition (sarcasm).

-Cheese portion. Actually good. New Zealand does have some good dairy.
-Two of those little Toppers crackers

-Bean salad. Okay. I'll give it an okay.

-Whole wheat dinner roll. Fine. The NZ butter saved it.

-And dessert, drum roll please for Saskatoon Berry Mousse with a chocolate cake base. As I wrote in my earlier food report to Emily, this was a dessert directly out of China Buffet's nightmares.

-Tea

-Luckily, the stewards also poured very strong gin and sodas and kept our wine glasses topped up with some of New Zealands finest vintages.

After that I sort of passed out (the turbulence kept jolting me awake and I kept forgetting where I was because I don't usually fly at night) until the stewards woke me up with breakfast at 2:45 am NZ time. I certainly wasn't ready for breakfast, I don't even know what I was ready for.

Breakfast (I went with the continental because I was scared of the hot meals at this point)

-Blueberry crumble muffin which you can probably purchase out of a vending machine somewhere

-Fruit plate with all my favourites (sarcasm): unripe honeydew, cantaloupe, RED grapes, pineapple, and a canned peach half. I actually really like canned peach halves, so that was okay.

-Yoghurt. Yum.

-Orange juice with the peel-back top, which I also love for some reason.

-Tea.

I actually received the 'lucky last' fruit plate, but my neighbours had the salsa omelette and it actually looked pretty good (contrary to my first impression).

Auckland to Perth:

Lunch

-Pan-seared chicken thigh. I avoided the lamb curry (look Dad, already being the New Zealanders even make airplane lamb).

-Green beans with a blob of red stuff. I think it was some sort of tomato-based sauce? How is that even questionable? I don't know.

-New potatoes. Goodish.

-O, and under the chicken was an interesting surprise. I couldn't figure out what it was at first because it was just a perfectly round, grey disc. Then I realized it was stuffiing. I think.

-Cheese portion.

-Different crackers. Whole-wheat of some sort.

-An okay salad with cucumber, pineapple, shredded carrots, and lemon vinaigrette. If the pineapple had been fresh this would have been good.

-White dinner roll with butter.

-White chocolate, almond, raspberry ice cream. This was pretty tasty and I like the tiny dessert spoons they give you.

-More gin.

-Tea.

And a surprise tea meal (my ticket only said snack)

-Two scones. I've had much better, but they were warmed up, at least.

-Strawberryish jam, no real berries actually existed in it anyway.

-Some sort of cream spread that we don't usually eat in Canada.

-Smaller fruit plate, this time with out of season apples.

-Orange juice.

-Tea.

Well, that got long. I hope you're all completely captivated. I really regret not taking pictures.

Have to run! Cass