So, I'm stuck on the super early morning shift, with a start time so early I have to get up the previous day. It's a difficult adjustment despite having nearly thirty hours American off between the last day shift and the first night shift -- which was day before yesterday and ten hours long.
I'm still jet-lagged and without even the dubious benefits of a bar cart and airline food.* Ah, food--! The one variable I can control in this equation for turning time and effort into money.
So envy me, if you will; not my hours, which are loathsome (and only vacation fill-in) but my breakfasupper:
1 rather large (and 2.5" thick!) filet mignon, sliced 1/3-2/3 (Tam gets the thick one, rare; I get the thin one, medium)
Potatoes Roseholme: diced, fried in a little bacon fat and olive oil, with green onions and four shades/two varieties of peppers cooked in, topped with a single strip of bacon (crumbled) and sliced cherry tomatoes in lieu of ketchup.
Eggs scrambled with a dollop of Worcestershire sauce and kissed afterwards with a little Cholula hot sauce.
Washed down with the bejeweled splendor of cranberry juice and fresh-ground Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.
It's darned good, too.
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* As the old folk song put it, "I'm eatin' on an airplane/peanuts and microwave slop again/Eatin' on an aiplane/Oh babe, I hate it so..." and so on.. You know what form of transportation has pretty good food? Amtrak. Yes, the very same fed.gov that couldn't turn a profit running a bordello can whup airline food. And that's sad.
MrsZ and I were STUNNED at the quality of food when we took the Empire Builder from Seattle to Grand Forks. Four meals for two people more than offset the price of our sleeper compartment (dining is included with sleeper reservations), let alone being able to go somewhere and close the door on the rest of the train.
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves, dinner was steak, breakfast was an omelet, lunch was some kind of hot sandwich, and dinner the second night was steak again.
DEAR ROBERTA
ReplyDeleteWE USED TO CALL THAT MEAL THAT THE MID-WATCH ATE AS "NIGHT LUNCH"
IT SOUNDED GOOD ANYWAY !
THERE ARE A FEW TRANSLANT LINERS WHICH MAKE PASSAGES DURING THE MONTHS FROM LATE SPRING THROUGH THE AUTUMN ON A FAIRLY REGULAR BASIS AND THE OFF SEASON TO POSITION THE SHIP FOR CRUISING
SOME OF THE SHIPS OFFER PASSAGE FOR LESS THAN $100-150 A DAY INCLUDING MEALS
THE FOOD IS USUALLY VERY GOOD IN THE OLD DAYS ALL THE FIRST RATE LINERS RUNNING FROM NY- THE CHANNEL PORTS AND NORTH EUROPE CHEFS WERE TRAINED BY ESCOFFIER
AND FOR THE MOST PART THAT TRADITION HAS BEEN CARRIED ON
IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR PASSENGERS TO PUT ON 10 POUNDS OR
MORE ON A CROSSING
SORRY TO SAY NO MORE CW !
NOW THEY USE TTY AND VHF R/T ON THE BRIDGE THEY STILL EXCHANGE BLINKER AT 5 WPM
ENJOY YOUR TRIP GO BY SHIP !
SINCERELY YOUR NAVIGATOR
The food on the City of New Orleans was also outstanding (in 2010). We couldn't believe it.
ReplyDeleteAaaah, Mid Rats. A "pleasure" known to squids everywhere, but to very few dogfaces -- hospital personnel and MI Geeks are probably about it. (Unless you count a sack lunch, which we did not.)
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I've worked few graveyard shifts since retiring, although there have been a few sleepless nights...
Jamacian Blue Mountain coffee...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteI wish I could afford to drink it all of the time!!!
Could be why Am trak is usually shy on budget money.
ReplyDelete