We boarded the plane and found our window & isle seats in the 6^th row. Our seats look huge compared to the seats we usually sit in. I particularly enjoy the large armrest between our seats. Awaiting us are two sets of ear plugs for the movie, two bottles of water and blankets neatly folded in specially designed pockets attached to seats in front of us.

Once in the air we are offered complementary beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Since it is New Year’s eve, Deutsch starts of with a glass of Champagne. Since I am unfortunately feeling a little under the weather, my choice of bubbly is ginger ale. Due to the stealth of our flight attendants, each of our glasses always seems to be full. Now the good stuff starts. We are each offered a small bowl of warm mixed salted nuts. I’m afraid that I was so distracted by my warm nuts that I forgot to whip out my camera to document the beginning of the food. The attendants continue to refill the beverages and nuts until dinner. Oh yes, I said dinner. I never knew that in these days of airline cut backs, they are still feeding the lucky bastards seated in the first six rows.

At first when I heard they were serving dinner I was a little worried. Since the upgrade was only issued late yesterday, I was sure that they would not have had time to get us our vegetarian meals in order. My First Class meal opportunity may be missed! However, once I perused the menu (the MENU?!?), my worries were laid to rest. I did remember to take pictures from here on out. Some photos may be a little dark. I avoided using the flash for fear that my fellow First Class companions would mock me…. a lot. I also didn’t want to give anyone a heart attack with a bright flash on an airplane. I figured better to have dark pictures than an undercover airline Marshall jump me. Handcuffs may have ruined the rest of my First Class experience.

Mojito Shrimp served with Somen Noodles and a Combination Salad featuring fresh seasonal Greens and Chili-cucumber with a Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing and a whole wheat roll.

Eggplant Ravioli Pasta filled with a rich Eggplant Puree, topped with Bechamel Sauce and a light Marinara Sauce.

The Ravioli was delicious.

For dessert I had the Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae with my choice of hot fudge and pecans to top it off. Yum!

Now for the movie portion of the flight. I was happy to find out that they were playing The Illusionist, one that I had recently missed in the theaters. It stars Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell. I was thrilled to get in one more movie to add to my 2006 list. It was an enjoyable movie, but predictable.

After the movie we were offered freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies. To accompany the cookies we were given a choice of milk, chocolate milk and/or sparkling water with lemon. I chose the later.

As we make our decent we are treated with good-bye Ghiradadelli chocolates. Dark chocolate with white mint filling, what more could one ask for? I saved mine for later that night after I had chilled it in the fridge.

That concludes my First Class experience. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please keep your fingers crossed for future upgrades. For an interesting flight food read, check out Airlinemeals.net.

It is 2007! Happy New Year! I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous year for you and your loved ones.

]]> http://www.bloggingcrap.com/2007/01/flying-american-airlinesfirst-class/feed/ 1 http://www.bloggingcrap.com/2006/12/i-love-a-good-martini/ http://www.bloggingcrap.com/2006/12/i-love-a-good-martini/#comments Thu, 21 Dec 2006 18:31:28 +0000 michele http://www.bloggingcrap.com/2006/12/i-love-a-good-martini/ Anyone who knows me can tell you that I love martinis and Las Vegas more than the average person. However, I must draw the line at a $2,000 martini! The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s elite bar, Body English, has created the ultimate martini. The Aristocrat Martini is a blend of only the finest of spirits, Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac, 150 year old Grand Marnier, and a splash of Dom Pérignon. With a martini of this caliber it is not a surprise that they have accessorized it with a ruby and diamond encrusted swizzle stick.

This would be a good time to be chummy with the bartender!

Traveling was a huge part of my year. I think this may be the most I have ever traveled in one year. The year started off slow, but it eventually picked up. Here is a list of my adventures:

March – Snowmass, CO

Deutsch and I had a wonderful 4 day ski trip in Snowmass, Colorado. We met up with Deutsch’s family, his parents, Imbi & Rein, his brother, Ravo, and wife, Alexa, and family friends, Ruth & Peter. This was the first time I had ever been to Aspen. We actually didn’t ski in Aspen, but we visited the town. Not quite as glamorous as I had expected, but very quaint. We enjoyed our large room, which we affectionately named Club 101, at Snowmass Inn.

April – Las Vegas, NV

This was the first out of four visits to Sin City. On this occasion, we celebrated Deutsch’s birthday. We met up with our drinking buddy, Erin. Erin brought her friend, who brought her friend, who brought their friends and so on. To Deutsch’s surprise, he enjoyed his birthday with five females. A nice treat for him since he is usually stuck with just me. I won’t go into details because as the saying goes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I will just say the evening involved high speeds, an interesting Score and a pole. Take that as you will, but a good time was had by all. Dinner was at Border Grill and our hotel of choice for the weekend was the Monte Carlo.

May – Napa Valley, CA

Napa Valley was another first for me. I met up in San Francisco with my friends Sue & Angie. Deutsch was supposed to go, but due to a medical emergency he stayed home to take care of our ailing kitty, Tippit*. We spent the first night in SF. We lucked out with a great rate at a fantastic hotel, The Stanford Court in Nob Hill. The next day we rented a car and drove out to wine country. Again, we were lucky to stay in another great hotel, River Terrace. We had a weekend filled with delicious meals and tasty wines. Vinyards we visited: Andretti Winery; Darioush Winery; Goosecross Winery; Domaine Chandon and Van der Heyden Vineyards & Winery.

* Tippit made a full recovery.

July – New York, NY

We met up with my cousin, Krissy, and her hubby, Paul. First, I would like to give kudos to Krissy for conquering her fears and getting on that plane, even in horrible weather conditions! We had a fantastic time eating our way through NYC. We are all vegetarians and we searched out all the great veggie restaurants. My favorite restaurant was Red Bamboo in The Village. Fortunately, it was worth the ourtragous two hour wait. Next time, reservations! Just a few highlights of our trip: our excursion to Williamsburg, breakfast in Bryant Park, the Central Public Library, MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and all the food. Check out Krissy’s blog part 1, part 2 and part 3 for more. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Mid-Town.

August – Toronto, Canada

In August we were off to Deutsch’s parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary party. It was an enjoyable night celebrating with loved ones on such a wonderful occasion. As usual, the champagne was flowing and we danced till dawn (well, not really, but it’s fun to say). I only hope we are as happy as them on our 50th! We also took the opportunity to visit the rest of our family and friends.

September – Las Vegas, again

If I recall, this was a last minute trip. We were expericing serious Vegas withdrawls. We stayed at The Excalibur. We also did research for our new and upcoming website, VegasHotelBuffets.com.

October – Chicago, IL

Halloween in Chicago! Our visit to Erin was long overdue. What better time to go to Chicago that Halloween? Well, maybe St. Patricks day, perhaps next year. As usual, Erin showed us a grand time. Let’s just say a lot of Vodka was consumed. We finally saw her cool condo. I was extremely envious. A gorgeous place. Halloween was an evening of bar hopping, with more treats than tricks.

November – Las Vegas, yet again

This was actually a business trip. We attended Pubcon, a web publishing conference at the Convention Center. It was 3 full days of speakers. I learned a lot about the business, but it was long and exhausting. The 4th day was easier, free drinks at the Nine Fine English Men pub. That was tiring too with the pressure of networking. At least the Guinness helped out. We stayed in a nice Spa Suite at the MGM Grand. We went a little overboard with the room because we were also celebrating our wedding anniversary.

December – Can You Guess…. Vegas!

This trip was strictly pleasure and last minute. THEhotel, a botique hotel in Manadalay Bay, offered us a complimentary 2 night stay in a suite. They also gave us other perks like a $35 in dining credit. It was on my birthday weekend, so how could we say no? The weeked was fun from beginning to the very end! On my birthday we went ice skating at The Hard Rock. Yes, an ice rink in Vegas. Ah, the magic of technology. I hadn’t been skating in over 10 years. At first, I was a disaster, but slowly it all came back to me. I was skating like a pro (not) in no time. Then Deutsch surprised me with an evening of dinner and theatre. We saw Phantom Of The Opera and then dined at an Italian restaurant, Zeffirino. At dinner I was presented with a fantastic dessert with a candle and was even serenaded “Happy Birthday” by a troubador (is that the right word ?). It was a great night at The Venetian. The entire weekend was fantastic. Even at the airport on the way home a certain video poker machine was very, very nice to me. Thank you for a fun and memorable weekend Deutsch.

Toronto for Christmas

Since this hasn’t happened yet, I can’t write about it. However, I’m sure it will be a very Merry Christmas!

We always love having visitors. Thanks to Ruth & Riina, my Mom, Sue, Chris & Sonia, Ravo & Alexa, and Ema & Isa for taking the time to see us this year. We hope you will come again in 2007!

Congratulations to Brokeback Mountain, Crash & Jon Stewart. Brokeback Mountain was the expected winner for most of the categories it was up for. However, it was a happy moment when Crash was the surprise winner for Best Picture. Both Brokeback and Crash were my favourite* movies of the year. Even though Jon Stewart had mixed reviews, I thought he was great. I hope he is invited back next year. Kudos to the show for trying to inject more humour* throughout the evening. That is a keeper. However, what was up with ALL the film montages? They can definitely lose those.

As for the fashions, I was very underwhelmed. Nothing stood out except Charlize and her parrot, oops, I mean bow. Everyone looked very nice and safe (= boring). If you missed the fashions, check out In Style, E! Online and the Oscar website.

By the way, the Oscar picture above is me holding the real thing, an actual Oscar. Let me tell you, those suckers are heavy! I never thought I would ever get my hands one. Oh yes, I have my ways!

*Favourite & Humour – Alexa, that was just for you (sorry y’all, it’s an inside joke).