UA 395 BWI ORD 1140 1246 738 2F

A big crush at the gate, mitigated by a mellifluous and
polite agent making making the announcements. For some
reason three people were called up to preboard, one of
them being myself.

Welcoming flight attendants, making one almost believe in
the "friendly skies." On the whole a pleasant flight though
in the clouds most of the time. Some of these runs have a
surprise meal catered, and I'd guessed this might be one
of them. No such luck: the usual snack basket only, whose
cheese Popchips were pretty tasteless and the Seneca apple
chips (now usually a favorite of mine) stale. We landed
5 early but sat around for half an hour as the plane at our
gate was disabled and could not be moved. They found us
another gate at the opposite end of the terminal.

UA 944 ORD FRA 1435 0555 772 7B

Mechanical - flight delayed 2 hours and change, so my
leisurely drink at the club turned out to be a bit more
than that. Substantial food, I guess you'd call it, with
some kind of pasta with numerous cheeses and a sweet
tomato sauce - I'm not sure about the pasta, because both
times I went by, it was out, there just being blobs of
cheese and sauce in an otherwise empty dish. I tried a
tablespoon of the residue and found it good.

The soups of the day were cream of broccoli and a sort of
bland chili con carne that was okay if you put pepper jack
in it.

Cookies (ran out quickly) and brownie bites (ditto) and
salad fixings (abundant).

I was lucky to find a seat at a deuce - various people
faded in and out of the other spot. The place was very
crowded; the recent refurnishing seems to have removed
seats rather than added them. The other B club was closed
for renos. There were various delays. All contributed to
the overuse of the space. But, hey, Budweiser longnecks
were free.

They solved our problem by swapping out planes, which
meant the pax had to trek down to C from the usual spot,
which was right outside the club. Ugly boarding area,
ugly boarding, ugly mood for the passengers who were more
cattleized than usual.

On the plane. A perfectly fine seat, well-modulated service
that fell short of being too chummy, thank goodness.

To begin
Chilled appetizer - Nori-wrapped smoked salmon with wasabi
mayonnaise

Less good salmon than usual - less oily I guess, and
why they had to disguise the fish with flavors that
didn't work ... I guess I answered that.

Fresh seasonal greens - Tomatoes, baby mozzarella, Kalamata
olives, cucumber and croutons with your choice of creamy
Gorgonzola dressing or balsamic vinaigrette

Less than fresh, but nothing to complain about.

Main course
Short rib of beef - Asian-style barbecue sauce, wasabi
grits and stir-fried vegetables

The usual meat cube had a blessed strand of fat running
through it - not exactly a real short rib, but better
than sometimes. The sauce tasted like Bull-Dog with
extra MSG; the vegetables were more like stir-boiled;
and the starch tasted like industrial chemicals. Why
wasabiize everything? with fake wasabi? There was a
fairly decent Guigal Cotes du Rhone - good enough that
I stuck with it for a couple months.

Spice-rubbed breast of chicken - Mustard barbecue sauce,
steamed rice, mixed vegetables and pickled cabbage

Fillet of Amazon cod - Mixed vegetable ratatouille

Tri-color ravioli - Cherry tomato saue, herbed butternut
squash and Parmesan cheese

To finish
International cheese selection - Grapes and crackers served
with Port

Dessert
Gelato with your choice of toppings

I passed on all the afters.

Prior to arrival
Fresh fruit selection - Served with granola, yogurt and
breakfast breads

And on this as well.