1121 CO2524 XNA IAH 1215 1350 ERJ 5C

Got to the airport shortly after 11; checkin took a
couple minutes only; security took a couple minutes
only. The XNA Business Center (open to all passengers,
says the sign) is pretty pathetic, with no electric
outlets and telephone cables half of which were missing
and half of which shorted out periodically. Dirty, too.
No biggie, as this isn't one of those "show up two
hours before departure" airports. We boarded right on
time via a weird canopied fake jetway; the plane was
only about 60% full - and when you get two seats to
yourself, the ERJ is perfectly acceptable to ride in.
The FA was agreeable and helpful and had the face of a
madonna. Real peanuts served as a snack. Fairly bumpy
trip. Flight landed at half past, but we had almost 20
min of taxiing, the result being that the arrival
ended up just on time.

There was still plenty of room to get from the commuter
terminal to Terminal E by the pathetic excuse for a
monorail and have a leisurely lunch at Pappadeaux, which
for a chain provides decent food. It took extra time to
get there because of the large proportion of gate lice
(oh, sorry, infrequent flyers) clogging the monorail car,
the exit, and the moving walkways (where they are notable
for spreading out and not allowing anyone to pass).

I started with the fried crawfish appetizer, a generous
serving of rather oversalted and underpeppered tails,
normally served over fries; I got dirty rice instead,
no supplement: this was very heavily herbed and green
peppery, with ground liver (authenticity points).

The dish cried out for hot sauce; the waiter brought a
bottle of Tabasco and a little ramekin of Buffalo wing
sauce, which is what I used; it improved the crawfish.

I followed with the oyster trio, two each of three rather
rich preparations (reminiscent of the Dichotomy of Oysters
at Kaphan's back in the old days). Oysters Pappadeaux is
the house take on Rockefeller, with spinach and a blob of
Hollandaise on top; the other two kinds were a gratin
with Parmesan and Romano ("Baton Rouge") and a sort of
Casino but with chopped not very interesting scallops
(menu says shrimp) along with the usual bacon and Parmesan
("St. Phillip").

The best thing on tap is Sam Adams.

I left fat and happy, taking half the crawfish back in a
carton for munching on the airplane.

CO 582 IAH BOS 1550 2040 733 7A

Made the mistake of sitting with the cockpit crew of this
flight waiting for the arrival of the equipment. So I was
privy to the informal briefing from the previous crew
when the plane finally showed up. To wit - "The A autopilot
makes a slow roll to the left and disconnects; the B works
great, though." After a recitation of the numerous quirks
of this aircraft, the parting shot was, "Otherwise, it's
a good plane." Inspiring of much confidence indeed.

It was an uneventful flight, arriving 25 min ahead of
schedule. People oohed and ahed, and I refrained from
pointing out that when I started doing this route, the
scheduled time was in the 3 1/2 hr range, less if at
off-peak times and you got one of those new Whisperjets.