Airport.ca the travel blog

NOV

Immerse Yourself In Local Flavours By Attending Cooking School

Travelers to Asia often emerge from their journeys telling tales of mouth-watering gastronomic experiences. Each destination in Asia offers its own unique blend and fusion of flavours and there may be no better way to assault the senses and the palette than taking a class at a local cooking school.

That's exactly what well known bloggers, Meg Hourihan and Jason Kottke did on their first day in Bangkok. They attended the Baipai Thai Cooking School for a half-day class.

Though it was our first day in Bangkok, we dove right into the action by heading to the Baipai Cooking School for a half-day of Thai cooking classes. A friend of Jason's from Minneapolis recommended Baipai and I whole-heartedly second her recommendation! It was simply a wonderful experience.

It was a great class. Not only did I learn how to prepare some traditional Thai dishes, I also learned about new ingredients and I'm now inspired to incorporate some of the new flavors into the more traditional "American" dishes I like to prepare. And I can't wait to locate and buy Thai ingredients back home and recreate these meals again for dinner. My only wish? That I could go back every day for cooking classes at Baipai!

Meg is no rookie chef, so that is a pretty big endorsement. Sounds yummi!

Learning To Cook Like A Local [Megnut]

TAGS: asia bangkok cooking school food

NOV

Air Canada Now Charging For All Snacks And In-Flight Meals

Oh c'mon, admit it. You secretly love airplane food. So this is no big deal. Right? But the rumoured 'loonie-per-flush' coin-operated lavatories are where I draw the line.

Hungry Air Canada passengers travelling on most flights within North America, in the lower-fare classes, will now need to pay for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The airline, which will charge up to $5 for snacks and sandwiches, says the move is an effort to keep up with customer demand for low fares. The change took effect on Nov. 1.

Complimentary meal service will only be offered on North American flights longer than 4.5 hours, says the company's website.

A spokesperson for Air Canada in Vancouver says the move is simply an extension of what the airline started in 2003 when it scrapped meals for short and medium-haul flights.

Air Canada scraps North American in-flight meals [Source Credit]

TAGS: aircanada food pricing

AUG

Air Canada Will Give Executive Class Passengers Steel Knives, Again

Starting in two weeks, Air Canada's blueblood customers will be able to quit a practice most despise: using plastic knives to carve into slabs of beef tenderloin.

Metal knives will be allowed back on Air Canada effective Sept. 15, three years after Transport Canada and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration approved the measure.

Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Air Canada and other carriers banned metal knives while stepping up their security measures, although they have still offered metal forks and spoons.

While most passengers would acknowledge that airlines were wise to crack down on potential weapons in the wake of the terror attacks, that didn't make it any easier for Air Canada flight attendants, who have had to endure countless complaints over the past four years because of the knife ban.

"I'd say (that), on overseas routes, I get at least one complaint every other flight," said Heather Tregaskas, an Air Canada flight attendant with 37 years' experience.

"You just get customers who have this nice meal and they feel like they're eating with McDonald's utensils," she said. "There's not a lot the flight attendants can do. We just smile. What can you say?"

Air Canada returns steel knives to its flights [CP]

TAGS: aircanada food security