Food

I am a notoriously picky eater. This is one of the things that has given me the most anxiety about our trip. I am determined, though, to be adventurous and go outside my comfort zone. That said, I knew my last few meals in the US would be important ones.

On Saturday, we had Chipotle...I thought that was important, as I'm sure any Chipotle fan would agree. That evening, we shared John and Nicole's wedding day with them, with food and cocktails that were absolutely outstanding. Yesterday we drove up to Chris and Di's house in LA, where we are leaving Matt's car while we are away. As usual, Di out-did herself. There was a huge breakfast buffet to welcome the first day of football, complete with a bloody mary bar, mimosas, bagels, asparagus fritatta, breakfast potatoes, cheesy hashbrowns, perfectly well-done bacon and coffee cake. Since breakfast is my favorite meal, this was my perfect bon voyage meal. After Matt only finished half his plate, he couldn't believe I was heading back for seconds! Apparently, this was a good decision on my part.

Our first meal on the flight to Taiwan was a choice of chicken rice or a baked potato. Even though chicken rice sounded good, I decided to be "safe" and go with the baked potato. Not smart. It was actually boiled, sliced potatoes over some old-looking beef. I ate the dinner roll. Second meal was a choice of eggs or chicken rice. I decided to go with the chicken rice, since this seemed like a popular option. This was more like a watery, soupy-looking mixture with rice and boiled chicken floating in it. I ate the dinner roll and a few grapes. On the flight from Taiwan to Bangkok, we were presented with the option of chicken rice or spaghetti. Matt and I both opted for spaghetti. Matt opened his box and immediately closed it, saying, "You don't want this." Turns out spaghetti means fettucine pasta in a watery white sauce with giant slices of ham on it. I ate the dinner roll.

After three dinner rolls, I was getting nervous, but reminded myself that this was airline food, not Asian food. We got into Bangkok late last night and headed to our hotel. By the time we made it there and checked in, it was about 2:30am, and we decided to go out for a beer. We had a few Leos and decided to get something in our stomachs. Matt was excited to have the authentic curry he's been missing for seven years. I opted for "Garlic Rice wrapped in egg", which is exactly what it sounds like. Imagine a rice omelette. It was, as Ang would put it, "to die for". So, things are looking up!

Now, we're off to explore Bangkok and book some of our travels to the islands and northern Thailand. And, I am happy, at least knowing I will not wither away to nothing while we're in Asia!