Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food Picnic Insulated Lunch Bag You know the first thing I order when I arrive in the UK, but what is the last thing I eat before I leave? Even though I love plane food, I think if it were British Airways's fish pie, I would be too depressed for words. Plane Food, the Restaurant in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Instead, since the culinarily inspired Terminal 5 opened at Heathrow this year, my last bite out of Britain is Gordan Ramsay's Plane Food. If you have time to kill, by all means, take a seat and order à la carte. The restaurant serves such refined fare as Foie Gras and Chicken Liver Parfait with Sauternes Jelly... More

On Fridays, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 drops by with Serious Grape. This week, she discusses the scenario of drinking wine alone while traveling for business—minus the hotel room's plastic tumblers. The McCormick & Shmick's bar at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Photograph from Paul Keleher on Flickr If you are a business traveler like me, dining alone on the road can be more than a bit depressing. This is especially true if, like me, you drink a glass of wine with dinner each night. Room service might be able to produce competent hamburgers and fries, but I can't face an industrial-strength "wine glass" full of warm red wine with a piece of plastic wrap on top and... More

As contracts with "refreshment car" vendors run out (the last one expires Friday), the regional rail network has chosen not to renew them: "The commuter rail line has decided to shut down its rolling taverns, ending an era that hearkens back to the days when executives in gray flannel suits climbed aboard club cars and lubricated the journey home with martinis."... More

I've been up on the Cape all this week and yes, I brought my scale (right). But having the scale with me only begs the question of how often I should weigh myself no matter where I am. I brought the scale to hold myself accountable for any forays into vacation gluttony I might embark on, but the fact of the matter is that this question of how often I should be getting on the scale has been weighing on me for months. I know there is no right answer to this almost cosmic question. I last attended a Weight Watchers' meeting 20 years ago, so I don't know where those eminently sensible folks are on this issue now. Other... More

My friends and I set out for our day in Abruzzo on a rainy, foggy, downright chilly morning in Rome. It was a straight shot out on the autostrada, and within 40 minutes we had hit the Abruzzese border, bidding Lazio farewell in order to immerse ourselves in the foods, sights, and countryside of a region that is blissfully off the well-beaten tourist track. In no time we reached Sulmona, a pretty little city known as the birthplace of the Roman poet Ovid and the home of the candies known as confetti. The rain had stopped and bits of sky were starting to peek out of the low-hanging clouds. I was told that the entire city would be filled... More

I had just "powered off" my "electronic device" for landing on a recent flight and was placing my tray table "in the upright position" while glancing around anxiously for a cabin attendant to relieve me of my soda can and little plastic cup. When she came around with a trash bag, I offered the cup, but she asked for the can as well, placing everything in the same bag. I guess they don't recycle, I thought. What's up with that?!? Salon's "Ask the Pilot" column (one of my favorite features on that site) tackles the issue in its latest installment.... More

As the chocolate industry becomes more like the wine industry, chocolate tourism is looking more like wine tourism, with trips to chocolate "regions" replacing factory tours. Here are two upcoming options in Central America, each with a few spaces left: The Ecole Chocolat Master Chocolatier Tour of Costa Rica April 6–11, 2008; $1,990–$2,390 Steve DeVries (the maverick Colorado chocolate-maker who made an appearance in Mort Rosenblum's book Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light) knows a lot more about Central America than most people in the business. On this trip he's teaming up with the online cooking school Ecole Chocolat and bringing a team of adventurers on a bean-buying excursion to Costa Rica. The trip includes meetings with... More

Sara Rosso, also known as Ms. Adventures in Italy, recently came back from her trip to India with beautiful photos and commentary about Indian street food and Indian Chinese cuisine. Sliced ice cream, atomically spicy vegetables, mini potato burgers, fried potato balls—I crave them all. Time to get my butt to India.... More

You can't visit Bologna without eating tortellini, the local specialty, but why not learn how to make it too? The New York Times lists pasta-making classes in Bologna—perhaps it'll give you an idea for your next vacation.... More

The only thing better than reading Mark Bittman's Minimalist columns every Wednesday is watching his step-by-step video footage on the New York Times website. And the only thing better than watching from the computer is watching from the air. Yup, ever since Jet Blue and the New York Times shook hands in August, the airline has added a Times on Air station to those mini DirecTV screens. And it’s exactly what it sounds like—the paper (mostly the Arts and Style sections) in television form.... More