Continental’s Restaurant Week could increase revenue

by Tom Johansmeyer on

On its face, Continental Airlines’ participation in International Restaurant Week seems like just another promotion. Think harder, though, and you’ll see that it’s really a way for the airline to bring in a little extra cash. Since passengers with a bit of extra girth may be charged for an extra seat, it only makes sense to fatten up fliers and reap the rewards.

A dozen New York restaurants are participating in 2009 International Restaurant week this year, which stretches from today to May 10, 2009. Continental chose these restaurants because they replicate the cuisine from some of the airline’s top destinations. A first, each restaurant will create a signature dish, and diners can rate the offerings (by May 10), with the winning restaurant netting $25,000 for the charity of its choice.

“We are thrilled to have Chef Tom Colicchio as our judge for this year’s Signature Dish contest and look forward to tasting the winning dish,” says Mark Bergsrud, Continental’s senior vice president marketing programs and distribution. He continues, “While we certainly love bringing New Yorkers to each of our international destinations to experience exquisite cuisine first-hand, we’re excited to offer International Restaurant Week and create authentic dining experiences for our customers that don’t require a plane ticket.”

Guests can use the Continental Airlines International Restaurant Week website to make restaurant reservations and take advantage of special offers.

Participating restaurants and details are after the jump.

Alfama (Portugal) – Diners will experience an authentic 4-course meal, ending with a glass of port from Alfama’s extensive collection, included with the meal. They’ll also take home a box of Pasteis de nata, traditional Portuguese custard cakes.

Allen & Delancey (United Kingdom) – After enjoying Chef Kyle Bailey’s 5-course meal and specially designed signature dish, guests will be able to recreate the experience with Chef’s signature dish recipe and a package of couscous.

Avra (Greece) – For a truly personalized experience, a manager will help design a menu for each reservation, providing insight into the menu and wine pairings. Guests will take home some Greek delicacies chosen by the Avra team.

Boqueria (Spain) – While there, diners will get to know Chef Seamus Mullen as they enjoy his specially designed shared tasting menus – for lunch or dinner. Each diner will receive a complimentary bag of house-made candied Marcona almonds.

China Grill (China) – Guests will enjoy an exclusive 5-course tasting menu created by Chef Jamie Knott, with a specially paired cocktail included in the meal. Each diner will also take home a box of delicious ginger and almond cookies.

Delmonico’s (United States) – After enjoying an exclusively designed menu featuring Delmonico’s most famous dishes, diners will take a personal tour of the restaurant, a National Historic Landmark, and take home a complimentary signed copy of the cookbook Dining at Delmonico’s.

Del Posto (Italy) – Diners will be invited to tour Del Posto’s extensive wine cellar and bring a taste of the restaurant home with a special gift bag filled with the chef’s favorite Italian delicacies.

L’Ecole (France) – Guests will begin the evening with a behind the scenes look at L’Ecole’s teaching kitchens. After, they’ll indulge in a unique dessert and cocktail featuring rare Grapefruit Thai Basil Tea, included with the meal. Diners will take home a sample of the exotic tea along with the recipe, to recreate the experience at home.

Maya (Mexico) – Chef Sandoval offers a uniquely designed 3-course Cinco de Mayo menu with special beverage pairings. Diners will be gifted with a complimentary signed copy of his cookbook Modern Mexican Flavors.

Nobu (Japan) – Nobu’s talented chefs will kick start the meal with a complimentary Chef’s Selection Amuse-Gueule. Diners will finish on a sweet note too, with a signature fruit sake or shochu, included with the meal.

Plataforma (Brazil) – Guests will go behind the scenes on a tour of the kitchen with one of Plataforma’s Master Carvers. Every table will be gifted a complimentary caipirinha making kit to bring home a taste of this traditional Brazilian cocktail.

Tabla (India) – Guests will be invited to take a personally guided tour of Tabla’s kitchen. After savoring an exclusively designed 4-course prix fixe menu with an optional wine pairing to match, they’ll take home one of Pastry Chef Melissa Walnock’s uniquely designed desserts, packaged along with the recipe.

Amazing Race 14, recap 10: Swimming like Michael Phelps isn’t easy

by Jamie Rhein on

If there was one episode of Amazing Race14 that could get your sympathy genes going, this was it. Certain parts were downright pitiful. “You poor, poor thing,” I kept saying to Jen. I could have cried myself. I was even rooting for Jaime in this episode, even though she has not been my fave from the beginning. And Victor and Tammy, well, they are just stellar people.

Kisha & Jen did have me turning a little against them at the beginning of the airport episode by the way they were acting towards the ticket folks at the Guilin airport and how they talked about people in China as having dumb looks.

After last week’s episode, I didn’t feel that harshly towards them after their run in with Luke and Margie, but their attitude had me changing my mind a little.

But, the truth is, I’ve felt that way about people when I’ve tried to get help and I have been unable to easily–particularly when I’ve been road hashed. I think that the teams have probably used up a lot of their good humor and have arrived at the place where patience is wearing thin. Plus, they can taste that million dollars. At the beginning of the race when people were still yukking it up, a win was possibly a pipe dream.

The episode started out with all four of the remaining teams heading out on the same flight to Beijing from Guilin, and dashing off in taxis lickety split to find the Liangzi Jian Guo Men Dian foot massage spa, the worst foot massage in the planet. If they knew the pain that was to come, perhaps they wouldn’t have been in such a hurry.

Tammy and Victor, of course, were feeling downright pleased that they’d be able to speak Chinese all the live long day which they felt would give them an edge. Plus, they’ve been to Beijing. They know Beijing. They’re comfortable in Beijing. Keep that in mind, because Chinese is not the skill you need most in the Amazing Race–at least not in Beijing. Plus, not all places in Beijing are comfortable.

Jaime and Cara arrived first at the torture chamber, also known as a foot massage parlor. I’ve had a Thai foot massage and it’s heavenly. The Chinese version, like Victor said, won’t “kill you,” but it can make you cry in pain and bite your lips so you don’t scream. The faces on the Chinese women who dug their fingers into the bottoms of the feet of the team members who agreed to the procedure looked almost maniacal. If I were to end up at this foot massage parlor, I wouldn’t be fooled by the soft lighting and I’d be mighty careful what type of massage I ordered up. There’s definitely a difference between the Chinese to the bone foot massage and the Thai version that makes a person feel like purring.

During this part, I felt very warm towards Tammy who held Luke’s hand while he was writhing. You have to like a person who can feel empathetic and reach out to a rival.

After the foot massage, the teams were off to the Guangcai Natatorium for what turned out to be a true test of mettle for two of the teams. Margie & Luke and Cara & Jaime were not daunted by the task of jumping in an Olympic size pool to swim freestyle, or whatever way they could in a relay race. In the swimming task, team members were to take turns swimming 200 meters (up and back the length of the pool) in a medley until each swam two times for a total of 400 meters, one right after the other. The idea of the race was to match Michael Phelps’s individual medley–kind of- when he tore through the water to add to his neck bling.

Although swimming wasn’t a problem for those two teams, no one was thrilled to swim in the Speedo laser suit that was the kind Phelps wore.

Tammy, not the best swimmer, turned out to not be the best high diving board jumper either. She & Victor opted to try the second option which was to do a synchronized jump off two high diving boards. To get a score of 5 which would allow them to move on to the Pit Stop, they had to enter the water at exactly the same time. They almost got it once, but couldn’t manage to come close the rest of their attempts. I’m not sure why they didn’t yell “one, two, three JUMP” and figure out their strategy beforehand. Instead, they jumped willy nilly until they were wiped out and decided to do the Michael Phelp’s swim which turned out to not be all that bad after all.

Then there was poor Jennifer who doesn’t know how to swim at all. First, she decided to try jumping, but found out that she couldn’t make herself jump. Then it was a try at swimming. After she watched Kisha struggle to swim down the lane and back, she decided this was a no go too. So it was back to the diving board. The two sisters did jump in a couple of times which traumatized Jen so much she was in the hall sitting on her haunches crying and saying she wanted to go home. Sister, I’ve had that feeling and it stinks big time.

Finally, in a huge fit of resolve and due to Kisha’s stellar behavior as the best sister in the whole-wide-world EVER, Jen pulled on that skin tight laser suit, slipped on the orange life jacket and headed off into the pool matching Michael Phelp’s style. Let’s say matching Michael Phelp’s style when he as a toddler, perhaps. Still, go Jen go was my reaction. It was almost as good as watching Susan Boyle sing “I Had a Dream.” Imagine if that song would have been playing when Jen swam. I would have been bawling for sure.

In the meantime, while Victor & Tammy and Jen & Kisha were struggling to find the right combination for what would get them out of the water, Jaime and Cara and Luke & Margie were heading for the gorgeous Drum Tower, the site of the Pit Stop. The Drum Tower, built in the 12th century is one more indication of emperor glory days in China. Every hour, on the hour, 24 drums were beat to announce the time of day during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Luke needs to heed the adage, “Pride cometh before a fall,” because he is way too involved in the idea of Kisha and Jen’s life being a living hell. I’m hoping that his heart would have melted a bit if he saw Jen crying, paralyzed in fear and Kisha telling her, “Let’s finish this strong.” Seriously, how can someone not feel moved by that?

The taxi rides across Beijing took awhile which did give the impression that Beijing has a massive sprawl. It is huge and it does sprawl. Other than that, there were shots of the Bird’s Nest, the main stadium of the Olympics and neon. What I noticed missing were the throngs of people on bicycles that I saw in the 1990s. Perhaps this was because most of this episode happened at night.

As for the end of the episode, Jaime and Cara were so wanting to come in first that I wanted them to come in first for a change myself. Jaime didn’t act mean, Cara put up with that foot massage, and the two of them swam their hearts out. But, there was Phil all by his lonesome at the Pit Stop mat. There weren’t any cute older Chinese people eating noodles this time. There wasn’t a congratulations and you’ve won a trip for two to the vacation of your dreams message.

Nope, there was none of that. Instead, there was Phil with a serious face holding out a yellow envelope saying, “Here’s your next clue.”

That was cold. Very cold. And the episode, as it turns out, is “To be continued.” Let’s see next week if Jaime and Cara will ever get a break and if Luke has to eat some humble pie.

As Victor has learned already, the Amazing Race does humble a person.

The Longest Way: An awesomely bearded journey

by Mike Barish on


One of my favorite things about traveling is that I don’t have to worry as much about my physical appearance. You see, I vehemently hate shaving. So, traveling allows me to go from this to this with the occasional detour here. But the video above documents the amazing transformation that German traveler Christoph Rehage underwent as he traversed over 4000km of China by foot. He originally set out to walk from Beijing back to his home in Germany, but his plans changed after several documentation issues. Still, his experience, and this video, are fantastic.

As the days pass and the kilometers add up, Christoph’s physical appearance changes dramatically. You see places and people come and go while the one constant in the video, Christoph himself, becomes barely recognizable.

Travel can transform us in many ways, and Christoph’s trip seems to have made quite an impact. You can read all about his journey at his website.

The Longest Way

How great is the Great Wall of China? Very!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I bet you thought the name said it all. A recent survey by of this World Heritage site – billed as “technologically advanced” – puts the original length of the wall at 5,500 miles, much further than the previous estimate of 3,700 miles. That’s a difference of almost 50 percent!

This effort took more than two years of surveying with GPS tools, infrared technology and other mapping techniques, and the outcome is the most complete view of the wall ever seen. Since perfectly restored pieces comprise no more than 20 percent of the original wall, this new perspective will help with efforts at conservation.

Erosion and war impeded protection in the past, but the current threat is construction, as China embraces (parts of) a capitalist economy. In some cases, roads exist in places once occupied by the Great Wall of China. Almost a third of the structure has disappeared completely.

More research is on the agenda, with completion expected to come in 2010.

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On Horseback From Beijing to London

by Kraig Becker on

Last weekend, a 65-year old retired British teacher named Megan Lewis, and her two Chinese companions, Li Jing and Peng Wenchao, climbed into the saddles of their horses, and set off on an epic ride. Over the next three years, they’ll cover more than 5000 miles, on two continents, as they travel from Beijing to London completely on horseback.

The plan is to deliver a message of good will from Beijing, the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, to London, where the 2012 games are scheduled to take place. If everything goes according to plan, these long distance riders will arrive in the U.K. not long before the opening ceremonies. The trio are also riding to raise money for the charity Schoolchildren For Children, an organization whose sole purpose is to encourage the U.K.’s youth to get outside and exercise.

The long ride got under way at the China Children Charity Monument, near the Great Wall in Badling. Early on, Megan and her companions will follow the Wall itself, as it winds up and over the steppes, deserts, and mountains of China, on into Central Asia. From there, they’ll ride the remanents of the ancient Silk Road to the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas, before turning their mounts toward Europe, and their eventual destination across the English Channel.

You and read more about the Long Horse Ride, as they are calling the journey, at the official website, and you can read daily updates on Megan’s blog as well, where you’ll find that things are already off to an interesting, and challenging start.