How To Make A (Very Decent) Iced Latte On An Airplane For Free

One of my favorite things about my job is the crazy awesome tips and tricks I learn from the senior flight attendants. I've heard everything from making grilled cheese with a clothes iron and tin foil to cooking Chicken Florentine from scratch with hot water and the oven. The amount of creativity these ladies exhibit with the limited items available in the galley is nothing short of inspiring.

So, in lieu of this fact, I thought I'd share with my fellow flight attendant coffee drinkers a secret I learned for making an actual latte on board the airplane. It's an unfortunate reality that simply brewing the coffee as it was intended does not often yield a strong enough product to fuel our buzz-happy needs, and I'm a firm believer that an awake flight attendant is a better flight attendant.  All you need is:

• an empty water bottle
• one of the bags of coffee grounds
• a styrofoam (or cardboard) coffee cup
• hot water
• creamer (or milk if you're so lucky)
• ice
• sugar
• a plastic cup

The process is pretty surprisingly simple. For my more clever/imaginative readers, you may have already figured it out. If not, read on.

1. Tear the coffee bag across the top, straight across, so you can see the loose grounds inside the bag. Make sure the bag is the porous filter kind.
2. Put the coffee bag inside the coffee cup, torn end sticking up and out of the cup.
3. Pour some hot water into the cup, filling it until its approximately 3/4 full.
4. Wait approximately 5 minutes for the coffee to steep.
5. Remove and toss the used coffee grounds and bag.
6. Fill the empty water bottle with the creamer and sugar to taste
7. Fill the plastic cup with ice, as much as desired
8. Pour the coffee cup full of (very strong) concentrated coffee-zilla into the creamer/sugar mixture
9. Add more hot water
10. Put the top back on the water bottle
11. Shake like mad
12. Pour over the ice
13. Enjoy!

Is that not incredibly simple? I swear to glob it tastes just like espresso and is incredibly tasty. If you want a hot version, just skip the ice and add more hot water/creamer. You can get very creative with the variations of ingredients and methods, but the result is a caffeine lovers dream, and it doesn't cost you $5 a pop like Starbucks. Winning!

Winged Whimsy Weekly

Hello again, all!

I have another crop of winged whimsy to share today. Belle and I completed recurrent training yesterday, which is essentially a day-long review of all the emergency procedures, drills, equipment operation, and medical training we completed back in Phoenix. You can expect a post about this soon, as well as one about my upcoming Final Probationary Meeting on the 11th. After this final meeting with our supervisors, I will finally be a full-fledged, legit flight attendant with all the rights and privileges of our union and rank. During probation, we were under constant supervision over how well we had learned our job, as well as our general performance (on time, thorough, etc). I'm proud to say I have had no negative feedback in the last 7 months (whoa, has it really been that long?!) and I anticipate making it through to that final meeting with flying colors (fingers crossed).

In the mean time, here's what I've been up to this last week.

 

[caption id="attachment_683" align="alignnone" width="640"] Belle and I attended a Greek festival here in Charlotte[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_688" align="alignnone" width="704"] I hung out with some Greek soldiers....[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_694" align="alignnone" width="642"] and watched some traditional Greek dancing[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_692" align="alignnone" width="642"] We waited in line for around an hour to get these Gyro Pitas. They were absolutely worth it, but I didn't get to take a picture of our tasty food because I basically inhaled it when they handed it to me.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignnone" width="642"] There were these guys.....[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_693" align="alignnone" width="642"] We went inside the beautiful Greek Orthodox Cathedral and enjoyed looking at the candles.[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_684" align="alignnone" width="642"] It's the best time of the year! Starbucks pumpkin spice latte's are the first indication of Fall. Oh, how I've missed them![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_685" align="alignnone" width="642"] This was in one of my hotel rooms. I can't decide if its a swan, a duck, or some kind of snake.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_686" align="alignnone" width="642"] Rocket scientist barbie![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_687" align="alignnone" width="642"] some delicious fresh fruit and veggies at the Charlotte Farmers Market[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_697" align="alignnone" width="642"] I also scored some stylish jewelry at the local antique shop, Sleepy Poet.[/caption]