Fig and Yogurt Dip

I remember several years ago seeing the Tom Hanks movie Terminal.  I don’t remember much of the plot except that for some reason, he had to live in an airport terminal for long time.  Two days ago, I lived that plot.

I had gone to visit my parents and my flight home was at 1:30.  At around 11, I got a text from the airline telling me that the flight had been delayed and would now be leaving at 2.  Not a big deal and since I was packed and definitely dressed for lightly airconditioned airplane weather, I decided to go to the airport and be ready for 1:30 in case things changed.  And things changed all right, but not in a good way.  More like in a “don’t look under the bed because something creepy is hiding there ” way.

Halfway to the airport, I got a text saying that the departure time had been changed to 2:30, but at that point I had committed to the journey and wasn’t going to try and explain to the Uber driver why he needed to turn around.  Um, excuse me sir, but could you drive me back to the house and then hang around for 15 minutes before taking me back to the airport again?  Yeah.  Not going to happen.

The second I got out of the Uber, my phone pinged with a message from the airline saying that the flight time had now been changed to 3:30.  It was noon.

Now, I am not normally a very optimistic person, especially when dealing with airlines, but for some reason I was feeling very zen (I think someone slipped some lavender (or prozac) into my morning cereal, so I decided to go ahead and just go to the gate.

So you know how security lines are endless and they make you go back thru the metal detector if you so much as have a zipper on your pants?  Yeah.  There were three people ahead of me in line and we all sailed  through in about 2 seconds.  I was at the gate by 12:05.

Around 12:30, I decided to go have lunch at the only place there besides the gift shop- Chili’s. Chicken, bacon and cheese sandwich without the chicken, bacon, cheese or mayo– so basically avocado, tomato and lettuce.  They did have a black bean burger, but I sort of felt that maybe my seat mates might not  be too thrilled with that decision at 30,000 feet and no where to go.

3:30 came and we were loaded on the plane, although while the first three groups were called at the usual snails pace, suddenly they started calling all remaining groups like they were conducting a live auction for a rare diamond.  Group A, group A, groups A and B, Groups A, B and C. Groups ABCD. Groups ABCDEFGHIJK…….everyone just get on!

No sooner were we on than the pilot came on and announced that he and the copilot had been up since 3:30 am and had just timed out.  Not sure how I felt about that.  On the one hand, I really wanted to get home, on the other hand, I wasn’t sure I wanted someone flying me home who needed a nap, some coffee, a chocolate bar, zap of electricity or all of the above.

Naturally, there were no other flights out that day except the one at 9pm and that was filled in about 3 seconds.  They promised us that they had found a new crew but they weren’t arriving till 6pm. Grrrrrr.  Also naturally, we were all standing in line at the counter, on our phones working the app, having friends and family work Expedia and the web in general, and trying to see if we could find some of that travel dust Harry Potter used and a fireplace.

Long story short, we all sat around since there were no other options and crossed our fingers that they weren’t lying to us.  FYI, there is literally NOTHING to do at the airport that will take three hours.  Nothing.  You can only look at so many magazines, spend so much time on Instagram and Facebook and roam around at the same 100 square feet so many times before you want to stand on the runway and get sucked into an engine.

Finally, at 6:20, we boarded along with the copilot, but had to wait an additional 15 minutes for the pilot to show up.  At last though, we were up, up and away.  We made record time…until we landed and had no gate.  And sat on the runway for 40 minutes with our noses pressed up against the windows like kids in a can store window, trying to move the plane at our gate with the power of our minds.

Next time, I think I’ll just rent a car.

Ingredients:

• 1 5 oz container of Greek yogurt (I used Kite Hill)
• zest of 1 large lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
• 5 sun-dried figs (use the light ones for a lighter dip)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and process till smooth and creamy.  It’s okay if there are little flecks of the fig, but you shouldn’t have any large pieces.
2. Serve with crackers or crostini.

Enjoy!