Meatball Panini, Costa Cafe

This is more about memory and nostalgia than the savoury quality of this meatball panini from Costa.

My first bite in Scotland was sitting at a Costa, in Glasgow at Queen Street eating a breakfast sandwich. I really had no clue where I was or where I was heading, just that I had ten minutes to eat this thing, be surrounded by my luggage I've carried across all of North America, Iceland, and now the UK, and enjoy the bit of heat in this meal as I did not know when or where my next one would be.

Every time I passed a Costa, I remembered it as my first tangible experience in Scotland, and I had actually not returned until this past weekend, four months later, when I played host for the first time. It's not that Costa is amazing, it's not bad, especially for transit food, for food you eat while you're waiting in the inbetween, as another homogenous coffee shop in another anywhere space . . . but it's your personal associations and the value you give to ordinary things that really make all the difference.

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Monty’s Bakehouse wrap, Air Canada

I’d rate this wrap as strange. Its packaging created expectations of a more appetizing experience, which it was not. After a vastly superior egg salad sandwich from London Heathrow, I could not greet this airplane freebie with serious interest, but at least it was hot, and at least I could review it for this blog. Steaming contents were oozy and largely undistinguishable, but suggested some kind of red pepper or sundried tomato origins.

Specialty Sandwich, Amtrak train dining car

Advertised as the "Specialty Sandwich" on board the Oakland to Los Angeles Amtrak train, this $9.75 grilled cheese seems a safe vegetarian bet, just as a bagel and cream cheese does when faced with weird processed meat choices aboard the VIA Rail in Canada. The specialty allegedly features gruyere and smoked cheddar, however each cheese was tasteless, plastic, and greasy, cooling to reveal six slices of highly processed cheese product. The crisp, somewhat grainy bread absorbed cheese sweat from inside, completely obliterating any relief that the mustard or tomato could have provided, and was thoroughly saturated in a meaty residue from the grill on the outside. This sandwich leaves the kind of mouthfeel that a glass of water cannot wash away. Note: pack toothbrush in carry-on.

Kim Anh Subs, Calgary

It's no secret I'm a fan of the Vietnamese sub. Hell, they've prevented my vegetarianism . But I do enjoy the vegetarian option now and again, especially when it's warm marinated soft tofu rather than the shredded fake meat variety. In Calgary one weekend, a friend and I found ourselves stranded in the city due to a snow storm, so lounging around 17th Avenue, cold, tired, hungry, and near broke, we popped our heads into Kim Anh Subs where he had ventured once before. Offering a whole wheat sub bun option, Kim Anh's subs were a bit more expensive than what I'm used to for a sub of this style ($3.50 is my price range), but it's Calgary, so what can you expect.

You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

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