Men Who Like to Travel - David Latt

Heading inland from Seattle , a city he knows well, our foodie adventurer, David Latt, explores Spokane and Eastern Idaho in search of restaurants that fly the flag of the farm-to-table movement.  Like fashion, food delights the soul but is often subject to hype. "Organic," "Natural" and "Low Fat" have been co-opted by marketing campaigns, obscuring the true intent of the words. When we think of "farm-to-table," w e imagine a farmer driving a beat up 1980's Ford pick-up to the back door of a neighborhood restaurant and unloading wooden crates filled to overflowing with leafy bunches of arugula, round and firm beets, thick stalks of celery, fat leeks, freshly laid eggs, plump chickens, freshly cured bacon, ripe apples, dark red cherries and juicy peaches. The high quality product inspires the chef who quickly writes the menu for that day's meals.  In the ideal, a farm-to-table meal reconnects diners with the seasons and the land.

On our delivery flight from Seattle to Doha, the coach cabins were completely e mpty and only 20 business class seats were occupied on the 259 seat Boeing 777-200LR. But we weren't complaining. We relaxed, slept, read, and watched movies. When we arrived in Doha in the afternoon, the pilot announced that we would make an approach low over the field but not land. We assumed this was the airplane's "salute" to its new home. We discovered it w as something else entirely. Traditionally, the first time a new model of an aircraft is delivered to Qatar Airways, fire trucks welcome the plane with an archway of water. Since our plane was the second Boeing 777-20 0LR, there would be no ceremony. When we flew low over the field we saw that we were in fact getting a welcoming. There were a hundred or more yellow jacketed men and women and dozens of men in traditional white Arabic robes and headdresses. When the plane landed, red carpeted stairs were pushed up to the p

For the next week I'll be on a trip of a lifetime. With a group of writers from around the world, I am traveling to Seattle to tour the Boeing factory and pick up a new 777-200LR that will join Qatar Airways ' 5-Star fleet. The airline begins nonstop, daily service between Houston and Doha on March 30, 2009. Normally Qatar Airways doesn't fly from Seattle. This is a delivery trip so besides our group, the certification team from Boeing and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, and the airline staff, we'll barely number 20 passengers on a plane that can seat 217 in coach and 42 in business. The opportunity to go behind the scenes on the introduction of a new airplane into service is so unique, I'm going to post about the experience. Along the way I'm also going write about my visit to Seattle, a city I know and love but haven't seen for many years, and Doha, a city that is new to me and one I look forward to exploring. Before we picked up the Triple-7

I love the new car smell. Does an airplane h ave the same cool, sexy, absolutely fabulous fragrance as a car or is it something more, well, plane-like? Yesterday I had the unique pleasure of answering that question. Qatar Airways invited half a dozen of us to come along on the delivery flight of their second Boeing 777-200LR , flying from Boeing Field outside Seattle to Doha International Airport, Qatar. With Doha as its hub and routes already well established in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and, of course, the Middle East, the Boeing 777-200LR gives Qatar Airways a reach of 8,000 nautical miles, putting them in striking distance of just about any destination in the world. Several years ago Qatar Airways pushed into the American market with non-stop service to New York and Washington, D.C. Starting March 30, 2009, the airline will begin flights b etween Houston and Doha. With service to Houston , they will strengthen their relationship with American energy businesses. For