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To celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), which begins at sundown on Friday,  El Al Airlines is serving apples and honey – a New Year’s Tradition – and honey cake to travelers departing JFK and Newark airports in the U.S. and Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

The treats will be served the day before the holiday and the day after; the airline does not fly on Rosh Hashanah (or on Yom Kippur).

Chef Steven Weintraub, executive chef of Borenstein Caterers, which provides EL AL’s meals, was kind enough to share his honey cake recipe.

HOLIDAY HONEY CAKE RECIPE:

1 cup of honey

½ cup of sugar

4 whole eggs

1 cup of coffee, black and room temperature

¾ cup of vegetable oil

1 fresh orange, grated fine (include juice pulp and skin)

4 – 4 ½ cups of flour (adjust flour amount to ensure mixture is moderately loose)

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

A pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)

1 cup of raisins

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix honey, sugar, eggs, coffee, oil and orange thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add dry mixture into liquid mixture.  Blend well.  Fold in raisins.  Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 greased baking pan or into a 36 muffin tin.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.  After 45 minutes of cooking, check periodically.  Let cool on a wire rack.

This recipe serves 20.

If you want to make enough for an entire plane – get out your calculator.  It takes 75 pounds of honey cake to feed a 777 and 115 pounds of honey cake to feed a 744.

Categories: Food
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The vaccine for the H1N1 vaccine isn’t available quite yet, but there are plenty of regular, seasonal flu shots around. And this year there are also plenty of airports where you can get a flu shot on the fly.  I tracked down the details for my At the Airport column on USAToday.com: Airports ready for passengers seeking flu shots.

Last year travelers could get flu shots at about two dozen airports, including San Francisco International Airport, Des Moines International Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Denver International Airport, and others. This year, with so many people concerned about getting sick, more airports are making room for flu shot kiosks.

And because of the heightened awareness, several airport clinics, including the UIC Medical Center at O’Hare, Orlando International Airport’s Solantic clinic, and the AeroClinic at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, began offering flu shots to the public back around Labor Day, even though the official flu season doesn’t usually begin until October. And airports such as Tampa International, which in the past offered flu shot clinics for employees only, arranged to have flu shot kiosks available for the traveling public.

Over the next few weeks, flu shot programs will be rolling out at Louisville International Airport, Sacramento International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and others. Harmony Pharmacy will offer flu shots at its year-round clinics and from temporary kiosks at New York JFK and Newark-Liberty airports.

A spokesperson from Airport MD said that company hopes to offer flu shots by October 1st in Miami, Las Vegas and Minneapolis-St. Paul airports. Several other airports, including San Diego International Airport and Oakland International Airport, are still working out their flu shot program details. And Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which for the past three years has been able to offer flu shots for free during a few days towards the end of the season, expects that this year it will be able to do the same.

To find out if flu shots are being offered at an airport near you, please see the flu shot chart included with my USATODAY.com column: Airports are ready for passengers seeking flu shots.

Categories: Health, USA Today
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When you’re stuck at the airport, you can read, sleep, watch other passengers try to read or sleep, do some shopping and, of course, eat.  And for hungry travelers at the Houston airports there are two new options:

In Terminal C south at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), the Real Food Company has 11 serving stations “offering everything from a well seasoned steak, to jambalaya with jumbo shrimp, Chinese chicken salad and delicate pastries.”

And William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)  is now home to the first airport branch of Buffalo Wild Wings, a popular sports bar known for its New York-style wings and its sauces.

And, just as I’m getting ready to spend a whole day touring JFK airport, comes  this glowing article from the New York Daily News about all the great dining options there are now at this airport – including the Seafood Bar in Terminal 4, Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in the American Airlines Terminal 8, and the nine full-service restaurants at JetBlue’s Terminal 5.

Good thing I’ll be at the airport long enough to have several meals!

Have you eaten a meal – or three – at JFK lately? Please share your tips.

Categories: Food, Restaurants
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If you find yourself with few minutes to spare at Los Angeles International Airport anytime soon, then head on over to the Baggage Claim level of Terminal 3 to spend a few minutes with two of the airport’s new art exhibits.

“CrissCross” is an 80-foot long wall painting installation by Mara Lonner and Kim Schoenstadt.  (I like how it covers that door)  The mural takes its inspiration from things found at LAX, such as the control towers, lights and a native plant called California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum).

“OutCast II” is by John Outterbridge, the Los Angeles artist and former Watts Towers Center Director, and City of Los Angeles COLA Fellow 2009, Castillo.

The piece uses hand-tied, multi-colored rags from the Garment District of Los Angeles, an area traditionally known for its sweatshops.

Categories: Art, Exhibits
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According this New York Post article,  last Friday, on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Port Authority officials at New York’s La Guardia airport arrested a 40-year old man who was catching a Delta flight to Atlanta while packing a fully loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun in his carry-on bag.

Security officials reported that the man said he “simply forgot” the weapon was in his bag.

Scary? Yes. Surprising? Probably not for the folks who work security at those airports. The article includes a description of some of the other stuff snagged at the security checkpoints at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports,  and at the Newark Liberty International Airport.

“The tonnage at Newark this year has included 12,302 flammable objects; and 43 travelers were stopped for trying to carry explosives.

At JFK, 1,328 tools were intercepted, and at La Guardia, 9,365 knives and blades were discovered in clothing and in carry-on bags.

Since January, 122 passengers at all three airports were stopped for carrying ammunition and gunpowder as they tried to board planes; 338 passengers were armed with bats, clubs and bludgeons; and travelers carried 1,602 knives and blades longer than three inches.”

Categories: Events, Guns, Safety, Security
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