We’re right in the middle of Winter Travel Hellâ„¢ (trademarked by pure evil itself), which means that flights around the country are getting delayed left and right due to terrible weather conditions. Those delays equate to far more time in the airport than you expected and for anyone who didn’t anticipate those delays, there’s a lot of wasted minutes spent staring out of terminal windows or scrolling through the same tiny websites on your tiny smartphone screen. If you have kids with you, multiply this frustration by four hundred billion percent.

 

So what are you supposed to do if you have time to kill at an airport? Pick one of Fly&Dine’s Delayed Flight Games and watch the time melt away as you fill your stomach. Today’s game is Airport Top Chef and it’s super simple.

 

The goal of Airport Top Chef is to create a winning bite composed of ingredients from three separate locations. Remix the items however you’d like to make a brand new dish that wows your travel companions. You have thirty minutes to go “grocery shopping,†then another thirty to construct your dish using the ingredients you found/bought and utensils found throughout the terminal.

 

For example, you could go to McDonald’s for fries, Chili’s Too for chili and cheese (make sure to ask for extra cheese), and Hudson News for a Hershey’s bar. Mix the chocolate into the chili as a nod to rich Oaxacan mole and spoon it on top of the fries for your very own Oaxacan chili cheese fries.

 

Everyone in your group gets to sample each other’s dishes and then everyone gets one vote (you can’t vote for yourself) on overall taste. The most votes wins!

 

For kids, go out and purchase a bunch of different things and then let them put the ingredients together however they would like to. Less rules = better for kids.

Before you know it, you’ll have an Airport Top Chef winner AND your flight will be boarding. Have fun and let me know how it goes.