Friday, November 21, 2008

The Benefits of Working Late

Tuesday sucked. Though I'm all for working hard, 9am-10pm is just too much for me. And, since I was expecting a short day, the surprise call at 6pm did not leave me happy at all. That said, a wise man once told me: when life gives you coconut milk, make Thai curry! No curry recipes today, but I do have a related story:

As my coworker (Kevin) and I rolled our eyes about having to stay late (unexpectedly), there was a part of each of us that thought: "Now what should we order?" Our boss loves curry, so we decided to humor him by ordering from a Thai restaurant (on the client, of course). The way it works is we each have a $25 limit on the food. Naturally, then, ordering from a standard Thai place meant lots of food, especially considering that we knew our boss wouldn't eat much. The bill came out to be $74.88 on the following order:

1. 3 types of curry.
2. 3 orders of jasmine rice, 2 orders of brown (get those whole grains!)
3. 1 order Pad Thai.
4. 1 order Pad Siew
5. 1 order Thai BBQ Chicken
6. 1 order fried bananas with ice cream.

My boss ate half an order of curry, and Kevin and I made off with lunch for the rest of the week!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hot Hot Beverages

Since I seem to be somewhat fixated on hot beverages with the onset of winter, I'd like to add an addendum to my last post.

What is your favorite hot beverage? I'm picturing apres-ski (or shovel), frozen fingers wrapped around the mug, steam rising and a roaring fire, or a hot morning drink in the cold sunlight with slippers and robe...

Winter has arrived

My culinary life has not been too exciting as of late. Exams are coming up, the student loan check is dwindling, and I think winter has officially set in (although it hasn't snowed yet). I've been dreaming of fireplaces, warm baths, and hot tea. The tea is easy and so comforting. For breakfast, chai or Earl Grey (still working on my supply!); in the afternoon, something refreshing like mint, spicy like cinnamon, oranges, and cloves, or bracing like Assam. At night before bed, it used to be chamomile, but lately I've gotten back to peach, which is fruity, calming, and uplifting.

What do you guys do when you don't have a lot of time to buy/plan/cook your meals ahead of time? Do you wind up eating out? Do you have favorite default meals, home-cooked or purchased? I tend to grab a turkey sandwich with cranberry chutney from the deli for lunch and either soup from Whole Foods (mmmm) or enchiladas verdes from the Mexican place in my neighborhood for a quick, tasty dinner. Here is Tuesday's rundown:

Breakfast: Kashi black currant and walnut cereal (SO good, but breaking the bank) and chai.
Lunch: Tomato & mozarella salad from Whole Foods, slice of potato and roasted red pepper frittata, Coke.
Snack 1: Heath bar (I'm totally feeling the English toffee these days)
Snack 2: coffee
Dinner: Greek lemon chicken soup with orzo, leftover butternut squash, mushroom and celeriac risotto. Peach tea.

Ciao e molto amore amici!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Oh snap!


Breakfast: macchiato. oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins.

Lunch: herb flatbread from acme bread (wouldn't be jazionesque without one of these!) in the ferry building with dry wine-cured salami. water.

Dinner: curried butternut squash soup. garlic bread.

Dessert: hot cocoa.


For all you working folk, how often do you bring lunch to work? I try to always do it, but as I weigh the pros ($$$-saving, home-made healthiness) and the cons (time, getting out of the office, and trying new restaurants), I'm not sure it's as clear cut as I imagined. Thoughts?