Feliz Navidad Lunch on Apocalypse Eve

A small group of us headed out for one of our last lunches together for 2012 and we decided Mexican food was the way to go.  Coincidentally, it was also Apocalypse Eve but we paid no attention.

With drink orders placed we discuss wine.  What is every one's favorite?  One prefers reds and dry whites, one must have wine that is sulfate free while two of us love the sweet stuff including Riesling and for me Moscatto.  Wine has nothing to do with lunch but we do watch another group enjoy their Margarita's... we never indulge on a work day.

The complimentary chips and salsa arrive quickly and it is funny how childlike I feel waiting for them.  

The guacamole cart arrives shortly after and as the ingredients are mixed I can tell how creamy the avocado is and again can hardly contain myself when it is placed on the table.

The background music suddenly becomes our main focus as one of the group compares the song to a Polka.  A Mexican Polka?  Well, it was unusual and not very Mariachi nor Christmas so it was quite unexpected.

The guacamole is quite perfect.  I am the reason we do not have peppers in our order.

I have 2 shrimp tacos and they are more than enough since I prefer to load up on crunchy nachos.

My 3 companions all have shrimp quesadillas.

We are quite happy with the way the shrimp is prepared.  Fabulous.

I notice the festive decorations...

We aren't worried about the end of the world.  In fact, none of us even brought it up.  

The walk back to work is brisk, cold, and windy.

At the end of the day, we wish each other well and as one of my friends wishes me a Merry Christmas I return the sentiment then stop walking. "Oh," I said.  

I turned and walked to her desk, "Happy Birthday," I smiled.  Her birthday is December 25.

I know some of her stories surrounding the pitfalls of sharing your birthday with a major holiday and have decided to surprise her in some way this year to celebrate.  That is what friends do - they wish you well and do what they can to ensure you feel Fed Well.

What Goes with Fried Frog Legs?

Meeting a friend for dinner at the restaurant less than five minutes from my house.

Hubby:  "Aren't you tired of going there?  You meet someone there once a week?"

Me:  "No.  I love it and I have something different all the time.  Why risk a new place?"

I also love not being far from home on a work night.  I am able to spend much more time with my girlfriend and concentrate on having a nice time instead of watching the time to make sure we both get home in time to get a good night's sleep.

So, I put  it out into the universe that I will try something new and when I scan the menu I am a little surprised to see "Fried Frog Legs with Horseradish Dip" as an appetizer.

I've never had frog.  I've never thought about having frog.  Tonight, I will try frog.

Did it taste like chicken?  Not exactly.  I understand why people give that answer though because the texture and appearance of the meat was very similar.  It was white flesh and could be peeled away from the bone.  It was soft and succulent but the actual flavor is a little hard to describe, maybe because other than the taste of the deliciously fried skin, it wasn't really all that "tasty."  Not that it was bad, just kind of non-distinct.  If you blindfolded me and offered me frog meat, I don't know that I could identify it.

My friend did not want to try it.  At all.  Not even a little.

We did agree on my favorite cocktail - The Cosmopolitan.

Love a well prepared Cosmo!

For a main course, my friend and I also agree on the Eggplant Tower.  It is listed as an appetizer, but  for us, it is plenty of food for an entree... well, ok, I added on to the order.

The Eggplant Tower is layers of eggplant with mozzarella cheese and roasted red peppers topped with fresh tomatoes.

I added one of my favorite sides - French Fries!

They are golden, crispy, salty and just plain delicious.

Somehow my friend starts to joke about suing people who have wronged her in the most minor of ways.  She runs into a friend and threatens to sue her for not sending her a Christmas card.  Though the friend doesn't understand where the threat is coming from, it makes it that much funnier and sillier for us.  

Laughter.  Frogs Legs.  French Fries.  A Cosmo.  Laughter.  Friends.  Fed Well.

All Full at the Office

This is where it all begins - the office.  I don't eat breakfast at home because I take a medication which must be taken on an empty stomach and so I begin my feeding frenzy at work.

Readers know I love the office cafeteria for breakfast!

The holiday season also offers a never ending buffet of treats at the office.  We have a designated treat sharing area which in just one day, looked something like this:

Cookies from a Supplier:

Cinnamon Buns from a co-worker:

Treats brought back from a co-workers work trip to Brazil:

and in my Supervisor's Office, the left over candies from our department holiday party:

Regardless of how much self-control and restraint you may think you have in the morning, but mid-afternoon you are likely to visit one of these sweet stations and hate yourself just a little bit for the ride home.

However, I have discovered a new favorite this year in addition to my all time love - Snickers; the Ghiradelli Peppermint Bark.  It's just perfect for an after lunch treat.

Wonder how many of us will be asking Santa for elastic waistband pants this year since we can all find plenty of candy to leave us feeling Fed Well...

It Takes a Weekend for the Christmas Tree Set Up

Here's how Christmas tree shopping has evolved...in the old days, a long, long time ago, we went as a family, in the cold dark night and searched through the lots in the cold (did I mention it was dark?) and try to find a tree that would fit our budget, meet our grand ideas of what a tree should look like in fullness and height and end up with something fairly close.

For the past few years, our sons have opted not to join us and in fact, I have learned to simply stay in the truck, let the husband look around and most times he would bring a tree within viewing distance of the truck and give it a spin for my thumb up or down vote.

Love that system.

This year we went in the daylight.  A first.  I picked out the tree.  Not sure if that is a first, but it is quite rare.

Onto the truck it goes.

Many area tree sales are held at nurseries which now include visits with Santa and other holiday themed activities.

Since we switched our tree shopping to daylight hours we were able to take in this sunset at the grocery store parking lot.

Sometimes I simply do not know how much food to prepare for dinner, who will be eating and how they prefer certain food items so I made venison/beef meatballs (baked in the oven this time without sauce),

 
along side sausage and peppers (also prepared without sauce - but don't worry sauce is served on the side) - some like these items alone, some prefer mixed together, as a sandwich or over pasta... a regular buffet.

For me, I like the whole mess over pasta and especially a nice firm Rigatoni.

The tree spent a day in the stand in the family room and then a night with lights only.  The next day, we decorated and ended up with this...
 

Every year I feel grateful.  Every year I am Fed Well.

Dorothy Parker Breakfast

One of the great modern Internet inventions - Pinterest.  One of my favorite discoveries on Pinterest - almost everything!  I have a board dedicated to my favorite author, Dorothy Parker.

Pinterest

For those who do not know what Pinterest is, well, it is basically a world of images that may or may not be attached to websites.  The image may be just that a photo or cartoon or a link to a website or blog.  

When I found Dorothy Parker quotes, I could hardly contain myself and the best part for me was finding quotes I had never heard or seen.

"This wasn't plain terrible, this was fancy terrible, this was terrible with raisins in it."

LOVE!

The way I have noticed the universe to operate (can you tell I have read, "The Secret?") is that when one thought is put out to the universe, others may follow and so after having found that quote, was it sheer coincidence that I decide to try the cafeteria's Raisin Bread French Toast with sausage?

Maybe.

Anyway, you can see one side of the bread has the look of a scrambled egg coating, but you know what, it was fine.  The bread was crisp enough to stand up to the syrup and while I thought I couldn't eat the entire 3 slice serving, I managed to make it all disappear.

Have I ever told you I am a charter member of the Clean Plate Club?

Mind, body and soul were Fed Well with one serving.

Love a Surprise...with a heartbeat

  Perkins

I gather for Sunday breakfast every so many weeks with 2 girlfriends.  I walked into Perkins with one of them and when the hostess asked, "How many?"  I responded, "3," while my friend answered, "4."

We laughed about her answer and I simply thought our other friend had decided to bring her manfriend.  Not so.

Once the final buddy arrived, we were seated and just as quickly one of my friends disappeared to use the Ladies Room.  Not unheard of course, but when she returned it was with a surprise 4th!  This young lady had moved to Virginia a few years ago and it had been quite some time since we had seen each other.  Ironic part?  We were seated at the same table we were the last time I saw her!

The waitress wants to take our order but we are so excited to be together it is hard to concentrate.  Although I am fairly sure I want Eggs Benedict.  I typically order things I am not likely to make myself at home or do not have very often.  Perkins offers a number of Egg Benedict options including the:

Country Cookin' Benedict*

A grilled English muffin with savory sausage patties and American cheese, topped with two basted eggs, cream gravy, a sprinkle of American cheese and diced tomatoes. Served with Mammoth Muffin^® or fruit and choice of hash browns or breakfast potatoes.

The menu photo looks like this:

 

 Sold - but minus the cheese and it looks like this:

When did poached eggs become "basted?"  Doesn't matter - it tastes absolutely fabulous.  I simply adore having tomatoes with eggs!  The creamy gravy, sausage and egg combination is heavenly and I love sopping up the yolk with the crispy breakfast potatoes.  A breakfast dessert of fresh fruit is perfect.

In between bites, we talk about Christmas - they are pretty much done shopping and I operate under the, "if time remains, presents will be bought," tactic.  Crazy, I know.

One of the Breakfast Buddies ALWAYS orders French Toast and so today she didn't want to disappoint...

Though she confessed to going out to breakfast recently and having an omelet.  True story.

Our guest who has relocated from the south simply does not know what to order so the waitress leads her through a list of selections and this is how it worked out:

Eggs, sausage, home fries and chocolate chip pancakes.  INDEED!
 

We talk about our plans for the rest of the day and how we will spend the upcoming holidays.  Of course I ask about the menus.  For me, a family celebration with my husband's side on one evening, an evening at home and a family dinner with my side at my sister's house one evening.  For my turn, I am thinking of Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I believe I have made it once before and am looking for any tips...

The last order was also new.  This friend normally orders a scrambled egg with bacon but switched it up today with a short stack of loaded potato pancakes with bacon.  The photo is a bit blurry, but I will not blame it on the new camera phone as perhaps a bit of shake from the user.

I will also be making holiday soup and am likely going to reduce the holiday cookie selection this year down to perhaps 2 necessary kinds - the chocolate chip and the Swedish tea cake.

How is your holiday menu shaping up?  I look forward to spending meals with friends and family and celebrating our time together feeling Fed Well.

Neighbor Department Holiday Party

One of the great things about working in a building of about 300 employees with a number of departments during the holiday season:  parties.

Our department hosted a holiday appreciation party last week and this week the group next door to us had one as well.

I love being able to use my new camera phone as well and appreciate all the decorating the group did to make the party feel festive.

In the hall are several long buffet tables filled with food.  The mini-bagels and a variety of flavored cream cheeses are from our beloved Bagel Train.  They also make an excellent Cream of Chicken soup on Thursdays.

Another holiday favorite is the chocolate crumb cake.  Oh my!  The crumbly topping is chocolaty with chocolate drizzle over chocolate cake.  Yes, I've said it before, but breakfast needs dessert.

Well, the party is held mid-morning, brunch time actually, or if you start your day ridiculously early like we do - it could simply be considered an early lunch so cheesecake is not at all out of the question.

Yet more crowd pleasers, ones that we include in our party's menu are the cream puffs and eclairs - oh my!

We have also become experts on the proper serving temperature being somewhere around, just barely thawed to fully appreciate the complexity of the cream filling.

For those experts at setting up a buffet, you may wonder why the desserts are before the fresh fruit and veggies...well, life is too short to always wait to eat dessert, isn't it?

Actually, I can't confirm I took the photos in any particular order and some food was in different rooms and set up separately.  I love that fresh fruits and vegetables were available at all.  I did indulge in some super sweet strawberries, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, carrots and cucumber slices.  I do love pairings and having the veggie cream cheese on my plain mini bagel also provided me with my own dip for the veggies.  The strawberries were a lovely in between bites relief from the decadent chocolate crumb cake.

Last year, this group's holiday party included a 5' sub and unfortunately it was demolished within about 15 minutes.  This year they added an extra foot and some of us realized we could share a slice and still have plenty of food.  The best part of the hero for me was the sweet and thinly sliced ham.  I picked the thickly packed insides out and ate them with a fork and knife.  It is always a challenge to eat party food from a plate in your lap and in front of co-workers.

More for the meat and cheese lovers...

The party lasted for an hour total, but I went, ate, talked a bit and returned to work.  Walking out I noticed the strategically placed bucket-'o-mints.  Well played neighbor department, well played.

What's with the snowy scene owl?  These were the napkins for the party - how cute!

A big part of most employee's lives is the amount of time they spend at work and with co-workers.  I am happy to report this aspect of my life continues to leave me feeling Fed Well.