23 posts tagged “lunch”
I hate arranging events at work. I am not an event planner - I should be planning at most 1 event per year (such as a project review or something).
Anyway - part of it is because I hate making decisions, esp for other people. A group is visiting from an Asian country next month and I have to arrange for lunch. There are like 40 different entrees to choose from. I ruled out pasta-only and chicken w/ meat, which leaves me with chicken or fish. They're from Asia so fish shouldn't be a problem. However, would they want salmon or trout? Definitely no to the fish that still has bones. And salmon - there's like 3 different entrees. Can I order the almond-crusted salmon? Some people are allergic to nuts. Oh, wait - they're from Asia, Asians aren't allergic to a million and a half things, like Americans are.
And for dessert - apple pie is definitely out. Cheesecake? Asians aren't big fans of cheese (I think). How about a fruit tart? But I've had the fruit tarts there and it's difficult to cut with a fork. How about strawberry shortcake?
Too many choices, too many decisions. It's not part of my job!
So I've been bringing my lunch for about the last two weeks or so (well, Thanksgiving and day after doesn't count). I brought a pb&j sandwich on Monday, a salad on Tuesday, yogurt and Cocoa Krispies on Wednesday, and for today, another salad (photo to come):
Iceberg lettuce
shredded cheese (cheddar and monterey jack)
corn
peanuts (note to self - next time, use less)
clementine orange
Tyson breaded chicken
Italian dressing (some light stuff)
And some sticks of cheddar cheese. I love cheese.
It was a bit time-consuming to make... well, maybe 15 minutes? Although you could wait that long at a restaurant just to be seated. This is why I mostly just bring yogurt. Well, at least I used to - I then got into the uber-bad habit of going out for lunch.
Eating salad is a bit of an anomaly for me because I usually like separating out my food when I eat it. When I have noodles in soup, I eat all the veggies first (because I don't like veggies). Even when I'm eating something like Panda Express, I separate the meat from the rice. That way, I can regulate my meat to rice ratio. But for salad, you just mix everything together and eat it... well, except for the meat. I still keep that separate.
I had Taco Bell for lunch today - a crunchy taco and a soft taco (beef for both). Even though I am a big fan of cheese, I decided to go with "Fresco" this time (where they put salsa rather than cheese). Wasn't sure how I would like it (being a fan of cheese and all; tomatoes, onions and parsley - not so much) but it was good! To be honest, I probably wouldn't have noticed the cheese even if it was there.
I had a coupon for a free crunch taco so I spent only 89 cents for the soft taco. I wasn't going to be cheap and buy the cheapest thing but that's what ended up happening, primarily because I didn't know what else to get and I didn't feel like spending $1.79(?) for a grilled chicken taco.
Calorie count: 330 (150 for the fresco crunchy taco, 180(!) for the fresco soft taco). And worth every calorie/cent.
Except that eating tacos gets messy. The soft taco is better, in that regard, because you can wrap the tortilla around so everything doesn't just fall out, but even with the soft taco, pieces of beef and tomatoes kept plopping out with every bite. Not exactly the image you want when you're trying to eat :)
On Monday, we went to a buffet place for lunch. I didn't eat much. Oh, plus ice cream.
I got a beef and rice burrito and fries. Rachel got a pastrami sandwich and fries.
My biggest beef with these food trucks is that they don't post their prices. Prices play a large part in my decision-making process. How can I decide what to get if I don't know how much it costs?
I paid $4.75. Rachel's (along with a large bottle of iced tea) was $8 something. For lunch? That's outrageous!
As for the food quality - it was okay. The burrito was a little dry - there was no sauce, though I could have put some hot sauce in it. The french fries were eh. Rach liked them but I didn't. They were kind of wimpy and a little like they were re-cooked (though I don't think they were).
So I think our little experiment of the food truck is done. We can get cheaper, better food elsewhere. I don't really understand the appeal of food truck food. It's not cheaper, it's not all that good. I guess if you're in a location where there is no permanent food place, then yeah. But in our situation, the cafeteria is just a 2-minute walk away.
Went out for lunch today (skipped ballet class) - we had dim sum. I *love* dim sum, especially egg tarts.
Then I had to go set some parts of Nutcracker. Waltz yesterday took a little over an 1 hr, Snow today took about 1 hr 30 mins. It actually shouldn't take so long but I don't really know the choreography (had to refer back to the tape repeatedly). I'm a really bad ballet master (mistress?) - I'm so unprepared.
Got new pointe shoes today (from eBay) - Gamba 97s. I'm not sure how they're going to work, but I'm thinking I should probably just stick to Sanshas, rather than trying different shoes that don't work.
I'm watching a repeat of Friday Night Lights (the season one finale, I think) where the Panthers first get to the Cowboys' stadium and are in awe of everything. I probably mentioned this back when the episode first aired, but it reminds me so much of when we (the ballet company) go to a new theater or studio.
Right now, it seems like everyone at the studio loves me. The choreographer liked me (as others have repeatedly said to me), the dancers like me (because I let them rehearse without pointe shoes), and I'm kind of goofy and funny. Give it a couple of weeks, though, and I'll start to get cranky and withdraw - and I'll go back to being ignored.
In other news, I think my hamstring injury went away. Wow, I recover fast!
I thought I would just be eating my yogurt for lunch today, but there was a small b-day lunch for one of the staffers. And I mean small - there was only 6 of us total, including the b-day staffer. Monica had told me and Rach that she would be going to this lunch (we were not invited) but then at like 11:15am, Mon came running to my office and said that the staffer asked if I could go. Mon asked her "are you friends?" & the other staffer said "yes, we're friends." Which surprised Mon and me - I mean, I'm friendly (well, I say hi and smile) to everyone, but I wouldn't really consider her a friend. Not like Mon or Rach or even Jemma.
I had to get a signature from the boss I like (TBIL) and we ended up talking about ballet. (We've had a convo way back before about ballet - he was like "why didn't you tell me you are a dancer?!" I guess my sup then, A, had told him...). He was asking what companies I thought were good and stuff. When I told him that I don't really watch ballet, he almost spit out his coffee. Well, like pro basketball players - I don't think they watch basketball games on tv on their days off. Aside from the fact that I would probably rather be dancing than watching (well, not *that* much rather), I also have a short attention span so... plus, I just realized that watching something like Cold Case makes me sad and weepy sometimes, but watching ballet does absolutely nothing for me. Gets no emotion out of me whatsoever. It could be the part where Romeo or Juliet dies and I truly would not care.
Stopped by Ralphs this morning (it's about halfway in between the bus stop and my office) to buy some yogurt for lunch. I used to eat yogurt for lunch every day, but then I got tired of it. I'm not really picky about yogurt - not like some people who have to get Yoplait or Dannon. As long as it doesn't taste funky, I'm okay.
I bought the kind on sale, of course (basically 50 cents each). There were at least 5 different varieties and I'm not just talking about flavors. In the 8oz size, they had Fruit on the Bottom, Blended, Light; 6ozs were some carb watch kind and some active lifestyle kind (I don't remember what they were called). I was going to get the Light (100 calories) but then I noticed that it has fake sugar in it.
I cannot stand fake sugar (you know, aspartame and the other yucky stuff). Nonfat milk, I can deal with. But I need real sugar.
So I went with the Fruit on the Bottom - it's 220 calories, which is more than twice the Light, but as I said before, fake sugar just doesn't cut it. I hate the after-taste.
I also looked at the labels for the other ones - Blended is 250 calories (real sugar). Active lifestyle was 100 cals (fake sugar). Carb watch was 80 calories, but the first ingredient on the list is water.
Water?! I can get water for free, thank you very much.
Anyway, I like shopping in the morning - not a lot of people in the stores, though the clerks were stocking up the shelves so there were boxes everywhere. I've been in the store once or twice before - but I just noticed that they only have self-serve cash registers. No cashiers.
By the way, I should have remembered to check the due date (my mom and sis ALWAYS do) - the strawberry-kiwi I got had a sell-by date of July 14. That's a whole month! And I don't even like kiwi!
It should be okay though - I've eaten yogurt that's over 6 months past the sell-by date; most of the time, it's okay - you just scoop out the moldy part. One time, though - right when I opened the container, I knew it was rancid. I tossed it, of course - I may be frugal/cheap, but I'm not insane. (I think, in that case - the yogurt wasn't that old, but there was a rip in the foil lid).
What is it with not having plastic lids anymore? I know, it's more environmentally friendly without - but I sometimes wash and reuse those yogurt containers. So who's being more environmentally friendly?
Me: I've been in this dept for 10 years.
Monica: You've moved around a bit (within).
Me: That's because I had to - people kept leaving me!
Monica has decided that I have a perfect rear end. Perfect for giving birth. (Why is she staring at my bum?!) And then she said that all parents (i.e. potential in-laws) would love the way I look (in general, not just my bum), and that's why all the faculty love me.
Right.
I brought my lunch today - a croissant sandwich (lettuce, a slice of ham, cheese) and some potato salad (from Costco, I think). It was yum-a-licious.
I was in ballet class today and after we did a jump step, the teacher said that I should make the step more difficult for myself - that I shouldn't coast. Coast? Just because I slack off in the summer, she thinks I'm coasting? Right.
Anyway, right after that step, the left side of my back hurt. It was spasming (sp?). I just kept going with class though. It doesn't hurt anymore, but it was pretty odd.
