Work lunches
First, let me bombard you with food! The special of the day, chicken schnitzel and chips. There was more cheese on my schnitzel originally, but the guy who was served just before me ordered the same thing and when his schnitzel was lifted off my schnitzel, it took half my schnitzel’s cheese with it – and the lady serving didn’t appear to notice. So bonus cheese for him, less cheese for me! With the cheese and tomato sauce on the chicken I suppose they were more like parmigiana than “schnitzel” – but I’m just calling them what the lady serving us called them.
Another lunch, another chicken kebab. I asked for barbecue sauce and mayonnaise as my two free sauces in the kebab but I think the guy who served me only heard barbecue – oh well. It was still good.
Chilli eggplant with fried noodles and fried rice. The eggplant was very greasy (as you can see!) but extremely tasty.
Chilli chicken, curried vegetables and noodles. The fried chilli chicken is tasty but a little messy to eat, as I really need to pick the pieces up with my fingers to get all the meat and skin off those tiny bones. But I’ve ordered them on a number of occasions, so obviously the messy eating is worth it! The curried vegetables were quite mushy – very disappointing. Not one of the better meals I’ve eaten.
More chilli chicken, this time with chilli potatoes cooked with beans and red capsicum, and beef and potato stew, on rice. I rarely order beef, but this was beautifully tender. I usually order a small combo (rice and/or noodles plus two dishes), but on this day I felt extra hungry and ordered a large (rice and / or noodles plus three dishes). I really had to fight the napping urge that afternoon!
Red curry, stir-fried vegetables and rice – the red curry was disappointingly bland. It didn’t taste like red curry at all. The vegetables, on the other hand, were crisp and garlicky and very good.
A quick lunch of takeaway soup, which came with buttered white bread cut into triangles!
It was potato and leek soup. I liked that it was peppery and there were chunks of potato at the bottom of the cup. When I described the soup to Jac, she said “Oh noooo, I like my pureed soups to be completely smooth”. Funnily, she likes smooth, blended soups, but I like chunky soups; she must have crunchy peanut butter, and I must have smooth. :)
Afternoon tea – at my old workplace!
I returned to my previous work place a couple of weeks ago to join my old team mates for afternoon tea to farewell R, who was leaving to take on another job elsewhere. It was fantastic catching up with everyone again. A couple of bottles of wine were opened, white as well as red, and there was lemonade for us non-drinkers (all two or three of us! :-P). We had cheese and biscuits, peanuts, dips and chips. The dips were tomato salsa and “basil with cashew and parmesan”.
Of course, everyone fully expected me to take photos of the food! I snuck in while R and J got everything ready so I could take the photos before people started eating.
J cut squares out of the chip packets, so the packets themselves functioned as chip bowls. Very clever! I couldn’t stop munching on the Doritos. I’m very partial to corn chips. I even love plain salted corn chips – I can eat those by the truckload.
These crisps were Red Rock Deli honey soy chicken crisps, which are yummy – but my favourite Red Rock Deli flavour is lime and black pepper. I just love the tangy lime flavour and bitey pepper.
My news about work
So here’s the news I’ve been hinting at. The big decision I made recently. I feel like it will be a weird bittersweet sort of day – it is my last day at my job. Yes, that’s right – I started at this job (I will call it “Current Job”) in early April, and I’m finishing up in July. To sum it up, I had the opportunity to return to my previous job (“Previous Job”) – and I took it. So that means I’ll be back at East Perth on Monday. This was not an easy decision, and there was much soul-searching and discussions with Jac and friends, with multiple pro and con lists written. The most significant factor was that I realised (and it wasn’t easy to admit this at first, because no one likes to admit that they chose to leave a job that they’d now actually like to go back to) that my heart remained with the Previous Job. Sounds corny and all soppy movie-of-the-week, but it is true. And it’s not often you do get a chance to go back.
My work at the Current Job has definitely been fun and interesting and everyone has been friendly and kind and helpful here, but given the choice between the two jobs, I picked the Previous one. My boss and team mates at the Previous Job are overjoyed that I’m returning, and while there’s a lot of work waiting there for me, there have been plans already made for a celebratory Stuzzico pizza lunch, and workmate J is hanging out for us to devour big bowls of laksa and greasy crispy fried chicken noodles at Munch Terrace! If course, my boss and team mates at the Current Job are sad that I am leaving (well, they’ve told me this :-P) – but I think they understand that ultimately I had to make the decision that I felt was best for me. There’s a lot more detail that I won’t go into here, but I hope I’ve explained this well enough so you get where I’m coming from.
So I handed in my resignation four weeks ago, and today is my last day. It’s been a busy four weeks at work – and at home, as you know! I’m bringing in a couple of cakes to share – I would’ve baked mini muffins for the occasion, but my muffin pans and other baking gear are packed away in the garage and won’t be unpacked until after we’ve moved. I wouldn’t have planned for things to happen this way either – we’d been looking at houses to buy but didn’t expect we’d find one we loved so close to the time I was changing jobs, but there you go. It’s been (and will continue to be) a hectic time for us, but once things settle down, I think we’ll be happier than ever.
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I know it might be weird to choose to comment on the Doritos with all of those other delicious food pictures in this post, but they look really good, and somehow none of them are broken!
Good luck with the new (old) job. :)
Good luck to you!!!!! I am sure you are making the right decision for you and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. (PLUS, I miss the MYO sandwiches.)
Congrats on the return to your old job! Now that you’ve tried something else (your new job), you can be sure that the old one is ideal for you, right?
I look forward to your lunches with J… it’s funny how “ordinary” foods like work lunches can be the dishes that we crave the most.
Food looks great as usual!
Well done on the job situation, good to follow your heart I say.
Also great about finding a new house. its a tiring but exciting time!
We have just moved to a new house and sold our old one (stressful!) and I am due to have my first baby next week! so that was extra stressful for me, We are all settled in now in the nick of time thank goodness.
All the best with the move.
That’s great to hear that your going back to your old job. It wasn’t an easy decision for you to make I bet but glad to hear your doing what you think is right and will make you happy :)
Such a shame that there wasn’t enough cheese on your chicken schnitzel and chips but it looks good none the less!
yum, i love plain doritos too, especially dipped in chilli con carne :D
congratulations, it’s pretty rare to get the opportunity to return to a previous job, it’s obviously meant to be & something you really deserve, well done!!
i keep scrolling back up & looking at the doritos hehe
Awww congratulations on going back to your old job! Yay. More food options at East Perth. :)
mate, go where your heart beckons. we only live once! and what’s more, u’re leaving for somewhere u + the peeps there love u!
fly high! =)))
whatever makes u happy, our dear TFP! tts the most impt :)
I think it’s great that you’re able to go back. I left a job once and I totally regretted it after realizing the new job couldn’t have been further from what they told me it would be.
I wish you tons of luck. :)
Thirty or more years ago, a writer in either Organic Gardening or Prevention wrote about “Porno Foods”–foods that promise much but deliver nothing (nutritious). Main exhibit: Cheetos. I’ve loved the expression and the idea it conveys and have tried to explain it to others several times, quite unsuccessfully. I’m not sure what you mean by your use of the term, but it was fun finding your blog today anyway!
Those are some yummy looking lunches! Congrats on the job! I was in a similar situation a while back where I left a job for another that I felt was more suited for me only to find out that my old job was WAY better. Sometimes change is good and other times it’s not. You seem to really enjoy everyone you worked with and that’s a very important thing!
I’m glad you are following your heart TFP… there are too many unhappy people out there – and thank God you had the chance to return!
The salt on the chips in the schnitzel pic looks amazingly wonderous!
Thank you, everyone, for your kind and supportive comments!
I went in to my “old” work yesterday to have Friday drinks with the old team (and farewell B who is off on 6 months long service leave), and it felt like I was home again. A cliche but true. I’ve already got lots of work waiting for me, and I say “Bring it on!”
Erica,
I don’t think it’s weird at all! The Doritos were really good – and you’re right, there were hardly any broken ones.
dynagrrl,
But I didn’t eat many MYO sandwiches while I was in East Perth! I did when I was in Subiaco… but maybe it’s a good idea to eat more sandwiches anyway. :)
Megan,
Exactly! And it’s so rare you get the chance to go back if you come to that conclusion, so I feel very lucky. I won’t waste this chance. Yeah, I missed my lunches with J. And being in East Perth I will be able to have breakfast with my old pals C and Chad too, on occasion.
Ranee,
Phew! Now I think our stress is nothing compared to yours! Having a baby as well! I wouldn’t have planned it to all happen like this myself, but we just walked into the new house and it was like “This is the one”…so bad timing or not, we couldn’t just walk away from that!
clekitty,
I’ve had better, but it was ok. I didn’t mind not having that extra cheese, but it annoyed me to know someone else got MY cheese. :) My mum would’ve said they should’ve knocked off 20 cents for the missing cheese. Hahaha.
Thanks Erryn,
:) Typing up my replies and looking at the Dorito photo again I now feel like eating corn chips, and we have none in the house – d’oh!
PinkPaperPlane,
Yes, definitely better food options. Of course, that’s not the primary reason for going back… ;-)
Fresh Fry,
Thank you – I couldn’t have said it better myself!
hy,
Yes… and seeing as we spend so much of our time at work, I think feeling happy / happier there is pretty important.
Thanks, The Home Cook. I feel really happy about it and am looking forward to Monday.
Cheers, Nancy. My food porn is not necessarily food that delivers nothing (though I do feature some “bad” food too) – it’s food that we food lovers / gluttons love looking at – its porniness gives us great pleasure.
Cookie,
Yes, definitely. I generally get along with people at work, no matter where it is, which helps!
Thanks, Bryan, that is so true. Haha, yes. I was pleased to see they’d salted them already so all I had to do was dig in.
Congrats on the work decision. You gotta go where you’re happy =) The chips in the first post look all salty and crispy. YUM!!!!
Thanks, Just Me. The chips were yummy, but a bit cold. I’m very comfortable and content with my decision. Looking forward to Monday!