I work with people from all over Latin America and the Caribbean. My immediate cubicle neighbors come from St. Lucia and Guyana but this office has strong representation from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ecuador…and Brooklyn. You would be hard pressed to find a Subway sandwich or a deli bought cup of soup in our lunch room. At around 1:30 every day, the line starts to form as my colleagues wait to warm up their elaborate leftovers. There is always a bit of sharing that takes place in the kitchen – half an avocado up for grabs, homemade salad dressing passed around and shared hot sauce for the rice and beans days. For the most part however, we all settle down to our own lunches after a quick “buen provecho.” That is of course unless it’s the much anticipated once a year International Planned Parenthood Potluck.
Some offices do fancy holiday parties at midtown hotels with bacon wrapped scallops and mini puff pastries filled with brie. We do a potluck. Today that meant a spread that included roasted pernil, arroz con pollo, shrimp fried rice, roti, guacamole, empanadas, curried chicken, fried plantains and more. The dessert table continued the global taste bud extravaganza with torta de batata, flan and organic chocolate chip cookies. ( I did say Brooklyn after all.) Even with just a small taste of everyone’s dish, it’s impossible not to overdo it. Luckily I was able to skip one dish this year. The auditors who happen to be in the office today brought Cinnabons.
I'm slightly insulted that my dal and rice pilaf was relegated to the "and more" category, but I get that it doesn't quite fit with the Latin American/Caribbean theme...but at least it didn't fall into the Cinna-butt category!!
ReplyDeleteDamn, I love the potluck. That may be reason enough to keep working there...and actually right about now is kind of feeling like the only reason...