14th Floor open!

...and Wow!  Just need some cash on my lunch card now!



...around the corners -





- real books in the book wall!  And then outside onto the new terrace -




Astonishingly cool... ;)

Yay!

Yum yum Chilli Dogs!

Oh and BBQ spatchcocked chilli chicken on the side... ;)

No more free milk... :(

Our canteen has banned us from having free milk...there are these two huge dispensing machines up there, each now sporting a sign forbidding us from taking any, unless we have first spent £1.20 buying a tea bag, and as you may be aware, I have my own in my desk pedistal...On the first day, I didn't realise, I got over to the worktop where they live and spotted that there weren't any cups, and thinking myself being very helpful, I walked to the water chiller, grabbed a load and deposited them, where they usually live, on top of the milk machines...earning me (oddly, I thought, at the time) looks of absolute horror from the (probably Eastern European) Canteen folk...of course the next morning when (half way through filling up my cup) I spotted the sign, it was abundantly clear why...whoops! :S

So anyway, not wishing to cause high blood pressure (and burnt toast) in the kitchen by acting like I am above the "law" (they buzzed around furiously on day two, but didn't actually *do* anything), I have taken to bringing in milk from home...the choice of container seemed quite natural when Flyingpops suggested it (she has long since stopped expressing milk for baby Thomas, leaving these bottles with very little -current- purpose in life)...however, everyone that spotted it on my desk (and has had anything to do with babies) did an immediate double take, follwed by a "that's not...?" sort of question or comment...I'm going to have to hide it in my desk drawer... ;)

How lunch arrives...

Hrm...buckets and bin bags (and 24 hours too early?), spotted this on Tuesday lunchtime sitting on the floor in the corner of the office canteen (covered in cling film and labelled "Veg Chow Mein" and "Rice"), well, Renemy spotted it actually and I ran up with her (not really believing what I was being told)...still maintained the thought it was almost certainly rubbish *really* until she told me that it showed up on the menu yesterday...urk...hope it didn't sit on the floor for too long, if that was the case it probably should have been in the 'fridge... >;S

Chicken Jalfreze

It's not as hot as the Jalfrezi... ;)

Packed lunch from the canteen

So I decided 2 weeks ago that I would try out the sandwich ordering service in our office canteen...I've not actually eaten in there for rather a long time (for several reasons) -

1. I love good food, and I think it is fair to say that most of the dishes they serve are very similar and quite bland (for my palette, anyway)
2. The chefs obviously love to use generous quantities of both oil and salt in their cooking
3. I don't know where the meat is sourced from
4. Eating there was visibly contributing to my waistband (and it doesn't need any assistance at all, thank you)...

Now, I said I decided 2 weeks ago I was going to do this, but I made the decision on a Thursday afternoon and started (properly) looking into it on a Friday morning (that was a "bad thing")...

I quickly discovered, upon finding the little form you have to fill in -

- that not only do you have to fill in a different one for each and every day of the week (providing on each your name, department, the day of the week the sandwich is required for, the date of the particular day of the week that the sandwich is required for, and the sandwich selection you have made - so that's five fields to be filled in, on five forms - per week, per person) but you also have to submit them by 2pm on the Thursday prior to the week that you want to actually eat them. Meaning I now had to wait until the next Thursday before I could submit my orders for the week after that (being the week starting today)...

That's not all though, looking at other people's forms, I noted that many of them were making similar selections and being quite specific about what they wanted - it occurred to me that there might be a list they were picking from...but could I find one?

Nothing was visible anywhere obvious in the canteen and I checked the notice board just outside, nothing...Reception didn't know about it and thought I was referring to sandwiches and snacks for a lunchtime meeting, the ladies in the canteen (when they arrived to start prep for lunch) confirmed that there was a list (so my hunch was right), but they had no idea what was on it, nor where I could find it - simply that it was "emailed round everyone", well, no-one I spoke to had ever seen it, if it existed...My colleagues helped out at this stage, PW recalling that she had seen it once in the public folders on the Exchange server, but despite both of us scouring the public folders quite carefully we couldn't find anything regarding sandwiches. I searched our intranet (Darwin) and found lots of mentions of sandwiches, and even a copy of the form (so I could print my own), but no list, or indication as to where I should be hunting for it. In desperation, I finally thought I might go and try the people that do the refunds on the vending machines (this being kind-of office-related), tucked away in their little room - and they looked confused for a minute (I had almost left the room in disappointment) then said "Oh yeah, it's in the public folders"...Eureka!! But when they tried to show me where it was, it wasn't there! "Someones deleted it", apparently, so I left them hunting around for the original copy of the list so they could re-post it...

I filled out all my little forms (once the list finally did materialise) thought I would do a batch, all in one go, just to get it out of the way - so I did 2 weeks worth - carefully filling out all the fields, double checking my dates and then took my little stack of papers to the box in the canteen where you have to leave them, ready for collection by the caterers, and then sat back to wait the 11 days required for my first sandwich to arrive, confident that I would have earned my dinner (when it was finally delivered)...

So today, as you can imagine I was giddy with anticipation, clock-watching lunchtime to see the results. And here they are! Arriving in a little white paper bag (with my form stuck on the front, the admin required starting to make some sense) -

- and inside, TWO rounds of roast lamb (wow!) and mint sauce on wholemeal bread (looks like some sweetcorn managed to sneak in there too though...), a bag of salt and vinegar Walkers and a breakaway bar (takes me back!) - I added the apple myself...

So, all in all, I'm very impressed! Despite the hurdles, a proper packed lunch has appeared!

Not sure I'll manage to eat all of it, but I'll have a go! ;)

Bon appetite...

Office Canteen - Cottag Pie

(It's similar to Gulag Pie, if you were wondering)
Well, perhaps a little cruel to post this picture, but it made me chortle when I saw it, I suppose I should offer them the fact that people in the catering industry really should be employed on the basis of their ability to prepare food, rather than their ability to read and write in the English language, but I'm afraid a certain someone made me rather sour on that point the other day...

Update - Sorry, just had to bang on about this, just how does one muck up spelling "Cottage" when one can perfectly manage "Ratatouille"...?? Confused...