my pics of today's feast

And here are some pics that I managed to take today, which has been an otherwise unproductive day in terms of actual work. It's always like this when I do a luncheon, but people seem to forgive me.

Meatballs roasting on an open fire:

Red sauce nipping at your nose:

There was a lot of wine in that sauce, which made the whole office redolent once I started warming it up on the burner. "Oh, it smells so good!" several coworkers moaned.

Garlic bread, prepped old-school:

I was amazed at how much everyone loved the garlic bread. I had bought the baguettes from a shitty bakery called Napoleon, which is right next to the very good, high-end bakery called Kim Young-mo (which is where the lovely carrot cake came from). I deliberately bought baguettes from Napoleon because I knew they didn't do the crust right: instead of the true crunchy crust of a real baguette, a Napoleon baguette's crust is soft and yielding, which makes it the ideal analogue for American-style Italian bread, which also has a soft crust. I set out a stick of butter to soften overnight, and in the morning, I mixed the butter with powdered garlic and several herbs (parsley, basil, and oregano). I sliced the baguettes into Hasselback slices, slathered the butter onto the bread, and baked the loaves at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit for twelve minutes. Result: garlicky goodness and the cementing of my status as the office's official cook.

Below: caprese.

A shot of my own meal:

Homemade pesto:

And finally, one more panna cotta shot:

The boss came over, but he had to wait a while to be served: my other coworkers swarmed the first batch of pasta and cleaned me out, so I had to break out a second batch, which took time: you have to heat the water to boiling first, then wait while the pasta cooks. Eventually, though, the boss got his coveted meatballs and spaghetti with homemade sauce. I think he ate a little caprese and had a slice or two of garlic bread, but he didn't have room for dessert. He's by himself in the old Mido building now, so I think it was a bit of a relief for him to interact with fellow expats for a short while.

We all agreed to hold off on the carrot cake until much later in the day. Just before 5 p.m., a coworker got to work slicing the cake up, and that's when people ended up singing an awkward birthday song for the three birthday people. Some of us then said our goodbyes to our Canadian coworker, whose last day it was, but since she's planning to give me her stand mirror tomorrow (I already have one, but why not have two, right?), I decided to reserve my goodbye for Saturday.

Another good meal. Many "Thank you"s and "God, I'm so stuffed"s and "I can't move"s from around the office. Our lone Korean staffer said she had had to cancel dinner plans because she had eaten so much at lunch. She had originally planned to meet a friend for dinner and a movie, but she canceled dinner, forcing her friend to eat alone. Some other people uttered "I blame Kevin!" as they pondered their post-prandial discomfort. I took all of this with good humor, my mission having been accomplished.