the counter-proposal

My boss, who got wind that I was turning 50, very kindly wanted to do something for my birthday. I told her I really didn't want a party, but she insisted she wanted to take me and the R&D team out somewhere. After I was fairly noncommittal about what sort of food I liked, she settled on taking us out for samgyetang, a traditional chicken soup. I like samgyetang, but it's not really my favorite, and after pondering the matter over the weekend, I contacted my boss today to offer a counter-proposal: howzabout I cook up some moqueca and rice for Friday? While other coworkers, and my previous boss, have all had this lovely Brazilian seafood stew, my current boss has never had it. So I'll be whipping up a huge batch for about seven people, along with a batch of my famous galbi (Korean short ribs). Once I managed to convince the boss to accept my offer of moqueca, she asked whether there'd be anything else, like a side dish. I found it a bit gauche for her to ask that ("You're making stew? Great! But could you also make some side dishes? Because, frankly, that's not enough."). But upon reflection, I realized it could be that she was obliquely offering to bring something to the luncheon.

There might be photos of the food on Friday. We'll see.