Well, today was my first day back at work, and in true expansion-at-work fashion, THIS arrived on the conference room table right next to my desk at 10 am:
Ummm, yes, that’s leftover red velvet wedding cake with cream cheese icing. Next to my desk. Where I sit all day. At 10 am. Always a good sign … or never a good sign, depending on who you ask. I must say, it was comforting to return to work and know that nothing had changed while I was away 🙂
Another exciting conference room arrival happened to be waiting in the wings as well, just a glance away.
So far, my office is batting a million for the day, wouldn’t you say? I made myself a little bowl with two end slices of cake (for maximum frosting coverage, obviously) and some PB&Co peanut butter pretzels.
I nibbled on the pretzels throughout the morning but somehow managed to cover the bowl with a plate and save the cake for afternoon so that I didn’t accidentally take more and more slices until I had eaten the whole thing. As it was, I ran back to the cake tray every time someone took a piece so I could collect the abandoned crumbs!
Another morning snack happened when Jessica, my desk neighbor, came back from an errand and plunked this treasure chest of fresh coconut down on my desk:
She got it from the usual man on the corner, but it was extra dry today for some reason (usually it’s hanging out in its own juice) and she wasn’t a fan … so she gave it all to me! I do not turn up my nose at fresh coconut, dry or otherwise (although I think that’s a recent development because I used to hate coconut). I tested out a small piece, and it was definitely “crunchier” than normal, but still tasty. I brought the rest home to use for a future kitchen project. Any suggestions? (I’ve already done raw macaroons — I want to try something different but still desserty!)
I spent the afternoon with Inginia in the parent and me group, and one of the moms brought this amaaaaaaazing chicken noodle soup for lunch, all spicy with Mexican seasonings:
Ummm, I had three bowls of it. Typical.
For dessert, I had an orange. And for dessert dessert, I had another orange.
When I got back up to my desk, there was no wedding cake left of the conference room table. Thank you, god of non-profit agencies! Confident that I still had my two little cake slices stashed in a bowl behind my tissue box, I polished off the peanut butter pretzels.
And concluded my snack with a spicy-sweet treat from Belkis’ candy jar:
I met my second grader for our second to last counseling session (sadly, my new position won’t allow me the extra time I had as a student!) and then came back to my desk to finish my first day back in the same way I started: with cake!
I did not even touch one morsel of the food I packed for today, so it’s waiting in the fridge at work for me to rescue it tomorrow. I could not imagine a more fitting way to come back to work after three weeks of vacation! Things will get hectic and busy soon enough (err, starting with the return of classes tomorrow night!), so it was nice to have a pleasantly soft start back, complete with welcoming office food 😀
Has anyone ever brought leftover wedding cake to YOUR office? What is the most unique work/school food contribution you have ever received?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
That cake! Those pretzels! Major yum. I could never say no to leftover cake 😉
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Red velvet cake IS THE BEST!! Creamcheese frosting is liiiife!! And way to hit up the end pieces, totally how I do.
And your work is so hip with the pb&co pretzels! I didn’t know about the wondrous pb&co and their creations til the blogworld! Sassy!
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Your posts always make me sooo hungry! That cake looks amazing. No one has ever brought leftover wedding cake to anywhere I work, but I think that would be the best day ever.
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I love PB&Co products, but haven’t tried the petzels yet.
No one has ever brought left over wedding cake to work, but we get leftover birthday cake all the time. I have a weakness for cake, expecially buttercream icing, and have to stay far, far away.
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What wonderful cake! I love anything with cream cheese frosting!
Never had leftover wedding cake at work, but I don’t care where leftover cake comes from – it’s all good.
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Holy food work heaven! haha You had all sorts of treats today! I have never heard of anyone bringing wedding cake to work but I would be all over that! Yum!!
All the eats looked so good! I love pretzels so I would probably move that container to my desk! haha
And now you have all that food for tomorrow!
Have a great eve!!
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Wedding cake! You really know how to reign in the demons! If there’s cake with FROSTING that I want nearby, I run screaming from the room or have to sabotage the entire cake with salt or soap or something.
The smell of sugar drives me crazy!
I have to say, the weirdest thing someone brought to work was freakin’ pimento cheese finger sandwiches. EW!
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Yum that cake looks awesome! And I’m a total sucker for cream cheese icing. Mmmmm. I’ve never tried those PB&Co. pretzels, but they look good! I love their peanut butter.
That’s cool you scored free coconut! I can’t wait to see what you come up with 😀
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I would love to work in your office! So many goodies! can’t wait to see how you use the coconut. Maybe a pina colada type crock pot oat combo????
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i dont know what i would have done with that gorgeous cake next to me!!! sounds like you did pretty well with all that temptation. my office is always full of free food. people are pretty good about bringing in leftovers, or bagels or cupcakes. it can be hard to resist!!!
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Wow that cake looks amazing. I love cream cheese icing!
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I’ve never had wedding cake up at work, but one of the PTA moms brought like 4 pies one day for all of the teachers. And today they had a Paninni party for the reading teachers!
I’ve been thinking of buying some of the PB&Co pretzel bites. How do you rate them?
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Your office is fantastic! I never see anything interesting at work!
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those pretzels are dangerous around me! I can never stop at one!
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Did you dip the pretzels into the cake frosting or is that something you save strictly for my kahlua mascarpone frosting???
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My sister had a red velvet wedding cake too–SO GOOD.
Beware those PB pretzels–they’re habit forming!
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wow! what a great thing to be greeted with on your first day back at work. my manager’s niece was in culinary school and would bring in treats from time to time…
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look how your office welcomed you to go back to work!!! hahhaa….. so many goodies!!!
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I am obsessed with red velvet cake. This post is making me crave it like crazy! Why didn’t I have this at my wedding?! I am so glad you are enjoying it!! Eat some for me!
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Woah. I am impressed by your restraint and jealous of your access to those pretzels. Leftover wedding cake would have proved to be too much for me!
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Wow that cake looks amazing. At my job, there is often leftover food…but not nearly enough leftover cake. I should send out a memo about that…
I can’t think of anything too crazy someone has brought in, but I work with quite an eclectic and diverse bunch, so we usually have interesting vegetarian foods, usually Mexican foods. One woman brings in the guava stuff that’s kind of like jelly that she serves with cheese. I pick off the cheese and go to town on the guava…it’s super sweet and SO good!
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I was thinking about bringing my leftover wedding/1 year anniversary cake to my 1st day at school, but only if you and Kate don’t help me eat it all!
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So scratch what I just said because this email just went around:
There is lots of coffee, muffins, and bread in the (blank)room.
There are also 3 boxes of wine in the fridge for take home, left over from the luncheon.
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