As usual around here, last week was full of coworker-sponsored snacks, and it all culminated in a full-blown feast on Friday 😀

On Monday, Jessica and Rosalie supplemented my lunch with salad and a piece of chicken quesadilla, respectively:

One of these days, I promise I will accidentally-on-purpose forget to pack a lunch just so that I can buy a whole quesadilla for myself.

Rosey was way beyond generous and brought in the rest of the best tres leches cake ever … plus she let me “lick the pan” which was full of condensed milk and at least another slice of cake!

Tuesday and Wednesday included a Maria biscuit from Lillian, buttered toast from Nydia, and three bites of donation overflow donuts from the advocacy kitchen:

(Side note: I thought I lost my work ID and key card last week. Surprise, surprise … they were found in the advocacy kitchen.)

On Thursday, Belkis brought in cassave, a traditional Dominican bread made completely of yucca:

I had some plain, and it was very dry and crackerish … but once I took Belkis’ “traditional Dominican” suggestion to try it with avocado and Myrna’s “traditional Dominican” suggestion to try it with peanut butter, I could definitely see the appeal:

Rosey and Maria shared their tostones, and Lillian and Nydia shared their maduros:

(Avocados and plantains in the same day??? How did I get so lucky?! :-P)

Jennifer showed that she’s a healthy snacker with her banana, and Jose modeled Lillian’s latest health food store purchase: all natural and organic macaroons.

The only ingredients in these macaroons were unsweetened coconut, honey, and egg whites … and they were beyond delicious:

I had three!

Finally, Friday morning was our big department breakfast in honor of Maria’s rapidly progressing pregnancy. You’ve already seen the recycled muffins that I contributed, and I also brought in my very own homemade authentic Dominican (there’s a lot of Dominican authenticity going on in this post!) chicken and cheese empanadas:

OK, maybe I did not make the empanadas myself, but they are still authentic, Dominican, and homemade … by Mildred and Myrna! I rescued them from Heather’s baby shower in the beginning of April and have been storing them in my freezer ever since. For the breakfast, I let them thaw in the fridge overnight and then put them in the work oven at 375 for 20 minutes so they got crispy. Everyone agreed that these four-month-old empanadas tasted as though they were fresh out of the fryer 🙂 The freezer is an amazing contraption.

Jessica was also feeling inspired for this breakfast, so she brought it all the necessary supplies for chocolate-covered strawberry and mango skewers and enlisted my help:

We only had a few close calls with burning chocolate before we got it down to a science and created our sunshine platter of sophistication:

Once we got everything set up in the conference room, we invited Maria in … and she pretended to be surprised:

Here’s the full spread with mangu, eggs, fried cheese, ham, and homemade farina from Myrna; babybel and cracker barrel cheddar (the best kind ever) cheeses from Lillian; “my” empanadas and muffins; bagels and assorted cream cheeses from Jennifer; Jessica’s chocolate sunshine skewers; and assorted juices:

I gathered a bit of [almost] everything for myself: farina (sooo good — Myrna made it with cinnamon, sugar, and milk), a cheese empanada with cheddar on top, a bite of egg/fried cheese/ham, mangu, Beryl’s corn muffin (a late arrival to the table but worth the wait — they were spiced with nutmeg and had me returning to the conference room table for more all afternoon), and a dark chocolate skewer:

(I don’t think I need to mention that I had two more bowls of farina, two more skewers, and about 4 more muffins!)

One of the cream cheeses was cheesecake-flavored, so I had to test out a dollop with a bite of mango:

It was yummy enough to make me scared of what would happen if I ever bought this for myself!

At the end of breakfast, the environmental boys were only too happy to help us out with the leftovers which made me very happy because it meant that less food would be calling me all afternoon from the infamous conference room table. Erik and Roberto posed with their fruit and muffins for a somewhat unfortunate photo:

I gave them a chance to redeem themselves, and it was only partly successful:

I feel so lucky that my job involves people who love to make food and people who love to eat food. Can you imagine a more rewarding work environment? (I’m sure the rewarding factor has nothing to do with the fact that we all save the world on a daily basis …) 😛

What part of your life requires/involves the highest level of group effort?