The rain-motivated cancellation of my agency’s planned picnic in the park for the families a couple weeks ago had far-reaching ramifications, the main one being that I was left lunchless! Before I could mourn the loss of lunch, however, I had to call all my moms and let them know about the change in plans. While doing so, I ate a couple of Deborah’s cinnamon melts from McDonald’s:

Mmmmmmm.

Belkis had brought her son Emanuel to work for the picnic. He also ate a few Cinnamon Melts but really kept himself occupied with our no-longer-picnic-bound balloons:

I also had a few of these farm-fresh “melts” — my latest batch of CSA cherry tomatoes:

Finally, it was time to address the whole no-lunch issue, as we were all getting hungry and cranky that the picnic had been cancelled. After a lengthy discussion of options and cravings, we eventually settled on Mi Abuelita for the selection of appetizing soups on such a rainy day.

Myrna modeled the menu and then agreed to split the Mofongo de Camarones with me:

I had a slice of toasty buttered bread while we waited for our feast:

Emanuel provided the entertainment:

And so did the beverages. Myrna and I shared a papaya shake, and Jessica had a limeade:

Next up was the soups. I had a bite of Belkis’ sancocho and all of the carrots from Jessica’s sopa:

And then came the best part!! I was so excited for the mofongo because I’ve heard my coworkers talk about it plenty but had never actually eaten it myself:

Mofongo is a mound of fried green plantains, and Myrna and I ordered ours with shrimp:

Obviously, this was delicious and gave me even more reason to move to the Dominican Republic.

The mofongo came with the perfect side salad of avocados, beets, and tomatoes:

This was such a delicious, satisfying, and fun meal … and a great way for us to console ourselves after the disappointment of the canceled picnic. I have plenty of stressful days at work, but all of the positives (wonderful coworkers, excellent food, meaningful work, fun) really help to balance things.

How would you order your mofongo?