Episode 40: Mr X's 10:00pm Taquitos, Pitmaster Lost Forever and What to do With Wide Open Walls.

By CRUZ | EDITOR in CHIEF
Published: June 28th , 2011
Welcome to Episode 40 of Weekly SLAW where 4 hard working people share office lunch in order to save $ and time.  I can definitely say we save time but not sure if SLAW saved us any money, if anything some of us spent much much more.

Today was Mr X's turn and he brought
-  Beef Taquitos 
-  Sour Cream
-  Newman's Peach Salsa with Tostitos Crispy Round Chips

Mr X brought his home-made Taquitos back on March 10th 2011 in Episode 27 although he had Newman's Pineapple Salsa with Tostitos home style chips. Link to Episode 27 from March 10th
[Editor Thinking Out Loud] ~You know writing about office lunch can get a little draining, especially 8 months into Project SLAW and by the time I come home from work, eat, watch TV I normally forget most of what actually happened during our office lunch~
Cash asked Spa about her Pit Master, her reply
Pit Master is gone.  
Spa enjoyed her time with him although she never made it to the Pitmaster's BBQ cook-off. Oh well on to bigger and better things. ;)  [Pitmaster was part of Episodes 32, 33, 34 and 39]
Lunch started few minutes early.  Spa confirmed her upcoming trip to Morocco then discussed an issue she was having on Facebook with one of her friends. Her Bottom line: everyone has a right to say what they want on their own page. She wasn't feeling well and said that her nephew might have 102 degree temperature which she might have gotten.  Her statement was a cue for Cash to start singing a song from the 70's (Hot Blooded - Foreigner) which then turned into a cue for Spa to bring out her 70's dance moves.  Its always a scene at SLAW... Talking about that, right before all this we had a inquisitive visitor come check us out.  She had heard about SLAW and peeked in to see how its done. (PS: All visitors are welcome although come at your own risk)

Walls are wide open?!?!?
Towards the end of our lunch, Cash said "My Walls are wide open right now". His house is under renovation and there was a discussion on whether to install wiring for surround sound system. I voted a HUGE YES although he decided otherwise.  I guess I voiced a lot of excitement cause I was getting my mini HDTV for my bathroom today so any home tech talk is exciting for me. 
Nothing like watching Good Morning America while you hmmmm brush your teeth or shave.
SLAW ended 20 minutes early.  Food was delicious, company was good, music was lively, some discussions were even more livelier.  That wraps up our Episode 40 of SLAW Weekly.

  

Episode 39: Spa in Morocco, Cash Cherry-Pick Cherries, Mr X Bites a Mango.

By CRUZ | EDITOR in CHIEF
Published: June 15th , 2011

Welcome to Episode 39. The episode that broke No Rice or Pasta rule quietly. It was my turn and I kept it the usual with a Beef Biryani (white rice, potatoes, spices, plum pits) with cucumber Yogurt dressing, For sweet, I brought Mangoes. Cash helped me by adding some organic corn chips and Cherries which was hand selected for Spa (aka leaving her with all the deformed yet still delicious cherries). 

Corn chips added a nice crunch to Biryani. Soft rice and crunchy chips. Like Spa pointed out, adding carbs to carbs. Even it that was a crime, it was a delicious Carb on Carb crime. 

 

SLAW lunch was mostly about MOROCCO. More specifically Spa's potential upcoming vacation to Morocco.  Looks like she has a few places in mind, friends lined up for the trip, good connection with a hotel owner, room picked out and everything.  While Spa was talking about her trip, Cash started singing "One Night in Fez" which was taken from "One Night in bangkok" by Murray Head. 

Here is a little video of our lunch.  You will notice Spa breaking out her dance moves.  And thats not why i cut the video... I swear.

For every SLAW there is a lot of prep and hard work.  In today's episode, my mom was up early cooking, cutting and mixing away. Interesting thing about Project SLAW is that we do setup, eat, laugh, try to dance and cleanup under an hour which is why SLAW has lasted as long as it did. Even on a day when its my turn, our office lunch lasted 45 minutes, and blogging about this including posting pics was an hour in the evening while watching TV. 

SLAW WORKS. BELIEVE IT.

Episode 38: [Special Investigation] "No Sauce for you" - Team SLAW's undercover mission to capture Flo

By CRUZ | EDITOR in CHIEF
Published: June 11th , 2011
June 9th 2011 was a very hot and hazy day in NYC. Team SLAW was at a special location (for work). At lunch time, Spa and I went to get lunch. Since this area doesn't offer many lunch choices, we decided to head back to Nathan's. Now for new SLAW readers; Nathan's is the place where Cash met his evil arch nemesis FLO back in Episode 8 posted Dec 1st 2010. [Link to full episode here] 

In short, Back in Dec 2010 Cash upgraded to 5 piece chicken tender meal instead of 3 piece. Now common sense would say that with 5 piece meal, you will two sauces but Flo refused and offered Cash to buy his extra Ranch sauce for additional 51 cents. Since then she was added to Team SLAW's List of Meanies

Now we were going back there after 5 months.  Has Flo changed? Is she even there? Well she was there, meaner than ever.  Spa and I were in line. Spa, risking everything including lunch decided to take the very first picture of Flo. She lifted her blackberry and I pretended to read an e-mail off of it. This is how we captured Flo, the meanest, most reclusive and demanding fast food cashier of all time.

We braved the 97 degree hot humid weather and came back with not only some delicious yummy oily and fattening fries and burgers and chicken  but also a picture of Flo. For those who have never had Nathan's, its delicious atleast when you are hungry and eating it.  Their fries are some of the best thick-cut you can buy at a fast food chain and probably will beat Chick-fill-A's waffle fries in a taste test.

 

Next morning, Mr X picked me up for work and we decided to go to McDonald's drive thru close to my house in Bayside, NY.  As we were waiting for our food, I noticed that McDonald's has a SAUCE POLICY.  You get more sauce when you order more chicken, 1 sauce for 3 pieces, 2 sauce for 5 pieces - proving even more that Cash was right all along. Take that Flo!

To add to all of this, when we went back to Nathan's on Friday, there was no Flo.  And without even asking, we got 2 containers of sauce with our order. Also, For those who have never met Flo, well just imagine the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld but a bit more meaner (See video clip below)

NO SAUCE FOR YOU, COME BACK 1 YEAR!

Episode 37: Mrs Cash Taco Salad A HIT, Spa Compares Rice to Donuts, Mr X Posts Mr Weiner.

By CRUZ | EDITOR in CHIEF

Published: June 7th , 2011

SLAW started with one thing in mind. Healthy eating.  Seems like everytime we have our shared office lunch, Team SLAW kicks it up a notch.  For the past 2 weeks spa has been super good, keeping Carbs away from her and eating good.  I witness one such lunch event last week when i saw her having a Cottage Cheese and Peach lunch.

Based on no rice or pasta rule, Cash brought a lovely make your own
-  Taco Salad with Beef
-  Lettuce
-  Shredded Cheese
-  Cheesecake factory Ranch Dressing
-  Salsa
-  XOchitl White Corn Organic Chips
-  Onions, Cherry Tomatoes and Olives. (Thank you Mrs Cash for the onions, CRUZ-BIG FAN)
-  Home Made Fudge Brownies (Extra were sent for Me and my Family, Take note MrX and Spa, take lots of notes)

When I got to SLAW Table, Cash was busy prepping everyone's Salad.  Pictures below show him working on his masterpiece. Then everyone got to customize their own lunch with toppings.  It was actually fun to see how  we all created our salads differently.

SLAW highly recommends XOCHITL whote Corn Organic chips. and that Cheesecake ranch dressing. Yum.

 

Lunching while we have the NO RICE NO PASTA sign overlooking SLAW for any outlaws.  There was no sign of rice or pasta anywhere but we were still surrounded by large amounts of cream.

 

Here is a picture of everyone's plate.  I think mine looks the best although Mr X decided to create a sculpture, Cash layered it for maximum effect and SPA, well she was half done by the time I took the picture.

 

 

Our dessert started with delicious home made brownies and we were glad that they were neatly wrapped.  If they were open, I doubt I would be able to take couple of them home for my mom.  We had to so we did brought up Anthony Weiner in our office lunch.  Overall discussion was around why would someone at that position do something like this.

Mr X ran and got his NY Post and we all had a nice time reading some of the editorial and article headlines.  Then we started talking about food and carbs.  Mr x wondered if we can allow rice at SLAW again and Spa compared white rice to deep fried donuts. 

Just like our last SLAW nothing says THANK YOU CHEF (in this case Mrs CASH) like a picture of empty containers and wanting more.  I was pretty full by the end but as I write this post 8 hours after lunch,

I wish...

I had a plate of taco Salad in front of me now.

Spa introduces no Rice or Pasta Law

Spa introduces new rule. No Rice or Pasta dishes can be served during office work lunches going forward. Rule only applies to our Tuesday SLAW.

Because of this strict rule, we will attempt to paste this sign on or near our weekly lunch table. 
(Please note that word attempt is underlined)