Lunch Break

The concept of a 'lunch break' has morphed for me through the years and the different positions I've held. At some jobs, it's been an instituted time when everyone on the team sits down around a table and consumes whatever meal they've bought/brought for the day. It's a conscious break in the day, whether or not you particularly enjoy the people you are attempting to make polite conversation with.

At other jobs, it's been a slice of 30-60 minutes where I can choose to eat/work at the same time so I can get out a bit earlier...i.e., fun from the building screaming to the comfort of my home or happy hour with girlfriends.

At the Land of Cubicles, my lunch break really depended on a variety of things: 1)if I had made plans with someone (which tended to shoot holes in our monthly budget due to excessive eating out...sorry Jake). 2)if I had a meeting over the traditional lunch hour, in which case I would snarf my leftovers down before the meeting or wait until after if my blood sugar level could handle the agony. 3)March down to the cafe with my team mates who were free and try desperately to make conversation about anything besides what we had in common at werk. After all, it's a lunch BREAK, right?

I have also LOVED not having to scoop up smelly, refrigerated leftovers into tupperware the morning before werk, just so I don't even have the option of saying "I didn't bring anything today, so I need to go buy lunch". The smell of enchiladas or the look of cold beef stroganoff  at 7am didn't always make me look forward to my lunch break!

Now that I am werking from home, most days my lunch break is a combination of a finishing off the pot of coffee from the morning, trying to decide if I want to eat cereal, leftovers, or just make something from scratch. This can happen any time between the hours of 11am and 2pm, depending on my schedule of conference calls, appetite, or general availability of tempting food in the house.

It's not so much a conscious break, as much as it is just 'lunch'. I also love that we go through our set of dishes on a regular basis now that I am eating my meals at home instead of scooping them out of the tupperware containers that used to dominate our countertops a day or two longer than necessary (sorry again, Jake!).

What's on the menu today? Probably some leftover Cuban Braised Beef with chips and salsa. On a real plate, eaten with a real fork and knife. There's just something civilized about werking from home. :)

Try this recipe, it's awesome, and easy to throw in the crock pot while you are gone at werk!:
 Cuban Braised Beef in the Slow Cooker!