Cubicle Code: Treats from Vacationing Co-Workers…
There are a lot of rules that govern foodstuffs in the workplace. Birthdays must be celebrated with free cake, leftover meeting food must be put in the community kitchen, etc. Another essential, but often forgotten, rule is when you go on vacation to far off lands, you must return with treats. When I came back from the UK, my gift to the office came in the form of Cadbury Roses (a delicious sampler pack of amazing bite size chocolates, usually enjoyed around holiday time).
This week, one of my bosses Cheryl returned from Argentina with a box of Alfajores…
Two little cakes/cookies, sealed together with dulce de leche. Often they are covered with powdered sugar, but these (thankfully) were covered in chocolate. Holy mackerel. A photo of the innards, after the jump…
Sadly, it put my little box of roses to shame. Can anybody top chocolate covered Argentine cakes? Feel free to post comments below…
Posted by Zach Brooks at 12:33 pm, October 17th, 2007 under Cubicle Code.
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20 Comments
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My favorite, only it’s not powdered sugar they are covered with-it’s meringue.
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I bring in freshly made bakery doughnuts – Custard, Jelly and sometimes Caramel – every Chanukah. Does that count?
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looks like a moon pie…
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If they filled Moon Pies with Dulce de Leche
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Wowie zowie…! That looks fantastic. I don’t really like my coworkers so I don’t bring them anything. Haha since we’re not in midtown I think it’s safe to assume none of them read this??? Hahaha.. but when I went to Spain, I discovered Kinder and gosh the variety they have that isn’t really totally available here! Yummm… and then I found out it’s available in like every duty-free shop! Hehehe.
Oh, btw, those are the rules? Because I have yet to get cake for my birthday at this job (over 3 years here now), and leftover meeting food is NEVER shared beyond the receptionists and their friends… they call around and that’s it, it’s gone. In fact… I once set up a huge meeting that got cancelled, so our group was like, well, go up and grab some food since it’s already been ordered and set out, and by the time we got there, it was ALL GONE. WTF? Scavengers… -
I’ve brought moon cakes to the office. Blocks of sweet lotus paste with savory duck yolks covered in a thin layer of dough. Mmm. People actually ate them.
People actually liked them.
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Havanna = Argentine Starbucks
I would’ve brought back some carne picante empanadas and sambayon gelato.
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I *love* Alfajores. One of the saddest things about not working in Miami anymore, as my co-workers would always bring them back. Mmmm my favorite were the lemon ones. (Drool)
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I recently went to Los Angeles on a short vacation and only realized when I got to the airport that I didn’t get anything to bring back. The layout of our terminal made it seem like the kiosk we were by was our last chance to buy anything. So I purchased a box of generic “Los Angeles chocolate”, probably really bad quality. We rounded the corner to our gate and there were like 5 shops all selling See’s Candy. I couldn’t believe it.
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Oooh… gotta love the See’s Candy. I’m partial to the cashew brittle.
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LOVE See’s Candy – especially the nut clusters. I brought back a slew of them with the intention of sharing, but selfishly kept them all to myself.
As screwy as my firm can be, love and appreciation of all shared food is constant. We have a kickin’ snack closet that the firm stocks. There are a few special occasion treats – We have a partner here from New Orleans who always ships in a few King cakes during Mardi Gras, and they always provide a variety of macaroons and hamentashen during Passover, some Irish soda bread appears on St. Patrick’s Day, and the parade of Christmas goodies is obscene.
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I don’t like these co-workers that I work with now. So, I will present them with NADA from my vacay.
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Ohhhhhhh, Alfajores! I bought boxes back from my Argentina trip as well a couple of years ago. I miss them so!!
Anyone know where they might be found in the city?
The Starbucks in my ‘hood used to sell a kind of alfajores. It wasn’t the same, but I appreciated it.
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sponge candy and Beef on Weck from Buffalo
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You can find alfajores at Tisserie bakery on the corner of 17th and Broadway.
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I wondered whether Alfajores could be purchased on the web.
Well, not exactly…but here’s the next best thing: imitation Alfajores from Vermont. The credit in the description of the cookie goes to Peru, not Argentina. Could anyone shed some light on this? Wikipedia says they’re found throughout
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An article and recipe for alfajores from the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007/10/24/a_sweet_treat_is_a_taste_of_argentina/
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Wow, yea, I got a sampling of these treats too through the same route….a co-worker brought them in after a trip to South America. They weren’t a favorite of mine though as I thought the caramel like centers were not so good. The co-worker said that these candies had been being sold in the same packaging since he was a kid, some 40+ yrs. ago.
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Here they are in all their glory!:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/for/577638830.html
These things are tasty. I got them the same way — from a co-workers visit to Argentina.
My next gift to my co-workers when I go on vacation will be to quit and never actually come back — with or without snacks.