My first post here in Foodies Bee Hive Community! Finally! I cook and bake a lot, but for now allow me to share here my blissful gastronomic experience all for free. ❤️
I'm not sure if this is applicable to the rest of the Philippines (will look forward to your experiences in the comment section), but here in Cebu, there's a joke that's been going around for ages that goes: Mas lami gyud ang pagkaon basta libre (Food always tastes better when it's free).😂
When August unfolded all we're looking forward was staying at home, cancelling (or not planning for any) lunch/dinner outs with friends and family, rescheduling travel until futher notice, as we welcome yet again the quarantine classification that perhaps everybody doesn’t enjoy. Cases of COVID-19 and its Delta variant has been increasing recently with news of deaths of friends, friend's family, and relatives reach us personally or via social media.
Lunch Overload
Cian's Birthday Celebration (Part 1)
The first week of the month should’ve been focused on goals including eating anything from a fastfood chain at least once a month only. I am very particular with my food intake but this month, eating clean seems a bit difficult to do. In a while, you'll figure out why. 😂
Cian is the Price Optimization Specialist in our company. Sadly this is the 2nd consecutive birthday of Cian that he spent away from his hometown in Calbayog.
We have this tradition in the team to set up birthday decors in the work station of whoever is celebrating her/his birthday. We also love buying cake or whatever we can think of for the birthday celebrant.
For Cian's birthday, we planned to buy pizza to surprise him. It makes me laugh recalling how a box of S&R Pizza suddenly arrived. A friend of Cian had it delivered for him as a birthday present.
So we had to change our plan, from pizza to cake but then a few minutes later two medium-sized custard cakes arrived (still from Cian's mysterious friend. I'm not sure if it's another friend or the same friend though). We're just thankful for his friends for all the free food! 😁
Lunch came and a Thai-inspired packed lunch was delivered but it was solely for Cian. He ordered Jollibee for the entire team’s lunch - we got a bucket of Jollibee chicken joy, a family pan of spaghetti, coke floats, and chocolate sundaes.
The team completed the celebration by buying our surprise cake from the nearby bakeshop and, of course, ice cream.
Sweets Overload
Cian's Birthday Celebration (Part 2)
The following day, everyone thought that the party’s over but we were all wrong. Cian decided to order two (2) dozens of assorted Krispy Kreme doughhnuts for our afternoon snacks. What a delightful news for all our stomachs! 😂
Even before we could finish eating the doughnuts, Sir Stanley, our VP for Sales and Marketing, shared a very pretty assorted cake from Café Elim. And because it's assorted, we drew lots to identity who gets a particular flavor. Our team got Red Velvet and Strawberry. 😋
Sir Stan's very generous. I couldn't keep track of all the free food he shared to us. This pretty cake is his simple way of saying thank you to Team Awesome (That's us, Sales and Marketing people!) for giving our best despite the pandemic. ❤️
It's not my first time eating a cake from Cafe Elim. I've had one when my friends and I visited their shop in AS Fortuna, but seeing this cake reminds me that I'm far-off from my goal of creating visually appealing and, at the same time, delish cakes and pastries.
Healthier Options
The next day, an unexpected treat from Ms. Jo came knocking at our front door. Ms. Jo is our consultant for our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Optimization Project and since I am the Project Manager for Phase 1 focusing on Demand Planning, my team has been in constant communication with her for the past three (3) months.
It was midweek but our motivation stood unwavered as we talked with Ms. Jo that afternoon. That's when she suddenly asked for our addresses. The demand planners under me are based in Compostela. With that, the only thing Ms. Jo was able to order for them was Jollibee.
She ordered an Avocado flavored dessert from Avocadoria for me and had it delivered to my office.
First time eating this and it was beyond heavenly. Now, this is my second favorite dessert next to anything with ube/purple yam! The avocado chunks are beyond mouth-watering, the combination of the black and white chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, mixed nuts, and crushed graham brought such a delightful explosion inside my mouth that I couldn't even describe it in words.
When she had that avocado-flavored dessert delivered for my late afternoon snacks with her words "at least a bit healthy”, I really felt she knows me enough to consider ordering a healthier option for me. It's been less than three (3) months and I just appreciate her kind gestures.
Meetings and Pizzas
And the party isn’t over just yet! 😁
My team from our plant (based in Compostela, Northern part of Metro Cebu) came over to the Head Office in Cebu City for us to plan for the rest of the year, and also we had a meeting with our VP for Sales and Marketing. That's basically a whole day meeting.
It was the first time I saw my team from the plant after more than a year, I know COVID is really the culprit. Although we’ve worked just fine using all the tools that are available to keep us connected. This was the first week that Rich, our newest Demand Planner, onboarded our crazy team as well. More reasons to celebrate!
A complete team needs a free lunch so I ordered Jollibee for everyone! I just wasn’t able to take pictures because we’re very busy that morning.
Ms. Jo promised that she’s feeding us, so she sent over two (2) boxes of Shakey's Pizza for our afternoon snacks.
It was smoking hot when it arrived pass two (2) in the afternoon, a bit earlier for merienda (snacks).
A Surprise from My Love
In my relationship with my boyfriend, as much as possible, we always express what we want to get or expect to get as presents. My boyfriend asked me what I want for my birthday and that time, perhaps I was full from all the food I’ve just mentioned above 😂 So I told him, I don’t want anything. But weekend came and I saw this advertisement in Instagram (although it was not my first time seeing this ad), my automatic reaction was to send a picture of the food they're selling to my boyfriend and told him that I’d want to try it.
It's our birthmonth and we were already planning what to eat when he's coming over the following weekend (our birthday weekend celebration at my house) and I figured that there will be too much food for him and my family. So I told him he could just reserve my request for the next celebration/event.
Monday came and it was our monthsary and it was perhaps afternoon already when someone contacted me saying there’s a delivery for me. Awweee! 😌❤️ My boyfriend knew that I was ready to devour another sweet treat without worrying about the calorie count.
And there, the cake came so cold, looking pretty in purple. You can always feed me anything flavored with ube or purple yam. And what better way to eat a free cake than share it with my team, so we shared it and they loved it too.
It was the best ube cake I’ve tasted so far. The cake base was compact enough to retain moist, not airy at all, the purple yam layering was just perfect not too sweet, and the frosting sealed the eating experience with a thought that this is not the last time I’ll be eating this cake.
But if you have other recommendations, feel free to send this article or tag my him in the comment section so he’ll know where to order next. Haha! 😂
Absolutely satisfied! 😍😋
Sir Stan once told me that food is not solely about the food's taste, beyond-this-earth plating to name afew, most of the time, it's about the experience, the people you shared good food with, the stories you've exchanged during meals.
Food is about memories. And I'm glad I'm keeping a good one for the first two weeks of August 2021.
That's it for 'Tis the Season for Free Food (Part 1), I do have a long list of free food with fond memories to share here so see you in my next post! ❤️
Keep safe everyone! Please stay healthy. 😊
