South Indian Smorgasbord

The Chef: Jenny

The Menu: Where to even begin? Everything that you see on the plate was amazing, down to the last grain of rice. Speaking of the rice, it was brown with a generous helping of plump raisins. Clockwise from there we had a phenomal broccoli and green pea soup, then a salad with homemade almond-butter dressing. Next to the salad? Oh, just a little coconut-mint chutney. Yeah, you read that right. Next up, a simmered tomato chutney with mustard seeds and a spicy little kick of green chiles. How Jenny manages to come up with these dishes is nothing short of miraculous, and it's fair to say that we like that about her.

The Goods: Today we had a more-official departure celebration for Ms. Katie, whose final day as our editorial assistant is tomorrow. Since we won't have the whole staff here tomorrow, a day in advance seemed like the best time to party. To start the day off, Elizabeth brought in some maple-glazed doughnuts, as they are Katie's favorite. (See below for what happens when you try and put a star-shaped doughnut into oil that's too hot!) Then, Jenny made the amazing lunch you see above. Then, Aurelia made a two-layer vanilla cake with the lemoniest lemon glaze that has ever graced a cake. Unfortunately, the sugar-mad hordes here at the VNHQ devoured the sweet little cake before it had a chance to get photographed. Such is the life of sweets in the office, short and, well, you know....
To make up for it, here's a picture of the doughnut platter, and one of Ms. Katie holding it: