The Daily Life of a Foodie in the Office

"Learn how to cook --- try new recipes, learn your mistakes,

Be fearless and above all, have fun!"

- Julia Child

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It was a Thursday afternoon and Delilah had just finished her lunch. She only had a simple sandwich of eggs and tuna. It was one of those days that she didn't eat a lot for once because she knew she would be eating a lot later that evening.

Ever since her grandmother had passed away a couple of weeks ago, her family would conduct a gathering where they pray for her. And the gathering would be held every Thursday evening. Hence why she was saving her appetite for later. She knew that there would be a lot of food that she did not have the heart to skip on them. All of the food needs to be eaten!

She was writing a report that needs to be submitted next week. It was only an overall summary of the employees' training and outcomes. Although she did not have the full submission from some supervisors in certain departments, she thought to start it early so that she would not waste more time. She can just add them when she receives their reports.

She only wrote about half a page that time because she got distracted playing her mobile games and chatting in her social media when Aubree came knocking on her cubicle wall.

She looked up and said hi before turning back to her screen again.

Aubree grabbed a chair from nearby and sat down with a sigh, her chin on her hand. She fell silent for a while as she watched Delilah working on her report.

However, Delilah doesn't really feel comfortable with people watching her doing some work. She ignored it for a few minutes but then after a while, she got fed up and whirled around in her seat to face a surprised Aubree.

"What is it?" Delilah demanded, frowning at her for disturbing her peace.

Aubree put on an innocent look and asked, "Did I disturb you?"

Delilah rolled her eyes. "No, Aubree. You didn't," she replied sarcastically.

Aubree laughed as she knew how annoyed Delilah would be if someone just invaded her space and then just kept quiet.

"So what's up?" Delilah asked.

Aubree let out a sigh as she handed her her mobile phone. "Look at that," she told her, pointing at the text conversation in her phone.

Frowning with puzzlement, Delilah looked down and read. The more she read, the more confused she felt. Once she was done, she raised her head and said, "I don't get it."

"There will be a TV crew coming here to shoot a documentary about us," Aubree replied.

"That's why I'm confused," Delilah said. "Why us? Why here? Is there something interesting in this company that I'm not aware of?"

Aubree laughed and shrugged. "Seriously. I have no idea," she said ruefully.

"I know!"

"And who the heck has time to arrange all this?"

"That's why I'm telling you this! Isn't it crazy?!?"

"Not just crazy, it's just plain absurd!"

Aubree let out a sigh. "I really don't have any clue on what to expect. Matt only gave me the number to the woman who is in-charge of the shooting. They said that they just want to record about the things we do here. Something like supporting the locals series."

"But it's kinda weird that they chose this company. I'm not badmouthing our company and though, it's cool that the company gets to be on tv but yet…"

"I know, right!"

"I bet it was them who called the news station," Delilah said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. The 'them' she refers to were Matt and Sheila.

"Of course, who else would it be?" Aubree said sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest.

"And he told me to prepare a short speech of what we do," she continued.

Delilah made a face and then turned back to her screen, saying, "Good luck with that."

Aubree immediately tugged on Delilah's sleeve and said, "Oh, come on! Help me with this!"

Delilah sighed as she turned back around. "Fine. Go do your speech and I'll take a look."

Aubree nodded as she stood up. She then immediately went off to her own cubicle to work on her speech.

Unfortunately, Aubree wasn't done with her speech that she continued on at her home. And that evening, the two women exchanged text messages where Delilah continued to help giving pointers and tips.

The next morning.

The TV station crew will be coming in the afternoon, hence the shooting will be in the afternoon as well. At first, Delilah asked Aubree whether they would need to provide the crew with some light refreshments but Aubree had said no. It was because they were on schedule so they will just do the shooting and go straight back to the station.

That morning, Delilah continued writing on her report since the shooting does not involve her; rather it was the General Affairs department and yes, Aubree. Bella was also busy where Delilah could see her running in and out of the office.

While she was working on her report, Aubree stopped by at her cubicle. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw what Delilah was wearing. Although she wore her usual office wear, she even wore light makeup and her blouse looked more formal than the usual.

Delilah rolled her eyes at Aubree's exaggerated actions and said, "Just shush. I'm wearing this just in case."

"Oh, I thought you've got the memo."

Delilah turned around in her seat and frowned at her supervisor. "What memo?"

"You'll be joining in the shooting."

Delilah immediately cursed under her breath. She then said, "What do you mean? Can't I just help in the background?"

Aubree tapped a finger against her chin, thinking. "I'm not sure. Matt said he wanted you to just play pretend. Be one of the actors."

"Ehhhh!" Delilah whined, making a face. "But I don't want to." then she suddenly thought of something. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be back," she said, turning back to her computer.

"We'll meet up at the ground floor later."

Delilah just nodded as she waved Aubree goodbye without turning back.

That afternoon, most of the employees from the General Affairs were on the ground floor, together with Aubree. Matt and Sheila had just arrived a few minutes ago after lunch. The arranged time was at three o'clock and that time, it was only half past two.

Aubree stood behind Matt and Sheila as she looked around as if she was looking for someone. Just then her eyes lit up when she saw someone heading towards her. But she became confused when she saw that someone wasn't alone.

"Why is Fawkes with you?" Aubree asked, looking confused.

Delilah just grinned.

Just then, Matt and Sheila turned around and greeted the two. Matt then turned to Delilah and asked, "Did Aubree tell you about the shooting?"

Delilah nodded. "Yes, she did," she answered. "But may I give my suggestion?"

"Sure, shoot."

Delilah placed a hand behind Fawkes' back and gently pushed him forward. "Instead of me, why don't Fawkes do the shooting? He's tall and good looking. He will look good on television."

Fawkes grinned.

"Don't you want to be on TV, Delilah?" Sheila asked, turning to Delilah with a smile.

She shook her head. "It's alright. I rather work in the background," she answered.

Sheila then put her hand together and further suggested, "What about this? What about if the two of you acted together?"

Fawkes' eyes widened with excitement as he turned to Delilah. "That's a great idea! That would be fun, D!" he exclaimed.

"Eeehhh!" Delilah said. This was not in her plans at all!

Aubree just snickered beside her.

So, in the end, the three of them and the others joined the shooting. Matt will first introduce himself and talk about the company. Aubree will be the different departments and whatnot. Delilah, Fawkes and the other employees from the General Affairs will act out; some may pretend to be the customers and whatnot.

When the clock strikes three o'clock, everyone on the floor begins to ready themselves. And shortly after, the television crew arrived, carrying their camera equipment and others. It wasn't a big crew, rather, there were only four of them.

The shooting took almost two hours. And by then, everyone was a bit exhausted. After the television crew left, the others also prepared to leave the office.

At first, Matt had invited Aubree, Delilah and Fawkes out for dinner but they already had plans with each other. It was a pity that they had to reject free food but the three of them felt it wouldn't feel nice to eat with their superiors, being all awkward.

They decided to carpool instead of going in different cars. It would be easier that way and that because Delilah was lazy to drive herself. So, Fawkes volunteered himself. The three of them got into his car and made their way to the city centre.

In the car, Delilah immediately texted in her family chat group to tell them that she will be coming home a bit later than usual since she's going off to have an early dinner. Her father had replied 'alright' to her message.

The city centre was not that far from their office. Rather, it was less than a thirty minutes drive. And before they realized it, they were already in the middle of the city centre. The three of them had spent the journey, talking about the earlier events. Laughing at each other's blunder during the shooting.

The restaurant that they were heading to was a sushi restaurant. It was one of the most popular restaurants in their country and the fact that the price was reasonable.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted by loud voices from the waiters and waitresses, saying "Irrasshaimase!", which means, 'Please, come in,' in Japanese. The restaurant itself was a huge one with a large conveyor sushi belt in the middle. The belt itself surrounds the sushi chefs inside who were making the sushi.

Other than the greetings from the waiters and waitress, they were also greeted by the noisy din of the other customers. It was rather crowded inside but luckily they were able to find seats, even if they did not book a table. The restaurant has that picturesque feeling to it, giving a vibe that brings Japan closer with all the Japanese painting on the walls and Japanese music.

After the three of them made themselves comfortable, they began to browse through the menu, offered by the waitress who was ready to take their orders.

Once they placed their order, they continued their talk from earlier. Fawkes teased Delilah for making a blunder where she suddenly stammered during the shooting. Delilah flushed red from embarrassment and retorted back that she was nervous. He can't blame someone who had no script and was immediately told to say something.

Despite the mistakes that she had made, at least Delilah had fun. Aubree and Fawkes had fun as well.

When some of their food arrived, Delilah immediately grabbed the one that she had ordered. She had ordered a lot since she was a bit hungry. She ordered salmon don, mini salmon mayo, tuna temaki and more. The one that had arrived was her mini salmon mayo sushi. Basically, it was raw salmon that was wrapped around a clump of rice, topped with Japanese mayonnaise and fish roe.

She expertly used her chopstick to pick up the sushi and dip it in her soy sauce, adding wasabi to the sushi and eat it. There were so many flavours that just burst inside her mouth. First, the salmon tasted silky and soft as she chewed on it. And it has that slightly less fishy taste to it, giving a refreshing and subtle flavor. Together with the mayo, it added that sweetness to it. The roe was a bit salty as it popped inside her mouth. The wasabi itself wasn't actually hot but rather, it has that distinct spiciness, similar to the horseradish. With all of the many flavours, Delilah felt happiness inside her. It was simply too delicious.

Some may not like raw fish but she absolutely loves it! Especially salmons!

'The best reward one had for trying out something new,' Delilah thought as she ate more of the mini salmon mayo sushi.