Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, April 24th, 2014 with
7 Comments
Sushi day in the office can be amazing: gathering around a table full of healthy, fresh, flavorful sushi with your coworkers, tasting and trying a wide array of dishes. Or, it can be miserable, particularly if you don’t know much about sushi or its seemingly complicated etiquette. If you’ve learned to add the familiar, yet bland “California roll” to the food delivery order and retreat to your desk with a clandestine fork, well, no wonder you don’t like sushi day.
The fun of eating sushi is trying different kinds of fish and ingredients.
Image source: Flickr user daiki_moriyama
But despite the intimidating vocabulary of a sushi menu, and what can seem like a mysterious web of etiquette to the uninitiated, sushi is actually very straightforward. The point of the cuisine is its simplicity: high-quality, perfectly seasoned rice, the freshest fish, and just a few garnishes. And if you’re not used to eating raw fish, no problem. There are alternatives, and an easy path to slowly getting comfortable with the idea (and it’s a delicious one).
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Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014 with
Comments Off on From Business Lunches to Better Parking, 7 Last-Minute Ideas for Administrative Professionals Day Comments
Today is Administrative Professionals Day — a holiday that’s been celebrated in the U.S. since 1952 (albeit under the less politically correct name National Secretaries Day). And if you’ve forgotten, well, that’s probably because your own administrative assistant didn’t think it was in good taste to remind you.
Flowers are lovely, but we have some less predictable ways to say Happy Administrative Professionals Day.
Image source: Flickr user Michael Coghlan
Showing appreciation for hardworking admins is more than a formality or a Hallmark-sponsored obligation. Rather, employee appreciation is key to maintaining a positive work environment and employee engagement. And when it comes to administrative professionals, taking special time to communicate that appreciation is even more important! Many admin roles are supportive and meant to make the office (or an executive’s life) run smoothly… so by their very nature, no one might stop to notice when a successful admin is doing their best work!
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014 with
Comments Off on Is Your Break Room Ready for Earth Day? Here’s How to Host Eco-Friendly Office Meals Comments
On Earth Day, everyone tends to feel a little greener! Take advantage of the good vibrations to get your team together and celebrate with an Earth-friendly lunch — going green together during meal breaks can help boost teamwork and a sense of pride in the workplace. Here are a few ways to make sure your break room is ready to host eco-friendly office meals, every day of the year:
Meatless meals with plant-based proteins (like quinoa) are earth-friendly alternatives.
Image source: Flickr user Brook
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, April 21st, 2014 with
2 Comments
Watery eyes, sneezing, scratchy throat — ah, it must be spring. Along with beautiful blossoms and rising temperatures comes the yearly onset of seasonal allergies, commonly called hay fever, which affect nearly 18 million American adults each year. But before you head to the drugstore or resign yourself to weeks of misery, take a second look at what you’re eating each day. Your diet can have a big impact on how your seasonal allergy symptoms show up, for better or for worse.
If this is you at the office, don’t just load up on medicine: pay attention to your diet, too.
Image source: Flickr user Lis Ferla
And while it’s easy to plan ahead for the dinners and weekends you cook at home, your office meals can be a little trickier… so here are six ways to ensure allergy-alleviating dining in the workplace.
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, April 18th, 2014 with
1 Comments
By now, it’s old news that most nutritionists, doctors, and environmental activists think we should eat less meat. Meatless Monday is a widespread success. A simple quote from Michael Pollan (“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) now graces reusable shopping bags and meme-ready illustrations. And one environmental group has painstakingly compiled statistics to describe just how terrible mass-produced meat is for the environment, like “If your four-person family skips steak once a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for nearly three months.”
And, of course, seemingly endless studies continue to reveal that plant-based diets are the best for our weight, blood pressure, and even our longevity. We get it — we should eat less meat. But what do we eat instead… especially when it comes to ordering takeout, planning a catering menu, or arranging office meals?
The tricky part of trying to serve more vegetarian cuisine in the office is to make sure every meal has plenty of protein… without resorting to hockey-puck-like veggie burgers or highly processed fake meats that would never qualify as “real food”. And luckily, you don’t have to. Whether you’re trying to accommodate a special diet at a catered meal or trying out Meatless Monday during a group takeout order, there are plenty of delicious, wholesome, plant-based proteins to make sure every breakfast or lunch will be just as satisfying as a meat-centric meal. Here are seven plant-based proteins to try:
Chickpea-based dishes, like falafel, are excellent sources of vegetarian protein!
Image source: Flickr user Mr.TinDC
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Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, April 17th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Corporate Catering Trend Alert: Pasta is Going Gluten-Free Comments
If you attend (or plan) a lot of business lunches or all-day conferences, chances are good you’re an accidental expert on catering trends. Pomegranates. Acai berries. Korean fusion tacos. Fancy cupcakes. Cake pops. Bacon in/around/baked into everything. And now, you might be encountering a new corporate catering trend at business meetings or during your menu planning: wheat-free pastas.
Gluten-free dining – especially pastas – is a top catering trend this year.
Image source: Flickr user Alpha
Don’t tell your Italian grandmother, but it’s true. Thanks to the skyrocketing popularity of gluten-free diets, pastas made without wheat are becoming downright ubiquitous on restaurant and catering menus. While some people must avoid gluten (a protein found in certain grains, including wheat, rye, and barley) due to celiac disease, most estimates show that celiac suffers are less than 1% of the population. Many more claim that going gluten-free helps alleviate digestive problems; still others are giving up gluten as part of a weight-loss plan. While nutrition and health experts are divided regarding whether gluten-free diets are actually useful for those without celiac disease, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Americans want to buy and eat gluten-free foods, and are literally paying billions of dollars to do so.
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Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 with
Comments Off on From Healthy Office Meals to Meditation: 6 Ways to “Celebrate” National Stress Awareness Day at Work Comments
Today is National Stress Awareness Day — and on the surface, it may seem like a completely unnecessary occasion. Stress is always on our minds, and we talk about feeling stressed or being stressed or even stress eating all the time… especially in the context of the workplace. Does stress really need a special day?
The sad answer is yes. While we might throw the word “stress” around the office daily, it can have real, lasting consequences, both for employees and employers. The American Psychological Association estimates that three-quarters of Americans suffer physically from stress, including from stomachaches, headaches, and fatigue, and that more than half of us report that our productivity suffers and we don’t even use our vacation time due to stress. And, of course, work-related stress costs employers, to the tune of around $300 billion every year.
There are right ways and wrong ways to deal with stress at the workplace…
Image source: Flickr user leyla.a
But don’t get stressed! The good news is that stress actually is manageable, and there are ways you can work to reduce stress in your workplace, without even making major adjustments to your daily schedule. From eating healthy office meals to taking a few minutes for quiet meditation, here are some top strategies for stress-busting to practice in the name of National Stress Awareness Day:
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014 with
2 Comments
By now, you’ve likely heard the big news that Wal-Mart is investing in organic foods. And while the knee-jerk reaction in the media may have been a collectively raised eyebrow, the truth is, Wal-Mart’s move says a lot more about American culture than it does about Wal-Mart’s… and as an employer, it’s worth considering how your own workplace culture fits into the picture, particularly when it comes to your corporate catering and organics.
Organic groceries with lower prices are coming to Wal-Mart.
Image source: Flickr user Walmart Corporate
Consider this: Wal-Mart’s partnership with Wild Oats, and their intention behind expanding their existing organic grocery business (permitting customers to buy organic food at non-organic prices) signals that not only is the organic food game about to change, but that the world’s largest retailer considers it a game worth playing. Organics aren’t a niche market anymore; Wal-Mart’s research shows that 91 percent of its shoppers would like to buy affordable organic food products. So Wal-Mart will do what it does best: give their customers what they want, at cheaper prices than their competitors, because they can make production less expensive and more efficient thanks to the economy of scale.
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, April 14th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Say Arrivederci to Boring Business Lunches: 9 Amazing Italian Dishes You Should Be Ordering Comments
Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in America, and a go-to choice for business lunches or catered fare, thanks to its reputation as a crowd-pleaser. And while ubiquitous dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, fettucine alfredo, lasagna, and (of course) pizza are delicious, if that’s all you order from an Italian restaurant, you’re missing out on some of the best dishes this simple, straightforward cuisine has to offer.
Keep your business lunches exciting and engaging by ordering in some of Italy’s less iconic dishes. While the options are endless (and each region has its own specialties), a few specific items to look out for include…
Bucatini all’amatriciana is a spicy, pork-studded pasta.
Image source: Flickr user Joy
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, April 11th, 2014 with
3 Comments
When you’re tasked with ordering Chinese food for office meals, it can be easy to go for the classic standbys: sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, crab wontons… but the same-old, same-old can make working lunches and meeting fare become part of the daily routine instead of a real, enjoyable break from the workday.
Dim sum makes for a very lively office get-together!
Image source: Flickr user Jude Adamson
Think of it this way: if a company decides to provide office meals, whether every day or on special occasions, they have an opportunity to accomplish much more than just feeding employees. A simple lunch can communicate appreciation, boost morale, and provide a chance for socialization and relationship building — all factors that can have a lasting impact on employee engagement and job satisfaction in the office. But when the meals being served become predictable and just another part of the routine, the meaning behind the food can become muddled and the opportunity is lost.
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