Lunch with International Flavour

Our lunch with international flavour was a success. Four years ago, we did a morning tea and back then our group was a mixed of Fijian Indian, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Kenyan and Aussie. Fast forward to today, our Team has changed - Chinese (4), Fijian Indian (2), Indian, South American, Lebanese, Sri Lankan, Filo, Portuguese and Dutch. Everyone brought a lovely dish and I think I over ate again!

Mozzarella Sticks (South American)

creme caramel cake (Filipino sponge cake)

pancit canton (Filipino noodle)

Indian Daal 

Chinese pork and chive dumplings

Chinese Vegetarian Spring Rolls

Sri Lankan Fish Cake

Indian Chicken Curry

Samosas

baklavas

Portuguese Egg Tarts

empty plates while waiting for some more team members heating up the rest of the food.

It was nice to eat different flavours of home cooked food once again. Happy tummy=happy Gracy. ;)

Shining With Pride

Last Friday, we had our monthly Guiding Lights/ Town Hall Meeting with the Corporate staff where they awarded the Champion Employee for the month who exhibited the PRIDE values (Passion Responsibility Integrity Drive Empathy). And guess who got the trophy???

I was so happy and humbled at the same time that finally, after months and months of being a nominee, I finally bagged the prize this time. Among the eight nominees, the judging committee decided that my contribution to the month end activities of the team (on top of what I am currently doing) is worthy enough to be recognized and rewarded. This time around, not only did I receive a simple thank you card but I also got the chance to keep the Champion Trophy for a month. And...................... I got a $300 Westfield voucher, wohoo!!!

my trophy and thank you cards



Our Guiding Lights

 Thank You



Westfield Gift Card

Thank you Iren and Rakesh for the nominations, really appreciate it. Thanks that you acknowledged what I did for you this month. =)

With the $300 voucher, I can now buy my long coveted GHD flat iron, yahoo!!!

This is the fourth time I got lucky this year. I can now say that 2011 is MY YEAR. Every month, I will win something big or be blessed with something wonderful. Thank you Lord., nasasanay na po ako, hihihi.

Third Time Lucky!

As I've said in my post here, luck comes in threes and I am just waiting for my third to come. Well, the waiting game is over for Hubby won a $2,000 travel voucher from their office competition! I will take credit for this because I gave him the write-up that won him the voucher. hehe

You see, Nestle is relaunching their Aero chocolate and they are running an internal promotion where the prize is a travel voucher from Flight Centre. All you have to do is to write in 50 words or less what eating Aero reminds you of. I don't let these competition pass by without sending any entry so I sent a three liner composition and voila, two weeks later the announcement came.

And this is what we submitted:

“Aero's melting bubbles on my tongue, reminds me of time long gone.

When I imagine little fairies with tiny bombs, exploding all at once.

To reveal a thousand fireflies dancing thru the night.”



I am so excited to use the voucher, $2000 will go a loooong way --- Europe maybe? or Phils or even Hawaii!!! The possibilities are endless. I can't wait. =)

p.s. there was another competition last year where the prize was an Ipad and you have to write about Ipad and cooking in the kitchen all in 50 words or less, sadly, we didn't win that one

A Simple Thank You

A new program of recognition was introduced in our workplace this year - they named it "A Simple Thank You". And truly, its the only thing that we wanted to hear from our superiors for a job well done, for lending a hand or for doing more than what is expected of us.




Last Monday, in our monthly morning tea, I was given a simple thank you card for helping out the Trade Spend team in their work. I spent three days doing claims clearing which substantially reduced the claims balance. The team already thanked me enough for my help but its nice to know that your Boss recognized your effort as well. Thanks Lydia!

A simple thank you in a simple card is a simple way to let your employees know their work is appreciated and the effect to the morale of the staff is more than simple. =)

Morning Tea with International Flavor

The Central Finance in GWF is a team of 12 different nationalities:
1 - true blue Aussie with a Russian ex-hubby
1 - Slovak origin with an Aussie hubby
2 - Filipinos
2 - Fijian Indians
1 - Indian
1 - Armenian
1 - Kenyan
2 - Chinese
1 - Korean

With this diverse culture, we decided to have a morning tea with each one bringing a dish from their own country... and here are what we had last Wednesday (too bad I didn't get the name of the food, hehehe)

Leche Flan from Pinas (from the Filipino Store, hehehe)

From India (the round one is spicy but oily)

From the Fijian Indian - with almonds and ginger. this is sweet

Flossy sweet food from India. I can taste ginger.

tasted cinnamon on this one from Kenya

yummy pastry filled with sugar and butter (cholesterol!!!) from Armenia

Didn't have a photo of the Scone (Oz), Spring Rolls (China), Fried Rice (China), Curry Chips (India) and Choco Cookie (Korea).

I ate almost everything. Im getting fat!!!

:-)

ps... they LOVED the leche flan... creme brulee but not as sweet. :-)

New Name

I was complaining to my lunchmates how incompetent our receptionists were because it took them so long to order my new name plate. Its been three months since I sent the email and until today, i haven't received it yet. And before we even finished lunch, the HR lady handed me my old name plate saying maybe I wanted it as a memorabilia. :-)

I spoke to soon. hahaha. sorry dear receptionist.



ps... the flower below my name was from my previous seatmate Catherine. When I moved from Trade Spend to GL, I also moved seats. And when I was cleaning my new desk and putting on my things, everyone commented how empty my wall looks like coz I dont have any photos nor paper on it. So, she drew these two flowers on a post it note and sticky taped it to my wall. hehehe. so cute of her.

you know you're fat when

your colleague ask you if you are pregnant in a shocked voice because the swollen tummy is soo visible all of a sudden!

... and this actually happened to me today! its really time to get serious in my exercise!!! can i blame winter for making me crave food every minute? on the contrary, i would be very happy if indeed I am preggers, hehehehe...