Now that I’m done with The CIA, I sadly no longer have the luxury of eating in The CIA kitchens which offered a selection of 25 entrees on any given day. As such, my brain has to think back to 2 years ago when grocery shopping and home cooking were just a few of the routine tasks. I honestly have forgotten what it’s like to do grocery shopping – but I’m sure it’ll all come back soon enough.

Anyway, today for lunch I utilized some leftovers – the rice from the Russian Tuna Salad and the roasted pork loin from last night’s dinner. The salad couldn’t be any easier to put together.

In a bowl, mix the following: cooked rice, diced mango, diced pork loin (cooked), minced jalapeno, diced red onion. For a dressing, combine freshly squeezed lime juice, S&P, cumin (I’d prefer to use fresh cilantro but didn’t have any on hand) and oil (olive oil was a bit too heavy, something more neutral like canola oil would’ve worked better).

Sadly I was not chosen by Fine Cooking Magazine for the Recipe Tester position. As much as I’d like to think that it’s a sign of something greater and bigger out there for me, at this point all I can think is that I am a week away from graduation, without a job prospect, packing my belongings and leaving the school unemployed.

First things first. Sara Moulton is the Executive Chef of Gourmet Magazine, a host of several shows on Food Network, a successful cookbook author, and the CIA alumna (among many other things).

What are the chances of me not only meeting her, but sitting in her office and talking with her? Little to none if you ask me. Nevertheless, a few days ago, on a regular Monday in New York City, I ran into Sara as she was walking out of the elevator. I was visiting NYC for a tour of Saveur’s test kitchens (which are fantastic by the way) and decided that a 4-hour roundtrip to the city from school needed a few more things on the agenda. So, armed with printed out resumes and addresses of several other culinary magazines, I bravely marched on “cold calls.”

One of the cold calls was at the Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines (they are owned by the same company). Passing the security desk after obtaining a visitor batch, I headed towards the elevators to take me to the floor of Gourmet magazine. The doors open, and Sara walks out!!! Now, I am not sure what happened next, but I heard myself saying “Hi Sara, great to see you again!” before I had time to think about anything else. We ended up chatting for several minutes. I suppose she was thrown off by my “cold call” tactic, but wished me luck as she headed out.

I continued on with the elevator ride up to the Gourmet offices. While I was talking with the receptionist, the elevator ding announced its arrival, the doors opened, and Sara walked out. Seeing me standing there, she invited me into her office where we discussed my career opportunities and she gave me advice on joining the publishing industry.

Unbelievable!!! Someone, please pinch me.

I’ve been saying for the longest time how I’m never ever going to join facebook. I’ve resisted it for years now! In fear of becoming obsessed with the website, wasting valuable minutes, hours, days, and months I have been successful, so far, to stay away from its cult-like ways.

Well, yesterday I have given in. I am now officially a member of facebook. When pigs fly, huh? 🙂