Welcome

If you are a fan of NBC’s “The Office,” you know the characters are obsessed with food -- from birthdays to dinners to going away parties to Christmases, they are almost always eating. I've often tried to recreate what they were eating, from Jan's Osso Buco to sheet cakes to ribs.

I never thought of turning these recipes into a blog until I started listening to the podcast "That’s What She Said." If you are an Office fan and you don't listen to it, you should; it will give you a much deeper appreciation for the show, and it's just a whole lot of fun. I got an iPod for my birthday in February, and now that I have found this podcast, I listen to nothing else. I used to be well informed about the world. Not anymore! It’s all TWSS all the time. And of course that turned me onto a lot of other Office-oriented goodies like Office Tally, and on and on and on. I figured with all of this Office adoration online, perhaps there's room for something else... like an Office food blog. And so here we are.

A couple of ground rules: I will try to re-create recipes from the show as faithfully as possible, based on verbal and visual evidence. For instance, in Season Three’s "Dinner Party" episode, Jan apparently served risotto with the osso buco -- Risotto alla Milanese is a traditional accompaniment -- even though she couldn't have made it. While risotto requires virtually constant stirring, she was in the living room with Michael making their guests’ skin crawl. But because risotto somehow appeared on their dinner plates, that's the recipe I will give you. Another example: in Season Five’s “Dream Team” episode, Michael obsessively makes a stack of French toast. The best French toast is overnight French toast, but since Michael is clearly making French toast on the spot -- the batter winds up in his crocs, after all – I’ll give you a "same day" French toast recipe.

Another ground rule: I will try to make the recipes as tasty as possible. For example, in Season Five’s "Two Weeks” episode, Michael takes Phyllis’s spaghetti from the refrigerator, tastes it, and spits it out in disgust. I will assume that drinking scotch and Splenda all morning deceived Michael's tastebuds and that Phyllis's spaghetti was tasty, so I will give you a really tasty spaghetti recipe. And in Season Five’s "Café Disco" episode, Kevin mentions that his famous chili includes "undercooked onions." There is no good chili recipe that includes “undercooked onions," so in the recipe I will give you the onions will be cooked but not so well cooked that they will be browned or caramelized.

I'm starting off with a favourite recipe, Ryan's "Fort Lauderdale" Pad Thai.

Upcoming recipes include:

Kevin’s Chili + how to remove chili stains from carpeting (from season five “Casual Friday”)
Phyllis’s Spaghetti (from season five "Two Weeks")
Angela’s Double Fudge Brownies (from season three “A Benihana Christmas”)
Dwight’s Pony Sandwich (from season five "Café Disco")
Andy’s Salmon With Mustard Sauce (from season five "Café Disco")
Stanley’s Egg Salad(from season five "Café Disco")
Oscar’s Chimichangas (from season three “The Return”)
Michael’s ‘Samosas’ (from season three “Diwali”)
Jan’s Osso Bucco (from season three "The Dinner Party")
Dwight’s Beet Salad (from season three "The Dinner Party")
Creed’s Soup (from season two "The Package")
Toby’s Goodbye Ribs (from season four "Goodbye Toby")
Pam and Karen’s Fruity Cocktails (from season three “A Benihana Christmas”
Jim’s “Big Tuna” Sandwich
Michael’s Nervous Breakdown French Toast (serves 16)(from season five “Dream Team”)
‘Toby’’s Caprese salad (from season four “Frame Toby”)
Phyllis's Wedding "Chicken" (from season three “Phyllis's Wedding”)
Stanley's Dumplings (from season five "Weight Loss")

If you've seen anything on the show that looks delicious, let me know and I'll try and recreate it for you. You can reach me at theofcfood@aol.com.