Pesto pasta with parma ham, whoopie pie & an abuse of power

I couldn’t help but listen to this conversation between a lady and the manager of a jewellery shop last weekend. She wanted a good discount and mentioned that she works for a large publication, and has featured plenty of the outlet’s products. When told that no discount could be given, she resorted to saying, “If that’s the case, I won’t feature so much of your products in future”.

That statement surprised me; she abused her powers so casually. Just because you’re in the publishing industry, it doesn’t give you the right to demand for discounts and freebies by using the nature of your job.
I admit – I love discounts and I enjoy getting free things (as long as I’m not obligated to stretch the truth about the food, service or product). The notion “milk what you’ve got” is fair, but one should never overdo it.

On lighter note, I had a simple pesto pasta with parma ham and salted caramel whoopie pie for lunch yesterday. The pasta was fragrant from the olive oil, blended pine nuts and basil leaves, and the parma ham gave it a salty and slightly smoky finish.

The whoopie pie was dangerously delicious. Dangerous, because one can easily go overboard with this little treat. I could easily eat 20 of these. Rich and dense, I liked how well the salted caramel cream filling paired with the chocolate pie. Yum!

This meal was a treat from a friend (And no, I didn’t tell her I work for a publication and threaten to write bad things about the food). She’s planning to open a cafe, and I can’t wait for the place to be up!