Some days you just need cheese

And today is one of those days. I had a knackering day yesterday and I am feeling it today. I knew that what I need for lunch is something, anything, with melted cheese. Too weary to leave the office before getting some calories down me, I went to the cafeteria, which has chicken and roasted peppers paninis on special at £2.25. Tempting. But I needed cheese, so, lacking inspiration, I got one of those with extra mozzarella. Yes! Cheesy! I held the warm plate in a bag in my hands as I came back up to my desk, the earthy smell of cheese and chicken wafting up on the steam.

On Thursdays they do a special - with a deli sandwich you get a free piece of fruit or packet of crisps. Normally I go for salt and vinegar hula hoops, but today the fruit looked quite nice, so I took a banana. Healthy. Well, kind of.

And... the panini is ok. It's certainly filling - I like the roasted peppers a lot, but I swear I get more if the sandwich is made in front of me (the specials are prepared and waiting to be cooked) and I love melted cheese in virtually any form, but while some of the chicken pieces are fine, most of it is pappy. Why is that? Why can't all places serve quality chicken? Is all chicken so intensively farmed and shoved full of drugs that it loses its texture and flavour? Perhaps I just want too much of the office cafeteria - they can't be expected to provide organic, free-range chicken all the time on the sort of budgets I assume they have. But I wish they did.

[photo to come]