That’s that then

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May 31st, I submitted my resignation from my job. It was a long time coming, and it was not a coincidence that I had not yet taken any holidays this year: I have been saving them up or this occasion. So tomorrow (the 13th) will be my last day. I have a month’s notice period, so the 30th will be officially my last day — but I have enough time off.

I feel ambivalent about leaving. I like my teams, and I like most of the company culture. But there are some factors that make that I can’t progress professionally there, and I have found another position that seems to be a much better match.

It’s been an exhausting time between resigning and now. Not only do I have to deal with my own ambivalence about it, but I also have to manage the emotions of the surprised/shocked/defeated reactions of my (soon-to-be-former) colleagues. I have been falling asleep on the couch just about every evening, and I’ll be glad when it’s all done.

Of course, I want to go out with a bang. So I asked the team to vote on the treat I was going to bring: either macarons, the chocolate sprits cookies or soft chocolate chip cookies. I had made those cookies with matcha (after this recipe) but those were not too popular — the matcha made it bitter, and my colleagues have the palate of a toddler! So when the cookie option won in the poll, I was thinking of what I would do.

Saturday, I baked a batch of these cookies, but with cacao powder substituted for the matcha. And it was a complete failure! I was a bit panicky: I had promised to make cookies, and some colleagues are coming to the office specifically to say goodbye to me and to eat cookies. Worst case, I would have to get some of those chilled cookie dough rolls from the supermarket — but that would definitely feel like defeat.

So I did some research, and found a cookie recipe that needed some ingredients that I didn’t have at hand. I planned to go shopping at noon (grocery stores open at noon on Sundays) so I had the whole rest of the day to bake. But then I noticed that there was a video to accompany the recipe, but then I noticed that the video, even though it was a chocolate chip recipe, was not of the recipe that I had found, but a different recipe! I really like Dorie Greenspan’s personality, so I was very interested in her basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. And lo and behold: I did have everything for that!

So I made two batches of four trays of cookies each: one of the basic recipe with milk chocolate and walnuts, and one with darker sugar, a whiff of cinnamon (which is barely detectable, next time I will add twice as much) with bitter chocolate and macadamia nuts. It took me all afternoon, but now I have two mountains of cookies to bring.

I’m looking forward to our vacation, and to starting at my new job on July 4th.

Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.