Aadam Soorma shares his experience with Adda's Work From Home Basket
A COVID-era truth I find myself circling back to often is how lucky I am to be working from home.
Many of my Pittsburgh friends - in the service industry, in healthcare, in education and in other front-line, essential careers - do NOT have that luxury during this bizarre moment we will collectively remember as 2020.
And now for a curveball: my WFH setup is actually in a socially-distanced coworking space. If I haven’t completely lost you by now in millennial-speak, here is the Twitter-friendly version.
Since 2013, I’ve worked off and on from the Beauty Shoppe - a shared office (coworking) space with locations in East Liberty and Lawrenceville. Since the March 2020 lockdown, I’ve hunkered down right here to be alone - and productive - in a low-traffic space that’s safe and observant of COVID-related regulations.
If you’re like me - productivity is directly correlated to three things: WiFi, coffee and snacks. The kind folks at Adda let me test drive their “Work From Home Gift Basket” to satisfy those snack cravings and I’ll be honest - it’s a whole lotta bang for your buck if you’re the type to MONCH while you work.
I brought my WFH Gift Basket to Beauty Shoppe’s Lawrenceville digs where folks can find me doing my 9-to-5.
Let’s dig in.
It would be helpful to start with the specifics.
Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect if you’re planning to scoop up (or gift someone) a WFH Gift Basket from Adda.
1 x Specialty Chocolate Bar, 2.3oz
1 x Specialty Small Chocolate Bar, 1oz
3 x Specialty Mini Chocolate Bars, 7g
2 x Sun & Swell Clean Cookie Bites
2 x Mylk Labs Oatmeal
2 x Ugly Produce Upcycled Dried Fruit
3 x Patter Bars
1 x Rustic Artisan Crisps from Luxe Co.
1 x Wes & Co. Coffee Lover’s Mix (Milk Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans with Chocolate Biscotti Caramel Bites)
1 x 12oz. Verve Coffee Roasters Whole Bean Coffee
Although Adda’s WFH gift basket is chock full of wholesome, thoughtfully selected goodies, I’m gonna aim for brevity. Below is a walk through of my FIVE favorite high points that make this fusion of foods worth your while.
Peace out, hunger.
Although I love breakfast - specifically, greasy spoon diner food breakfast - I rarely wake up in time for the first meal of the day. Pairing up Mylk Labs Oatmeal with my morning coffee was like jet fuel.
You reap what you sow - might as well start the day right with some good ole fiber. Worth noting that the hazelnut-cacao flavor is bonkers good, even if you’re not an oatmeal lover. Highly recommend.
No need to beat around the bush with this one. The Ugly brand produce might look a little unappetizing, but it’s perfect for casual, palm-full sized snacking.
Go ahead - mute yourself on that mid-morning Zoom call to chow down a few handfuls. These dried apricots break down super quickly with a couple of forceful chews - so if you need to get back to speaking, it’s hardly a pause in your virtual meeting cadence.
So, this was the most surprising and unexpected high point of the entire WFH Gift Basket experience.
These exceptionally dense cookie bites from Sun & Swell are a little chalky at first, but burst with hella flavor when you bite in. With each consecutive bite, the bite-size spheres ripple and fade away into the roof of your mouth like waves crashing along the shores of the Allegheny.
My recommendation: prepare yourself for some chewing and keep a seltzer water nearby. These little guys require some time and effort before swallowing (I’d suggest waiting til AFTER a phone call to dig in) and maybe keep a napkin nearby as well. I found a surprising number of crumbs on my desk and - per my usual feeding habits - on me.
The gluten-free, plant-based energy bars from Patter are straightforward, tasty and - needless to say - very mobile. I packed mine alongside a phone charger in the front-zip of my backpack for easy access.
Decompress with a little outdoor walk (non-screen time is healthy!) and take one of these guys along for the ride. If you land the blueberry + lemon flavor in your gift basket like I did, just a heads up that I tasted WAY more blueberry than lemon.
That being said, still good. Very blueberry. Muted lemon.
I’ve also gotta say - for someone who loves Clif bars (shoutout Chocolate Chip!), Patter bars are a fantastic alternative and, I imagine, much healthier. After eating just one of these in the mid-afternoon, I was good to go on powering through the rest of my day without fail.
Whew, and now for the best part. My good friend Julie Kahlbaugh and I had a blast playing with (and eating) these chocolate covered espresso beans from Wes & Co.
Folks who routinely frequent Pittsburgh’s Bean-Thru locations know they LOVE handing out chocolate covered espresso beans with every order of coffee. The Adda-sourced version was the best candy espresso bean I’ve ever had in my life. Truly delightful and mentally rewarding, like scratching off a few tasks on my to-do list.
Full disclosure - the chocolate covered espresso beans were the first item to 86 in my whole kit and kaboodle. More beans, please.
If you’re working from home or know someone who is - I’m happy to recommend the WFH Gift Basket from Adda. You can hop online to browse the full gift basket selection, or just mask up and stop in at Adda’s new digs in Garfield.
Stay safe. Stay self-aware. Count your blessings if your first-world problems involve work from home oddities. Big love to everyone who read this far down. And cheers to all of us grinding through the longest year of our lives. Hope to see everyone soon.
Cheers!
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