NYC

This past weekend we had the opportunity to take a trip to New York City!! Thanks to our awesome planning skill we were able to book tickets on the Mega Bus for $33 round trip. While wondering around the city we visited Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Chelsea's Market, Dylan's Candy Bar(where part of the movie Aurthur was Filmed), Madison Square Park, Times Square, and this random street festival. After a full day of walking, tasting authentic New York style pizza and seeing all we could possibly see in a single day we were eager to get back home.
Unfortunately, as our bus was pulling away from the curb ready to take us home it started to sputter. Slowly the sputtering turned to stalling and there we were coasting to the side of the street with no back up plan for getting home. We looked out the window to find we had barely made it 1/2 a block and noticed a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk. For two stranded interns this is the last place you would want to be stuck. We waited and wondered what would happen to us, how would we ever get home!? After waiting for several hours on a broken down bus in the heat of New York City a new fully working bus was sent to our rescue. We made it back alive. And that was our New York City adventure. ;)

Week 2 in Geneseo, NY!

What a busy, busy week!

This weekend, Chef invited me over to her house for dinner - it was awesome. Everyone I've met here is so nice, and I love how eager everyone is to show me the hot spots in the area. Apparently, one of the "must-haves" of my time spent up here is a something called Garbage Plate. Stay tuned for how that goes...

This week started the new student orientations here at SUNY Geneseo. For the incoming freshmen (and their parents) we do a buffet-style dinner and breakfast, which was completely new to me. I learned quickly from the managers and student supervisors, and (hopefully) have the hang of keeping the buffet lines full and functional.

I've also spent some time at Books and Bytes, Geneseo's in-library cafe where students and other campus dwellers can grab a quick sandwich, salad, or cup of coffee. One of my main projects this summer will be to analyze the space at Books and Bytes, more affectionately known as B&B, and write up suggestions on how to improve the space. It's a particularly challenging spot - there is limited storage space and a crowded seating space during the school year.

Til next time!

Into Week 3 at Yale!

I can't believe how quickly the time is passing!

After my original orientations, everything has become a lot busier. I get to work at 8:30am every day & work until 4:30pm, with a half hour lunch. Some of my regular tasks include inputting new recipes into the system on the computers so that all of the dining facilities across campus have easy access to them for ordering and prep purposes. I've also been updating the fall menus. Yale is trying to change their recipes so that everything is made from scratch and trying to choose as many healthy options as possible. This means that a lot of the old recipes used throughout the school year have had to be changed or thrown out altogether. Since many people are in charge of what is served in each dining facility (and those particular people vary according the dining facility), every time someone different looks at the menu and decides that certain recipes don't belong here or would go better here or compliment this recipe better... it means that I have to change the menu in the system, which can be quite time consuming. I've also been attending meetings with the chefs to try and sort everything out and make sure we are putting the correct information into the systems. It can get tricky, though, because the summer is the perfect time to try out all the new recipes (since there's next to no students on campus), so sometimes they haven't tested the recipe quite yet. As they are testing the recipes they've been bringing some of the product to the business office for all the upper management (& me!) to try, so that's been a lot of fun. I've been enjoying attending the meetings because I'm learning all kinds of things about cooking, baking, the organization of foodservice, the responsibilities of chefs and how complex the system can be. Since I've been working with the recipes, I've been getting to know them pretty well, so I can often participate in the meetings which really helps me feel like I'm contributing to Yale Dining as a whole.

My main project throughout my placement is updating the nutritional information in the system. I've been getting into that a little more thoroughly lately as well. I go through the recipes & make sure that the nutritional analysis is correct and if I don't think it is, I flag it and write down what I think is wrong so that upper management can go over it. I've also been making note of the recipes I think could be tweaked to be healthier (example, lower fat and Calories by exchanging margarine for shortening) or recipes that I think they might like to toss altogether because they have a very high amount of saturated fat or sodium, for example. It's been a really great learning experience because I've been able to build on my nutrition background and get a better understanding of the make-up of different foods.

Outside of work has been a lot of fun, too. This past weekend I spent a day in New York City, since it's only a 2 hour train ride from New Haven, CT. I'd never been before, it's such a pretty city! So much life and excitement. I also spent a day with my sort-of supervisor at a family gathering. Since I'm not from anywhere around here I don't know anyone, so I've loved how inclusive everyone is to me. I've been seeing a lot of the area and meeting many new & interesting people.

I'm staying in one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale, Berkeley College. It's located in the center of campus so it couldn't be more convenient. There are some things about living in residence (such as the noise) that I don't miss from my first year, but for the most part it's really good.

I still can't get over how beautiful the campus is. I like to explore in the evenings or on weekends and I thought by now I would be used to the intricate architecture and trees & flower beds everywhere, but I'm not yet. I hope I never do, I love walking around campus in awe and appreciation.

I think that pretty much covers it for now. I'll try to write again soon!

Last Week at MUOhio!

My time here at Miami has gone by very quickly; I've learned a lot and had a great time doing it. My 4th and final week was spent working on special diets, working in the production kitchen, learning about the bakery, assisting with recipe testing and helping set up tastings for the new concepts to be put into the new dinning location to be built within the next few years, called Maple Street. The recipes being tested this week were for a concept called "The Americas", a location boasting delicious dishes from Central and South America. The second is called "The Patisserie" which is going to be an all-dessert extravaganza. Lastly, another item is being tested to be put in an existing location called "Scoreboard Market". A lot of time and planning (and re-planning) goes into the food that will be in these restaurants.

The recipes are designed by the chefs, then tested by members of the staff, management, and students. From there all of the feedback given is taken into consideration and the recipes are reworked and retested before being approved for use.

Another part of my week this week was being interviewed by Kathy Crowley, the Conference Sales Manager. This was a mock interview, so we acted as if I was an applicant for job as a food service manager. Although nerve racking, this was an awesome experience. Being experienced at interviewing herself, Kathy gave me some great tips such as always send a thank you note after your interview and to include something personal that will get you remembered by the interviewer. Also, she said when asked about your weaknesses make them something that is actually a strength. For example, you are too organized sometimes or you hate when people are late. How can they say no to someone who is organized and punctual?!

Overall I have had a wonderful time here at Miami and am so thankful for the hospitality shown to me by everyone here. Many of the experiences I have had here I will take with me going into my Dietetic Internship in the fall. It has been great to read about all of the other interns' activities and I wish you all the best of luck in your future!

Below are pictures of some of the foods tested. Bueno bueno bueno!

Bison Burgers!
Thai Lettuce Wraps!
Specialty Desserts!

Dessert Lasagna!

After working my first week with the Central Dining managers and learning how the overall operations of UC Berkeley is run, I went to work and observe at my first residential dining hall, Foothill. It is one of two res halls that are currently open for summer students, as well as hosting conference groups and summer camps.

I spent my first morning there working with Ysmael, the Senior Storekeeper who is in charge of placing inventory orders and then receiving them. After working with him and reviewing invoices and checking to make the proper items were shipped, I met with the Executive Chef, Eric Haney, to learn about the many hats he wears for his job. These include cooking, correcting/creating recipes, holding staff meetings and addressing any problems within the kitchen, and creating new menus.

After meeting with them, I was able to watch and learn as the General Manager of Foothill, Brian Walker, pushed 500 football players attending a summer camp through the small dining area within an hour. I have never seen so much pizza and burgers get devoured so quickly! Once the football players cleared out, I was lucky enough to be able to sit in on an interview for the Late Night Sous Chef position. It was great to see this because the week before I had done some hiring paperwork for this exact position so I was able to see the entire process of hiring a new employee.

The next two days at Foothill involved me working with Brian to learn more about his role and how he came to be the GM of that dining hall. I also worked with Anita, the Lead AM Cook and she was able to explain to me how she delegated the day’s tasks and preps the day ahead for meals.

Thursday and Friday were spent at Clark Kerr, a group of buildings used for student dorms, banquets and functions, and dining. I worked with Ron, the Conferencing and Catering Manager on Thursday. I learned and helped with an outside banquet event that was held for 400 teachers from Teach for America. At my job back home I’ve always worked as a prep cook making the food for events such as these, but this is the first time I was able to help run one. Once the event was set up, I was placed as a bartender which was great because I was able to chat with everyone and make some tips!

Along with learning about how banquets and conference functions are booked and organized, I learned how a catering company is run as well. Cal Catering is technically a separate operation from Cal Dining, but majority of their business is created through campus events. Only two people primarily run the catering event – Tete and Doug, which is amazing because of how much work they accomplish. A normal morning for them starts anywhere between 4 to 5am and involves receiving the catered food, sorting it by events, driving the food to the event and setting up, all the while ordering and planning more events when they’re not running to different event areas.

Holy Cow!!

This week we got to go on more tours, yay! This is where our title holy cow comes into play, sorry about the cheesiness (haha, sorry I can't help the puns). The first day of tours we got to go learn about the Farm to Chef Program here in Connecticut. A big thank you goes out to Linda Piotrowicz with the CT Department of Agriculture for setting up the tours!! I learned that a lot of consumers in Connecticut are concerned about the environment and are asking for locally grown, sustainable programs. We toured two farms and got to see this in action.

The first farm adventure took place at Broad Brook Beef in Broad Brook, CT. Herb Holden Jr., General Manager, took us on the grand tour of the operation. We got to learn a lot about sustainability and the great care they put into raising these animals. We saw many of the cows while learning about farm practices such as use of fermented feed and cow care. We also got to see the pigs and learn cool farm facts. Did you know that you'll never be bitten by a cow because they don't have teeth on their top gums, but their sandpaper like tongues are very rough! We ended this tour with some delicious Kielbasa samples. Thanks again!!

The second farm we explored was Hastings Farms in Suffield, CT. Megan Hastings started the tour by having us walk through the calf barn and see the youngest stars of the farm. They are kept in this barn until they are about 2 months old. This was a very clean and pretty shelter. We then went on to see where they are moved until they are 6 months old. We also got to see other areas the cows are kept in including where the pregnant cows are held. We were shown the milking equipment and I learned about the process that they are planning on using to produce and bottle their own milk in the near future. I think it’s really neat that the family farm is being preserved and that people are still passionate about the hard work it takes. We ended the tour with some delicious, fresh cheese that Megan had made for us. Thanks again for sharing your expertise, passion, and delicious cheese :)

The last tour we went on this week was to Calabro Cheese Corp. in East Haven, CT. Tim Sciarrillo, Chief Operating Officer, took us through the process of cheese making. For the sake of confidentiality I will not say much, but I will say that this is a fascinating process. I loved having the connection from the farm tours earlier this week to see how fresh milk can produce a wonderful Connecticut product. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about one of my favorite foods and what it takes to create a masterpiece of creaminess. I also found out that my favorite dessert, cannoli, is made using ricotta cheese! I left this tour in a happy cheese coma. A big thank you to Calabro, especially Tim, for allowing us to come in and experience what you do best.

Week 2 in Wisconsin!

Hi!

My name is Karenae from New York, and I have already am beginning my second week here at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. My arrival was crazy with my flight being delayed because of the weather and then coming to the city a day later than planned. With that, my first week was very busy with a variety of different activities. Throught the first week I was rotated around the dining hall to the different stations. One of my favorites was making pizza because the school has its very own pizza oven! I have never seen this before at a college so I had alot of fun working there. I alos got the chance to shadow the opening manager and help them to get the place running. Throughout the summer there are various camps as well as orientations, so the place is always busy. On Friday of last week I got to help cater a wedding which was really fun as well. It was a very small 100 people wedding, and I got help out pick out decorations and take part in another aspect of what the school offers.

The one thing that I found different about University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is that the dining services is student run. This means that students have the chance to become managers and can take alot mroe responsibiliteis than students that I have seen at other institutions. I have been cooking and doing multiple tasks, while at my job at home I am given one job and that is all that I do. This internship has been giving me alot of insight to all of the different jobs that make a dining facility run.

This week I will be working in cafe which sells coffee and smoothies so I am sure that will be great as well. I am really looking forward to it.

Even though Stevens Point is a really small city, I found that it isn't as boring as I thought it would be. For one, I went on a bike ride through the Green Circle Trail, which is a trail that goesa around the county of Portage, which the city is in. It was very calming and allowed me to see a part of the city that I hadn't seen on campus or working. I have also been making great friends with my coworkers since alot of them are students at the school, so that is nice too.

I took some pictures, but my laptop isn't working at the moment. Pictures are to come soon!

June 27, 2011 - Mizzou

Hi again,

Today started out working on our mini-special events. They are coming along very nicely. I recipe tested 'green pancakes' today. They are a spinach pancake that I found in this medieval book in the library. After tweaking the recipe a little, they came out great! I forgot to take a picture of them - but they will be at my event, so you'll see what they look like then.

Later in the day we went to Bradford Farms Research Extension. On this farm, they conduct research and contribute to community projects. The farm works with CDS by collecting the food wastes (plate waste) from the dining halls and combines it with animal by-products to create a composting mixture. They also collect the fryer oils as well. The compost is then used to grow their crops, which then can go back to the serving lines in the dining halls.

They also grow many varieties of tomato and peppers on the farm. The farm is over 800 acres and about 60% is used for research. They test many different varieties of crops with different genetic alterations to find the best product.

They have a green house that faces south and these black barrels full of water heat up - to heat the green house. The heat keeps the plants warm and healthy during the winter. There is no electricity involved to heat this green house, especially during the winter.

They have a biofuel garden on the farm as well. They grow a variety of plants in this garden to test the biofuel ability. It is great to learn all the different sustainability practices the university is implementing and investing in research.

These are basically giant 'umbrellas'. They are drought fields - that control the amount of water on the field. Here they have only soybeans and corn. Right now the two structures on in the rest position, but when it starts to rain, the doors will open up and move over the crops. After 30 minutes after the rain, the structures will move back to the resting position.

This was definitely a great experience and I was glad that I was able to see the country side of Missouri.

Montana State University

I cant belive that a month of the internship has already gone by...

Friday the managers tasted all the ice cream novelties that had been delivered. We tried 11 different types, yummmm :)

Friday after work we went camping with Paul and his family at Hyalite Resevoir in Galatian National Park. It rained a bit and was verrryyyy cold but it was really fun and beautiful! I got to see a deer (thank goodness not a bear) and we ate really well.  Paul's wife Erica used dutch ovens and made some awesome meals (Berry Cobbler pictued below.) Saturday we went hiking but we couldnt do the whole trail because there was still to much snow.  Saturday night we were joined by a bunch of people including one of Paul's former interns Rachael who brough her puppy!



Today we had a product testing with Intermountain.  A lot of turkey products to be included in the menu for healthier options. 

Tomorrow we are headed to Billings to test some products for the new football concessions area and then we are going to explore the area! It's gonna be a long day but it should be a lot of fun!

University of North Dakota - Week 2!

It's hard to believe my second week at the University of North Dakota is coming to a close already. I have kept busy this week and made some headway on my first project here. It's felt really good to get work done!

On Monday I got to spend the day working with Gloria at the Wilkerson Dining Center. Gloria does all of the vegetable and salad prep for the entire campus! She is very organized and hardworking, and a great person to talk to. We started the morning by taking temperatures of everything that had been pre-cut over the weekend -- onions, celery, carrots, etc. She logs the temperatures of everything made there, aiming to keep them between 33 and 38 degrees for food safety. Since many of the items she prepares are going out to other dining centers and catering events, it is safer to have the temperatures well below the danger zone because of the transit time. We also prepared several salads *inside* the walk-in cooler to ensure that they stay at safe temperatures. I don't think I've ever seen that much macaroni salad all at once! Once the salads were done, Gloria showed me how to prep celery to be chopped. I wasn't very fast at it, but I got most of a box of celery stalks separated and removed all of the leaves, ends and dirt. I have a definite appreciation of Gloria's job there and how quickly she works! Once the celery was all cleaned and wrapped for chopping on Wednesday, I got to start peeling, coring and washing almost 50lbs of onions. I've prepped a lot of onions in the past in working for Subway, so I was a little faster at that -- and also very thankful that the white onions they use did not make me cry at all! We finished the day by peeling and washing a lot of carrots -- it was actually rather relaxing. I remember peeling carrots with my Mom as a kid and it brought back good memories. Working with Gloria was helpful to see how hard work and organization, sticking to food safety concerns while still taking pride and enjoyment in your work can all come together. She is definitely an integral part of dining services here, and it was great to get to work with her.

I also got to sit in on the final interview for the Utility Manager position on Monday. It was interesting to see that each of the managers still had differing views on who they felt would be best for the positions available, but it ended up working out for the best as each manager chose a different candidate that they would like to hire for their facility. The candidate I liked best was chosen as a backup if either of the others should decline the job offer. It was a really valuable experience to be a part of the interview process and to see how well it is done here at UND. Everyone who was interviewed was given a tour of the dining center and welcomed to the facility, and Mary told each of them the timetable for the process of hiring and when they should expect to be notified. I have interviewed people in the past as a manager myself, but did not have the background or knowledge to really understand the process, how to help interviewees feel at ease, know all the appropriate questions to ask, and the qualities that might make for the best candidate.

Tuesday began my work with the Stomping Grounds coffee shop and trying to get all of the nutritional information for their 150+ coffee recipes entered into the FoodPro program so that it can be made available online for consumers. Dustin the dietitian got me set up at the Stomping Grounds in Memorial Union and I was given a list of all of the recipes to go through. Once I got the hang of entering in each syrup, mix, and sauce used, the process went pretty quickly. The flavored syrups are all from the same company so the ingredients for each one are very similar, I just had to be on the lookout for any allergy concerns like nuts, milk, soy or wheat. The biggest lesson I got from the experience was that small errors in the recipe serving size can make a huge difference in the nutritional information and cost! The 12oz mocha recipe had 0.8lb of chocolate topping listed, which along with an issue with the whipped topping originally put the drink in at over 1000 calories! I'm not sure how you can fit almost a pound of chocolate topping into a 12oz drink, but thankfully we caught the mistake. The whipped topping was also difficult to pinpoint, as the unit used in FoodPro was by the can, and the serving size on the can was 2 Tbsp (6g) -- but there are supposed to be 70 servings in one can. With the help of Stomping Grounds' manager Nancy, we came to the decision that they get about 30 hot drinks' worth of whipped topping out of 1 can. For the blended drinks, they use a lot more whipped topping to fill the dome lid, so I multiplied the 1/30th of a can by 4 to get that amount (0.1333 of a can). That's definitely better than the previous estimate that was in the program which showed the blended drinks as having 20 servings of whipped topping apiece (that's about 30g of fat!). It took me all day Tuesday and Thursday to get all of the recipes entered, and there are still a few loose ends to get taken care of, but most of it is completed. Many thanks to Nancy and the other Stomping Grounds employees who answered my random questions, let me use their computer and root around in their products looking at nutrition labels! It will be great once the project is completely online and people can find out just how many calories there are in the drinks there, and hopefully it will lead to their customers making healthier choices and anyone with food allergies being able to make safe choices.

On Wednesday, Mary and my suitemates from South Korea, Angie and Crystal, and I all went down to Fargo, ND for several great tours. Our first stop was at the Food Services of America (FSA) warehouse. FSA is the main distributor for the University of North Dakota dining services. Their facility was really impressive! They keep the entire warehouse at 45 degrees or below, even dry storage and the receiving docks, because they are constantly receiving products. They also distribute food for all of the Subways in the area, so I saw a great deal of familiar Subway products throughout the warehouse. They use a very helpful bar code scanning system, so that the employee picking a product for a customer must read back the bar code for the item and scan it to ensure that they are picking the correct product. Their shelves go up to 5 stories high, which their forklifts can reach up to! In their smaller, lesser used item area, the forklift has to be operated with a person on the deck -- I don't think I would be comfortable riding a forklift up that high! We also got to step in to the freezer area of the warehouse, which was bone-chillingly cold. I can't imagine having to work for an extended period of time in those temperatures. But our tour guide also mentioned that frozen products are one of the things that food companies are expanding on now, because of the technology we have now and the ability to safely move and keep products frozen for an extended period of time without compromising quality. The other highlight of the tour was getting to see the custom meat cutting and processing area of their facility. We couldn't go inside it because of USDA regulations, but we got to look in. They can make any cut of meat for their customers there, and vacuum package it for delivery. Most impressive for me was that they do all of their meat cutting by hand, they just have a bone saw to make special cuts like T-bone steaks. The facility is closely inspected by the USDA for safety, usually multiple times a week. I never knew that foodservice distributors could have a meat processing facility in their warehouses, but it makes sense how that would save them money, waste less product, and also cater to their customers' specific requests. We each got an FSA tote bag full of goodies at the end of the tour too. It was sad to hear about the flooding in Minot, ND and how it is effecting the people and the warehouse FSA has out there though. My thoughts go out to everyone displaced by the flooding.

We had a yummy lunch on Wednesday at the offices of Roisum Elite, a food broker that works with FSA and customers like UND. They made us a delicious grilled tuna salad and turkey & swiss paninis all with products from food companies that they represent. The broker talked to us about their role in promoting new products to customers and ensuring that distributors like FSA will carry them. Previously, I did not have a very clear idea of what a broker does in the foodservice industry, but they answered all of the questions we had. I was really curious about what kind of role nutrition plays in their industry and whether they see a lot of customers requesting healthier options. It still seems to boil down to the problem of how do food companies make healthier choices more attractive and desirable than all of the junk food options that are out there? I'm not sure what the answer to that is. But it was good to hear that they do see a lot more interest in sustainable products than they used to, and that is something they actively pursue with their suppliers. They also take an active role in ensuring the food safety of the products they represent and knowing where the food comes from in case of a foodbourne illness outbreak. A food broker's job is much more involved than I previously thought! (And they make some really delicious food!)

For our last stop on Wednesday, we got an extensive tour of the North Dakota State University campus dining services. They are moving from having a centralized bakery to having some bakery satellite units, and moving and updating the main bakery facility with newer equipment. We got to see the current bakery they have which has 2 deck ovens that are almost 100 years old! They also have some newer ovens which are big enough to roll an entire cart into -- that is the style of ovens they are going to have in their new bakery facility. The other interesting feature of the NDSU dining services was that each of their sites has student grills, where the students themselves can come and grill any food they want. Our tour guide even admitted that they have found a number of their good student workers by watching the students at their grills. I thought that was a neat concept which helps cater to the students' needs and also can reduce labor costs. Their newest dining facility was built keeping in mind the flow of food, trying to keep it all going in one direction -- from receiving and storage, to cooking, to serving, to the dishroom -- it all appeared to flow very well without backtracking. This is also an important consideration for ensuring food safety. I was very impressed with all of our tours that day, I am truly thankful to have this experience to get to see so many different areas of foodservice that I haven't personally seen before.

Friday morning I got to shift from the enormous FSA warehouse to a shadowing experience at the more modest UND warehouse facility with the warehouse manager Mike Brown. They got in a delivery from FSA first thing in the morning which I got to see and help them check in. Much like I had to do every week as a Subway manager, they have to match up what is listed on the invoice with the products that are actually received. For the delivery I was there, they were missing a package of butter cups that was on the order invoice. It might seem simple and unnecessary, but I know how critical it is to personally check in all food that is received, from both a food safety and a billing standpoint. They receive a lot more food there than I ever did at Subway, but Mike has employees to help him (a luxury I rarely ever had!), and they can simply move the pallets by forklift directly into a cooler or freezer. It was also interesting to see that some of the pallets were not stacked correctly, and a couple of boxes got smashed. Salad mix should never go on the bottom of a heavy stack of boxes of cheese! While the system at the UND warehouse is not as sophisticated as the computerized bar codes at the FSA warehouse, he maintains a very organized and clean facility that is easy to get around, with every section numbered and clearly labeled. I was very impressed with it. Unfortunately, because of the flooding in Minot there were a few items that FSA was not able to send with their delivery. On Friday, this was liquid eggs and beef ravioli. To ensure that Wilkerson would not run out of these products over the weekend, Mike had to call and order them from US Foods' Grand Forks Grocery (GFG) warehouse. I got to go with him to pick it up and deliver it over to Wilkerson. During the school year, Mike said he has to go down there usually a couple times a week to pick up additional products, or things that FSA may only carry on special order (which can take up to 21 days to deliver).

He also tries to stay on top of the needs for each of the units as he places the food orders for them. I got to observe as he placed an order for the A&W unit here on campus. Knowing that he does not keep an extra bag-in-box of diet root beer syrup in the warehouse because it was expiring before it was being used, he called over to the unit to check and see when the box they had was expiring. It turned out the box expired this coming weekend, so Mike knew to go ahead and order a new one. If he had not called, it would have become an issue that he would have had to deal with later. Clearly he knows his job and does it very well! With so many units to keep track of on campus, it was very impressive that he stays on top of things like that. Before I left the warehouse, I got to help him fill 2 orders for units on campus, using the forms and the numbering system they use to locate items in the warehouse. It was not difficult at all to find the cases of juices and water that were on the order form using Mike's system, and we left them ready to go for delivery to where they were needed that afternoon. You really don't need fancy computer systems and complex bar codes when things are well organized and run by people who know what they're doing and take pride in their work, and in doing it right.

I spent most of the remainder of Friday helping Dustin by entering the fall pizza menu for the Squires dining facility into the FoodPro system. His new pizza menu plan is trying to incorporate a wider variety of pizza recipes into the cycle menu. Previously, they had cheese and pepperoni pizza at almost every meal, and now he is expanding that to offer more chicken, steak, vegetarian and other recipes. They also offer lavosh, calzones, and flatbread pizzas. At each meal there is at least one pizza on multigrain crust and one vegetarian option. I also got to try to predict the acceptability factor for some of the new pizzas they are trying, so they have an idea of how much to prepare. I based it off of the acceptability factors for similar pizzas, or generally 9-11% for new meat varieties, and 3-4% for vegetarian options. Their most popular pizza was pepperoni at over 22% acceptability factor! Hopefully Dustin doesn't get much bad feedback for not having pepperoni pizza at every meal in the fall -- but encouraging variety is good, right?

Overall, I am still amazed by the efforts of everyone on this campus, from the warehouse, to the managers, to the cooks, to the servers, to all ensure food safety. This week has expanded that beyond the campus to the distributors and brokers as well. It is comforting to know that everyone in the chain of food distribution and production is equally as concerned about the health and well-being of their consumers. It is also great to see the interest on campus for nutrition as I work on the Stomping Grounds project. College campuses get such a nutritionally bad reputation with the "Freshman 15" (or more) and it is refreshing to see that UND makes so much nutrition information available and is actively seeking ways to promote awareness of the nutrition facts for their dining services. The main reason I chose this school as one of my top choices for the NACUFS internship was because it was possible to focus the internship experience on nutrition and nutrition-related projects. I feel very lucky and thankful to be here and can't wait to see the finished products once I am done with the experience!

"LET THE BIG DAWGS EAT!"

Hi,

I pray everyone had a blessed week from the last update. A lot has occurred since then at the University of Georgia. This past week I got to shadow 4 different managers at the different dining commons. I enjoyed following the different managers. I was able to observe the different manager styles from manager to manager. Each manager I shadowed had diverse styles that I will be able to use in the near future. I learned how to manage each dining commons (Snelling, The Village Summit, and Tate Café). Another exciting part of my week was being able to shadow the Executive Director Mr. Michael Floyd for 12 hours. We were able to assist the orientation team with the 2011-2012 freshman of UGA. While shadowing the Executive Director Mr. Floyd, we were able to sit in an interview for a potential chef for the catering team. We (the interns) were able to ask the potential chef questions during the interview. The end of the week we went to an assistant managers training workshop at Botanical Gardens. The Director of food services Jeanne Fry hosted the workshop. It was a way to bring all the assistant managers from the different dining commons together to share information and educate. It was truly a learning experience to be able to read and discuss the book “Gung Ho.” All the managers had to read the book before the workshop. After reading the book, it can now assist me with managing my employees in the future. Special thanks to Ms. Nicole for providing Adam and I with a ride to the workshop. This week ahead of us will be another exciting one. Stay tuned and I pray everyone else is having a great time like I am with the wonderful employees at UGA. Before I go I would like to leave you'll with this quote: “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”- David Rockefeller

Stay Blessed

UGA Food Services Gets Gung Ho!

Wow! What a busy week it was at UGA. Monday I shadowed management at the Village Summit, Tuesday I shadowed management at Snelling Commons, and Thursday I shadowed management at Bolton Commons. These three days were very exciting, I learned the importance of knowing your menu and your products, I learned how quality assurance checks are conducted, how the payroll system works, and was at Bolton for an actual health inspection that they received a score of 100 on! But the most interesting parts of the week came on Wednesday and Friday.

On Wednesday Kelvin and I shadowed the executive director of UGA Food Services, Mr. J. Michael Floyd. We assisted him with the early morning freshman orientation welcoming, the midday lunch for the student's parents, and attended his presentation about the UGA meal plan and the four great dinning commons here at UGA. We also witnessed the beginning of a departmental restructuring and had the rare opportunity to sit in on a group interview for a new chef. Mr. Floyd takes great pride in UGA Food Services and certainly cares a great deal about his staff and the student body alike.

Finally on Friday morning Kelvin and I participated in an Assistant Managers retreat at the State Botanical Gardens. All attendants of the retreat were to read the book "Gung Ho!" This was a story of how a factory director and one of her department managers transformed a failing factory into a place that all could come and take pride in their work and feel as if their work was meaningful. The book touched upon three main concepts, the spirit of the squirrel, which means making work worthwhile. The way of the beaver, which deals with people's values and goals. And the gift of the goose, which is all about people congratulating each other and cheering each other on on a daily basis. The retreat showed us how these concepts can be incorporated into any workplace as well as showed us how managers work together to formulate new ideas.

Stay tuned for next weeks update...

June 26, 2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at the convenience store again at Hitt Street Market doing inventory. Inventory is counted here only twice a year. While the dining halls collect inventory once a week. During inventory, we counted every single item. For example, if there were 284 piece of taffy, we counted every single piece. The store was broken up into different sections and each staff member was assigned to a specific section in the store. I'm glad that they don't have to count inventory once a week, like the dining halls, because they have a lot of product to count.

Yesterday we went to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play at the Busch Stadium. It was my first professional sports/baseball game I've ever gone to! It was so much fun and I would definitely go again, even though they did not win. We were able to get discounted tickets and go with a group because it was Mizzou day. While we were in St. Louis we were able to walk around for a while and see the arch - which was cool! Below is a picture from the game. Megan is on the left, she is interning for Res Life at Mizzou (and also lives with Sara and me). I'm in the middle, and Sara is on the right. Going to the game was so much fun, I would totally go again!

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to see the meat lab - more details will follow on my next post.

Autumn & Julia - Ohio State University

It's hard to believe that we moved in just one week ago. This week flew by, and we already got a glimpse of the blood, sweat, and tears shed for university foodservice.

After moving in on Sunday night, we made our first visit to North Commons, the only traditional dining hall that is operating during the OSU summer quarter. A brief tour of campus followed, and boy are the buildings massive here!

Monday was house keeping day, which included getting student ID's and parking passes, taking care of payroll paper work, and meeting the important faces of OSU foodservice. Our supervisor borrowed a electric vehicle to transport us around this large campus. The highlight of the day was that the electric car made it to our destination without running out of battery. (At one point, we were driving up a hill and the pedestrians were moving faster than we were!)

On Tuesday, we started our day with marketing. This included traveling to various dining locations and critiquing their customer friendliness. Our notes and observations were collected to help with future projects at these locations. After marketing, we learned about food and workplace safety and sanitation. We then applied this knowledge on Wednesday when we worked on the hot food line during the lunch hours at North Commons.

The most of our effort this week went into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On these days we worked with the events coordinator and executive catering chef on preparation and service for the Ohio Special Olympics. On Friday, we met and bagged nearly 3000 cookies, separated and plated nearly 6000 pancakes, and scooped and garnished 105 two-inch pans of pasta (below). Saturday and Sunday, we ran food for the breakfast service at the Special Olympics. This called for a 4am wake up call and revisiting the food that had been prepared the previous day.


This first week started slow, but by the end of it, we were eagerly awaiting nap time. Our understanding of basic foodservice has been increased, and we are excited to continue to broaden our foodservice horizons this summer at OSU!

Anna - KU Week 3

Wow so much to talk about this week! Well, on monday and tuesday we got to work at one of the retail locations here at KU... The Market. We became "Brellas Sandwhich Crafers".It was pretty intense being thrown into the line but it was a lot of fun. Then we got to do a little cashiering. Also, we were given the opportunity to rearrange the organic section of the market to make it look more appealing to customers.

Wednesday was AWESOME! we got up super early and went to the Sysco building in Kansas City. We all got on a limo bus and went to go visit an Amish farm. I t was incredible to see the ingenuity and hard work of the farmers. I loved their jam making house. It had a huge steam kettle and tons of freshly topped cans of jam! We got to bring home some veggies that we picked out, so I look forward to eating those! Later we went to a park and a local Amish market provided lunch for us! the food was incredible. Especially the pie and home made ice cream! We even got to see the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile on our way back!

Thrusday and Friday were somewhat stresssful days since we were learning to be Baristas. We were tested on Firday and had to make 4 coffee drinks and 1 smoothie in about 10 minutes. It was definitly a lot harder than it looks at Starbucks! It was interesting to see and learn so much about what goes into making those fancy drinks, especially since I am not really much of a coffee drinker.

Earlier today Lanie and I headed over to Kansas City, Missouri and ran a 5k. We got to meet ultramarthon man, Dean Karnazus! Later we went to the Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art. It was Gigantic and took us most of the afternoon to get through.

It has been another great week at KU!

Weekly Reviews # 3 at Purdue

We finished up our basics this week. First stop was the pizza station. It was a lot of fun to work in, since they have a dough roller and a fire/stone oven to cook the pizzas. It’s a lot harder to cook the pizzas in this type of oven though. The pizzas have to be rotated every few minutes to get an even cooking. But once one gets a hang of it, it’s not so hard. Amy and I also got to help with breakfast in the morning. Then we tagged along with a student supervisor though the day and watched how they help the cooks with their duties.


But once our basics were behind us, it’s time to introduce one of the projects we will be working on this summer. We are to produce a video on how the dining courts have sustainability. What is that? It’s basic good ol’ reduce, reuse, and recycle, with some modern twists. I’ve already seen what the workers at Ford do for recycling. They have “yak” buckets in which all the uneaten food gets placed. There is the pulper in the dish room that will take care of most food left from the students. And then there is the box compressor that takes care of all the cardboard boxes they use. All of this waste is then taken away and used to create energy. For more info, check out the website they designed to inform people about how the dining courts of Purdue are going green. http://www.housing.purdue.edu/HTML/Dining/Sustainability.htm

June 24, 2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at the convenience store, specifically the Hitt Street Market. We learned all about how it was different from the dining halls, and how marketing played a big part of their business. The managers explained to us the different methods that go into planning the design and layout of the store. For example, the shelves are lower than a normal grocery store, and how the bigger items are located on the bottom of the shelves. They showed us different planograms for the shelving units and floor plan layouts. We also watched one of the student managers handle safety deposit money from the day before - how he counted it and collected the money from the safe vault. They also explained the safety mechanisms throughout the store - like the cameras and triggers for a police call. I found it interesting how the vendors themselves restock the shelves. The managers were telling us that sometimes that could be a problem because there could be a new product with a different price and the managers are unaware of the change and didn't put it in the system. Sunday we are going to go back to the convenience store to help out with inventory. What I like most about the convenient store is the hours that they are open. During the school year they are open 24/7 which is great. But during the summer they are open from 7 to 11, which is still convenient.

Below is a picture of Plaza 900, which is one of the all you care to eat dining halls. It opened in 2004 and is the largest residential dining hall on campus. On the left side of the picture is Sara talking to the Executive Chef. This is where our mini-special events will be taking place.

Tonight we went to Addison's for nachos. They have the best nachos ever! I would totally recommend this place - and definitely come back to Columbia for this! For next year's interns - Happy hour with discounted nachos starts at 10, you'll definitely not be let down! I am going to miss this place when I go back home because there is nothing like it!

From Marketing to Warehouse

 We’ve had some busy weeks here at Penn State exploring the different branches of foodservice. Last week we were able to meet the marketing team and see some of their work productions for the dining halls. They are a highly motivated and creative team, and it was very interesting to learn what they do to make the dining halls more appealing to the students. We also learned about Food Pro, which is a system created by Penn State that has every recipe loaded in it and can give all the details about any food that has been previously ordered or prepared here. It makes finding nutritional facts easy, and is a great method for double checking whether or not allergens are contained in certain foods. We concluded the week working with the Grade 10 workers who are responsible for cutting fruits, vegetables and desserts and preparing the salad and deli bars. 

This week we were sent to the warehouse to learn more about the process behind receiving food, as well as delivering it to the various dining halls on campus. Also located in the warehouse is the fabulous bakery that provides far too many tempting sweet samples in the break room, and constantly smells like fresh bread baking in the oven. While working in the bakery, we had the opportunity to help prepare some delicious baked goods, and also got to learn how to work some of the large machinery in there.

Although our weeks have been packed with learning experiences, we never forget to make time for fun! Over the past couple weeks we were very lucky to be taken to a small lake with the director of the dining halls, where we kayaked and canoed for a couple hours, we hiked Tussy Mountain, and we also managed to make our way to Philadelphia to try some cheesesteak and check out the liberty bell and Independence Hall.  

Update from Montana State University

It's been a while since I have posted, we've been so busy!

Last week Paul our supervisor was gone but we took the time to gather a lot of nutrition data to be entered into Computrtion and continue to work on our projects. 

We had a meeting with the representative from Kerry Beverage and got to sample smoothie products that we have decided to put on the menu's for fall.  The representative shared that she had become a registered dietitian right out of college but after working in a kitchen and meeting so many sales people she felt more drawn to that as a career.  I thought that was very interesting and a good reminder for me who is always trying to plan the future that you never know where your going to end up.

We also were able to tour the football stadium with Ron the concessions manager. They are adding on to the stadium including a whole new concessions area. After the tour I can honestly say that a football team and big stadium would have improved my own college experience. It was very exciting to get a behind the scenes tour of the whole stadium and talk about new "upscale concessions" items that they are thinking of adding for the fall.

Check out that sky!!!!! ^

This week we have had a bunch of meeting and a couple tastings.  Just to hilight a couple because I dont want to write and essay...

We met with the foodservice director for the local elementary and highschools.  He owns a cook-chill kitchen and seems to do a really good job preparing good food for his students.  His ideas were progressive and I was impressed.  It was awesome to have the opportunity to ask him questions. 

I set up a meeting with the representative from Carbon Waffles and he came this week.  He brough samples and he is working on fixing all of our broken irons.  It was cool to be in charge of running a meeting.  I felt good about it. 

Today 15 cases of ice cream novelty samples showed up at Miller Dining Hall with my name on them so I can do a taste testing for the managers tomorrow. SO MUCH ICE CREAM! I think that this tasting shoudl be pretty enjoyable!

We have been doing a lot of work entering new items in computriton and updating order guides for the fall because we have a meeting with our distributor next week so we have to be ready! A lot of work but its going well. 

I wish I had more pictures to share! Hopefully I get some good ones at the ice cream tasting tomorrow and through next week.  We are all going camping this weekend and I hear the secenery is beautiful.  Hopefully the weather is nice though because its been very unpredictable, but I hear thats the completely normal out here!  

June 23, 2011 - Mizzou

Wow, it's almost the end of June! I can't believe how fast time flies! Today we had meetings and worked on our mini-special event project. Our first meeting was with Debbie and she discussed her role in CDS. One of her responsibilities involves coordinating all of the conferences that come to MU and want to eat in the dining halls. She also plays a role in organizing the dining plans in addition to other tasks. It was great to see all of the different aspects of the Human Resources part of CDS. We then went to a training meeting. The training committee consisted of about 10 members from the department staff. They discussed the different training programs, the schedule, and who would be leading them. The training programs are for the staff/student worker employees. They are basically workshops to encourage further learning on safety, sanitation, and customer management/satisfaction. It is great that the department offers such a resource for the staff and student employees. After our meetings, Sara and I worked on our mini-special event projects. We wrote our recipes that we tested and worked on the special event memos. There is a long process that goes into having these special events and ordering the food. So any of the unique food (for example, I am having turkey legs for my theme) will have to be ordered specially. And any food that is not into the program (from the new recipes we've created) needs to be put into CBORD. It was a long day working on our projects and getting all the calculations for our recipes (like yield, portion size, amount, weights, ect.).

Tomorrow we are going to be working at the Hitt Street Market - which is one of the convenience stores. It will be interesting to see how CDS funds them and how they are operated differently than the dining halls and retail locations.

Week 3 at KU

This week can be summed up in 4 words: sandwiches, coffee and amazing sights. It was truly a great week. Anna and I started the week out in residential dining at the Market in the Union making sandwiches.

We learned how to make KU’s famous “Crunchy Chicken Cheddar Wrap” and a bunch of other sandwiches at their self branded operation Brellas. This was a lot of fun and it was great getting a different aspect of serving people with making sandwiches to order. Hopefully everyone liked the ones that we made because we were thrown into the process fast and it was a lot of fun being on the production line. Next after the market we woke up bright and early and got to go on an Amish farm tour with Sysco. It was really great experience, Anna and I both got to drive the horse drawn wagon, we got to see how they lived life without all the electrical and gas operated advancements we are so lucky to have today. It was humbling just to see how content they were and how much we just take for granted. They truly could serve up some great food. There is a lot to say about fresh produce.

I had the best lunch I had in a long time. It was all made with all fresh produce from that area and for dessert we had my favorite, blackberry pie and homemade ice cream! It was so delicious! The entire country side was beautiful and there were some truly amazing sights between the landscape and the uses of horses. When we were headed back to Lawrence we saw the Oscar Meyer Winner Mobile.

It was really awesome. So once we got back to the dorm we made sure that we went back to take pictures by it. We were so excited that we got to see it! Not many times in your live do you get to see such a famous vehicle :). We finished our week of with coffee. Today we were trained as barista in KU’s pulse coffee shop. We both learned the art of steaming milk and how to make their amazing smoothes. It was intense and we have the certification test tomorrow. Hopefully we will pass! This week every day has had its own adventure and it has been great to meet new people and to see new ways of life. It has been a great week.

June 22,2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at one of the retail locations, J Cafe. It is located in the Journalism school, hence the "J." This little place gets a lot of business, especially during the school year. Sara and I worked together, here, making many different types of beverages. Personally not being a coffee drinker, (except during exams, maybe), I had to learn the basics - from latte, to cappuccino, and mocha espressos. We also made a selection of smoothies, but not nearly as many as Catalyst Cafe, which is another retail location but located across campus in the life sciences building. At the J Cafe, they are known for their cheesy flat bread that goes with their salads and soups. They mainly serve sandwiches, salads, and coffees/espresso or smoothies. They also have the soup and sandwich of the week. Working at the J Cafe is very much like working at Catalyst, except it is less busy (at least during the summer), the rushes are smaller, and the their coffee is better.

After we grabbed lunch we headed over to Plaza 900 which is one of the main buildings. In it is one of the biggest dining halls on campus as well as the campus dining services offices on the second floor. The meeting was with the operations and support staff. It was very interesting to see how they all interacted and worked together as one cohesive force. Previously we have met with each one of the staff members of the department to discuss their role in the campus dining setting. I really enjoyed the meeting, even though they are not meant to be very fun or anything. But, the department staff are really nice and it was great getting to know them. After the meeting there was a little farewell celebration for the Marketing member. He actually facilitated the meeting when they talked about the revisions of the CDS (campus dining services) goals. Even though it was my first time meeting him, I knew by the way he presented himself that he was a great addition to the department and was very good at what he does.

Tomorrow Sara and I are going to meetings in the morning. After that we have about 5 hours I think to work on our projects (mini-special event). As mentioned before, Sara's theme is mangoes, while mine is Medieval Times. We already recipe tested, so we have to write them out on the production worksheets to put them into CBORD. Which is very exciting - we are actually bringing a recipe into the database that they can implement into the dining hall menus. I am very exciting about my event - it is coming along nicely. I'm in the process of having the Raptor Rehabilitation Project come to do booth presentations at my mini-special. It would be great  to have them because it is kind of Medievalish with the wild birds. It is great that they have something like that available on campus - I believe it's through the vet school here. So far so good with that -Just can't wait for it all to come together!

First few days @ SUNY Geneseo!

My first few days here in Geneseo, NY have been busy, but awesome.

I got in Monday afternoon and got settled, followed by a fantastic dinner at The Big Tree Inn with Jonna, the Executive Chef at SUNY Geneseo Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS), and Rhonda, the HR Director at CAS.

Tuesday started off with meeting a bunch of the management and culinary team. I'm good with names, but I think I may have reached my threshold for memory! As the day went on, it became easier to remember who does what as well as figuring out everyone's little personality quirks.

Then we started preparing for the lunch service for the transfer student orientations. I assisted in preparing some pizzas - which reminded me of my very first food service job at Carson's Carryout at UW-Madison! After putting some pizzas together, we had a product testing with US Foods. Fish for breakfast was interesting, but I got to try some pretty unique products.

During lunch, I helped out at the Pan Pacific station, dishing out General Tso's Chicken to hungry patrons. I haven't had much practice with that type of service, so it was a great learning experience!

Today was a quieter day - no orientation happening. I toured CAS's Restaurants and Cafes with Barb, Lisa, and Rita and learned what food service looks like through the eyes of a manager. After that, I tried to learn the ropes of product ordering with Frank and occasionally Bob, the Chef Managers. There was a lot to digest, but hopefully I'll be able to remember it for my Inventory and Ordering rotations.

Until next time!

-Kelli

First Week at UCal - Berkeley!!

My first week here at the University of California-Berkeley was amazing!! Everyone is wicked nice and willing to help me with anything or answer any of my questions. My supervisor, Mike Laux, first gave me a tour of Berkeley and all the dining areas on and off campus. My first day involved meeting all the staff of Central Dining. After the introductions, I was immediately involved in many different meetings. I was able to observe and ask a few questions in a phone screening/interview for the open position of Assistant Director. After this I was able to sit in and observe a labor management meeting with one of the two campus unions, Q (I believe this is the union’s name). Along with this meeting, I attended my first CalSO – or Cal Student Orientation. This involved working with Patrice, the Customer and P.R. Manager. We greeted the new students, who were on their way to dinner, and offered them information on the dining.
The next few days involved learning the basics of how the UCal dining operations are run. The entire business is connected through their food management system called FoodPro. This is the system that holds and manages all the inventories, invoices, recipes, and food costs between each different residential dining and campus restaurant. I was able to see how the Production Run is done each week as well. This inventories all the items in each establishment and gets an overall cost of goods along with other information.
Along with learning the basics of Foodpro, I was also introduced to a new system known as LeanPath that is going to be installed into the computers by August. This will be installed within each campus dining area. The main goal of this program is to measure pre-consumer waste, or any scraps of food that cannot be served. These measurements will help to lessen the amount of waste produced in each dining area. I am completely amazed at the lengths that Cal-Berkeley’s food services go to in order to ensure the best meals and a completely organic certified salad bar in each establishment. The cost of organic food can be 2 to 3 times more expensive than the basic produce.
With learning all of these essentials to running such a great foodservice operation, I was also able to meet with the budget and variance report manager, Luther. He went over the multiple binders containing hundreds of excel spreadsheets involved in only one year of budgeting. I knew that a lot of work went into creating the budgets and maintaining them, but I had never known how extensive and detailed it was.
After this first exciting and informative week was over, I spent my first full weekend in San Francisco. Some people I had met from my floor and I explored Japan town (where we had AMAZING sushi) and then spent Sunday in the North Beach area for the Italian Festival. This involved lots of great vendor food and little tents offering jewelry, art, pictures, and clothing. I love it here already and am looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds!!

Getting Started at Mizzou

Hi Everyone,

It is now the third week of the internship, here at the University of Missouri - Columbia. There are two NACUFS interns here, myself, and Sara. I am from New Jersey and attend Rutgers University. Sara is from Pennsylvania and attends Boston University.

The first week there was a very warm welcoming from the department. Everyone here is extremely nice and knows we are the 'NACUFS interns.' We started the first week with a lot of meetings - it was great to get to know all the people involved in campus dining one-on-one and be able to ask questions. We did a campus scavenger hunt to get to know the campus grounds better. I am awed by how big and beautiful the campus is! The Rec center has three floors, and they are currently undergoing renovations on multiple buildings. One of the buildings that is being renovated is Sabai. Sabai is one of the new dining halls that will feature South Asian Cuisine. They are also closing the Mark Twain Market (an all-you-care-to-eat facility) for renovations. But currently they have it open to service the scholars program, which are students in high school.

Our first time in the kitchen, I worked at Rollins and Sara worked at Plaza 900. We both worked in the dish room. Which I thought was not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I learned all about the dishwasher, where everything belongs in the kitchen, about the pulper, ect. After two days in the dishroom we both worked with the stock clerk at our respective locations. It was nice to see the shipments come in and the role of the receiver. After receiving, we each worked in production at our separate locations as well. Here they use CBORD as their computer program. In production I learned about how the forecast their food and plan for the next day. I was also about to observe how the staff communicates between each other. For example, the counter workers would continually communicate with the cooks to tell them if more of a specific food needed to be made before it ran out. Everyone at Rollins is extremely nice and took the time to explain any questions I had about the kitchen - since there were equipment there that I have never used before. But the big new thing for me was weighing everything. All the dishes were weighed during preparation, before it went out on the line, and after the meal hour was over. In production I also learned how they utilize the POs (Pan overs) which are also left-overs.

Here they have one executive chef and many sous chefs (mainly 1 or 2 at each dining hall). Even though each dining hall competes for numbers, they are one big family - and it is great to see how they work all together.

This week Sara and I are starting to work at the same facility together. We worked at Catalyst Cafe, and will work at J cafe tomorrow.

The projects that we were assigned for the summer include a mini-special event (each of us creates one) and two major events. My mini-special event theme is Medieval Times, while Sara's theme is Mangoes. Basically the mini-special event is a little change at one of the stations and they will still be serving the same food at the other stations. For the two major events, one is when all the stations will be changed in the one dining hall, and the other event we are creating is for a campus wide event - like Thanksgiving. We will not be implementing our two major events, but will only be creating the business plan for them. While, we will be executing our two mini-special events. I am still in the process of finalizing the menu for my event. We pick one or two recipes that we want to test. Mine is Frumente, which is a wheat dish they served in the medieval time period. Sara tested a banana-mango spring roll, tandori style chicken on mango rice, and a chopped mango jicama salad. We tested today in Plaza 900's kitchen. Out dishes came out great and we were able to serve them on the line during dinner! While we tested the recipes we had to record everything we did, and weigh the raw products as well as the final product to write in our recipe. We also had to calculate serving sizes - which we will need for the nutrient analysis of our recipes. Below is a picture of Sara and her Banana-Mango Spring Rolls with Chocolate Ganache.

Sara and I are having a great time here! I am learning so much and am having such a great experience!

PS- for the future NACUFS interns, I am going to try to post as often as I can, so you guys have a better idea of our day to day activities. .