Half Way Done!

Well, week 4 is officially over, in just under 4 weeks I will be heading home... I can't believe it. As slow as time's been going, missing everyone back home, it has really been flying by, too!

Here's what I've been up to lately:

I've started doing a project with one of the unit managers that used to be a Registered Dietitian. We're looking at the fall menu cycle & condensing it by recipes to see how often & frequent we are serving the different items. We're also looking at each recipe and going ingredient by ingredient to condense that as well. See how many items we are actually using and how often we are using them. We're also trying to order as many of the products we need as possible from our one main supplier, US Foodservice. The idea behind this is that not only will it make things a little easier for the Managers of each unit ordering, but it also contributes to how Yale is trying to reduce their ecological footprint. This is because by ordering from the same person we are reducing the amount of trucks that come onto campus and the frequency of which, which reduces carbon emissions and gas usage. Yale has done many things like this in the last 4 or 5 years which contribute to their attempts to become more sustainable. I think that's such a great idea. Anyways, once we get all the ingredients we need to make sure that they are correctly linked to each recipe so that we can go over all the nutritionals & menu item identifier cards (what's displayed in the dining halls) to make sure that information is correct. Some of the ingredients aren't linked properly (in the computer system they aren't attached to the correct food item), which means our menu item cards aren't giving the correct information.

I've also been doing a little project for the Executive Director. He wants me to go through our Bake Shop recipes and think up ways to reduce the amount of sugar we are using. The buzz appears to be less concerned with fat these days, because of all the types of healthy fat, and more concerned with sodium and processed sugar. It's an interesting & challenging project. The main challenge I find with this is that the field of nutrition is SO much more complicated than just eat what's healthy & avoid what isn't. One of the reasons I love nutrition is because there's just so much to it. Other key factors that have to be taken into consideration is disease and allergies, personal preference, cost, availability, popularity... There are so many things that one needs to take into consideration when feeding a large population like we are. I think that simply reducing processed sugars will be a bit of a challenge. Especially with University students. Not to mention baking is all chemistry, so by chaning one ingredient chances are others will have to be altered as well. Hense why this project is proving to be quite challenging.

Something else I've been working on is going through the complete fall menu cycle to calculate calories, fat, saturated fat and sodium in a serving of all the recipes. Once I have completed this I can go by the options day by day so that the nutritionals are spread out evenly throughout the days. I know one thing our Executive Chef has been working on the last couple weeks (as well as endless amounts of Dining Hall Managers & the Executive Director) is going through the fall menu cycle to try and balance out the foods. Make sure that certain types of food are spread out evenly & there are more popular items on a day with a few less popular so that they aren't all clumped together (that's been a past complaint with the students- some days they find lots they want to eat and others not much at all so Yale Dining's been working hard to change that). They also take into consideration personal preference, so if one of the main chefs really enjoys a certain dish, they may be more likely to put it on the menu than a chef that doesn't particularily like it. So by ensuring the nutritionals are spread out as well, the students can have healthier & less healthy options each day so there is a wider spread of satifcation in their meal choices.

Another project I have been given is to start a running list of all the things wrong (or that we'd just like to change to make it more user friendly) with the current computer system we are using. This will help them in their search for a better one (or upgrade the current one), which they are in the process of doing. Before I leave I will hand in a complete copy (at least, the most complete I can manage) of things they should consider when buying a new system & when starting it up, so that everything is entered correctly & uniformly right from day one. Which is where a lot of the problems we have been running into are coming from. Everyone enters things differently and so the system is kind of a mess. Then when one person leaves, and another takes their place, they will do it differently, too. So for 10 years of numerous people using it & certain positions switching hands, the system is basically impossible to clean. Starting from scratch really seems like their best bet.

Last week I discovered that the nutritionals for the service recipes weren't matching up with the nutritionals from the production recipes, which makes zero sense because the service recipes are created FROM the production recipes. Once I discovered this I had quite a few meetings with head people in the business office here. On Friday I went to try and fix it, and lukcily I was able to. Recipes were just entered into the system incorrectly. But that was a big part of my week last week.

It's been busy and seems to only get busier as the time goes by, I just hope I can make a bit of a difference (preferably for the better) while I'm here!

Supreme Supremes

Rachel and I were given the task of helping to prepare for a special group visiting North West Dining Hall. for breakfast one day we helped to create a parfait display and citrus salad. to create this citrus salad we made grapefruit and orange supremes (beautiful and delicious). For those of you unsure about what it means to supreme a citrus please watch the video to master the technique and you too will be a supreme master.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjJZEA6nFcI

Final Project

We are now in the final stretch, I can't believe how the time has flown and it's suddenly week 8! Our big event is a luncheon for 900 people on Wednesday with the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean. This is our final menu:

Breads:

Jamaican Coco Bread

Mango Bread

Wok

Sautéed Callaloo

Empanada

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Sauce

Jamaican Rice

Tortuga Shrimp

Chimichurri Sauce

Avocado Crème Fraiche

Comfort/hotline

Plantain au Gratin

Butternut Squash Risotto/pilaf

Honey Lime Grouper(oven of Flat top)

Sides

Rice and Beans

Mashed Potatoes

Haitian Short Ribs

Goat Cheese Polenta

Coconut Vegetables

Cabana Pork Tenderloin

Bahaman vegetable Stew

Tropical Island Vegetables

Grill line

Guyanese Crab Cakes

Fried Plantains(tossed in Butter on line)

Coconut Shrimp

Hamburgers

Cheeseburger

Beef Kabobs

Sweet Potato Fries

Pasta Station/Dessert bar

Coconut Ice cream

Vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Ice cream

Mango sorbet

Caramelized Caribbean pineapple

Caramelized bananas

Hot fudge

Carmel sauce

Soup/Salad

Brazilian black Bean Soup

Chicken Noodle

Assorted salads*

Regular salad bar

Deli

Assorted meats and toppings

Assorted Sandwich Breads

Carving Station

Rotisserie Jerk Chicken

Pizza

Cheese Pizza

Pepperoni Pizza

Reggae Pizza(Hawaiian w/ Caribbean Seasoning)

Smoothies

Mango Mania

Strawberry Banana

Beverages

Assorted soft drinks and juices

Hot Tea and Coffee

Iced tea

Milk

Desserts

Rum Cake

Assorted Cookies

*Assorted Salads

·         Avocado Papaya

·         Jamaican Coleslaw

·         Potato Salad

·         Bean Salad

·         Macaroni Salad

·         Veggie Salad

·         Tropical Fruit Salad

Stay tuned for more on the event!!

Projects Taking Shape

This past week Kelvin and I were very focused upon our two projects here at UGA. But before we began work on those we used our day off on Monday for Independence Day to travel to Atlanta. We visited the Underground Station, The CNN Center, Centennial Park and Turner Field for a Braves game with post game fireworks. It was a day full of fun and unfortunately at times, rain. The rest of the week we spent preparing for the Freshman College Opening Banquet at the Village Summit Commons. We assisted in rolling 425 napkins with silverware, putting together over 100 floral center pieces, decorating the room, and setting up and tearing down the event. The guests certainly seemed to enjoy themselves and we were pleased to see so. It is up to Kelvin and I to assure that the Freshman College Closing Banquet runs just as well if not better. We spent part of the week finalizing our theme and menu, by speaking with two of the chefs here at UGA plus one of the dinning commons managers. We also chose the decorations, colors, staff uniforms, etc. We also took some initiative in seeking out Ms. Stacia Fink, who is our contact point for our second project, to create a customer service training module online and also a way to present the ideas to the managers so that they can implement the ideas and create the change in the staff. We look forward to showing off our knowledge and abilities in the form of these projects. Until next time... this is Adam, signing off!

San Francisco Farmers Market

This past Saturday I was able to finally go to the infamous Farmers Market held at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Hundreds of farmers display and sell their organic, locally grown products. Each tent offered free samples of their fruits, vegetables, cheeses, dips and spreads, oils, and honey. I naturally took advantage of these offerings and I had some of the best, most fresh fruit I’ve ever had in my life! Everything that was offered here was completely organic as well.

The place was swarming with people, each carting around their own bag of the local produce. I ended up buying a bag of some sugar snap peas because I love the vegetable and it reminds me of home (my dad has his own garden and I always eat them during the summer). I also bought a falafel with some roasted red pepper and eggplant spread. While it wasn’t the most appealing to look at, it was downright amazing. To capture this memory, I took a picture of the falafel (and some woman laughed at me when she saw me doing this).

After meandering about for an hour and sampling the fresh fruit and cheeses offered, I noticed a huge line that made its way down the pier. All the people were waiting at least a half an hour in order to get a porchetta sandwich. These sandwiches were being served by a vendor truck, Roli Roti Gourmet Rotisserie, that had 2 rotisseries built into the side of it. The sandwich was completely worth the wait. It was a big slab of porchetta on a ciabatta bun with caramelized onions, arugula, and sea salt.

Needless to say, I’ll be going to this farmers market each Saturday from now on.

University of North Dakota - Week 4!

This week was fairly quiet, with the 4th of July holiday and several people at UND on vacation. I took advantage of the day off on the 4th and did a little exploring of my own. It was a beautiful day outside, so I went out for a hike at Turtle River State Park, which is about 22 miles west of Grand Forks. I took some pictures along the hike...

I even got to see a what I think was a wild turkey run across the path, with a little baby turkey running along behind it! I took a picture, but it came out pretty blurry...


It really would have been a perfect hike, except I made the grave mistake of not bringing any mosquito repellent. Word to the wise: in the summer, mosquitoes in North Dakota are mean! This gorgeous firefly, on the other hand, kindly posed for me to take its picture...


All in all, it made for a lovely 4th of July. On another weekend before I leave North Dakota I'd like to take a trip out to another state park, but this time I will take mosquito repellent with me!

On Tuesday it was back to work, and I got to sit on a couple of meetings with Mary, the assistant director of dining here at UND and my internship coordinator. The first meeting was a Dining Services Monthly Update meeting. Each area of dining services was addressed and got to talk about how their summer was going. It has been fairly quiet here this summer, unfortunately there have not been many catering events and camp enrollment was down from last year, which is where dining services gets a lot of their revenue from in the summer. But housing enrollment is up for the fall, so much so that they are having trouble finding rooms for everyone! They also discussed issues with trying to get new student employees trained before all of the new students get here. But new work-study students are not allowed to begin working until classes begin (returning students are allowed to work). As a work-study student myself, I identified with this issue and how it can be difficult to pick up a new job at one of the busiest times of the year, when students are coming back to school, and the staffing issues that go along with training so many new employees. To solve the issue, they decided to try to post a job listing indicating that the job won't start until August when classes begin. Not the best solution, but hopefully it will work out for the best.

The second meeting on Tuesday was for planning the NACUFS regional conference that will be here in Grand Forks in February. While they're still in the preliminary stages of planning, sorting out costs and facilities where it will be held, it was interesting to me to see just how much has to be planned for with an event that size. At the meeting they were looking at different planner-type notebooks or binders which they could give away at the conference with schedules and other information in them. They were having some difficulty finding a nice, professional-looking binder that was affordable, in part because so many things today are just put online or on a phone, many people don't use pen and paper very often! It's hard to imagine, but at some point in the future most paper will probably be completely phased out in favor of electronic media. (Like this blog!)

For the remainder of the week I have been busy doing more research and writing lesson plans for nutrition education sessions they are planning to have another intern do in the fall. I decided to make a powerpoint presentation to go along with each lesson plan, so I have been constructing those together. Once the lesson is complete, I go back and make a pamphlet based on the lesson that could also be distributed to anyone interested in the dining halls. So far, I have mostly completed the first 3 lessons. The first lesson is "Build a Healthy Meal with MyPlate", based on the new USDA MyPlate symbol and the beneficial health messages it conveys. The second lesson is "Take Control of Your Portions" about basic portion size measurement, and how portions have gotten out of control in the last 20-30 years. The third lesson joins together the Guiding Stars program that they already use here at UND with MyPlate, and it's probably my favorite so far because the two concepts fit together so well. The fourth lesson will be on Nutrition Facts label reading.

Dustin and I met up with Kirsten from the marketing department on Friday, and showed her the rough drafts of the pamphlets that I've put together. They will be making them look much nicer and more professional once I'm done! She also expressed an interest in using the pamphlets to send out nutrition information via monthly email newsletters to all students through a program they use called Constant Contact. Additionally, I will be making condensed versions of the handouts to put online for any student to access them there. Bearing in mind that I am not a graphics designer and I've only been using Word and Paint to put these together, here's a peek at the rough draft of the online fact sheet I made for the third lesson (using Guiding Stars with MyPlate):


I'm sure the marketing people here will make it look much more professional, but I'm fairly happy with how it looks so far! Hopefully the students here at UND will get good use out of the information I'm putting together.

It's hard to believe half of my NACUFS internship experience is already over! It feels like there is so much more I want to do here, but I have already gotten to do so much. I can't wait to see what comes next!

Autumn - Ohio State University

The holiday weekend was a nice break after finishing the first quarter of the internship at Ohio State. However, once we returned from our home states, it was right back to work. The first assignment for the week was to work at the Ohio State Union Market. The Union Market is a food court, which presents students with the option to customize their meals in ways that traditional dining cannot offer. On Tuesday, we worked at the Union Market's sandwich/wrap/panini station, Dough-HI-O, and make-your-own salad station, Across the Field. The work was not too strenuous because there were no new student orientations this week, but the Union Market was still functioning to meet the needs of its regular diners.

On Wednesday, we were back at the Union Market working at its burger station, Fired Up. This station was the most energetic of the three because it was set up as a mock of the famous hamburger chain, Five Guys. This meant that when taking orders, we were to yell out to the cooks just how many patties of what kind (hamburger, turkey burger, chicken breast, salmon burger, or veggie burger) were needed.

Thursday brought us experiences in marketing and administration, as we shadowed employees from the University Residences and Dining Services main office. This day included critiquing the university's 19 page catering menu and sitting in on a meeting to shorten the menu. We also met with a representative from TriMark/SS Kemp, who will provide the university with various types of foodservice supplies and equipment. The last activity of this busy day was meeting with one of the head chefs in order to smooth out some kinks in a proposed set of traditional dining menus. We really felt a part of the team, after this day!

On Friday, we went on our first field trip. On our field trip we visited the headquarters of Velvet ice cream, which supplies various ice cream products to Ohio State. We toured the grounds with a gaggle of preschoolers and learned about the history of this family operated business. After our tour, we ate lunch at Velvet's restaurant, which included a few sundaes! However, the excitement of the day did not end after we got our fill of ice cream. On the way back from Velvet, we stopped at one of Ohio's roadside attractions:This is the Longaberger Basket Company headquarters, and, as you can see, it is a seven-story basket-shaped building. Weird!



After all of the lessons learned and excitement experienced, at the end of the week, the atmosphere at Ohio State changed. The number of participating NACUFS interns dropped from two to one, this week. However, I will continue to keep you updated on the activities that occur at Ohio State, and I am ready to face the challenge of continuing the internship on my own!