The last few days were shocking when we realized how fast
this internship went. However, this past week did not let us down. We stayed
busy doing yet another new round of jobs!
Monday-
Each year, the Residential and Housing Services holds a Golf
Outing event on one of MSU’s golf courses. It is a community building and
relaxing day for the workers. Kelsey and I worked the event with the
sustainability team. At each tee off there was a trashcan and recycling bin. As
a sustainability team, we monitored what was thrown away and tried to educate
the golfers how little really needs to go to the landfill. When the golfing was
done in the early afternoon, the clubhouse hosted a lunch so we cleared tables
and made sure all the plastic, paper, and food waste was sorted correctly. It
sounds like a dirty job, but I really enjoyed it!
Tuesday was fun, flexible day to work on our projects and
see some areas on campus that we had not been. I worked on a breakfast brochure
in the morning, and we spent the late morning touring the dining halls that we
had only heard about. It is outrageous how big each one is, and I can now see
why some employees never even make it across campus to visit another dining
hall. Each operation is so unique. My favorite part was seeing the newest
dining hall renovation, Landon. It is slated to open in the fall, and the
employees are all really excited to move in. The décor is beautiful, because
they were able to preserve some old fire places, rafters, and carpets. It is
multi-leveled and has a wonderfully warm feel. I wish I could be around to see
it packed with students and food! Our lunch was in the test kitchen, so we got
to do an evaluation of a mac n’ cheese bar, strawberry spinach salad, and
roasted fingerling potatoes to name a few. One of my favorite activities is to
evaluate tastes and flavors, and it is such a blast to be around other people
who enjoy it, too! The rest of the afternoon we spent in the Eli Broad Art
Museum on campus and rounded out the day with a stop at the MSU Dairy Store.
They make all of their own ice cream and cheeses with the help of their very
own dairy cows on campus. The flavor selection is phenomenal, as well as the
texture. 10 of their flavors are dedicated to each of the Big 10 schools, and I
was tempted to try the Nebraska Husker’s Sweet Corn. Instead I had a scoop of
green tea and a scoop of Minnesota Golden Gopher Smores. No regrets!
Wednesday-
Our day started around 6am when we boarded the van for a 2 ½
hour trip to South Bend, Indiana. When we arrived at Notre Dame University, we
jumped right into a tour of their food stores. They had a lot of freezer and
storage space, but they also did all the baking and some pre-cooked foods in
the facility. After their products go through their food stores, they get sent
to either of the two dining halls on campus. We toured both and had lunch at
South. It was interesting to see how they stressed community style eating with
their big tables, no personal seating, and promotion of dining hall eating
versus convenience store. Also, we took a walking tour of the whole, beautiful
campus. The Basilica, Dome, and The Grotto were highlights for me. During
lunch, Kelsey and I were both very excited to see their extensive salad bars,
including tofu, edamame, beets, beans, whole wheat pita, and quinoa. Those are
all foods that we miss! In the afternoon, we visited an on-campus
restaurant/bar, convenience store, and food court. It was great to see all the
“behind the scenes” of those facilities and very interesting to compare a
smaller, private school to MSU.
Thursday Kelsey and I spent our day in the test kitchen. We
met the Corporate Chef, Kurt. He gave us the run down of what his role is, as
well as the test kitchen’s, for the university dining services. When new halls
are testing recipes with their team members, they take over the kitchen for the
whole morning and then serve lunch to anyone on campus who is willing to fill
out an evaluation form. We got to help out with the preparation, and of course,
eat lunch. Kelsey and I rolled a lot of smoked salmon spring rolls. The theme
of the day was using up leftovers, so the smoked salmon was used the day
before. Some other items on the menu that I enjoyed were the panzanella bread
salad, sweet potato mash, homemade tortillas, and the peach and berry cobbler.
Also, the new hall is going to have a meat grinder, so they were testing
multiple homemade sausages. After lunch, we helped the food truck team prepare for
the next day. I panned up over 300 hamburgers while Kelsey baked 1000 cookies!
After I finished, I helped her individually wrap each one. A thousand cookies
may not sound like many, but if you ever get the opportunity to wrap all of
them, I suggest you bring some good music to listen to!
Friday-
Each summer at MSU an event is held for junior students in
high school to come look at the school. It is a very large event, and the
university sets up an area of food stands for them to choose from at lunchtime.
One is the popular, MSU Food Truck. Kelsey and I went into work at started
prepping for a day on the food truck. After assembling a lot of grilled cheese
sandwiches and loading the truck, we set up the site. There was so much
organization that went into the day, and it required a lot of teamwork.
Kelsey’s job was to bring the food tickets to the truck and yell “Order up!” I
worked in the truck by making sure the order matched the ticket then handed it
to the expeditor. We had a steady rush of people for most of the shift, but we
were all able to take a lunch break towards the end. Back in the main kitchen,
Kelsey and I got to tally up how many of each item was sold and witness the
banking happen. The whole process was really impressive and such a rush! I will
never take a food truck for granted again, because a lot of work goes into
everything for it.
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