Day 51-55: My final Week

Monday:

My last week here at CSU has finally arrived and it is a bitter sweet feeling.  This is the first times that I've been away from home for more than a month and have not missed home.  Of course, I'm looking forward to going back home for a bit.  The reality is that this is also my last year in Collge when I return to Minnesota.

I began my day working on reports for conference services.  I then moved on to calculating evaluations on pizzas and documenting them for the vendor.  Later in the afternoon I met Peter, one of the Directors.  Ironically, he had applied for a job in Minnesota at the College of Saint Benedict, just 3 years ago.

I must say that I am blown away by the staff's commitment to the students here at CSU.  I know that it is an expectation that  colleges and universities cater to the needs of students but here at CSU you see it in action.  I learnt that this was not Peter's first experience in collegiate dining services and his opinion was that it was the students that made the campus.

Based on the students' background, socioeconomic status or whether or not they were first generation students would impact their experiences on campus and interactions with other students and faculty.  The students here at CSU made it easy for the staff to connect with them and understand their needs.

Tuesday:

I started off my day with Becky discussing the budgeting process, financial statements and the relationship between a unit's revenue and expense reports and performance.  Food costs, distribution of labour, utilities fees, supplies and services, among other factors all affect a dining hall's expenses.  Any funds generated by the dining halls (after expenses have been covered) are used for the development of the housing and dining halls.  This explains the constant construction going on here at CSU.  The dining halls are doing pretty well.

Later in the afternoon, I met with Brittney to discuss evaluation processes for state-classified employees, hourly employees and administrative professional employees.  As expected, evaluations for the various types of employees are conducted differently.  Good evaluations all result in financial compensation for improved skills and/or work ethic.  However, poor evaluations are treated differently depending on the classification - as it should be.

Wednesday:

I spent a portion of the morning going over my end of internship presentation.  Later, Lori and I headed out to visit the Mishawaka.  I used the rest of the day as before - preparing for the presentation!

Thursday:

The big day finally came.!  As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I enjoy one-on-one conversations but public speaking is one of my weaker areas.  I have a tendency to speak quickly and this can result in me losing the attention of my audience.

I went in early (with help from Hannah) and met this beautiful cake prepared by the bakeshop - just for me!  It was really yummy!  I truly appreciate the team's efforts to surprise we with a farewell cake.  I will surely miss them all.

During my presentation, we ran into a few bugs with IT but at the end of the day I enjoyed talking as I had my audience's attention and I was able to control the speed of my speech.  I was pleased with the presentation of my speech.

The past two months have been an awesome experience both for my education and career, as well as personal development.  I am also grateful for the exposure to various cultures and social atmospheres (civil and working) that I was exposed to.

I've found the team very supportive and open to freedom of expression.  Even if they don't personally subscribe to an individual's lifestyle or belief, they show respect and allow persons to express themselves freely within the boundaries that have been set for all.  Finally, A lot of times we think people may not "doing their best" and its our moral duty to "save" them.  I'm not saying we should allow our friends to drink themselves to their death but allowing people to be themselves may not be such a bad idea.

It was amazing to see so many people working for the university with sleeves of tattoos and loc'd hair.  This is truly diversity in action.

Working with the CSU Residential Dining Service team was a wonderful and rewarding experience and I definitely plan to visit Fort Collins again.

Day 47-50: Corbett and Weekend

Day 47:

Today, I'll be working the closing shift, so I didn't have to go in until 10:30am!  I was assigned by Tina to prepare Pork Green Chili.  This was interesting as I have never cooked pork in my life.  I do not remember ever eating pork either.

I was pretty excited about this assignment.  I have done a lot of prep work which is necessary for the chefs to do their jobs but I have not had the opportunity to prepare the items myself.

I started off by cooking the 20lbs of pork in an industrial sized skillet.  Once the pork was completely cooked throughout, I threw in the other ingredients - tomatoes, green chilies, jalepenos, onions, garlic, cumin, tomatoes and water.  I allowed the mixture to simmer for about an hour and then I added the cornstarch and water mixture (a slurry) to thicken up the chili.

This process took a little longer than I expected.  As I was preparing the chili, I received at least three different ways to go about completing a particular step of the recipe.  It was interesting to hear the reason behind each variation.  They all sounded valid to me, which made it a bit difficult to decide which option to use.

Once the mixture was properly cooked we panned it up and put it in the chili blaster for storage.

Due to the nature of the dinner shift, I had some down time which I used to work on various assignments until it was time to close.

When it was time for closing, I went into the dining hall and filled in as needed and also helped to close the dining hall and prepare for operations in the morning.

Day 48:

I started my morning off in Corbett.  Sheryl had me make blueberry pancakes.  This was the first time I had done any batch cooking.  For most of the other meals, they are generally prepared before the shift.  However, to ensure quality and to prevent waste, it is necessary that pancakes are prepared to order.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in Palmer and Durrell working on my assignments.

Day 49:

Today was spent mostly in the dorms.  I started off at the gym and found myself using some of the warm-up exercises from the ballet classes I took at home as a part of my routine.   I had the opportunity to share this exercise with one of the football players who has been helping me with my push-ups.  I went from doing 10 (yes, sad, I know) to 25 in one set!  He made it through the entire exercise and seemed to have enjoyed it.  Some persons do not consider ballet a sport or take it seriously.  It was refreshing to see someone, especially a guy being open to and participating in participating in the exercises.

Day 50:

I started off my morning with Megan and Sam with a hike it Horsetooth.  Megan had advised that this hike would be much easier than Arthur's.  I had a really hard time believing that at the beginning.  It was extremely hot and I had to make frequent stops to drink water and catch my breath.  At the beginning of the hike there wasn't much shade.

On the way up we ran into a couple who was walking their goats.  This is definitely something I do not see everyday.

However, about halfway through we were blessed with a few trees that provided much needed shade.  Once we made it to our destination, I was able to confirm that it was much easier than Arthur's Rock.

Horsetooth Rock

Day 46: Palmer

My morning began with Lori also appeared to be ready and dressed for an adventure.  I knew we would be visiting Estes today but I did not realize what I was getting into.  Lori updated me on the game plan for the day.  She had a meeting at 9am and if we were both done with our work by then, we would hit the road.  I've never been so efficient with these reports ever!  I completed them all before Lori was out of her meeting so I used the extra time to work on my special event proposals project.

After I was done I went over to my dorm to dress more comfortably and grab an extra sweater as it was bound to be chilly up in the mountains.

Lori's first question was, "do you get car sick"?  I thought, what am I getting myself into.  I don't have car sickness that badly, however, I don't handle turns and curves too well.  Lori advised that I was in for a treat.

The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park

Among the clouds :)

I wish I remembered the joke.

My official tourist photo at The Continental Divide!

Elk!

2 miles above sea level!

As we were driving to Estes, Lori told me about how last fall's flood impacted the towns within the mountains.  Its scary how something so vital as life preserving as water can also be so destructive.  We visited the Glen Haven General Store, one of the stores that was destroyed by the flood.  Luckily, they were able to rebuild due to gracious donations from their loyal customers.  Lori insisted that I try the cinnamon roll.  She didn't have to insist twist my arm as I am not one to turn down dessert.  It was yummy.  The rolls were very fresh as it was still moist and warm.

As we arrived to the park, we stopped by the Stanley Hotel, which has been listed as one of the United States' most haunted hotels.

After driving around for a bit we finally arrived up in the mountains.  It was a pretty gloomy day but I was thrilled to be up there.  Being in the mountains really helped me to appreciate the awesomeness of life and nature.  We soon made our first stop at a ledge.  It was amazing and very cold.  The clouds were nearby and I had to put on a second sweatshirt.  I couldn't believe that people were walking about in T-Shirts.  They must have been from Minnesota!  I took a few pictures and ran back to Lori's vehicle.

We then came upon a trail which led to Lake Irene which is pictured below.

Lake Irene

Lori was so determined that I would see wildlife today.  We drove around for a while in search of any type of wildlife.  Eventually my body must have given up because I took a nap, or two.  Finally, we found an Elk!  Shortly after that we came across a moose and another big heard of elk!


After all of the driving we took a break for fresh air and sweets!  Of course, I picked up dark chocolate fudge.  I also tried some of Lori's candy apple.  I've always seen these in airports and at fairs but I never tried it.  I was so glad I tried it today, it was delicious!  It was a full day!  Thanks for the great adventure Lori!

Day 45: Corbett

I started off at 5:30am by helping Kay prep the lines for breakfast.  This was not my first early shift and I couldn't help but reflect on a few conversations I had the day before.  Foodservice employees work odd hours throughout the day.  They spend most holidays working.  Most days off are spent resting or running errands.  They also stand up for about 8 hours in any given day.

When my friends and family learned that I go to work before the sun even came up, they were in shock.  The reality is that food has to be prepped and students have to be fed.  Yesterday, after the big rush someone commented "I am sure that you have probably decided by now that this is not the field that you'd like to pursue".  I value service, that is one thing for sure.  However, I don't think many people consider the challenges that food-service employees endure.

My first week in a dining hall, one of my co-workers had commented,  "People think that those who work in dining services aren't the brightest batch.  But these are intelligent people. They have to manage providing quality, safe and tasty food at an affordable price for hundreds of students on a daily basis."  Cooking at home is a task.  When you have the health and welfare of students on your hands you have to be on top of your game at all times.  Aside from general food safety, we must also take precautions to ensure that we do not cross-contaminate food that can possibly harm our customers with food allergies and intolerance.  Food-service is obviously more than just boiling water and throwing potatoe flakes into a pot. 

In a university setting, it is about making sure that students feel at home. That they are also informed about various foods and that they have access to information so that they can make choices that are ideal for their health and personal preferences or requirements.

Back to my day, after helping prep for breakfast I worked on more prepping herbs and veggie soups.  After lunch I met with Ben to discuss my mid-term evaluation.  We discussed the progress of the internship and areas that I could improve on.  Ben had provided helpful tools for the remainder of my internship here at CSU.  I was pleased with the evaluation.

I then met with a variety of managers and directors to discuss the progress of special events for Corbett next year.  We discussed the Bollywood themed event which I teamed up with Steve on.  We had a lot of great recipes, more than enough to choose from.  We finally completed the menu!  I can't wait to see pictures from this event next year.  

Day 44: Corbett

I started off the morning making "Pigs In a Blanket" with Lauren the dietetic intern.  I was with her most of the day and we discussed many issues we encounter as nutrition/dietetic students.  From books and articles that provide health information with scientific information to issues within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics which makes the process to register as a dietitian impossible for about half of the students in the program.



 After Lauren and I were done with the "Pigs in a Blanket" we began cooking pasta.  Lauren and I were just about done with the pasta when we noticed a change in the pace of our fellow employees.  Everyone was scrambling and we assumed it was a little busy.  The dining hall had received much more people than the projected count and it seemed like everyone came at the same time.  We pretty much got caught off guard.


 Later in the afternoon I headed over to Durrell to assist Christian and a few student managers with preparing a training video for the incoming employees for the fall semester.  I was given the task of explaining how to properly wash your hands.  The first segment included me participating in activities that would require employees to wash their hands such as touching my hair and eating chocolate chip cookies!  After that I was taped showing the new employees how to properly wash hands (for the full 20 seconds).  We also covered putting on gloves with cuts on your hand.  This required us to use a finger-tip band aid and a finger glove.


After this exercise, I met with Hal to discuss my progress on one of the special events that I have been working on.  In about a week and a half I will be presenting to the managers here at CSU about the special events that I have been assigned.  As I had mentioned earlier one of these special events celebrate Caribbean culture and cuisine.  However, this particular assignment that I was working on with Hal was not as familiar for me.  The theme was "Harvest".  When I saw the theme, I had no idea where to even start.  I began the first steps, I created a timeline for the event for the staff of Durrell (the dining hall at which it would be hosted).  Additionally, some of the funds from this event will be donated to a local charity, so I researched information on various local charities as well.  However, after that I was stumped.  I had no idea what kind of food or atmosphere was needed for a "Harvest" themed meal.  After the meeting with Ben a few weeks back, I finally got the ball rolling.  Hal and the other staff at Durell also had other great ideas which I compiled. 

Day 42 & 43: Weekend

Saturday:
It was so nice to sleep in.  I grabbed lunch from Corbett, had a great workout and picked up a cup of beet juice from Ma's Juicebar.  One of my dorm mates invited me to go to the movies.  I didn't have any plans so I agreed.  However, when I realized what they had planned to watch I was a bit disappointed.  Planet of the Apes has an interesting storyline and message, but I just get disturbed watching people being killed for entertainment.  I understand reality and that it is just a movie, but its just not my thing.





On the way to the movies we stopped for Chipotle.  Since I've been here I've been trying to avoid restaurants that I could find near my town in Minnesota.  I did not miss any of those restaurants.  I did enjoy my meal, but it wasn't Big City Burrito or Fuzzy's. 

At the movies we actually ran into two of the USDA interns who had planned to watch the movie as well, but their showing was 15 minutes earlier.  The movie wasn't surprisingly as horrid as I expected.  Of course there was horror and gore.  But Caesar amazed me once again.  I admire his love for his people and humanity.

After the movie, I wasn't feeling too well and I was ready to sleep.  Ironically, the minute I walked into my dorm Alex had texted me and before I knew it I was back out on the town for a "girl's night out".  We had some interesting conversations and I actually felt much better than I did by the time we got back to our dorm.

Sunday:

After the gym today, Hailey and I headed to Jaw's for sushi.  Although it was great, after making my own for a week I wasn't feeling "oh my goodness this food is wonderful".  I headed back to the dorms and finally begun studying for the GRE!  I have been postponing this since last year.

Looking forward to beginning my week at Corbett!

Day 41: Braiden

I had grits and pear for breakfast, so I started my morning off with a yummy hearty meal!

My last day at Braiden began at 5am this morning by opening up the hall with Elsy.  Once we were done preparing the building for daily operations we began to prepare the items for breakfast.

Shortly after I assisted Clayton with Salads.  Within 5 minutes of running out of pineapples and grapes, the Freshpoint representative arrived with a supply of those items among other items that Braiden had ordered.  Perfect timing - or close enough!

After salads I worked with Kris on garlic breads.  A CSU student from India joined me to assist with dressing and cutting the bread.  Meanwhile we talked about our education.  He advised that his parents both held master's degrees and his father had multiple (3 if my memory serves me right).  I was amazed.  He went on to share that he loves college and I was amazed and understood when he explained his reasons.   We talked about the healthcare and pharmaceuticals.  It was interesting to be informed about Ayurveda, a science which also includes "alternative" healthcare practices.

I headed over to Spoons after work to participate as a mystery shopper as a favour for one the employees.  More focaccia bread!  I think I'm good on focaccia for the rest of the year.

After the gym today, I was too tired to think about doing anything else.  It has been a full week!

Day 40: Braiden

I was talking to the supervisor about which station I would be working at for the morning when Clayton walked over slightly frantically stating that salads was in need of urgent assistance.  I therefore headed over and started my day off at the salads station prepping grapes, cantaloupes and other fruits for the line.  We always pre-washed the fruits and vegetables in Victory Wash ( visit an article here for more produce wash) which is a an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal rinse which compliments the food safety program here at CSU.

I spent most of my day at Salads.  I then headed over with Nick to watch a weekly cleaning process of the dish machine using lime-a-way.  This would breakdown any items that may have been inaccessible through the daily cleaning and built up over time.  As I poured the product into the dish machine I began to choke as the liquid hit the hot pipes.  Nick advised that I could simply turn the bottle upside down and let it self-drain.  This was the best option - I stuck the bottle in a spot and walked away as I tried to catch my breath.

We checked in on the progress of the process frequently to ensure all was in order.  This cleaning process took approximately one hour.

I also helped Lucy rolled sushi, after which, I headed over to Palmer to check on the progress of the Food Allergy Policy with Brittney.

 I was able to make it to the gym after work today and enjoyed some coconut water, after which I called it a day.

Day 39: Palmer

I came to a sad realization today that I have only two and a half weeks left here at CSU.  This is a bitter sweet feeling as I am thoroughly enjoying this experience.  Anyway, I'll save my alligator tears for a later post.

Like every other Wednesday, I came over to Palmer to work on the conference reports.  Additionally, this week we had a few meal cards that didn't work at the meal check (cash register/till).  When this happens, the meal check would just write down the ID number of the customer.  However, in order for the dining hall to receive revenue we have to enter each number into the system  This process took me up until lunch.

Corbett was serving focaccia bread with their soup today!  Every time I see focaccia bread now, even if I'm at Soups and Spoons, it reminds me of Jodi and the awesome team at Bakeshop.  After lunch I returned to Palmer and spent the rest of my day generating ideas for the special events that I am currently planning.

The Bahamas will be celebrating their 41st year of independence on July 10th, and this will be the first time that I won't be home for any of the celebrations.  I was a bit down about this so I went to King Sooper's to pick up a few grocery items so that I can make Bean n' Grits to feel like I was almost home (I didn't have pigeon peas, traditionally, it would be Peas n' Grits).  I also picked up a few avocadoes to have on the side (or pear as we would call it at home).  I'll probably also make some sky juice for the weekend.  Sky juice is coconut water and sweetened condensed milk.

It was so wonderful to have a Bahamian meal before going to sleep for the night!  Happy Independence Bahamas!!

Day 38: Braiden

I started off my morning with Hunter in the dish room at Braiden.  I spent the morning monitoring temperatures for the dish machine and assisting the staff in typical dish room functions.  I've realized that documentation is very important here at Braiden (or CSU dining in general).

Approximately every hour, we would record the temperature of the rinsing and washing water in the dish machine.  Sometimes we would use the manual thermometers and other times we would  use a heat/liquid sensitive sticker.

We had a lot of people working the shift, so it never got really hectic during the morning.  After lunch, I ended up helping Lucy once again with rolling sushi. After we were just about done Abra and I talked about our countries' history - she was born and raised in Hawaii.

Once we were done rolling, I had some down time to work on a few of my projects.  And then at 5:40pm, every single person in the dining hall decided to leave at the same time.  Which meant that the dish room was slightly chaotic.  I went in the back to help out and of course, our awesome team had everything under control within a few minutes.

We took a break for dinner and I finally got to taste some of the sushi that we made!  It was wonderful.  After break, it was back to the dish room to close it out for the evening.  Everyone was in "mad-dash" mode and before we knew it we were out and on our way home.

I had zero desire to do anything after work today.  However, it was still pretty hot again today and I was craving some coconut water and malt.  So, I stopped by an international grocery store and they actually carried malt!  The brand was called Bavaria, its much less thick than Vitamalt which I'm used to from home but it was pretty refreshing.  I just spent the rest of the evening in my room preparing for the next day.

Day 37: Braiden

I started my first rotation at Braiden.  Braiden is hosting "Preview" which means that they are the designated dining hall for orientation students and their parents/guardians.  Ironically, I was working with Marsha prepping the desserts for lunch.  The pies, cakes, cinnamon straws and many other goodies were similar to the items that I had a hand in making or watched my co-workers make previously.  It was pretty cool to now be a part of and see the end product for the dining halls.

Shortly after, I met with Nick, one of the managers at Braiden, to discuss my goals and plans for the week.  Nick advised that I would be out in the dining hall directing students and their parents and providing information about Braiden.   Although I have already had a few tours of Braiden, I couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated.  I walked out into the dining hall to familiarize myself with the menu items and stations so that I would have no concerns - or at least minimize them.  Shortly after Nick, Jason (from Ram's Horn) and I, headed out into the dining hall.  Of course, it was pretty slow at the beginning of the lunch period so Nick filled me in with information that would be useful to the customers.

It wasn't as bad as I expected.  I was able to communicate the information effectively and it wasn’t such a big deal.  Nick had asked me whether I had ever made sushi before, which I had, but I didn't think it was a big deal.  I soon found out that the sushi crew was down a few persons and they needed to make about 100 sushi rolls.  My first one wasn't that bad, but it took me about 10 minutes  (or felt that way) just to get the rice down.  It was about 4:00pm when Lucy had announced that we had 10 to complete in 15 minutes.  I laughed to myself because I knew when she first began showing me how to roll sushi, it was a struggle.  I didn't think I could do it, but by 4:13pm I had completed 10 rolls of sushi!  I am now a self-proclaimed pro!  Lucy was such a great trainer!  She was very critical but patient even though she was on the clock to complete her assignment.

When I finally stepped out of Braiden, I thought I was going to melt.  The heat had hit me hard - it was a whopping 97 degrees!  Despite the heat, I enjoyed the rest of my evening playing volleyball.

Days 33-36: 4th of July Weekend

Day 32:

I have today and the rest of the weekend off, so I planned to use today to get a few things out of the way.  I've been running low on medication and had planned to get a re-fill, but unfortunately there were a few complications.  I spent most of my day trying to work this out with to avail.  Later that afternoon I helped a guy on campus, Steve, fix his locs.

Once again, I took a well needed nap.  When I woke up, I was really craving something from Mad Green.  I enjoyed my meal at Mad Greens,but I was still pretty hungry.  So, I stopped to Pizza Casbah for chicken tenders which were pretty good.  I liked that I got three different flavors for the chicken dip.  I tried the Garlic Alfredo, Honey Barbeque and Spicy Barbeque. They were all pretty different and I found it hard to choose a favourite so I decided to mix the three flavours together.  It was nice tasting mixture.

Later that evening I headed into Old Town with a dorm mate, hoping to catch one of the Band's from the Ben and Jerry's music series.  Unfortunately, it was the wrong night.  We got milkshakes from Cold Stone, so the evening wasn't completely in vain.
Day 33:


My first Fourth of July in the U.S.!  I spent most of my day with the other Interns.  We walked into Old Town for lunch.  I had passed The Colorado Room last night and noticed that they sold poutine ( a heart stopping Canadian dish that one of my roommates at CSB introduced me to).  I ordered one of those with a slider.  It tasted really good but I had just loaded my body with lots of salt and fat.  To try and counteract this, I got some carrot juice from The Bean Cycle. It was really refreshing!

We then headed back to campus to prepare for the City Park firework show and it started to rain.  We stopped to get out of the rain, and coincidentally, we stopped in front of Kilwin's, a chocolate shop!  There are not many food items on this planet that I love more than chocolate.  I went in and ordered a few pieces and by the time I was done the rain had cleared up.

We headed back to campus where we got some blankets to sit on and then headed out to the park.  We sat there for a while, and even slept for a bit while we waited for the fireworks to begin.

At City Park!

 

After the show ended we headed back to campus and I fell asleep almost immediately.  It had been a full day!

Day 34:


Today was pretty slow.  I had breakfast with some of Durrell's staff.  Shortly after, I headed to the gym where I played some volleyball.  After the gym, I helped another guy fix his locs - this was a task!  I believe he had double the amount of locs than the previous guy.

Later in the evening we headed out to Fuzzy's for burritos and tacos. They were just as good as the last time!

Day 35:

Megan picked me up from my dorm this morning and I immediately noticed Sam, Megan's dog.  I have never really been a dog person, however, I've come to like our two family dog's at home.  Megan must have noticed my slight tension as she asked about any allergies or fear of dogs but she reaffirmed that Sam was pretty well-behaved.

Megan, Sam and I headed off to the Lory State Park to climb up to Arthur's Rock (the one I was pointing to in my first post).

Megan advised that would be a little over three miles, however, we would be climbing about 1,100 feet.  Although I enjoy hiking at home, we hardly ever encounter any elevation.  Three miles didn't sound like a big deal but I had no clue what to expect.  Megan was pretty helpful, with making sure that I took breaks as needed.  And surprisingly, I enjoyed Sam's company - she didn't lick me once :) .

Megan, Sam and I on top of Arthur's Rock

Some of the rocks we climbed!

Bakeshop: Day 32

 I got to sleep in until 3am today :).  Surprisingly, this was much more difficult than waking up at 1am.  I felt like I was still asleep as I rode my bike across campus.

When I arrived, Jodi was once again very enthusiastic.   I suggested that I make the focaccia bread on my own.  We talked about scaling recipes and how sometimes it can affect the product seeing that I would be making a much smaller serving.  As Jodi advised, the dough was little bit more wet than it should have been so I had to make adjustments to the recipe as I prepared the dough.

While I was waiting for it to "proof", I worked with Amy on frosting cupcakes.  My first try was pretty bad.  Luckily we were able to save the cupcake.  I figured and almost hoped that Amy would complete the rest because the cupcakes had to look appropriate for the customers.  She took out a piece of parchment paper and advised me to practice.  After about 10 tries, I finally got the right "swirl".  I was only able to frost one cup-cake as Jodi called me over to help with cinnamon straws.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes - what they should look like.

These were pretty cool. I was obviously new to the twisting technique as  it took me forever to do about 10, while the other bake completed 40!  When they were ready we put them into the cooler to be baked the next day.

After my stint at the bakery, I headed over to Palmer to finish up a few things and that was my day!  I was tired, so I headed off to bed.  I had the best nap of my life after work today.  I think running around with MS 150 and the bakeshop had finally caught up with me.  When I eventually woke up, I realized that I had missed dinner.  I decided to walk into town to Toy's Café for dinner with one of my dorm mates.  I was still pretty tired so I slept in for the rest of the night.

Bakeshop: Day 31

I started off my morning in the bakeshop with Jodi, who was extremely animated at 2am.  We started off the morning by preparing a recipe for focaccia bread for the "bread bench".  We got all of the ingredients together and placed them in the mixer while we worked on other items.  The other tasks were pretty simple and quick. I glazed a few cinnamon and potatoe buns and a pan of dinner rolls.

Cinnamon rolls

 

 

After the dough for the focaccia bread was ready we prepared it for baking.  While we were waiting for it to "proof" (rise) we worked on a few other recipes, once again preparing dough for a different recipe.  There was some bread left over, so I got to try it.  It was amazing! 

Focaccia bread

After we were done I worked with Amy on the "cake finishing bench".  As much as I love baking cakes, I rarely put frosting on them just because I'm not that great at it.  Amy was determined that I would learn how to ice a cake.  It turned out much better than I expected.   All I needed was patience and a bit of confidence.

Thanks Amy!

Later in the afternoon I prepared mud pies with Amy and this was a task.  It was really an easy pie to mess-up because of the jelly nature and the crumbly crust.  With Amy's guidance I was able to make it look presentable. I'd say I did a pretty decent job.

 

Recipe Testing: Day 30

I started my morning in Palmer once again working on reports.  Afterwards, I headed over to Durrell to meet with Jeremy, the Executive Chef and Lauren, a dietetic intern.  Our project for today was to test a few recipes that would be used for the upcoming school year.

Jeremy first explained to us the various recipes that we would be testing.  We then made a list of all the ingredients we would need and got them out of storage.  We spent most of the day prepping for the recipes.  Every now and then Jeremy chipped in to show Lauren and myself a few kitchen techniques (like how not to chop your fingers off when slicing onions).  The first recipe we tested was Tom Yum Kai.  This was a curry chicken broth based soup.  The first attempt went well but we all agreed that it could have used more curry, fish sauce and lime.  Jeremy proceeded to make those adjustments and also added a bit of coconut milk as well.

We decided that it would be best to resume the testing period tomorrow so we cleaned up for the day.

The rest of my evening was pretty uneventful so I got some more rest. I knew I had to be ready for work by 2am since I would be starting my Bakeshop rotation.

Weekend: Days 28 & 29

Saturday:

I started off my morning with Ben discussing management, particularly within collegiate dining.  He introduced me to a few the ManageFirst program that I'm sure will be pretty helpful in the long run. 

After that I worked on a few projects for a while and then everyone headed for lunch.  Ben had offered to take Ryan and I to Five Guys  for lunch.  In my head I was thinking, "what am I going to eat?".  I've always heard students in Minnesota talk about five guys and I wanted to try it out - but I don't eat hamburgers so I figured it wouldn't leave much for me to purchase.  Luckily, that had a veggie sandwhich, so I ordered that with some cajun fries.  Ben joked that I got the Five Guy's Lite version.

After lunch we had a staff meeting to update everyone on their MS 150 roles and then we headed down to the field.  My task for the evening was to monitor temperatures.  Everything started off pretty smooth, fruits, salads, the hot pass and truck were all at the ideal temperatures.  Ideally, cold foods would remain below 41 degrees and hot foods above 140 degrees (give and take a few degrees depending on your system) - however it was a pretty hot day and we were serving outdoors so we had to take extra precautions.

Jeb and Skyler both advised me that the truck may fluctuate in temperatures during its defrosting periods.  Jeb also advised that it would be pretty difficult to maintain due to the constant opening and closing of the truck to move items out - but despite the circumstances the truck's temperature remained pretty stable throughout the day.

All of the hot food was fine too.  However, the ranch dressing and hummus was giving us a hard time.  The items weren't moving as fast as the others so they were out in the heat longer.  We figured it would be best to switch them out or just use smaller bowls of ranch/hummus.

After I was done managing the temps I headed to my room for a quick nap.  Later eventually I woke up a little hungry and I realized I actually had enough time to make it to the Ras-ka, the Ethiopian restaurant.  It really felt like I've always known Hanna (the owner) and the food...or atmosphere was a home-cooked style.   I had some really interesting conversations with other customers about hair (as one had dreadlocks and the other was starting his as well.  She also had a "fortune" jar.  My message was "may you never encounter betrayal" - and that sparked another conversation about life and relationships.  Throughout the evening, Hanna offered us to try other items she made just for the sake of it.  She was really a wonderful person to meet and talk to.

Sunday:

It was 2:00am when I left my dorm to head over to Durrell to begin preparing food for MS 150.  It was a little weird because people were actually just getting back to the dorms from a night out, or on their way somewhere else - and here I was in my uniform, on my way to work.  As I was walking down the street I heard something going through the fence and I thought it was a person - but it was a raccoon.  I'm used to squirrels, but that raccoon was way too big for my liking so I crossed the street and began speed walking to Durrell.

I eventually made it without being noticed by the raccoon.  I helped Vita and Jarrad with preparing turkey and veggie sausages for the breakfast that we would be serving that evening.  Time passed and we began service again.  It was interesting to see the change in the people early in the morning.  Last night as we served dinner we got a lot of "great job's" and "thank you's" but today the varied responses was on an even greater spectrum.  We received a whole lot of people who were amazed and truly grateful that we were out there at 3am preparing to serve their meals and then there where others who were obviously not morning persons and grouched their way through the lines.

After we were done serving, I headed to my dorm for a quick nap.  Later in the afternoon I headed over to Fuzzy's with one of my dorm mates.  I got a shrimp burrito, it was pretty good.  I'm not sure how many different burrito places I'm going to visit while I'm here but I hope that was the last one. 

Saturday:

 

My Saturday began with discussions with Ben on management and specifically within collegiate dining.  Ben introduced me to the ManageFirst program that appears to be a great program that adds significant value.  The program covers hospitality and restaurant management, ServSafe (food safety program), Human Resources management and supervision, and foodservice costs among other courses.  Unlike college/university degrees which can teach one topic in various way, this program is standardized and created by the National Association of Restaurants.

 Next, I worked on my special event projects until it was time to head for lunch.  Ben had offered to take Ryan and I to Five Guys  for lunch.  I have heard about Five Guys from other students in Minnesota and I always wanted to try this restaurant.  I do not eat hamburgers so I figured my choices would be limited.  Luckily, they offered a veggie sandwich which I ordered with some Cajun fries.  Ben joked that I got the Five Guy's Lite version.

 After lunch we had a staff meeting to update everyone on their MS 150 roles and then we headed down to the field.  My task for the evening was to monitor temperatures.  Everything started off pretty smooth, fruits, salads, the hot pass and the delivery truck were all at the ideal temperatures.  Ideally, cold foods would remain below 41 degrees and hot foods above 140 degrees (give and take a few degrees depending on your system).  However, it was a pretty hot day and we were serving outdoors so we had to take extra precautions.

 Jeb and Skyler both advised me that the delivery truck may have fluctuation in temperature during the defrosting periods.  Jeb also advised that it would be pretty difficult to maintain the temperature due to the constant opening and closing of the truck door to move items out.  Fortunately, the truck's temperature remained pretty stable throughout the day.

 All of the hot foods faired pretty well.  We were however, concerned about the ranch dressing and hummus as these items were not moving as fast as the others so they were out in the heat longer.  We decided it would be best to switch them out or just use smaller bowls of ranch dressing and hummus.

Finally, after I was done, I headed to my room for a quick nap.  Later, when I woke up, I was a bit hungry and decided to visit the Ras-ka, an Ethiopian restaurant.  It felt as though I have always known Hanna (the owner of the restaurant).  The restaurant's vibe was as if you were eating in your Mummy (mother) or Grandmother's kitchen.  It was such a warm and inviting environment.  I had some interesting conversations with other customers about hair (as one had dreadlocks and the other was starting his as well).  Hanna also had a "fortune" jar.  My message was "may you never encounter betrayal", and this sparked another conversation about life and relationships.  Throughout the evening, Hanna offered us to try other items she made just for the fun of it.  She was really a wonderful person and I am happy to have met and talk with her.

 Sunday:

 I left my dorm at 2:00am and headed over to Durrell to begin preparing food for MS 150.  It was a little weird because people were just returning to the dorms from a night out on the town or on their way to some other event.  Me, here I was, in my uniform and on my way to work.  As I was walking down the street I heard movement near the fence.  I thought it was someone, but it turned out to be a raccoon.  I am used to squirrels, but that raccoon was so big that I decided to cross the street and began speed walking to Durrell.

I eventually made it without being approached by the raccoon.  I helped Vita and Jarrad prepare turkey and veggie sausages for the breakfast that we would be served for breakfast.  Time passed and we began service again.  It was interesting to see the different personalities of the people we served early in the morning.  Last night as we served dinner we received good feedback such as, "great job" and "thank you" Today, however, the varied responses was on an even greater spectrum.  We received a whole lot of people who were amazed and truly grateful that we were out there at 3am preparing to serve their meals and then there where others who were obviously not morning people and grouched their way through the lines.

After we were done serving, I headed to my dorm for a quick nap.  Later in the afternoon I headed over to Fuzzy's with one of my dorm mates.  I got a shrimp burrito and it was pretty good.  I have had so many burritos while here in Fort Collins, I think I'm just about done.

 

Durrell: Day 27

This morning I worked with Catering again.  I usually wear my SJU sweatshirt because I'm normally cold at work - even when I'm not in the cooler.  Today I picked up my Slow Caves pullover instead, probably because it was easy to locate.  When David saw me, he appeared surprised and I wasn't sure why until he asked me if liked Slow Caves.

I am not really a fan - that evening I went to see their show without any idea of who they were.   It was warm when we went out so I was dressed for summer.  About 30 minutes later it got a little chilly.  Luckily at the show they were selling band paraphernalia and believe it or not there was just one sweat shirt left.  Even better, it was my size and it cost only $15.  I think this has been the least expensive sweatshirt I have ever bought.  So, back to David - the drummer of the band is his best friend.  It was pretty interesting what happened after that.  I met David yesterday, and we were even paired together to work the catering event.  We probably spoke about three words to each other.  We had nothing to share, or so we thought.  After we realized that we both had some level of interest in Slow Caves, things changed.  I thought this was pretty interesting because the same thing happened with Philip and I earlier this week when I heard him playing Soca music.
Rachel presented our task for the day and advised that we had 150 sandwiches to prepare.  That didn't seem like a big deal to me - we had a system, David and I made the sandwiches and Rachel wrapped them in the wax paper.  However, Rachel went home because she was not feeling well.  I still didn't feel overwhelmed. David and I worked pretty quickly as we had no other choice - the customers had to get their sandwiches.  Anthony, one of the managers, pitched in and helped us prepare some of the hummus wraps (which looked pretty good - something else I intend to try at home).

We finished up the sandwiches and then helped our co-workers pack cookies, tomatoes and lettuce for the lunch boxes.  We thought we were finally done when one of the catering team members came into the kitchen asking for the rest of the lettuce and tomatoes.  I advised her that the left over items were in the cooler.  There were only about 5 or 6 bags each of lettuce and tomatoes left. We learnt that we needed 40 more.  I started to panick a little.  We were almost done and scheduled to pack the truck for delivery in a few minutes.  David and I both looked at each other in confusion. We filled all of the boxes with lettuce and tomatoes but could not understand what had happened.  Then I remembered. Justin, one of the student managers asked where the extra boxes were and I assumed - maybe we just didn't have enough boxes in general.  Four of us got on it right away and began bagging more lettuce and tomatoes.  We were relieved when we were advised that they no longer needed anymore bags of lettuce and tomatoes.

We packed everything up and got on the delivery truck, dropped off the boxes and headed off to lunch at Ram's Horn.  The ride to drop off the boxes was fine as Chuckie and I were able to make a "seat".  However, heading back was a different story.  Every two seconds I was trying to regain my balance and looking for something to hold onto so that I would not tumble over. It was difficult but fortunately it was a short 5 minute drive.

The rest of the day consisted of meetings, upon meetings, upon meetings.  I sat in briefly on a staff and MS 150 planning meeting.  MS 150 is a large biking event that raises funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  I then met with Steve, one of the managers at Corbett to discuss plans for the Bollywood themed special event.  It went pretty well but neither of us were familiar with the culture of the theme and realized that we would have to do our research and also get others involved to avoid a misinterpretation of the culture.  Steve had already tested out Sandesh, an Indian dessert and offered me some to taste!  It was yummy.  We talked briefly about the issues that he encountered with making the dessert.  He used lemon to make the milk curd but added cream for thickness.  The second time he tried the recipe he used more cream to try to increase the thickness but the fat interfered with the curding process.  Afterwards, I was on my way to Palmer to meet with Lauren briefly about the food policy plan to ensure that we were both on the same page before we began going into detail.

I ended my day at Durrell working on the special event projects.

After the gym, Alex and Hailey wanted to hop on a bus and go on an "adventure".  We didn't do any planning at all.  We went to the transit center and got on the next bus.  We actually met this wonderful woman who heard me playing music off of my phone and came over to talk to us.  It was really amazing, she shared personal stories with us and (with our permission) offered prayers as well.  She offered an interesting perspective on life, family and careers.  Its crazy how some people come into your life at the right time and with a purpose.

After we got off the bus, we realized it was the last one running for the night!  We walked around the plaza and when we were done we tried to call for a ride.  We had no success so we started to walk back to campus which was approximately a 3 mile walk.  It was a beautiful night and the stars were out and shining brightly.  Finally, we caught up with the other interns and Kyle collected us.  Tonight was an interesting evening!

Durrell: Day 26

I started off my morning in Palmer, completing the conference meal count reports.  These reports document how many meals are used out of the meal plans that were purchased.  I generally go to Palmer weekly to create the reports after the conference has ended to obtain the final number of meals used.

 

After bringing the reports up to date, I headed over to Durrell to begin working with catering.  Prior to this, I've only had the opportunity to catered one event, which was the SJU Senior Banquet this semester.  It is always nice to experience what goes on outside of the typical collegiate dining hall environment.  At the SJU catering event I helped with set-up, take-down and worked the line as a runner to ensure that containers were always ready for service.  At Durrell's catering event I worked the floor which was a new experience.  I was responsible for making sure that pitchers were full, line staff had the items they needed and clearing tables at the appropriate time.

 

The event was held for retirees and focused on giving them information about the updates and progress of housing and dining services.  I was aware of a lot of the initiatives and accomplishments of CSU but I was pretty amazed at their efforts towards sustainability and student satisfaction.  It was interesting to see how we tailored the event  based on the audience.  It was expected that this particular group would arrive early - which they did.  This really wasn't an issue for us as it just meant a quick set-up.  As I was going around to retrieve the empty plates, I tried to say "Pardon me, excuse me or are you done with this?" but I soon realized this was not effective as most of them could not hear me.  It felt a little weird at first to just reach around people, but I tried to make eye contact to ensure that they knew that I was there to service their table.

 

We began to clean-up, but before we were done I had to walk over to Palmer for a meeting with Christian in Marketing to discuss the progress of the special events that I'm planning for the department.  The meeting went well. Ben and Christian have been extremely helpful with providing guidance which has helped me to make progress with my projects, particularly the ones with themes that seem pretty foreign to me.

 

This was followed by another meeting in Palmer with Brittney, the Registered Dietitian, about the food allergy plan for CSU.  It was brief and straight forward.  I will be working with Brittney's dietetic intern, Lauren, on putting together documentation which advises students, faculty, parents and all concerned of CSU Residential Dining Services' policies on food allergies.

 

As a result of bad timing at the gym, I ended up missing dinner in the Cafeteria so I decided to pick up something on the way to a show at Tap and Handle that we had plan to watch in Old Town.  I only had $5.00 to find something quick to eat.  I figured Big City Burrito should be in my price range, I got there and the veggie burrito was $5.69.  I assumed taxes would bring it up a bit so I gathered about $1.25 in coins to make up the difference.  We got to Tap and Handle but it was actually Open Mic and it did not appear as if anyone had plans of performing.  So we headed back to school to catch some of the Summer Concert Series in the Lagoon.  Within two minutes of arriving at the Lagoon, the band announced "and we always end with this song...".  I couldn't retain my laughter.  Just my luck - we missed two shows in one day!