University of Nevada - Reno | Week 5

Since my mom came to visit me, I worked a very short, 3 day week this week. I spent the week in the Campus Dining office with Nick who showed me the ins and outs of accounting. Since I really don't know much about this it was a lot to take in and he was very patient with me. Monday I worked with Annette and learned how to use the My Finance program to check invoices, and enter in ones that haven't been entered. I learned what she does every day to manage all of the money from all the units on campus. A lot goes into tracking all of the transactions that happen at all of the units and making sure that cashiers deposits match up. 

Because it was the end of the month, on Tuesday Nick showed me all of the things that he has to do in order to "close the month." There are a lot of reports to be run and sent to cooperate. He explained a lot about how they keep their budget and how he manages all of the numbers that he has to work with everyday. Though I don't 100% understand everything that he was doing, I think I got a good lesson in accounting and retained the basics. 

I also learned a couple things about HR like how Nick manages staff time clock punches, pay checks, hires, and terminations. Over all the management programs available from Compass Group are pretty comprehensive and useful for managing finance and staffing. 

This weekend my mom and I went to San Francisco. We spent the fourth of july checking out Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, and Sausalito. Today we are doing a day long city tour and tomorrow we will be checking out Muir Woods on our way back to Reno. I really like the city but it is so cold compared to Reno. 

Beer Tasting- Our favorite was Hell or High Watermelon!

Twins

Cloudy skys at Fisherman's Wharf

What's the Fourth of July without ice cream!?

Michigan State Week #5

Kelsey and I started off our workweek on a Sunday. This was unusual for us, but it ended up being really busy in the dining hall with all of the public for Sunday lunch. I rolled a lot of sushi and for dinner I worked in Boiling Point (the pasta station) for the first time. I have now flipped omelets, stir-fry, and pasta! Also, we worked on a pickled garden vegetable salad using radishes from the student organic farm.

Monday was our day to shadow supervisory so we were sent to do some new jobs. We got to sell advance meal tickets to parents attending the orientation program, and then during lunch, Kelsey and I learned how to swipe IDs for meals. It was fun since neither of us had done it, but we both decided we like being with the food a lot more!

We have been really excited to visit Ferris State University, and we finally got to on Tuesday. It was a great mid-week field trip. Although the campus is much smaller than Michigan State, it was very up-to-date, balanced, and quality. The dining hall was so much fun to see and compare to MSU’s. They had a similar set up to Brody but, because of the size, it had a more intimate feel. Other areas we toured included the hockey arena, optometry school, and Starbuck’s! My favorite part was meeting with their Director of Dining Services. She is currently designing a new dining hall facility that will open in January 2015. It was so interesting to have her explain the architect’s drawings, show the décor she has purchased, explain the differences in tableware, and feel her passion for the entire project! It just made me realize how much work goes into every little detail of dining services, even before the facility is running.

Wednesday was a normal workday at Brody for us. Kelsey and I dished and garnished our Herby Pickled Garden Salad and served it at lunch in the Veg Out station. We both really liked the taste, and the people who tried it did, too. We both really enjoy working with such fresh and local produce and are really proud that we have had an opportunity to do so.

We finished off our week with another management shadowing day in Brody. One of the student supervisors spent a lot of time showing us the “behind the scenes” of some of the machines. For example, the never-ending condiment dispensers are fed from bags in the cabinet below, the pop syrups are kept in huge closets that somehow lead to the machines in the halls, and the juice dispenser does not have to be filled as often as we think, since it is loaded with concentrates! The dining center started to feel the effects of the holiday with pretty slow business, so Kelsey and I got to spend a lot of time on trivia questions and brochures for the dietitian. In the afternoon, we met with the Operations Manager who gave us some helpful hints for our futures involving management.

Luckily, Kelsey and I have the 4^th off of work. We are spending it in a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan. We are really excited to explore a new area and hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

University of Oklahoma - Week 5

The Weekend
On Friday, I went to Hillbilly Po Boy's with my sister and a whole bunch of her friends to celebrate her birthday that was on Monday.  I got the blackened shrimp Po Boy with slaw and the orange sauce and it was amazing!! Definitely recommend it.  Afterwards, my sister, her husband and I went to the Dierks Bentley concert.  I had a really good time :)  On Saturday, I just pretty much lounged around because I was exhausted.  However, Saturday night Grace and I went to the Lady Antebellum concert and had a great time!  Sunday I join my sister for brunch at Cheever's.  I had the Shrimp & Grits and it was delicious!  To work off all those calories, I helped my sister with loading hay for the barn. 

Monday
Today Grace and I just worked on our Management Review.  Dot is gone all week for the holiday so we have all week to just work on that sent we don't have log ons yet for C-Bord to work on the nutrition analysis of Headington Hall.

Tuesday
Today we just continued working on the Management Review.  Additionally, we got our free snow cones with Lauren, Robbie, and Amanda :)  We also got to sit in on the meeting where all the directors and managers go over the new guidelines for their employees.

Wednesday
Today we were with Frank all day!  He showed us all around campus and gave us the history of everything.  We were able to see the construction going on at Cate.  We also tried a new item that might be added to the menus, a nutella cronut!! It was delicious, it is pretty much a mixture of croissant and a donut filled with nutella :)  We also got to take a tour of Headington Hall and talk with the Sports Nutritionist and how they accommodate the athletes.  Afterwards we took a tour of the stadium and were able to see the President's own personal suite.  Here Frank told us all what goes on with catering during football season and what long days they have.  After wards, we took a mini tour of the National Weather Center.  Today was a lot of fun and very informative.  Frank is a great tour guide and Headington Hall's food is delicious! I'd eat there every day if I could and would love to live there if I had all the advantages that the athletes do.

Thursday
Today Grace and I continued working on our Management Review Project.  We got lunch with Grace's family, they drove all the way from Indiana!! We also got to leave early for the holiday weekend :)

Week 1 at Berkeley

Hello, welcome to our blog! Over the next few weeks you can check this out and see what Nkumeh and I (Stefani) are doing here at U.C. Berkeley this summer!

Our trip started on a good note! We found ourselves on the same flight from Boston on our way to San Francisco.

Our first week was full of excitement! On our first day we met Renee Simpson the Dietitian at Cal Dining.  Berkeley has four dining commons in which she introduced us to the majority of the staff members at each location.  We continued the week working on pilot projects that will be implemented in Fall 2014. As of now, our projects consist of creating nutrition activities and topics for Cal Dining's Eat Well Mondays initiative,  creating a ServSafe certified incentive program for Cal Dining kitchen staff, and planning and executing our special event that is going to be held in our last week! Revealing the theme in the upcoming weeks (suspense builder) .....

Friday was the most exciting, we visited the famous Napa Valley!!

          

(Left: Nkumeh, Center: Renee, Right: Stefani)

On this trip we visited Napa State Hospital's Dietetics's facility and kitchen.

We learned about the hospital's history and  their infamous patients.

We also toured The Culinary Institute of America in Napa.

Sneak peak inside the kitchen
at the CIA

Herb garden outside of the CIA

Outside the Chocolate lab!

















Had time to squeeze in a wine tasting!

Back in Berkeley, Renee took us to explore the local farmer's market. Everything there was organically grown!


















Over the weekend one of our new friend's took us on a hike in the Berkeley Hills.

We  also did our own exploring in San Francisco and got a nice view of Alcatraz from Fisherman's Warf.

Had to take a picture on the histroric cable cars of San Francisco.







Great opening to our 8 -week internship! Its crazy how it has only been one week! Stay tuned for more pictures and updates!

Best,
 Nkumeh and Stefani

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.

 

The University of Oklahoma Week 5

The Weekend
On Friday evening, I went to Logie's on Campus Corner for the evening.  The next day we went to Bricktown for the Scotty McCreery and Lady Antebellum concert, which was awesome!  We also went to Crooked Crust that evneing in Campus Corner, and it was great pizza.  I highly recommend it!  On Sunday, I spent time out by the pool!

Monday
Today Lindsey and I spent the entire day in the office just working on some of our projects.  Dot is gone this week, so we have all week to work on those.

Tuesday
Today we worked a lot on our management review.  We also went with some of the TOD staff to get free snow cones at 11! Lauren is so great about trying to include us and make us feel welcome!  We also got lunch with them.  We went to a meeting in the afternoon that was reviewing the Employee Handbook for Food Services that is given to the employees when they are hired.  There was a meeting with a lot of the directors to discuss changes that need to be made to clarify some issues that they have had in the past year.

Wednesday
Today we went around with Frank for the day and he took us to Cate, Headington, the Stadium, and the Weather Center.  It was really fun!  Frank knows so much about all of the history of OU and all the buildings.  We got to also go up to Catering in the Union and try a Nutella Cronut that they are trying out, and it was delicious! I couldn't stop eating them, and ended up eating an entire plate.  Haha.  Headinton Hall is really really nice.  This is where all of the athletes stay, and the dining hall in it is called Wagner Dining, which is run by Curtis.  Since the dining hall is where the athletes eat, the sports dietitian for the university also has a large role in what is served.  All of the foods are labeled as either green, yellow, or red, and there was a ton of fresh fruit!  Lindsey and I loved it!  We ended up eating lunch here and it was awesome and so fresh!  We got to go up to the stadium and look out from all of the club seats and suites.  It is really nice up there, and I can't believe all of the work that the food service staff has to do on game days to feed all of those people.  We also got to go to the top of the Weather Center to the observation floor, and you could see for miles and miles.  It was incredible!  My family got in this evening, so we went to Ray's BBQ and it was awesome! I for sure recommend it!

Thursday
Today we worked on our projects in our office for the day.  Frank came into our office during the day and told us that we were all dismissed from work at 2pm for the day, which was exciting!  He also brought us cucumbers from his wife's garden, which were the biggest cucumbers I have ever seen.  We got lunch with my family at Laughing Tomato and then walked them around campus for awhile.  That evening I went out to eat at Pepe Delgados with my family and we went to the movies.

Friday
We had work off today due to the fact it was the fourth of July!  My family and I went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum, which was very well done and really interesting to learn about.  We then ate at the Mule in Oklahoma City, and their food was awesome!  We then watched the fireworks in Norman and played some games.