Kids, Food, and Prairie Dogs

Texas Tech, Lubbock TX

Carolyn Greene

Hello again!  Week 2 has been a busy week for the Texas Tech interns.  This week was the first part of our foodservice rotation, and Emma and I were placed at the Fresh Plate at Bledsoe-Gordon, while Emily and Megan were placed at the Market at Stangel-Murdough.  The goal for the week was to gain some experience working in a food service environment, while learning about the behind-the-scenes management tasks that need to happen for an operation to run effectively, such as ordering, inventory, and handling cash deposits.  With everything going on, we were so busy this week that the days all seem to blur together, but I'll do my best to go in chronological order.

Soaking up the sun on the wet deck

Ever since we arrived two weeks ago, we've heard over and over that Texas Tech is one of the largest campuses in the nation.  So large in fact, that on top of all the open spaces available for recreation, there is also a small leisure pool, complete with a lazy river, water slide, kiddie pool, and a lap pool.  Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day, so of course we had to check out this pool.  Floating around the river in inner tubes was such a refreshing way to start the week.  We'll definitely be coming back in the near future!

The rest of the week was all food service.  Monday and Tuesday were both pretty slow, since the football camps we were feeding had yet to arrive.  Emma and I arrived at Bledsoe-Gordon at 8am on Monday, and most of the day was spent cleaning and organizing the facility.  Tuesday was not much different, except for a couple hours of food safety and customer service training for the staff.  During our lunch break, we got to visit the Market, an All-You-Care-To-Eat (AYCE) facility, and saw Emily and Megan hard at work serving the cheerleading and math and science camps.

Panoramic view of the Fresh Plate at B/G

Emma setting up the pizza station!

The high school football camp arrived Wednesday afternoon, so Emma and I came in at 1pm to help prep for dinner.  We started off by cutting and bagging fruit, which we would be putting out on the line for the campers.  The boys arrived around 5pm, and the following hour was a bit of a madhouse.  Emma was stationed out on the floor, while I was behind the lines by the fryer.  That was a whole new experience in of itself, since I've never really fried any foods myself before.  

Thursday had us all up bright and early, since we needed to be in at 6:45am.  We worked breakfast, lunch, left for two hours, and then came back at 4:30pm for dinner.  In total we worked about 9 hours on Thursday.  The upside to such a long day was that we had time for some managerial shadowing - at the end of the day, of the unit managers, Nick, also a former NACUFS intern, showed Emma and I how to shut down a register, and do a cash deposit.

Friday was a short day, since the campers were leaving right after breakfast.  We arrived at 6:30 that morning, and were completely done with cleaning and closing down by 9:30.  Our second round of foodservice is in about four weeks, but we'll be at the Market next time - I'll really miss the managerial staff and employees at B/G!  They've been really sweet to us, and have helped us learn so much about the different parts of college dining.

With the weekend upon us, one of the first things we did was check out the South Plains Mall and do some much needed shopping for more office appropriate attire.  Afterwards, we, a group of dietetics students, and avid foodies, had to check out the unique food places in town.  The Pie Bar is about 10 minutes away from campus, and one of our coordinators, Dee, had mentioned it last week, so we just had to visit.  While you can get a traditional slice of pie, the main attractions are the pie cups, where you can choose your pie crust and your filling.  I bought the smallest cup, with a Nilla wafer and pecan crust and a dark chocolate mousse filling.  It was delicious, especially with a cup of locally sourced brewed coffee.  I'll definitely be back to try the other flavors!

Saturday wasn't that much different - we checked out antique shops around town, in search of the elusive, perfect pair of cowboy boots for Megan.  While we did not have much luck there, we did get to check out Yellow House Coffee, and adorable, hipster coffee shop about a mile from our dorms.  On Mindy's recommendation, we decided to splurge and go to Pie5, a pizza shop that makes custom personal pies.  I got the buffalo chicken pie, which was a definitely win, which says a lot because I don't even like pizza!

The highlight of the day, however, and maybe the week, was finding prairie dogs in a pet store in town.  You can buy a prairie for for $130, and if you feel like going a little wilder, you can even get a caiman in Lubbock for about $300!  Maybe I'll go home with a pet prairie dog at the end of the 8 weeks - my landlord won't mind, right? 

Week 2, in the books!    We'll be back in the office with Mindy and Chef Dewey, so I'm looking forward to what the next week holds!  See you next week, ya'll!