The University of Kansas: Week Two

Week two of our NACUFS internship was nothing short of busy and amazing here at the University of Kansas! Julie and I spent a majority of our time learning the ins and outs at Mrs. E's, KU's largest residential dining location on campus. Mrs. E's specializes in a wide variety of nutritional choices including selections from KYou Zone (an allergy free area), Al Dente (pasta), the Daz-E Grill, Lenoir Classics, Global Cuisine, Copper Oven (pizza), The Cutting Board (sandwiches), Great Greens (salad bar) and their Delights (desserts) concepts!

Monday, June 13th

On Monday, I completed the second half of the ordering and receiving process by observing Devon, Mrs. E's procurement manager. He showed me how he uses CBORD for many things regarding the purchase ordering process. Especially for a dining hall as large as Mrs. E's, correctly forecasting, ordering and recording product and inventory are crucial. It was great to put our lesson in CBORD in week one to use for my time with Devon in week two. Later that day, Julie and I got to sit in on a meeting with Jim, Oliver Hall manager and Camps and Conferences coordinator, and KU Housing! We observed how KU Dining meets with camp/conference leaders to address the needs of any food accommodations their large parties may need during their stay at KU! 

Tuesday, June 14th

Tuesday morning was a lot of fun - Julie and I got to sit in on a procurement meeting and taste test a number of Hormel products with the upper management staff! During the meeting, the team worked together in assessing KU Dining's needs of new products by evaluating tastes, prices and certain accommodations needed for their students, it was very interesting to get to be a part of this huge and important process. Later that evening, Julie and I had some more in-depth food safety training with Cheryl. She also brought some award-winning nutrition education materials she created with her for us to look at! 

Wednesday, June 15th

Wednesday was back to the back of the house with Maria, who taught us the process of chill foods at Mrs. E's. We prepared the fruit infused water for the dining hall that day, sliced and diced fresh fruits and vegetables, and even set up the salad bar for the afternoon! Later that day, I worked with Judy in learning the cashiering process of Mrs. E's. 

Thursday, June 16th

Thursday may have been both Julie and I's favorite day of the week because we worked in the bakery with Monica! We made pizza dough, salted caramel bars and strawberry shortcake - all from scratch! We also helped her make pastries and pies for the day as well. Baking with Monica was an absolute blast! 

Friday, June 17th

On Friday, we spent our afternoon talking with Christine about our fun week at Mrs. E's. While we had lunch with Christine, we also went over the finalization of our themed dinner menu. Afterwards, we talked with Travis, KU Dining's residential chef, to ensure our menu for our themed dinner was realistic and sensible before we start recipe tasting with him in the future - I feel as if we are already off to a strong start and I can't wait for the execution of our themed dinner: the Original Rules of Breakfast! 

Weekend Fun

Over the weekend, Julie and I went downtown to Lawrence's farmers market! There were so many amazing and local fruits, veggies, flowers and products! We had a great time!