Week 2 & 3 at Texas Tech University!

Hello from Texas Tech!!  I am enjoying my time here for this internship and especially this wonderful, but still hot that we have been having this week!  I know I did not post last week, so I am going to write about my experiences from Weeks 2 and 3.  By the way, I did not properly introduced myself from my first post.  My name is Emma Regula and I am going to be a senior dietetics major this coming fall.  I attend Bluffton University and I am placed at Texas Tech and I am loving it here.  This has to be one of the best experiences I have been on that is beneficial for my career.

First off, I am starting off from Week 2.  One of the other interns, Carolyn, and I were placed in a dining hall on campus called Bledsoe/Gordon or BG.  This rotation allowed us to experience the process of the kitchen when it is close to serving or even serving and preparing a meal.  The first couple of days were slow from cleaning and some training before we had to serve about 140 high school football campers that were here for a football camp.  Then for the rest of that week, we prepared and served meals to the campers.  These young boys were very nice and so respectful.  I have only been in Texas for about 3 weeks and I am starting getting used to people calling me ma'am.  Even these high school boys I served were calling me ma'am!  Also through this rotation, we got the opportunity to shadow the manager, Nick, filled out an order form for food products needed for the week, and count money from a meal.  Throughout the week, the wonderful cooks made the entire staff breakfast for the week.

For the weekend, the other interns and myself went out to explore more of Lubbock.  We went out to the shopping mall on Saturday.  Carolyn needed black flats and Megan needed a birthday out fit because her birthday was on the 16th.  Sunday we went out to antique stores and some other stores.  We also went to the Wine and Clay festival at a local winery.  This was obviously a great event to spend a couple of hours of your day.  While we were shopping, we had to make an extra stop for something very special for myself....cowboy boots!! Our preceptor, Alan, recommended that I go to Cavendars.  Sure enough, I found some awesome cowboy boots at the store!

  

While we were on these awesome adventures from exploring Lubbock, we obviously had to try some new restaurants.  Our first stop was a coffee shop called Yellow House Coffee.  This is a coffee shop with local and fair trade coffees.

The second stop was an awesome pizza place called Pie Five recommended by Mindy Diller.  Mindy is the registered dietitian on campus. She has a gluten allergy and she gets her pizza from there.  So we had to try it out.  This spot has its regular pizzas that you could order, but you could also make your own pizza.  My own pizza creation came true and it was absolutely amazing.  For dessert we went out to Chocolate Mouse Pie Bar.  I unfortunately do not have a picture of this amazing creation of dessert.  However, it is not ordering a pie.  It is kinda like a parfait, but you can choose your own crust and pie filling.  It is so good so I highly recommended for everyone to try it out.

 

As you can see, a very eventful weekend that we all enjoyed.  For Week 3, we were with Mindy Diller and Chef Dewey.  This was going to be a hot week so all of the interns decided to wear dresses for the heck of it.  Well turns out, Chef Dewey had something else in mind for us do for the afternoon.  Our task was to produce 2 new juice recipes for the juice bar in the SmartChoices dining option.  We were all excited by this task and could not wait to start.  Don't worry we got aprons to keep the dresses clean.  At the end of the day, we came up with 4 recipes for the juice bar.

1. Apple, Kale, Pineapple, Ginger

2. Lemon, Cucumber, Pineapple, Apple

3. Watermelon, Lemon, Pineaple

4. Carrot, Orange, Spinach

Through out the rest of the week, we were working hard on our capstone project by finishing our recipes.  Chef Dewey made us lunch on Tuesday.  We brought all of the left over vegetables, fruit, and other food back to our apartment.  So most of the food in our refrigerator is free food from the juicing and other food given to us by Chef Dewey and other staff.  On Wednesday, we spent all day working on a short video project.  As a group, we decided to give out information about sugar-sweetened beverages.  We also wanted to give out tips of how we personally reduce our intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.  I am so excited to see what the finish product is like and I will share it with all of you.  We were also in the Test Kitchen this week experimenting with a Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookie.  Unfortunately, the recipes and cookies did not turn out, but it did not stop us from creating a Gluten-Free Dessert for the capstone project.  Recipes are to be coming soon and I am so excited to tell y'all about it.  By the end of the week, we completed our recipes, went out for Megan's 21st Birthday with Sonic afterward, and assisted Mindy at the Health and Safety Fair at the Physical Plant.

That is all from Week 2 & 3!  I know it is a long reading, but so much happened within two weeks!  Next week I am going to be with Mindy and Alan in Wiggins! I can not wait to see what is going to happen this week.  I will write to y'all next week, but I am going to be spending my weekend by the pool with this weather that we are having!

Late Night Sonic Runs!! Featuring Emily and I

Peace and Love! Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

- Emma Regula