Week 2 at Ferris State University

Ferris State University, Big Rapids

Annabella He

Hello everyone! My name is Annabella. I just graduated from University of Wisconsin Madison and started my internship at Ferris State University on June 1. Rachel, the other intern, started the blog of our life in week 1 last time, and this time, it's my turn to share our fun week 2 with you guys.

Both of us have enjoyed the internship at Ferris State University so far. The university provides us with a campus suites where we have our own bedroom and bathroom. The housing is just amazing. The room is spacious and quite.

Also, the surrounding is great, with lots of trees and flowers. Sometimes you may see a deer or a groundhog.

We had most of our meals at the Rock Cafe, the university dining site. Rock Cafe is also our main internship site. Since it has great varieties of high-quality foods, it's a popular dining place for students, university staff and the community. I remember the first day I visited Rock Cafe, I was amazed by its high food quality. From cooking to plating, each step is consistent and delicate.

They have this table tent on every table, which I find really interesting. The table tent contains short nutrition-related articles for customers to read. It really is a good way to do nutrition education.

On Monday, we worked with cooks on different preps for the day. Through the prep process, we became familiar with portion control equipment and learnt the importance of reading the whole recipe before starting anything. The managers and cooks have been really sweet and patient with us.They are very interested in our theme meal projects and are always willing to offer us recipe ideas. I was so touched when Sandy tried to find a "secret" soup recipe for me and said that she would do anything to help me with my theme meal. I felt really grateful working in this environment. Later the day, Rachel and I were invited to a dinner hosted by a local family. We enjoyed the delicious food and the hospitality of this lovely family.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent most of our time working on inventory with Gordon, the stockroom coordinator. Communication is very important for a stockroom coordinator and being accurate is the key. It's necessary for the staff to notify the coordinator if they overuse some ingredients so that the coordinator can order more to avoid shortage of that ingredient. The inventory shift not only got ourselves familiar with food storage but also gave us a better understanding of the relationship between cooking and food inventory.

On Wednesday afternoon, we took an exciting field trip to an asparagus farm with the two lovely internship coordinators, Brenda and Vicky.

From left to right: Vicky, Rachel, me and Brenda

Before entering the farm, we did a thorough hand cleaning process and put on two layers of gloves. I am a big fan of asparagus but I never saw an asparagus farm before. Therefore, I was excited to see how asparagus grows.

Asparagus Farm

There were several machines with young people picking the asparagus. Rachel and I jumped onto one car and took a closer look at how they picked asparagus. We learnt how to tell the quality of asparagus by its branches. They picked an asparagus and encouraged me to try it raw. It was my first time eating a raw asparagus. It's actually pretty tasty and tastes like radish to me. I also picked two asparagus myself and ate them raw again.

We jumped onto the car!!

Later, we visited the factory to see how they clean and store the picked asparagus. Michigan is the second largest asparagus production state and California is the largest one.

Jump!

They gave us free asparagus!

It was such a wonderful trip and we had great fun. I was excited to see how one of my favorite vegetables was produced. This visit also reminds me of the term "food system" I learnt in class. The farm is a part of the food system.

On Thursday and Friday, Rachel and I took turns on Bakery shifts. I had my bakery shift on Friday morning. It was so early in the morning, but I couldn't wait to learn baking! Darla is a really nice, patient and organized baker. There were lots of tasks to do on Friday, but we nailed it! I baked various desserts and learnt to decorate cakes.

Not bad for first try

Pretty ones are Darla's :D

And it's weekend! Rachel and I explored the downtown a little bit. We did shopping, ate local people's favorite ice-cream, and took selfie with a bulldog statue! (Bulldog is the FSU's mascot)