Week Two at University of Georgia

We kicked off the beginning of this short week with Memorial Day, which meant that Erin and I had an extra day off to ourselves. We went to Memorial Park (how appropriate) where they had a local zoo called Bear Hollow Zoo. We got to see river otters, black bears, owls, a bald eagle, a snake, an alligator, some turkeys, deer, and more! Afterwards we cooled off in the pool and then got to listen to some live music by an Athens-based band named Walden.

Black bear snacking on an orange

On Tuesday, we got to sit in on a meeting at the O'House to discuss the new flooring that they are putting in over the summer. Afterwards, we had lunch with our coordinators to discuss our menu takeover project. We chose New England as our theme, since and Erin and I are both pretty acquainted with Northern food. One of our coordinators, Kris, took us through the kitchen to do a mock health inspection where she taught us things that a health inspector would look for, such as greasy kitchen hoods, food that hasn't been cooled properly, and mislabeled foods. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Stuart, who's UGA's FoodPro Manager. He showed us the basics of how the software runs and how important it is for the department's inventory and recipes.

The next day, Erin and I got to experience some hands-on kitchen work at the O'House where we worked behind the stations. The school had a camp and orientation that day which meant that we served about 500 people. I spent the majority of the day at the Oriental Trading Market station where they cook stir-fry on a huge round stove-top.

On Thursday, we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Bryan Varin, the interim director of the Food Services department. He gave us a lot of valuable career and life advice and answered all of our questions. The rest of the day was spent with Susan who's spearheading the new retail operation projects (all nine of them!) which meant that we got to walk through the construction sites for the new Chick-Fil-A and Panda Express. We even got to wear hard hats :) Then we were lucky enough to have the awesome pizza at the Niche Pizza Co. where they serve personal pies and all-natural sodas. I had the "Que" pizza with barbecue pulled pork. Let's just say that I'm hooked. Later on, Erin and I met Brooks who is the department's purchasing manager. He explained what his role is in the department and gave us a tour of the school's food warehouse, which was a really great experience.

On the last work day of the week, Erin and I got to work in the kitchen at the Bolton dining hall where we had turns cooking breakfast: I did the eggs and she did the pancakes. I then helped one of the employees prepare pork loins with red onion confit (so delicious). It was really fun experiencing the busyness of a working kitchen! 

For fun on Saturday we headed to the Broad River Outpost where we went kayaking in the afternoon. We took the leisurely route and had lots of fun floating down the river. That night we checked out Hendershot's coffee shop and bar with live music. They had an awesome guitar and saxophone duet playing. 

Broad River Outpost

Hendershot's

On Sunday, I had lunch at the Royal Peasant with one of the UGA food workers named Jairen. She showed me this authentic British restaurant owned by her cousin's husband which had awesome food and a laid-back atmosphere. It looked like something straight out of England. We then checked out the Five Points area which has lots of quaint shops, such as the chocolate shop, Condor Chocolate, and an adorable bakery called the Independent Baking Company. The town has plenty to do and I'm having a lot of fun checking out the area!

Royal Peasant Pub: Delicious grilled cheese with curry ketchup!

Independent Baking Company: Apple and Ginger scone

Latte from Condor Chocolate