Week Two at Illinois State University

This past week at Illinois State University was packed full of food. Actually, I was the one packed full of food. Justine and I had three days of recipe testing with Chef Matt. The first day, we tried a few vegetarian options and fried options. Justine and I got to use the deep fryer and stood by as Chef Matt operated the mighty steamer. Chef Matt’s words of wisdom on the steamer are, “don’t fear the steamer, respect it”. After we prepared all the food and foolishly ate lunch, we sat down and tasted everything we made. We found some winners, some options we would rather not pursue, and some options that would be better made in house. The next day Justine and I navigated the kitchen relatively alone testing three recipes that we found and altered ourselves for the Fresh Bites station. We found two winners; a wild mushroom risotto and a red pepper penne pesto. We also tried some great tofu that another chef made. Our last day in the kitchen Justine and I had to take some measurements and do some calculations to perfect our recipes, sub-recipes, and nutritional values. After that we made some noodles and went out to the wok station. Justine and I picked out vegetables and various other ingredients, measured them, and put everything together in a wok. I even got to man the wok station with the large spatula and spoon. For those who haven’t seen a wok station it is basically a large stone bowl in a whole in a metal table with a flame underneath. The metal table has water flowing all over it for heat dispersion. I also tried a vegetarian calzone and a quiche with a sweet potato crust.

 

Besides stuffing food into my system for the sake of bettering campus dining and the food they offer, I also did some other productive things. I sat in on a meeting with the brokers from Tyson. Justine and I also worked on the Fresh Bites menu and inputting recipes and nutrition information. I am becoming much more comfortable using the system. Another exciting thing Justine and I did this week is interview the staff. Each staff member taught us completely different lessons with a few underlying themes. One main theme continues, and that is the attention to detail. Almost every person said that all that goes into campus dining impressed him or her. A management theme is to hire employees that are worth the risk and let them do their jobs. The managerial members have a very hands off approach. I learned that if an operation can’t go on without you then you’re doing something wrong. You want to train people to be able to step up and take care of business. Almost everyone spoken to is happy they are working at John Green because the people they work with make it enjoyable. There is a mutual respect amongst everyone, which contributes to the overall success of campus dining.

I can’t believe two weeks have come and gone. I have been able to complete quite a bit of reading and enjoy the beauty that is ISU campus. I am exploring more and more of uptown and finding where to get the best cupcakes and coffee. This weekend there was an all day music festival. I walked down to the roundabout early in the day and sat in the sunshine listening to live music. Later in the day I met up with Justine and walked down to listen to some Irish music. Every night I get a wonderful view through my large windows of the sun setting by the water tower. I have definitely found a lot of little things that I love about Normal, Illinois