Final Words from UConn!

Well here it is, our final blog post! It is bittersweet to be writing our final post. It seems like yesterday that we were trying to figure out how to create a blog post to begin with!

We began our last week by doing some prep work for the kid’s camp in Gelfenbien. Ron Swiller had us doing all the dirty work like tidying up the bathrooms and sweeping the floors. We also got the kid’s chef hats, name tags, and aprons ready for their arrival. After we prepped a few things for the camp we worked on our salad project. We began wrapping things up with Carol Cronin so that she can pick up where we leave off after we return home.

On Tuesday we helped out with the first day of UCann Cook Camp 102. We got to have some fun with kids but also got to work on our projects. We spent most of the morning working while the kids were cooking. After we ate the delicious brunch they prepared we went to Beltane Farms! It was great to see Paul Trubey again. He remembered us and gave us huge hugs. We really enjoy seeing him because he is so kind and his happiness is contagious! He taught the kids all about milking the goats and taking care of goats in general. The kids were all very curious how much he was selling his goats for and how hard they were to take care of. We made sure that no one tried to smuggle any goats on the buses before we left! While we were at the farm the kids got to pet the goats and try some cheese. They seemed to really enjoy the trip. I know we did! We even got to see the baby goats that we bottle fed last time we were there. They have gotten so big! We also learned that if you hold a tree branch just right you can lure goats onto Ron's shoulders. 

The  kids we saw our first visit.

Goats love Ron!

Once we got back from the farm we went back to working on the project. We organized the binder to the best of our ability and will now pass it on to Carol Cronin. We hope that our project can be continued after we leave and the salad rotation can be initiated into the dining halls.

Tuesday evening we finally decided to paint the rock. Better late than never! We painted it with a bunch of different blue, green, and pink splotches. We didn’t go into this with any sort of plan so we just made it up as we went along. We had to cover someone’s painting of a Pikachu which took a lot of our paint. We felt kind of bad but it was worth it. We painted “Thanks UConn! – Love, NACUFS Interns.” We then painted our respective states, our friend Anthony helped us so he painted Connecticut. We were very proud of our artwork. People that passed by in their cars always gave us a thumbs up and one guy yelled “thank you!” so we feel as though our rock was a success. We just hope that it dries before someone paints over it again! We also hope everyone got to see our beautiful artwork.

Before

After

On Wednesday we worked the UCann Cook Camp 102 again. We got to work on our project until the kids arrived. We are slowly getting all our projects finished and getting ready to go back home. Once all the kids arrived we walked them to the bakery. They decorated cookies and cupcakes with obscene amounts of frosting. They always have so much fun in the bakery and come back with very colorful clothes! The kids also got to make pizza and rolls again. They got to eat their pizzas for lunch. Louise Locke was nice enough to let Mariel and I work on our Weebly in her office. She is so sweet and we loved talking with her about our summer and hers. We were happy to have worked in her office until the kids were ready to head back to Gelfenbien.

A sugar ball.

After the kids ate their pizzas they had a sugar pulling demonstration from Kristina Breuninger. They really enjoyed the demonstration, especially since she gave them samples. It was really neat what she did. She heated sugar up enough to melt it and then poured it with a spoon over this cylinder rod to create threads. She even made what looked like a twine ball out of the threads. It was really cool and she is extremely talented.

Bakery creations

After Kristina’s demonstration we walked the kids to the Dairy Bar. They got all sugared up and so did we. We enjoyed our ice cream and, sadly, our last trip to the Dairy Bar. The rest of our night was spent packing up the apartment and getting ready for our journeys back to the Midwest!

Abby's favorite, Salted Caramel Crunch and Chocolate.

Thursday was our last day of work. It is crazy that the eight weeks is over already. Our last day was sad but we got to have fun working the final day of the kid’s camp. We started our day off by going to Carla’s Pasta. It is a huge family-owned factory that makes over 200 types of authentic Italian pasta. We got to take a tour through the factory and see how the pasta goes from flour and dough to a bag of pasta in the freezer. The factory was amazingly clean and extremely efficient. They had machines specifically for pushing boxes, wrapping pallets, pinching dough, kneading dough, and even dropping bags into a box. It all seemed to work effortlessly though and the factory was very well run. We found it very interesting that the plant also created their own electricity. They have a fuel cell that runs their whole factory except for about 3 of their giant, spiral freezers. The company takes all the steps necessary to decrease their carbon footprint. They have plans to double the size of their factory soon and plan to install another fuel cell to power the addition.

After our tour we got to do some extreme carbo-loading! They served us lunch that had every kind of pasta from their famous garlic pesto pasta to fried raviolis. We ate so much that we could barely stay awake on the way back to Storrs. We also got to meet Carla herself! She is such a sweet lady who started the business in the 1980s in a small street-side shop. She was very welcoming and generous. Each visitor got a huge box of pasta and pesto as we left! The boxes were almost too big for the kids to carry. Carla’s had fantastic food and was an amazing place to tour. We highly recommend their products.

Pasta, pasta, and more pasta

Once we got back to Gelfenbien we began the Iron Chef challenge. The kids were split into 4 different groups where they had to look at a table of ingredients and decide what to make.

Mariel: "I was in group number 3 with Chef Sterling. Our group decided to make a mushroom risotto with lemon chicken and grilled vegetables. They brainstormed together really nicely and considered several aspects of their dish, like what protein to use and the flavors to complement it. The kids worked on their knife skills and also learned some tricks and tips from Chef Sterling. I also learned a lot just from helping him! Our group also did not receive first place in the competition, but other groups agree that our risotto was pretty good. (It really was!)"

Group 4 doing some brainstorming. 

Abby: “I was in group number 4 with Chef Andre. The kids in my group decided to make a stir-fry! They made it with carrot, chicken, red pepper, corn, scallions, onion, and a ginger-citrus sauce. They said that they were going for a “Southwest meets Asian” type of dish. They served the stir-fry over basmati rice and it was really good! Chef Andre and I only helped them with cutting, grilling, and sautéing. They didn’t receive first place in the competition, due to some biased judging if you ask me. However, I think that they did amazing and I would eat stir-fry made by them any day!”

The plating done by each team for Iron Chef.

After our last day of work we strolled around campus one last time and went to the Co-op and finally took our picture with Jonathon the Husky. This was the last of the intern traditions we had to complete so we are now officially a part of the legacy. It has been an amazing internship and we are extremely thankful for all the experiences we have had and people we have met. We will visit New England again, we know it. Thank you to everyone who has made this internship possible and has shared their knowledge and skills with us. UConn will always hold a place in our hearts as we move on with our schooling and into our careers. We are blessed to have been your interns.

Abby with Jonathon!

Mariel with Jonathon!

With love,

Mariel Camacho-Arriola and Abby Karikas