Week 4 at CSU

It's hard to believe I'm half way through my internship!  Time has flown by and it has been a lot of learning, exploring, and having fun!  This past week was relatively light because of working last

Noosa Factory

weekend at the Bike MS event, but it was still productive and exciting.

Monday, June 27: After working on the weekend, I was given today off.  My morning began with a nice run with a former teammate who is now going to graduate school at CSU.  After the run, I walked to Lucille’s, the infamous Cajun/Creole restaurant in Old Town.  Everyone I have asked at CSU for restaurant recommendations has been ecstatic about Lucille’s, so I couldn’t wait to try it!  I ordered the Eggs New Orleans, which was poached eggs on fried eggplant slices with Creole sauce (a chunky tomato and onion sauce) and a side of collard greens.  It also came with a biscuit, which was absolutely huge.  They make everything from scratch, including their jams and ketchup. 

Lucille's incredible breakfast

Of course I had to sample the jams and marmalades, both of which were delicious.  Later in the afternoon, I drove to Bellevue, where Noosa Yoghurt Headquarters are located.  Unfortunately, the factory doesn’t give tours, but there was a pleasant café on the property of the milk farm, Morning Farms Dairy, that Noosa uses for their yogurt. It was all essentially in the same complex, so I spent the afternoon drinking coffee, reading, and eating Noosa with locally made granola.  There was a delightful aroma of cows outside, so I limited my time on the patio.  Before dinner, I took a wonderful yoga class at Om Ananda Yoga in Old Town, then went to Slyce Pizza for a quick dinner.

Tuesday, June 28: I spent today with Chuckie, who works with catering.  We discussed the different services catering provides, from water and coffee tables for groups of 10 to box lunches and entire dinners for groups of 500 to 1,000.  Catering is located out of Durrell and it was interesting to learn how staffing and cooking works when Durrell is open and catering has a large event.  I also helped prep sandwiches for a catered lunch on campus.  I made chicken salad wraps and veggie ranch wraps.  After lunch, Chuckie tough me how to create invoices for events.  I worked on editing existing ones and creating new ones for future events.  At the end of the day, she gave me a tour Durrell Express, one of two express locations at CSU.  They make homemade gelato that I would have loved to try, but unfortunately they aren’t open during the summer.  I couldn’t let a Tuesday night go by without going to the Food Truck Rally.  Tonight I went with a former cross country teammate who is doing research/going to graduate school at CSU.  We both chose Umami for dinner and Ba-nom-a-noms for dessert!

Wednesday, June 29: Today I experienced a typical day of catering working with two student employees.  CSU is hosting Royal Family Kids, a group of about 100 kids and adults, for the week and catering three meals a day for them. 

Sandwiches for lunch

The day consisted of serving breakfast, cleaning up and setting up for lunch, serving lunch, and finally cleaning up lunch and setting up for dinner.  This was the group I made the sandwiches for yesterday and it was interesting to see the entire process unfold, from making the sandwiches to delivering them to the site to doing the dishes in the kitchen.  It was a quick, busy, and fun day.

Thursday, June 30: Lori and I walked across campus to the Horticulture Center in the morning, where we attended a lettuce tasting.  I visited the greenhouse with Royce during the first week of my internship and the lettuce was in the initial stages of its growing process. 

Some of the sustainably-grown lettuce

Free flowers!

Pineapple plants growing in the greenhouse

Just a refresher –
the horticulture department and Dining Services are trying to join together and use sustainably grown lettuce in one of the dining halls on campus.  Today we tasted a few types of lettuce, grown using hydroponics and specialized LED lights, that will possibly be used for the sandwiches at the President’s Picnic in August.  walking around the greenhouse, stumbling upon an entire room of free plants, and finding a few pineapple plants in a separate room, Lori and I went to Ram’s Horn to help with lunch.  We put together to-go containers at meal swipe, which were high in demand from the group of about 1,000 girls from the WELS Conference staying on campus.  On our way out of the dining hall, we went through the kitchen and found a plate of cheesecake slices.  Being a dessert enthusiast, I was intrigued!  One of the chefs was experimenting with a recipe and made a stewed green tomato and cantaloupe cheesecake with a chocolate crust.  The staff offered me a taste and it was absolutely incredible!  I

Not the prettiest, but absolutely delicious!

would never have thought of that combination, but it was superb!  I headed back to Palmer and took an online training test that all hourly employees have to take.  It included information about proper attire, customer service, knife skills, cleaning, etc.  Lori also wanted to add a small section about diversity at CSU and the importance of treating all employees with the same level of respect.  I’m glad I got a chance to see part of the training process for hourlies.  I was able to finish the day a little early, so I decided to try the chocolate flight at Nuance Chocolate in Old Town.  Nuance is one of the only bean to bar chocolate factories in the country, which means they roast and grind beans before making their chocolate.  I chose the half order of the Single Origin Taster Flight #1, which is their original taster flight (they now have three – two single origin and one with flavored milk chocolate).  Being a dark chocolate fanatic, I was really interested in the complexity of the flavors and the uniqueness of each piece.  The flight came instructions on how to correctly taste the chocolate (cleanse your palate with water and crackers, let the chocolate melt in your mouth, etc.) and a card for tasting notes.  It was quite the experience and I will definitely have to go back to try some of their truffles!

Friday, July 1: I had today off for an extended Fourth of July weekend, so I began my morning with a run followed by breakfast at Snooze AM Eatery.  I had been early in June with my parents before my internship started, but we all ordered egg dishes.  Today I was in the mood for pancakes! 

The Goodness Cake

They have a really creative breakfast menu and many of their sweet dishes are more like dessert.

Mushrooms from Hazel Dell

I ordered a whole wheat and quinoa pancake, which was scrumptious!  After a few morning errands, I drove to Hazel Dell Mushrooms, a local mushroom farm that supplies many of the restaurants in the area.  Royce told me about the retail shop at the farm and I figured I had time today, so I went.  I got a variety of types to use for dinner.  Now that my teammate is here and living in an apartment, I have access to a kitchen, which is absolutely fantastic.  I’ve missed cooking at home!

More Fort Collins adventures to come!