Week 7 at CSU

And just like that, I only have one week left at CSU!  I was fortunate to have my schedule adjusted to add more rotations at the Bakeshop and get to do a few fun and last-minute things.

Monday, July 19: Ram's Horn, one of the dining halls open periodically throughout the summer, is hosting various different large camps this week, I'm here most of the week.  In the morning, I worked in the Pantry.  This is where the Bakeshop items are delivered and portioned for service.  I cut and plated carrot cake, oatmeal chocolate chip bars, cornbread, and cookies.  After that, I learned how to take apart and clean the soft serve ice cream machine.  It’s a lot more complicated than I thought!  Ram’s Horn is expecting about 500 guests for each meal this week because of a camp, so I was busy serving at the Tex Mex station during lunch.  The close out the day, I sat in on a meeting about increasing the number of work study employees in Dining Services.  It was interesting to hear feedback and opinions on how to increase advertisements for employment around campus.    

Tuesday, July 20: This morning I tested veggie burgers with Ann, the dietetic intern this summer.  Part of her internship requires her to modify an existing recipe or create a new recipe that accommodates certain dietary needs.  She decided to make gluten, egg, and dairy free veggie burgers that would be offered at the Ram’s Horn Express location.  The base recipe included broccoli, red pepper, carrot, garlic, and tofu.  The different egg replacements were potato flakes, flax egg, and avocado, and the different bread crumbs were crushed cornflakes, homemade gluten free breadcrumbs, and store bought bread crumbs.  We tested for texture, color, taste, and ability to stay to together (different cooking methods would cause the burgers to fall apart more than others).  Ann made the burgers pretty thick, so it took a while to get them up to temperature, which unfortunately caused some of them to burn.  We liked the avocado with homemade breadcrumbs the best, but it will probably be one of the most expensive.  Ann will narrow down from the nine options, do a cost analysis, and make them again, possibly with different ratios of ingredients.  

Slightly burnt veggie burgers

During lunch, I helped cook on the Mongolian Grill, a very popular custom vegetable and noodle bowl station.  After lunch, a few of the employees watched the Air episode of the Netflix series, Cooked.  I had seen it before and read the book by Michael Pollan, but I really enjoyed re-watching the episode and learning more about bread-making.  Finally, I went over to Allison, the dining hall on campus that serves Spoon Soups & Salads (a local Fort Collins restaurant), with Tina, Allison’s supervisor, to learn about her operation, from management to lease agreements.  This is a unique set-up because CSU leases the kitchen to Allison to make their soups, salads, and focaccia, but the dining center serves the meals.  I couldn’t miss a Tuesday night without the Food Truck Rally.  Tonight I met Amanda, who I had breakfast with on Saturday, and her husband.  I wanted to try the infamous Waffle Lab and I chose the “braffle,” which had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and caramelized onions.

The Braffle

The waffle itself was the best part – crunchy on the outside and super soft in the middle, and a tad sweet.  There was also a typical Fort Collins thunderstorm in the middle of dinner, which left us with a gorgeous sunset after the rain.  I couldn’t have had a better night.

Wednesday, July 20: The Bakeshop has some downtime this week and some of the employees are making their own desserts.  They invited me to help out and learn some of their pastry/dessert techniques.  Lauren is planning to make a chocolate peanut butter caramel dessert, so today we made most of the components.  Our first chocolate cake unfortunately overflowed in the oven because of an incorrect measurement of baking soda.  It was certainly frustrating to have to make another cake, but it was all a learning experience and kitchen disasters happen!  After the cake, we also made chocolate mousse and peanut butter mousse.  Kendy made a blueberry and a raspberry napoleon, which everyone happily sampled.  With some of the leftover chocolate mousse and raspberry jam, I made a mini chocolate raspberry napoleon and learned how to make the zebra pattern for the topping.

Kendy's Blueberry Napoleon

Thursday, July 21: This morning, Tim, the Senior Sustainability Coordinator for Housing & Dining Services, gave me, Lori, and Jason a tour of the CSU’s composter located on the Foothills Campus about 10 minutes away.  The initial compost is divided into pre and post-consumer waste, the latter of which is processed through pulpers at the dining centers.  From there, the food is brought to the facility and mixed with bulking material composed of straw and manure from the CSU Equine Center.  That mixture is added to Oscar, the composter, where it is mixed for 2 to 3 weeks.  After the compost cures for several weeks, it is used in several locations, including for fertilizer on the soil around the residence halls.  It was fascinating to learn how different CSU departments can form this “triangle” cycle.  

Cure piles at the Composting Facility

Oscar the Composter

I also attended the Bike MS Wrap-Up Meeting in the afternoon, where we discussed the event in late June and offered feedback and suggestions for next year.  To close out my day, I sat in on two DIII (production chef) Search Committee Interviews.  It was really interesting to learn the interview process and a great opportunity to see what the committee looked for from the candidates.  

Friday, July 22: I split my day between the Bakeshop and Ram’s Horn.  Before lunch, I plated the special dessert with Lauren.  We used two different molds, but the layers were the same: chocolate cake, peanut butter mousse, chocolate ganache, caramel with crushed peanuts, and chocolate mousse.  We topped each dessert with chocolate glaze.  Each plate was different – we could use mousse, caramel sauce, soft caramel pieces, chocolate molds and pieces, peanut brittle, homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and a few other garnishes from David’s tiramisu (he also plated a dessert this morning).  It was difficult not to overwhelm the plate and I learned simplicity is key.  After plating, we tasted our creations.  They were rich, decadent, and absolutely divine!  

My "gourmet Snickers" creation

After lunch I helped Jo, the manager of Ram’s Horn Express, scan bar codes for all of her items to check for pricing.  Every summer she adjusts her prices based on increases and decreases of her orders.  It was a new, low-key way to finish up the week.