Final Week at Colorado State University

I can't believe my time at CSU is over!  The past 8 weeks have gone by incredibly fast and I will really miss Fort Collins.  This last week was relatively light, which gave me ample time to work on my presentation, pack, and spend time with friends.

Saturday, July 23: Savoring my last weekend in Fort Collins, I decided to explore a different Fort Collins farmers’ market where Tina and her husband, Steve, the production chef at Corbett/Parmelee were selling bracelets.  It was a nice change to see different vendors, including one with homemade nut butters, and Tina’s bracelets were gorgeous.  After the market and the last class of the yoga workshop I’ve been doing, I hit the road to the Shambhala Mountain Center about an hour away.  The destination was the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, a Buddhist monument in the valley of the center.  It is a gorgeous piece of architecture and the surrounding area was extremely peaceful.  It was a very calming and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. 

The Great Stupa

Sunday, July 24: I met a few of my teammates for a run on the famous Magnolia Road in Boulder.  It is a dirt road with rolling hills and views of the Rockies at some points.  Although a difficult run, it was absolutely spectacular and well worth the challenge.  We grabbed brunch after and then I spent the rest of the day working on my final presentation.  

Monday, July 25: Today marks my 50^th day of the internship!  I spent the day in Ram’s Horn at the Pantry, cutting and plating desserts, and re-testing veggie burgers with Ann.  We used the deep fryer and only tested burgers made with avocado and potato flakes.  She still needs to make a few adjustments, but they certainly turned out better than last time.

Tuesday, July 26: Lori and I planned to spend the day in Grand Lake, about a 2.5-hour drive away.  Unfortunately, we had some car troubles that caused us to turn around about 1 hour into the drive.  We stopped at Vern’s for lunch, a popular country-style restaurant in Laporte, and I spent the rest of the day working on my presentation.

Outside of Vern's

Wednesday, July 27: The Bakeshop had a wonderful potluck for me in the morning.  They made fantastic sweet and savory pastries.  I really appreciate all of the time they put into this and I enjoyed eating their delicious treats while spending time with them.  For dinner, I decided to treat myself to a fancy-ish dinner in Old Town at the Kitchen, followed by dessert at the Waffle Lab.

Treats at the Bakeshop

Dinner at The Kitchen

Thursday, July 28: I gave my final presentation today to many of the general managers, a few Bakeshop employees, and most of the Palmer (administrative) staff.  As a grand finale, the Bakeshop made a wonderful spread of delicious pastries and desserts, including my favorite, apple feuillete made by Janet.  It was very bittersweet to say goodbye to everyone, but I know I will be back at CSU to visit!  I’ve made incredible friendships and professional relationships here.  This experience has helped me grow tremendously and learn more than I ever thought I would about the foodservice industry.  I wouldn’t change it for anything and I am extremely grateful to have been a NACUFS intern this summer.

The bounty of desserts at my presentation

Apple Feuilletes!

Kendy, me, and Janet - some of my Bakeshop family

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.                

Week 5 at CSU

This is a rather long post that includes Fourth of July festivities and this past weekend's fun.  Enjoy!

Saturday, July 2: Today was full of handstands at yoga class, kombucha on tap at the farmers' market, coffee and a five ingredient "magic muffin" at Bindle Coffee at Jessup Farm, and a very strange screening of The Lobster at Lyric Cinema in Old Town.  The muffin was made with peanut butter, banana, chocolate chips, eggs, and honey.  I make similar treats at home, but I think this is something the Bakeshop at CSU could easily make.  I can’t wait to suggest it to them next week!  

Sunday, July 3: I recently found out one of my classmates from Scripps lives in Fort Collins, so today I met her for lunch at Alley Cat Coffee.  We ended up getting lunch from Dam Good Tacos downstairs, but the two restaurants/cafes share space, so we were able to eat our tacos (I got an amazing kale salad) and order housemade chai at Alley Cat.  It was really nice to catch up with her and get some more insight on the Fort Collins area.  I’m so glad we were able to get in touch!

Lunch from Dam Good Tacos

Monday, July 4: Six of my cross country teammates and I met bright and early this morning in Boulder to run the Star Spangled 5k.  After the race, there was a bounty of free food, including Noosa yogurt and Tillamook ice cream.  Who can pass up ice cream at 9 in the morning, especially on a holiday?  It was delicious! 

Most of us headed up to my friend’s cabin the mountains for the rest of the day.  We walked around the land, found a field of wildflowers, jumped in a stream, hung out, and had a small cook out.  We made the most of a small fire in the rural woods!  It was quite a relaxing way to spend the Fourth.  Nothing is better than running, eating good food, and being with friends!

Post Race Team Picture

Tuesday, July 5: This morning I reviewed the ServSafe Manager Book for the upcoming exam in August that many of the Dining Services employees will take.  It covered HACCP rules, preparation, storage, service, etc.  After taking the practice quizzes and getting a good understanding of the material, I helped out with lunch.  I worked with a student employee at Cactus Junction, which serves Mexican food.  I also learned the process for taking temperatures, restocking, and other tasks that occur during mealtime.  Most importantly, I learned folding a burrito is harder than it looks!

Wednesday, July 6: I spent today with Ann, the dietetic intern at CSU.  It’s hard to believe, but we are halfway through the Health and Wellness Challenge for the Dining Services staff. 

The prize button

Every Wednesday Ann inputs data and makes graphs for each person’s weekly progress.  All of the participants who have filled out logs for the entire four weeks got a pin in their envelope as an extra prize.  At night I met my friend at the Lagoon Concert Series.  It’s hosted by CSU, right across from my dorm, and there are different groups that play each week as well as a few food trucks.  The music wasn’t great, but it was still a nice way to spend a summer night. 

Thursday, July 7: I was back at the Bakeshop bright and early this morning.  I started out with Lauren making 40 pans of flourless chocolate espresso cake, then braided challah for a Kosher event tomorrow night.  I am part of Challah for Hunger at Scripps, so it was exciting to experience the braiding in a different environment!  The rest of the day was spent helping everyone in the kitchen with other tasks. 

Unbaked, 3-strand braided challah

Friday, July 8: Lori and I took a nice two hour drive to CSU Mountain Campus at Pingree Park today.  In mid-August, the Dining Services employees are going to Mountain Campus for the day for a team building/retreat.  Lori met with Leslie, the conference services director, to go over the schedule, activities, venue, and meals.  Afterwards, we walked around an outdoor “museum,” which consisted of small cabins and sheds that belonged to a family who lived in Pingree Park in the early 1900s.  It was quite a jump back into history!  We had lunch at the dining hall, which is much smaller than the facilities in Fort Collins.  It was interesting to see the difference in meal check (a roster instead of swiping cards) and limited menu options. Despite the size of the facility, they still produced a great meal.  One option that surprised me was “trowder,” which was trout chowder!  

Mountain Campus Dining Center

Trowder

After lunch, Lori and I hiked Cirque Meadow.  On the way up, we found a Geocache on the side of the trail.  It was really cool to look at the log book and all of the unique little items in the box!

Holding a tool from the museum tool shed

Geocache box on the trail

At the top of the trail

Two of my friends came up from the Denver area and met my former teammate and I at Restaurant 415 for a delicious spread of shared plates.  Luckily we saved room at dinner so we could fully enjoy dessert at the Chocolate Café.  I ordered the Chocolate Trifecta, but the best dessert of the evening was definitely the peanut butter mousse pie.  I’ll have to go back to order one for myself!

Dessert from Chocolate Cafe

Saturday, July 9: After a great yoga class last week, I decided to sign up for an inversions and arm balances workshop at the yoga studio.  I met my teammates for a post run, post yoga class late lunch at Tasty Harmony.  We walked around Old Town during the afternoon before they headed back to Denver for the night.

Sunday, July 10:  I spent the afternoon cooking up a storm at the Cooking Studio in Old Town.  I have always wanted to take a cooking class and I finally found one!  Coincidentally, the chef instructor used to work in Dining Services at CSU.   There were six of us in the group and the meal consisted of recipes from the Food52 cookbook, Genius Recipes.  We broke into groups of two and my partner and I were tasked with Watermelon, Mint, and Cider Vinegar Tonic, Ratatouille, and Salt-Crusted Potatoes with Cilantro Mojo.  We also had roasted chicken, Caesar salad, and molasses cookies with corn ice cream and blackberry sauce.  It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon and evening!

Dinner at the Cooking Studio

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!

Week 3 (Almost) at Colorado State University

Hello there!  Although I haven't completely finished my third week at CSU, I'll write about the past four days because Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the Bike MS150 event.  The event is quite large and it will probably require an entire post for itself!

Monday, June 20: Today I worked with Misty and Marsha at Parmelee Dining Hall for orientation.  Incoming freshmen are served three meals during their visit, starting with lunch and ending with breakfast the next morning.  There is an incredible amount of work that goes into the preparation and serving. 

Meal sign for Orientation

Each orientation rotation has about 400 expected meals served, but today at lunch we had close to 500!  After helping guide students and parents around the dining hall at lunch, I went into the kitchen and learned how to make the sushi they were going to serve at dinner.  During the school year, the express locations (Ram’s Horn and Durrell) offer five different types, all made in one kitchen and shipped to the separate locations.  I also helped Marsha make crudité platters for tomorrow’s lunch.  During dinner I counted the number of guests as they entered, which totaled about 200 less than lunch.

Tuesday, June 21:  I spent today with Sara, the student manager for Parmelee.  We talked about the responsibilities of student managers, from scheduling the hourly student workers to recruiting new students at summer orientation.  She mentioned the importance of trying to be involved in all areas of the dining hall.  For example, if she notices the Sizzlin’ Salads station needs help, she helps out instead of asking someone else to help.  Sara really wants to make sure the other employees notice she isn’t just behind the computer working on schedule or assigning tasks to employees.  In the afternoon, I went to the student manager meeting with managers from all of the dining halls on campus.  I am continually impressed with the professionalism of the managers.  After enjoying the

Food Truck Rally Take Two!

Food Truck Rally last Tuesday, I headed back to City Park for dinner.  This time I tried the Weird Tacos – BBQ pulled pork, raspberry slaw and pickles – at Austin Taco and the fried Brussel sprouts at Corn Doggies.  I never would have expected a corn dog food truck to have such delicious Brussel sprouts, but they were some of the best I have every eaten.  I completed my meal with watermelon peach “soft serve” from Ba-nom-a-noms, which was quite refreshing in the 100-degree weather!

Wednesday, June 22: After having a fantastic experience at the Bakeshop last week, I was able to go back for two days this week!  In the morning I worked on making brownies, cornbread, and sugar cookie crusts for blueberry frangipane bars.  The Bakeshop is also testing recipes for a large Kosher event next month, so we sampled an apple dessert made with matzo meal.  I thought it was very good, but unfortunately it didn’t bake completely in the middle, so they will have to change the recipe. 

Bakeshop trip for tacos

Around lunchtime, Janet, the executive pastry chef, asked if I wanted to join her and a few other bakeshop staff to a trip to a taco food truck.  I certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity!  We drove a few miles to a truck in the parking lot of an Autoparts.  At first, I was a little skeptical, until I took my first bite.  The ingredients were quite simple; just cilantro, onions, lime juice, and a spicy salsa.  It was absolutely fantastic!  My second food truck taco of the week was very different from last night’s, but I had a great time enjoying my lunch with the rest of the Bakeshop.

Thursday, June 23: Today I learned frosting cupcakes isn’t as easy as it looks, especially at 6am!  I spent the morning with Amy, who taught me how to properly frost cupcakes with a pastry bag.  It is much more of an art form than I thought.  After the difficult part of the morning was over, Amy and I frosted blueberry and lemon poppy seed ring cakes, which are basically breakfast cakes baked in a ring-shaped pan.  I took a quick break from the Bakeshop and went with Tom, who works for the Bakeshop and the Storeroom making deliveries from the Bakeshop to all of the dining halls, to Corbett/Parmelee to deliver focaccia. 

Leftover cupcakes from
the Bakeshop

In the afternoon, I plated blueberry frangipane bars for the Bike MS150 event this weekend.  It was another great day in the Bakeshop. 

Cute vegetable signs

Dinner at the farm

Continuing on my food truck adventures, I went Food Trucks on the Farm hosted by The Growing Project, a non-profit that promotes a local food system throughout northern Colorado.  They event took place at Hope Farms, where The Growing Project uses land to grow their produce and host classes, volunteers, and other programs.  Each food truck created a recipe using greens from the farm to add along to their normal menu.  I was impressed with the Hope Lemonade from the Silver Seed, which was a mix of a juice made from about six different greens, agave, and their traditional lemonade.  Before dinner, which was the special from La Piadina with kale pesto and farm arugula, I walked around the farm.  It was a great community event that promoted a fantastic non-profit.

I'm looking forward to the Bike MS150 events coming up!  Stayed tuned for a recap of the weekend! 

CSU Weekend Fun

I chose to stay around Fort Collins this weekend and explore the area a little more.  Saturday morning started with a trip to the Larimer County Farmers' Market.  They had so many samples, from beef jerky to kombucha, cold brew coffee to fresh cherries, perogies and gluten free baked goods.

Kombucha samples
at the farmers market

My favorite stop was The Underground Bakery, owned by the Executive Pastry Chef at the CSU Bakeshop, Janet.  I bought an apple feuillete for later in the day.  I think it is really great to have such an accomplished pastry chef share her skills beyond CSU dining and into the Fort Collins community.

One of the many
vegetable stands

After the market, I headed to Tasty Harmony, where I enjoyed the Sandwich of the Breakfast, an interesting vegetarian combination of a fried egg, vegetarian soy free sausage patty, grilled onion, mozzarella, tomatoes, house hot sauce, avocado, and a creamy avocado sauce.  I stumbled upon the French Nest Market in Old Town, which had antiques, jewelry, and fun clothing.  I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Old Town and window shopping.  I took advantage of the gorgeous summer night and walked back into Old Town for dinner at Dam Good Tacos.  It was on my list of restaurants to try in Fort Collins and it didn't disappoint!

Whole wheat oat toast with ricotta
and raspberry rhubarb jam

Sunday morning I explored the Poudre River Trail and the Spring Creek Trail on my run.  Fort Collins has a great trail system for biking, running, and walking.  I headed to Little Bird Bakeshop for breakfast, which is a wonderful bakery in Old Town that makes everything from scratch, including the ricotta cheese on my toast!  I hope to go back and try their desserts.

Week Two at Colorado State Unversity

Monday, June 13: This morning I met with Kelly, the customer support coordinator at CSU.  She manages Computrition and oversees the data specialists at all of the dining centers.  The menu management database contains all of the ingredients and recipes Dining Services has ever used, which I learned is almost 8,000 recipes!  Kelly explained the different roles and communication between the executive chef, production chefs, general managers, and herself through Computrition.  It is certainly a process to manage the menu forecasting and ordering for six dining centers and two express locations.  Late last week I reconnected with a friend who I met at running camp in Maine a few years ago.  It turns out she lives in Fort Collins!  She invited me to join her high school cross country team’s summer practices, so I ended up running with them.  It was such a nice coincidence and I hope to run with her team again!

Tuesday, June 14: I started the day meeting with Skyler, the senior procurement manager.  He talked about purchasing as an art form, from bidding with companies to dealing with state regulations for ordering anything from milk to new ovens.  Skyler described the process of bidding for a coffee supplier.  The Bean Cycle, based in Fort Collins, is a fair-trade and organic company that roasts and grinds their beans locally and delivers the coffee to CSU dining halls on a bike!  I found this very interesting and unique.  Later in the morning and throughout the afternoon, I worked in the storeroom with Jeb and Jordan.  They gave me a tour of the facility, showing me where the dry goods, cooler, and freezer were located and what they contained.  I was impressed with the amount of local products CSU dining sources, including spices, hot sauce, and gluten free baking mixes!  Jordan and I pulled a few orders and checked inventory.  We were back and forth in the cooler and freezer, so I bundled up in jackets and gloves! 

The Original Squash Nachos from Silver Seed

After a full day, I headed out for a very sunny afternoon run and checked out the Fort Collins Food Truck Rally at City Park for dinner.  There were so many food trucks with incredible options.  After delicious vegan nachos from The Silver Seed, I got Ba-nom-a-nom’s banana ice cream, which is just bananas in the form of soft serve, topped it with vegan chocolate sauce and vegan sea salt caramel.  It was a delightful and fun Tuesday night!

Wednesday, June 15: Today I shadowed Brittney, the registered dietician on campus, and Ann, her intern.  They are organizing the Health & Wellness Challenge and the participants just handed in their tracking logs from the first week.  Ann complied the information and created progress reports for each participant.  Afterwards I stuffed envelopes with the individual reports and tips for the earning more points (ways to get more sleep, correct serving sizes of fruits and vegetables, etc.).  

Bread samples from the Bakeshop

In the afternoon, Brittney, Ann and I headed over the to Bakeshop to sample new whole grain bread recipes.  Janet, the executive pastry chef, had three breads for us to try.  All were made with ancient grains and were non-GMO.  If the breads are approved and added to the Bakeshop products, Janet would like them to be used for bread boards (sliced bread), sandwiches or the replace the hoagie rolls at the express dining locations.  With some light adjustments to boost the carbohydrate-to-fiber ratio, like the addition of flaxseeds or oatmeal, the bread would receive the “Eat Well” label on the dining halls menu.   

Thursday, June 16: My morning started bright and early at 6am at the Bakeshop.  CSU does a fantastic job with gluten free offerings, both savory foods and baked goods/desserts, and today I spent the day working with Kendy in the gluten free area. We made blueberry and peach muffins, individual-sized pizza dough, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and almond cherry bars.  We also tested a new vanilla cupcake recipe, but it unfortunately wasn’t a big hit.  During out breakfast break, Kendy gave me a huge granola bar loaded with chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans.  It is my favorite gluten free offering from the Bakeshop!  The afternoon was spent individually sealing the items and organizing them for Fridays delivery to the various dining halls.  It was a very productive and exciting day.

Kendy with gluten free peach muffins  

Friday, June 17: Today was my second day at the Bakeshop, which I spent with Lauren and the cake bench.  In preparation for the Bike MS150 event next weekend on campus, we made 16 sheets of rainbow blondies!  We also made lemon cakes and cupcakes, raspberry cupcakes and blueberry cupcakes.  We had some leftover batter, so Lauren let me mix the raspberry and lemon into cupcake batter.  It was a rather calm day in the bakeshop, but I enjoyed talking with the Bakeshop staff and learning more about large scale baking.  Stay tuned for my adventures this weekend!

112 pounds of rainbow blondie dough!

The rack of gluten free goodies from the day

Weekend Fun at CSU

With a car on campus, I'm looking forward to exploring Fort Collins and the surrounding area during my internship.  This weekend I drove to Denver where my friend and cross country teammate lives.  She had already picked up my other friend/teammate who is working in Colorado this summer, so when I arrived to the house, I had two friends waiting for me!  We hung out and had a lovely dinner outside.  Saturday morning we went for a run around the area, had a leisurely breakfast, and headed up to my friend's cabin in the mountains.  After the long drive along windy roads, we arrived to the cabin.  We walked around and explored the woods with her dogs for the afternoon.

Matilda, me and Jen going for a walk by the cabin

 

On the way back to driving my friend back to work we stopped in Idaho Springs for dinner.  I had been wanting to try Beau Jo's Pizza after hearing about it (there is one in Fort Collins) and by chance, there was one in Idaho Springs!  We split a 2-pounder pizza that was half garlic cream sauce with chicken and sun dried tomatoes and half pesto with chicken, broccoli, spinach, and mushrooms.  It hit the spot!  

A perfect end to a perfect day

The night wasn't complete with ice cream, so we after dinner headed next door for delicious homemade ice cream.  The night concluded with dropping Matilda off and heading back to Denver.  I couldn't have asked for a better day - friends, running, hanging out, exploring nature, and delicious food. I am so grateful to have friends in the area!