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 6 at CSU

This week was filled with many different rotations, each coming with their own challenges and unique learning opportunities.  This was probably my favorite week thus far.  I can't believe I only have two weeks left at CSU!

Monday, July 11: My weekend was somewhat extended, as I didn’t have to work today until 1pm.  I spent the afternoon and evening at Durrell Dining Center, which is on its second week of hosting Kallah, a Jewish Renewal conference that was in its second and final week on campus.  Because there are many dietary restrictions, the menus are very different.  They entire kitchen also had to be koshered, which required deep cleaning and discarding of all non-kosher food.  I spent part of the afternoon with Sarah, the assistant student manager, learning about the duties of student managers and assistant student managers, including hiring, scheduling, pay rate, and promotions of hourly employees.  After that, Kyle, the production chef, put me to work in the kitchen. 

The middle stage of the risotto 

I made mushroom risotto, which required constantly stirring with a huge paddle for about an hour.  Unfortunately, because many of the conference guests are vegan, we had to omit the cheese from the risotto.  I was quite disappointed!  During dinner, I spent time with Tina on the floor learning how to make menu updates (the menu boards are electronic) and performing pre-service and floor duties during meal time.  It was interesting to learn how the dining hall has to make changes according to certain dietary needs and the amount of effort and time that goes into accommodating them.

  

Tuesday, July 12: Lori and I explored Estes Park today!  On the way up, Lori took me to Glen Haven General Store for the perfect mid-morning snack – a cinnamon roll!  The store is known for their cinnamon rolls and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

Mini library!

Up close of the Glen Haven cinnamon rolls

View from the top of Bible Point

Bible Point

Maybe a little more frosting would have made is superb, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.  Next, we hike Bible Point at the YMCA of the Rockies.  It was a pretty steep incline, but pretty short otherwise.  At the top there is a grave of a young teenager from the early 1900s marked with a cross, and a mailbox with a bible in it that visitors can read and write notes to put in the pages.  After the hike, we drove around Rocky Mountain National Park and stopped at the Alluvial Fan that flooded in 2013.  It was incredible to see how much land it completely destroyed.  Finally, we grabbed a late lunch in Estes Park at Ed’s Cantina.  I had a bison salad, which actually tasted just like ground beef!

Wednesday, July 13: Today and tomorrow will be spent at the Bakeshop.  I helped at the bread bench making focaccia and testing new challah recipe.  We decided the challah needed some honey to make it a little sweeter.  After baking the bread, I moved over to the finishing bench, where I worked with David, the assistant pastry chef.  I realized I wasn’t as comfortable frosting cupcakes as I thought.  He really helped me stay calm, which was really difficult!  My mind was thinking about a million different things – putting enough pressure on the bag, swirling correctly, holding my hands in the right position, the list goes on!  I practiced frosting imaginary cupcakes on parchment paper until I got the hang of it, then I moved on to the matcha green tea cupcakes. 

Tester challah loaf

Items for the dessert tray

20 dozen cupcakes later, I worked on a small dessert tray that included fruit tarts, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and cream puffs.   

Thursday, July 14: My morning had quite the sweet start.  I made cream cheese frosting for red velvet cupcakes, then frosted orange cream, cookies and cream, raspberry, and red velvet cupcakes.  After a few hours of frosting and decorating, I made caramel with Lauren, which required patiently standing over the stove and taking the temperature of the sugar, corn syrup, water, butter, and cream mixture.  To finish the day, I made frangipane pilling for almond croissants that I will make tomorrow.

Friday, July 15: Before heading over to Durrell in the afternoon, I made a quick stop at the Bakeshop to finish the almond croissants. 

Almond croissants

The dough had already been baked yesterday, so today we filled, glazed, and baked the pastries.  They were absolutely divine!  The most difficult part was waiting for them to cool before we could eat them.  In the afternoon, I worked at Durrell getting ready for the final dinner of the Kallah conference.  The dinner tonight was going to be served at the Lory Student Center and was only for adults, which made providing the kids’ meals somewhat of an extra challenge.  Durrell made all of the food and provided the serving utensils, silverware, plates, etc.  The afternoon was spent counting and organizing all of the items.  Before loading the truck with the food, we served 20 children at Durrell who weren’t attending the dinner later in the evening.  I supervised the group as they came in, telling them about the dishes that fit with their dietary restrictions (gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, soy free).  As I learned on Monday, this group has a large number of guests with dietary restrictions.  After serving the kids, we loaded the warming trays the food, loaded the truck with the trays, and dropped off the food at the student center.  It was a busy night to finish the week! 

Saturday, July 16: For the last four years, I’ve gone to a running camp for high school and college Maine runners and unfortunately I’ll miss this year.  Coincidentally, the director reached out to me and told me his daughter just moved to Fort Collins!  I was so happy to make this connection and this morning we went to Silver Grill Restaurant in Old Town.  They are famous for their cinnamon rolls, which of course I had to try.  I was a little disappointed because it didn’t have cream cheese frosting, which is personally the most important part of the cinnamon roll!  Despite that, it was a great way to start the weekend reconnecting with Amanda.

Silver Grill breakfast

Sunday, July 17: My friend I drove down to Longmont early in the morning to the Longmont Trail Half Marathon, where we met another teammate.  I was the only one registered for the race, but my friends joined me for part of the way.  Having never actually run an official half marathon, it was a lot of fun and a great experience!  After the race, we went to Boulder for the day.  We had an amazing brunch at Zeal, which had everything from acai bowls to carrot pancakes with coconut "whipped cream" to superfood smoothies to savory egg and tofu dishes.  It was fantastic!  I also ordered their Kickstarter coffee, which was coffee mixed with grass-fed butter and coconut oil.  I fell in love immediately!  After brunch, we walked around Pearl Street for a few hours, window shopping and making our way through a huge arts fair.  Boulder is such a great place and I would love to go back.  Being that today is National Ice Cream Day, I made a trip to Walrus Ice Cream in Old Town after dinner to take advantage of their deal on saturdaes (their version of a sundae).  It was a superb way to end 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!

Big Weekend at CSU

As promised, here is a recap of the Bike MS150 event catered by CSU Dining!

Friday, June 24: I spent today meeting with Ryan and Tina as they worked on their final preparation for the Bike MS150 event.  Bike MS is a national fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Colorado Bike MS is the nation’s third largest location.  We plan to serve dinner and breakfast to about 2,000 cyclists.  Some last minute tasks today included counting linens (tablecloths, napkins, etc.) from catering, picking up miscellaneous serving bowls and utensils from a few different dining halls, and checking out the event site.  We called it early today knowing tomorrow and Sunday will be very busy and long days.  

Saturday, June 25: After a run along the Poudre River and Spring Creek Trails, I snuck in a quick visit to the farmers’ market before getting ready for Bike MS.  Most of the vendors were the same as last week, but I still enjoyed walking around and eating all of the delicious samples.  Before heading over to the event site, Ryan took me, Tina, and two student trainers to Fuzzy’s for lunch.  

It was a nice way to ease into the day and an unexpected surprise.  After lunch we made our way over to the site for set up.  About 30 minutes after arriving, a huge cloud cover came in and thunder started.  We were told to immediately evacuate the tent.  It quickly started to pour and lightning started.  Tina and I went to Durrell, where we stayed for over an hour waiting for the storm to pass.  This definitely threw everyone for a loop and made set up for dinner a bit hectic, but it was nice to relax before dinner started.  Once the storm cleared, everyone got back together to prepare for service. 

Front of the line for dinner

Desserts!

I’ve never prepared for such a large scale event and it was amazing to witness all of the work that goes into catering an event.  We served about 900 cyclists for dinner, which is about 300 less than we thought.  Although we had many leftovers, the rainbow blondies I helped make last week at the Bakeshop were very popular.  Cyclists like their desserts!  However, this made for a much quicker clean-up that expected.

Sunday, June 26: I woke up to my alarm at 2:30am in order to meet Ryan and Tina at Durrell at 3:15am.  For the most part, everyone was lively and ready to go.  We served from 4:45am to 7am and were cleaned up by 8am.  

Breakfast menu

With all of the help from the hourly student employees, the student trainers and managers, and the classified employees, set up, service, and clean up went quite smoothly.  Overall, it was fascinating to watch the collaboration between all of the dining halls and seeing the complexity of a large catering event.  Between Durrell, Corbett, Ram’s Horn, Braiden, the Bakeshop, and the Storeroom, the event came together very well.  Despite the thunderstorm interruption and fewer cyclists than expected, Bike MS150 was a great experience.  I was in desperate need of a caffeine fix after breakfast service, so I drove to Bindle Coffee at Jessup Farm.  It is an adorable complex with a restaurant, café, clothing store, and Bindle Coffee.   There was even free outdoor yoga in a courtyard.  Bindle makes their own almond cashew milk, which I had to try, of course!  It was quite a relaxing morning after a busy last 20 hours.  I will definitely enjoy some extra sleep tonight!   

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!