Week 8: The Week of Being a Chef at Rutgers University

Citrus Cilantro Watermelon Salad (+ avocado)

Our luncheon is in less than one day (see previous post about the luncheon)! On Monday, we showed up to Brower Commons to work with Chef Pete to do some additional prep for our luncheon. Many of the chefs were very helpful in the development of our menu items. Many of our main entrees, like the roast beef, chicken pomodoro, and shrimp scampi were assigned to multiple chefs to cook. As a result, we mostly only had to prepare the cold foods, such as the kale and watermelon salads. We started by making a mise en place for the Ratatouille. We diced up many vegetables, including asparagus, and called it a day.

Strawberry Frosting Cupcakes

Tuesday was our luncheon day!! We arrived to Brower’s at 7:30am this morning to finalize our luncheon! In the morning, we mostly worked with Vicki, who usually manages the salad station. She helped us make the Kale and Citrus Cilantro Watermelon Salad. We started by chopping the kale and watermelon into little pieces. We then cut the avocado into slices for the watermelon salad. On a side note, I still find the combination of avocado and watermelon very interesting. However, when we tasted it, the pair worked very well and the creaminess of the avocado added a nice touch to the sweetness of the watermelon.

When it time for our luncheon, Denisse and I changed into our Minnie Mouse and Russell (from Up) costumes, respectively, and were ready to showcase our luncheon. Overall, I’m very pleased with how it turned out and all the support we got from everyone who attended. (Click here for a more comprehensive blog of our luncheon!) I still can’t believe that the luncheon happened. We’ve been planning it for so long with so many different individuals that living in the moment at the luncheon was kind of surreal. I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to execute and produce this project though, and I’m not sure how I will top it in the future. This was such a great experience and I’m so thankful for everyone who helped us along the way (Peggy, Kelly, Sandy, Jenny, Rukiah, Chef Pete, Chef Todd, and others!).

On Tuesday, we spent the day with Sandy. Sandy is one of the managers at Brower’s, so we spent the morning in the faculty dining hall discussing some of the challenges that one might face on a day-to-day basis. One challenge was handling personnel issues within your staff. Many of these issues were petty; however, some of these little arguments could turn heated and disrupt usual dining operations. Therefore, we learned that it was important to stay calm and use your best judgment to approach the situation. I learned that as a manager, you really have to think on your feet, and be innovative, flexible, and patient. Dining is currently in the process of hiring new employees, so we got the opportunity to observe Sandy making a hiring call to one of the prospective employees. n the afternoon, Kelly and Peggy joined us for evaluations! We learned about our strengths and weaknesses, as delineated by the staff we worked with during these past two months. While I know that I still have some things to work and improve on, reading and hearing about another person’s perspective of me was very heart-warming and encouraging.

Kristin, Chef Todd, Chef Pete, and Denisse

Thursday was spent at Livingston Dining Commons. We were supposed to meet with Chef Bryan; however, since he wasn’t coming in until 10am (we arrived at 8am), we worked with some of the staff in the kitchen. We mainly worked in the cold kitchen, where we helped make pita, croissant, and sub sandwiches for a catering event in the afternoon. We also cut and washed bundles of grapes for the upcoming lunch service. Fran, one of the managers, also took us on a tour of the areas that Cynthia didn’t get to last time. We were able to go upstairs to see the faculty dining room. The parents that were part of the New Student Orientation were dining there today, so we got to see the setup.

University of Nevada-Reno Week 8!

The last week!

What a bittersweet feeling it is to be traveling home already! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was arriving in Reno.

This week, I spent some time with Russ, who is the director of housing operations and dining services. I learned how the housing department works with a contract foodservice to meet the needs of the University. It also happened to be an orientation day for incoming students. I sat in on the housing department’s presentation to their parents about living on campus. They sure did ask some interesting questions, which made me think back to my freshman year of college!

I also worked with Chris, and learned how he manages the account as the resident district manager. I got a good overview of the financials and we looked through the P&L statement, and he explained each part of the budget. Corporate then looks at their numbers not for each unit individually, but for them combined. They can get an idea of how the business is doing just by seeing this spreadsheet. We also went over contracts, and just how important it is to have a contract laid out in business. It has been really interesting to learn about Chartwells and Compass Group, because I was previously unfamiliar with how a contract foodservice works.

The rest of the week was spent working at Bytes, Deli NV, and continuing the file audit for the Downunder employees. As I had my final wrap ups with the directors, I have realized just how much I have learned in my time here! I have seen every side of this operation, and learned just what needs to be done for everything to run successfully.

I am so grateful to have had this experience! I have met some amazing people in these 8 weeks, and had so many adventures in “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Thank you so much to everyone who made this internship possible, and allowed me to learn so much about foodservice management. My summer as a NACUFS intern has been one of the most memorable so far!

Texas Tech: Week 7-8 and Travel Back to Ohio!

Hey y'all! This is my last blog post pertaining to the NACUFS Internship.  This has been such a great experience as we finished the last two weeks as TTU.  As I said in the last blog post, the interns and myself were giving our Capstone Project Presentation.  Our audience were quiet impressed with what we delivered to them.  With all of our brains working together, we developed a great presentation.  I was involved with producing a poster for our event that we produced for the Gluten-Friendly Facility.  Carolyn developed table tents, Megan made the training manual, and Emily produced the TV ads.  We all came together for our recipes and brainstorm of different activities in the opening event.

Last Photo together in the Office

Poster for the Welcome Event!

Throughout Week 7 & 8, all of us were at a dining hall on campus called The Market.  We served over 1200 campers at TTU.  During these weeks, the interns and I started to pack our things for our travels back at home as well as making our mark on campus which ranges from running in the rain and decoration Alan and Dee's offices.

Alan's (Batman's) Office

Dee's (Robin's Office)

Running in the Rain

Last Time seeing the Matador

It was very tough to say goodbye to everyone at the office and other people we worked with.  Although more importantly, it was tough to say goodbye to my fellow interns/roommates.  We already agreed that a reunion is in place in the upcoming years.

Our Last Night Together

Our Last Time Parked in a Row

It was time to head back home to the Buckeye State.  However, my parents and I decided to stop at a few places: Tulsa and St. Louis.  We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and visited Toby Keith's I Love This Bar Restaurant.  In St. Louis, we toured The Arch, Riverside Cruise, and Anheuser-Busch Brewery.  I actually went inside The Arch and took some pictures of St. Louis and toured the brewery.  Yes I did see and touched the horses.

The Arch

Clock Tower at the Brewery

St. Louis Skyline from the River Cruise

 After we toured around St. Louis, it was time to finish the travel to Ohio.  I got back home at midnight on Tuesday morning.  I can't wait until school starts to tell the younger dietetics students in my department about this experience at Texas Tech.  It was great sharing my experiences and time at Texas Tech.  Now there is only a month left until I go back to my senior year in college.

Goodbye TTU & West Village!

 Safe Travels Back Home Everyone!

Sun's Up, Gun's Up!

-Emma Regula

Our Final Week at Purdue University!

The final countdown, the days of lasts….. w e e k 8. I am cringing as I’m typing this. We are all overwhelmed (I know I don’t speak for myself here) with feelings of sadness, nostalgia, excitement, and maybe even a little bit of eagerness to pack up and head home. But I know one thing is for certain, we will all be shedding tears for these emotions in the presence of those who have made our experiences possible. So, we will shed our tears loud and proud for our Boilers- also in hopes that this is just a “see ya later” and not an official “good-bye”.

Monday, Monday. Today brought new experiences that I know some of us wish we could have had sprinkled in throughout the eight weeks, but we’re so thankful we got a chance to have them! Alice and Kristen spent the morning and afternoon helping out in the food truck, the Daily Bite, while Jeanine and Mary Frances continued to clear up loose ends on their final projects. We rejoined in the late afternoon to meet the two sports dietitians on campus. All of us were stoked at this opportunity because we all have sports interest and wanted to see this new and up-and-coming side of nutrition. It was a neat experience to get a glimpse of how Purdue’s sport nutrition and athletic training programs communicate and work together to ensure their athletes get the best quality care. We were able to tour the athletic facilities, check out the fuel stations, and all the various tasks a sports dietitian does- quite different than your food service dietitians! We all had a great afternoon, and were inspired to do something of that nature!

"The Daily Bite" Food Truck where we all worked selling mac and cheese!

Alice hard at work!

Josh, the manager at The Daily Bite! (he wanted to be in the blog)

Tuesday, Tuesday. Yet another full day. In the morning we got the opportunity to check out the Central Production Kitchen at Purdue and a future addition to their residential dining (a place where students would be able to get a whole pizza to-go for a meal swipe!) Then we drove out to the Purdue Research Farm to pick some Indiana sweet corn! It was our first time doing this so we made sure to get lots of photo-ops. It was a fairly quick and painless process and the weather definitely treated us right (not too hot!) After our morning in the farm we got to go to a staff retreat where we participated in a workshop to develop and discuss our top five strengths. Being in a leadership position, this was a valuable session for us to be a part of. It was also exciting getting to see the management team outside of work and get to talk with them. After the retreat, the fun continued at Town and Gown Bistro where we had a social hour with yummy appetizers. We made it a point to take a picture outside of the restaurant because it was the place we had our first dinner together before week one- so unreal! It was a full day of fun.

Fresh Sweet Corn we got to pick from the Purdue Student Research Farm (and later taste tested)!

Mary Frances, Kristen, Alice, Jeanine showing off their corn picking skills!

We had to get a picture with Kristen O. (pictured in the middle) who was our mentor through our whole experience!

From Week One to Week Eight (starting to get teary eyed)

Wednesday, Wednesday. In the morning Jeanine and Mary Frances got to experience the prep work to run the “Daily Bite” food truck while Alice and Kristen got the morning off to recharge for another full day. We have to shame our student worker on the food truck for messing up one of our beautiful Nutella sandwich cookies and letting us try one. If you are a chocolate lover… beware, you have been warned from this tasty treat! For the remainder of the day it was off to Prophetstown State Park where we had a yummy catered lunch, got to see some farm animals, continue discussions from the retreat during our week one, and do various relaxing activities. I know it was a well needed break for all the staff members to be outdoors and spend time with one another outside campus.

Mac and Cheese balls in the process of being made (if you love cheese this is for you because its made with 4 different types of cheese)!

Finished product of the Mac and Cheese balls after they were breaded! Now they just have to get fried up!

Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie!!!  This cookie was about as big as my head (for a size comparison) 

Our staff retreat ventured out to a farm and we met this little guy! He did try to bite me when I pet him:( 

Just trying to get cool on a hot sunny day

Thursday, Thursday. Our last day of Recipe Testing—wait, what? Well, we never got to actually do any recipe testing, but we got word that the hours of inventory we did paid off! Hooray! It was sad to say goodbye to our awesome catering chefs because that definitely was some of our favorite memories from our time here.

Friday, Friday.  Our very final day at Purdue University and last day as a Boiler.  By now our once cluttered dorm rooms are now being confined to loaded suitcases and boxes ready to be sent home. We started the day off by going out to brunch at "Another Broken Egg" Cafe with Alice and Mary Frances' families! I wish I did not find this place so late because it was absolutely AMAZING!!

Later in the day we presented our final projects about the 8 Dimensions of Wellness to the directors of dining and catering (no pressure there).  It was also open to our friends and family to see what we have accomplished during the last eight weeks!  The presentations went phenomenal and everybody was very pleased with our work; but then the goodbyes started to come.  We were overwhelmed with so much love from people we respect and have grown to be attached to over the course of our time at Purdue.  We have truly met such amazing people and had such a wonderful experience gaining knowledge in the field of nutrition that we love.

Picture of us with our boss, Mary Jo!

Picture of us with fellow registered dietitian Carrie, who is in charge of the 8 Dimensions of Wellness throughout the dining halls!

Today is the day we officially say adios to the campus, our leaders, our new friends, each other, and to you all, fellow bloggers, who have been following our journey. Our journey would not have been the same without each piece and this blog is something tangible that we will be able to look back on and reminisce on all we did.  This is not the last time Purdue will see us.  It is not a goodbye, it's an I'll see you later.  Boiler up!

XOXO K-JAM

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

University of Washington Week 8!

It is our last day here at the University of Washington, and what a ride it has been. We are so sad to leave, but so thankful for this experience. We have learned so much and can't thank NACUFS and UW enough for this opportunity. 

This week was pretty jam packed despite being our last week here! On Monday we had a few meetings and prepared for our big presentation on Tuesday to the HFS central leadership team. We had a pretty strict time slot on their agenda, so we practiced a lot to make sure we got it right. Also on Monday we had the chance to learn about the coffee roasting process from our campus coffee expert, and even got to roast our own batch of coffee. It was so interesting and delicious!

 

Adding the beans to roast!

The beans during the roasting!

The beans cooling after the roasting!

On Tuesday we started the day with our presentation, which went great! After that we had evaluations with our amazing internship coordinator, Kara, where we discussed our strengths and weaknesses and gave feedback for the program. Then, the whole office bought us lunch from Great State Burger and it was delicious! Later in the afternoon we had even more yummy celebrations, with fruit and a HUGE (6.6 lbs) container of Nutella, cheesecake, and root beer floats. Dreams do come true.

With our certificates!

Wednesday was spent in the catering department, learning the ropes, sitting in on a few meetings, and helping set up for some events. Catering is a huge and daunting operation, and it was fascinating to see how it works. 

On Thursday we sat in on our last dining administration meeting :( and spent the rest of the day wrapping up our projects and putting the final touches on them. After work we headed downtown for the last time to say our goodbyes to Seattle. We went on the Ferris wheel at sunset, which gave the most incredible view of the mountains as well as the city. It was the perfect way to end our time here.

Mount Ranier!

Today (Friday) is our last day of work, and we are sad about it. We will be ending our time here with some meetings, inventory audits, and lunch with Gary and Dean. We are so sad to leave, but excited to apply everything we have learned. 

So long, Seattle. We love you!