Busy Days!

Hello everyone! It has been a busy couple days for Emily and I.  We have been working at South Dining Hall, getting to know the kitchen (which is big and busy) which is important, because this is where we will be hosting our theme meal.  We had a great experience at South.  Thursday we worked with Donna and Sharon, two awesome, helpful, funny kitchen assistants, who taught us how to manage the salad bar. Donna is very knowledgeable and and creative with food, and taught Emily and I how to make flowers out of lemons, onions and tomatoes.  The onions were the most difficult, as you had to have the luck of choosing an onion with many layers.

 We also carved out a watermelon to make a basket for our "flowers". Donna and Sharon shared neat shortcuts for vegetable prep, such as this little trick for cutting cherry tomatoes: place cherry tomatoes between two lids, such as yogurt lids, and run the knife through! Hint: make sure your knife is sharp, and don't push down on the lids too hard.

Another interesting happening at South on Thursday was the unexpected influx of students for lunch and dinner, as the other dining hall which is open during the summer lost power due to construction. Though it could have been a chaotic situation, all the kitchen assistants and chefs worked to produce more food to feed the extra mouths.
Friday we worked at South again, but this time focusing not only salad bar management but we also worked the pizza station and learned the ins and outs of the kitchen and serving area.  There are many walk in coolers and stock rooms, and each item has its home. The pizza area of the serving room is very popular, especially with orientation students (there are a lot of them right now), so we were quite busy making pizzas. Every day the pizza station pumps out cheese, pepperoni and a specialty pizzas.  Emily and I were lucky to work with two great kitchen assistants, Cecilia and Cindy, who made us feel right at home. Amazingly, it only takes five minutes for pizzas to cook in this conveyer oven, so we were able to keep up with the demand.

We had a great experience in this dining unit, and worked with awesome, interesting, helpful people.  We are exploring new areas next week, but are looking forward to coming back to work with them!  It really is awesome to see so many people working so seamlessly together.
We hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day weekend. I plan to spend it riding my bike around this large campus trying to get oriented!
Stay tuned for more!!!