University of Northern Iowa--UNI Week 3

DAY 8/9: BAKERY DURING THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Sunday, June 17, 2012—Monday, June 18, 2012
University of Northern Iowa

            I arrived at UNI’s bakery, Fresh Beginnings, at 9:30 P.M., and I finished my shift around 5:00 A.M.  It is very important to have fresh bakery items for catering events, Rialto, or for any other place on campus.  Nobody wants a stale doughnut in the morning!  First, I met the head baker, and I toured the kitchen looking at all the enormous equipment and recipe books.

            The baker had me assemble six low-fat blueberry muffins for an event.  It was easy.  Most of the ingredients were already premeasured.  I used a commercial five-pound stand mixer.  It was slightly different from an at home Kitchen Aid stand mixer, it did not tilt up, and the bowl did not spin and lock in place.  I used a dipper to scoop out the mix and placed it in a muffin pan, and they were ready for the oven.
            Next, I prepared three half sheets of Rice Krispie treats.  I had to weigh out the ingredients on the scale opposed to measuring them with measuring cups since it was such a large production.  I felt like I was in chemistry class, since the scales look exactly the same only measuring in ounces instead of grams.
            Afterwards, I prepared peanut butter Rice Krispie treats with chocolate icing; however, I ended up a pound short on one of the pans.  They said that this has been happening often, so the recipe must be wrong.  It was similar to the Rice Krispies I made prior only you add peanut butter in the marshmallow mixture and glaze the top with chocolate sauce.
            In the meantime, two student workers arrived, and after I finished the chocolate covered peanut butter Rice Krispie treats, I helped them press cookies.  The cookies where premade and precut, so I only had to place them on a tray and press down.  The girls began frying doughnuts and pastries, and I helped them glaze the cinnamon roll doughnuts. 
            At this time, the cookies were cooling, and they were ready to be stacked and placed into a cart for transportation.  There must have been over 80 dozen cookies for only one day!  They all looked delicious.  My favorite is the monster cookie, which is a chocolate chip, M&M, oatmeal based cookie.  When we finished this, we took a little break, and then we were back into the kitchen.
            The student workers and I went to work on two recipes, lemon bars made with real lemon zest and juice and a mint chocolate chip mini cheesecake bites.  We used a food processor, microplane for the zest, lemon squeezer, stand mixer, a scale, and other odd ends of the kitchen.  The cheesecake recipe called for liquor, and I have never worked with liquor in baking, so that was something new and exciting.  Afterwards, we washed our dishes, cleaned our areas, swept the floors, and we were sent home just as the roosters began crowing.    

DAY 9: COMMISSARY RISE AND SHINE

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
University of Northern Iowa

            Good morning, UNI!  I woke up at 4:15 AM this morning, and waking up before the sun is never good for me.  Today, I worked in Fresh Beginnings again on the Commissary side.  I learned about its history a bit, it reopened in the Redeker Center in June 2001, and their focus was meat, cheeses, and vegetable prepping.  Now, they accomplish much more during their day, preparing kits, sandwiches, salads, etc. for Prexy’s and cart production for catering and all the facilities at UNI.  There focus changed in 2004 to produce for more retail.  Today, they produce the most for catering, then retail, and lastly, dining.  Although, they can produce a whole lot of products, they are limited in their facility with staffing, skill set, time, and budget.  Sometimes, enough is enough; they cannot take on the entire food production on campus.

            First, when I got to Fresh Beginnings, they were preparing carts for shipments to the dining centers.  I helped load the carts.  In addition, I prepared fruit trays for catering and orientation.  I weighed the fruit on a scale then packaged it for shipment.  I learned how to make a strawberry fan, which was fun.
            Next, I learned how to assemble, operate, dissemble, and clean the Grote slicer.  It is a huge piece of kitchen equipment that slices meat and cheeses with the press of a button!  It is much safer than a traditional meat slicer is.  In addition, it is more sanitary, because it is easy to clean at the power wash station and easy to sanitize thoroughly.  For the most part, I sliced different types of cheeses for catering, Prexy’s, and Rialto including cubing the cheeses.  They say in an average year, they produce over 20,000 pounds of deli turkey each year, and that is only turkey let alone the rest of the meat and cheeses.  Afterwards, I weighed and labeled the bags for shipment. 
            After helping to clean the Grote slice, I helped the student workers wash and slice their vegetables that they needed to get out today.  We used an Anliker vegetable cutting machine; I could not imagine chopping all the vegetables by hand that we produced today.  We chopped red peppers and shredded red cabbage and carrots in the Anliker.  There were different accessories for each technique of cutting.  I have always wondered how they get those small slices of carrots into my salads.  Then, it was the same as the meat and cheeses, weigh the product, label it, and package it for shipment.
            Then, I prepared vegetable/fruit kits for Prexy’s.  I weighed an apple and peanut butter kit, apple and caramel kit, and a broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, radish, and dill dip kit.  In addition, I prepared a grapes and cheese kit.  Everything was pre-sliced, I only needed to weigh the products and place them in a container.  Afterwards, I washed and cut out the stems of radishes and cucumbers for the next day’s production.       
            It was time to go home; however, Cathy talked to me a little bit more about Fresh Beginnings, and she gave me a few ideas for my special event.  It really stunk getting up that early, but it was awesome to be off by 1:30 PM.


DAY 10: PROJECT DAY
Wednesday, June 19, 2012
University of Northern Iowa

            Today, I had an entire day to plan for my special event!  I had to be extremely self-motivated, but I think I got a lot accomplished.  Planning event is so time consuming, but I have given myself so much time that I think I can sail along. 

            My internship director is amazing, and she wrote me this list to plan a special event.  I have been going through the list, and checking things off.  I am a third of the way done, and my special event is not until July 25!
            For my special event, the theme is RialtOlympics.  Rialto is the dining hall at UNI that will be my venue for the event.  I wanted to create an event that brought cultural awareness with international cuisine.  What a perfect year for this idea, since the Olympics were right around the corner, I decided to plan an event with foods from different countries and have fun Olympic-like games while dining.
            So far, I have my menu and activities planned for my event.  Here is a peek into my lunch menu.
Lunch menu
-Classic Cuban Midnight sandwich
-Indian Chicken Chutney Sandwich with Curry
-Jamaican Tortilla Soup
-British Shepherd’s Pie with side of green beans
-Sweet and Sour Chicken with steamed rice and spring rolls
-Greek pizza
-Mexican Taco pizza
-Italian baked ziti Alfredo
-USA hotdogs and hamburgers
-French fries
-Greek salad
-Fruit tray
-Vegetable tray
-Roasted red pepper hummus

Dessert
-Olympic rings display cake
-USA chocolate and vanilla cupcakes
-The Olympic torch, vanilla soft serve ice cream dyed yellow with orange flavor burst  

DAY 11: SPECIAL EVENT RECIPE TESTING AND DECORATIONS
Thursday, June 20, 2012
University of Northern Iowa

            Yet, another day to work on my special event, at this rate, I will be done by the end of June!  I went to Rialto dining to test my new recipes that I will use for my event: the Indian Chicken Chutney Sandwich with Curry and the Jamaican Tortilla Soup.  Before, I could dive into my recipes; I needed to finish my rotations at Rialto.  Even though I have been in Rialto for five days, I have not worked at S’mores, the place to get tasty treats after your meals.  I watched a student worker dissemble and clean the soft serve ice cream machine.  Most of the desserts that S’mores serves are prepared at Fresh Beginnings.  The major duties of staff at S’mores include but are not limited to the sanitation of the eating area of the dining hall, keeping the desserts stocked, and serving the ice-cold tasty treats.

            Next, I prepared the Jamaican Tortilla Soup for taste testing.  I have never worked with fresh ginger root before, so I learned something new!  I imagined ginger smelling like cinnamon or baking much like a gingerbread cookie, but I was wrong.  Fresh ginger root smells clean and fresh like lemons and pine needles, refreshing but unexpected.  Overall, the soup smelt delicious.  We placed the soup in the warmer, so we could taste test it after lunch.  Two people were able to taste soup; however, somebody accidentally threw it away before I was able to taste it.  I guess I learned a lesson to label food items.
            We had some down time after lunch, so a chef and I went to the local Hy-Vee to find the chutney for my Indian Chicken Chutney Sandwich with Curry recipe.  We were unable to locate chutney, so we purchased fruit preservatives instead. 
            Next, we had some fun searching for some decorations for my special event.  I am trying to locate international decorations, which is proving to be a challenge, but I have finished my USA decorations since the Fourth of July is right around the corner.  In addition, we found the materials to make one of the home Olympic Games that I found on the internet, the noodle   I hope that I will be able to use the plotter, and find some neat pictures online to incorporate them into my event.
            When we got back, we made the Indian Chicken “Chutney” Sandwich with curry recipe.  We bought two types of preservatives apple with cranberry and cranberry and berry.  Everyone was able to taste test the recipes.  It was a tie between the two flavors; however, the apple with cranberry seemed spicier.  Lastly, I wrote my recipes, so they would be ready for FoodPro. 
            This internship is flying by, we are almost finished with June, and before I know it; it will be August in no time.

                     

DAY 12: MANAGEMENT MODULE, RECIPE TESTING, SPECIAL EVENT PLANNING, AND SPECIAL DIETS

Friday, June 21, 2012

University of Northern Iowa

            Today, I got to hang out with my internship director, we first talked about my special event, and she gave me some ideas and the names of people who I should talk to.  I need to talk to Fresh Beginning about my cake design, the multicultural building for decorations, and catering for a screen to project my Olympic Jeopardy! game. 

            Next, we talked about her role in campus dining.  She modifies meals and creates plans for people with allergies.  Today we worked with an individual who had multiple allergies.  I had the task to find, something similar to cereal that the individual could eat.  The internet made this information easily attainable.  It is awesome that UNI accommodates to every person including his or her special diet.  I could not imagine being allergic to multiple items and trying to eat in a cafeteria style dining without accommodations.  For the individual, I found a millet cereal with unsweetened coconut milk or unsweetened Flax-milk and a piece of fruit that she did not have an allergy to. 

            Next, we discussed a mini project that my internship director would like me to do, it is a nutrition marketing calendar.  It is a calendar, in which describes nutrition related displays that will be on campus during that year.  In addition to this mini project, I am writing QR codes for the soups at UNI to begin a point of purchase nutrition helpers on campus.  This will make choosing healthier choices easier.

            Then, we discussed the management module, which are small projects that I need to accomplish before my internship is complete.  I am trying to incorporate as many of the modules into my special event, so I can create a portfolio with my accomplishments from the event.  First I will create set up notes for the food and decorations, so I can familiarize myself with the timesheet process and the necessity of staffing for my event.  Then I will cost the menu for that entire week, and calculate a meal day cost for my special event.  Lastly, I will report on a meal’s acceptability from my special event through questionnaires.

            Lastly, we taste tested several pastry-like items from Fresh Beginning.  We tested a chipotle sauce on a pita, a blueberry pastry, and an orange flavored pound cake.  Mmm…again this is my favorite part of this internship, but it is not good for my hips.