As expected this week flew by! I am sure that part of the
reason for that is due to the fact that the 4th of July fell on
Wednesday, making the week even shorter.
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| Ikenberry Dining Hall |
This week I was scheduled to work at Ikenberry Dining
Hall. Ikenberry, more commonly
called Ike, is the largest dining hall, seating 1200 students. Ike also offers
the most variety of options of any of the dining halls on campus. There are 7
individual stations: Baked Expectations, freshly baked
treats; Don’s Chophouse, cooked-to order meats; Gregory Drive Diner, American
classics; Hortensia’s, International cuisine; Penne Lane, make-your-own pasta
dish; Prairie Fire, pizza creations; and Soy-Tainly, vegan and vegetarian
options. Overall my experience at Ike differed from FAR mostly because
it has such a larger kitchen. As at all the other dining halls I have been too,
the staff was amazing!
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| The front entrance of Ikenberry |
Over the week, I learned how to make tomato sauce from
scratch, blanche vegetables for storage, and flambé alcohol to add to sauces. I
had the chance to learn how to use special kitchen equipment, such as the tilt
skillet and the deep fryer. It is still amazing to me how easy and fun it is to
deep fry foods of all kinds. There were two separate recipe testings, I was
involved with as well. I am happy
to say my contribution, croissant bread pudding with caramel sauce, went over
well with everyone! The other featured items were deep-fried pizza pockets,
deep-fried smoked mozzarella and toasted tomato empanadas, spelt arugula salad,
cranberry watercress salad, chipotle sweet potato au gratin, and red-hot
cinnamon cider. All of the recipe testing for this week was done to try out
items for the themed meals: carnival theme, Halloween theme, and Christmas
theme.
One of the things I admire most about the University of
Illinois-Urbana Champaign is their student run farm. Several of the dining
halls actually have a contract with the farm to use the produce they grow. Of
the residence halls who receive this produce, Ike accepts the majority of it. I
love eating there; knowing most of the food is cooked with fresh ingredients.
On my day off, I had the chance to discover one of the
hidden gems of U of I: Allerton Park and retreat center. Although the actual park is located 40
minutes from main campus, it is owned by the university and its 1500 acres of
trails feature a campground, a mansion, gardens, and statuesque art pieces
throughout. Robert Allerton was an avid art collector and philanthropist. In
1946, Robert Allerton donated his beautiful Illinois estate to the University
of Illinois to utilize as “an educational and research center, as a forest and
wild-life and plant-life reserve, as an example of landscape architecture, and
as a public park.” It has recently been named one of the seven wonders of the
state of Illinois! After seeing the full estate in person, I completely agree
with this honor. My pictures do not do it any justice. The only sad thing about
my visit was that due to the extreme heat and little rain, some parts of the
land looked absolutely parched.
Hopefully this will change in the next few weeks!
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| The Mansion |
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| One of the gardens at Allerton |
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| The view from the terrace |
It is hard for me to believe that I will be beginning my 6th
week of the internship starting Monday. After seeing my schedule for the week,
I am happy to say that I will be visiting some of my favorite spots!
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