USM

Hi Everyone,

Union Street Market is the place to be lol. Anyway, today I work at the Union Street Market and was trained by a couple of the managers on staff. The girls and I had a tour of the front of the house and back. Later we worked with one of the chefs learning how the set up for the lunch rush. After our little tour we eat breakfast and were placed at individual stations, I requested to be on salads. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That station got so busy during lunch break; I was making soups and salads left and right. I messed up a few but I was successful for the most part. When lunch was over, we went over a checklist of managerial duties, and even toured the C-Store. For the last few hours I helped out in the coffee shop till it was closing time. That was basically my day at USM. Till next time.

Mahalia

I Just Want To Celebrate.....

I have once again failed as a blogger. I keep letting all of my lovely followers down, by not updating frequent enough. So sorry, never fear though, Gretchen is now here.

Let me bring you all up to speed on last week’s ventures. Tuesday and Wednesday were management days for me. I helped complete a weekly inventory with minimal supervision (except for the help from my two partners in crime, aka the other two interns). I also learned about forecasting and got to help forecast for a whole weeks worth of menus. Thursday was another scheduled tour day for us. We travelled down to East Haven, CT and learned all about the cheese making business at Calabro Cheese. We got the history of the company, walked the production area, and even got to try a few things. Calabro are masters in the cheese industry, and were kind enough to spend time with us. While I experienced and saw a lot while I was there, I am going to remain true to my word and keep my lips zipped on all the fine details.

With summer comes weddings, and Friday was my turn to participate in the celebratory season. I travelled to Indiana early Friday morning to help two of my very close friends celebrate their love. I helped run a few errands with the bride when I arrived, and then got ready for the rehearsal. We had a lovely time learning our roles for the wedding, eating a delicious meal, and even learned a non-traditional Greek dance to perform at the wedding to honor the bride’s roots.

Saturday started early at the hair salon. We each took turns getting our hair styled, all while eating breakfast and drinking mimosas. After our hair appointments, we headed to the church for lunch and to finish getting ready for the big event. It was crazy hot, but we made it through the ceremony gracefully. We spent the next couple of hours traveling around the city taking photos along the way. We stopped at a fountain, Purdue University’s campus, the church garden, and a local bar favorite Harry’s Chocolate Shop. The next stop was the reception. We had a beautiful dinner, and then I danced the night away to the live band. I headed back to my hotel at midnight, and left the hotel at 4:30 to head back to the airport. Short trip, but sooooo worth it!

I spent the rest of my Sunday either travelling or resting as my exhaustion from my short weekend was kicking in. I slept on both of my plane rides, and took a very long nap when I got back to Storrs. I got up Sunday evening to have dinner, catch up with the other two interns, and then called it an early night so that I would be fully recuperated for Monday’s adventures, as we had another tour planned.

As time would have it, I’m now slipping into my sleepy state tonight, so I will hold off telling you about my many exciting adventures from Monday until next time….

Past few days..

Hi Everyone,
This blog will be multiple days because a lot happened in the past few days. Friday the girls and I had a chance to do area manager with Eric our supervisor. While on our area manager rotation, Brittany and I did forecasting for the day. At the end of the day, my coworkers surprised me with a huge birthday cake because it was the day before my birthday. That was really nice, I was touched.
On my birthday I spent the day at the Mohegan Sun Casino Resort where I had a chance to have dinner at Michael Jordan’s Stackhouse and catch a comedy show. No I didn’t get wasted on my 21st birthday if you are wondering. However, I did have a good time and was sober enough to remember the next day. After the fun was over, I spent the rest of my weekend relaxing and enjoying being 21.
Monday however, was another great day on the Job. After Carol aka “Annie” surprised me with a really great birthday gift, Eric and Carol took the other interns and I to the foxwoods Resort Casino. Our little trip to the casino was nice; I am glade it involved more back of the house than front. We toured the various operations inside the casino while taking great pictures to show. The tour was very informative; although there were many highlights of Foxwoods, I have to say one of my favorites had to be taking pictures of the ducks. I have pictures to show by the way. Mystic Seaport was the next stop on our schedule for the day. The girls and I walked around Mystic for a short while. We didn’t stay long in Mystic because it was so hot outside, but that didn’t stop us from getting a lobster dinner at Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough. You have to check that place out if you are ever in Mystic by the way. Eric took us to Abbotts because Gretchen and I had never had lobster before so that was another first on my part. Anyway that’s it for today. Till next time…
Mahalia

Sandy Beaches and Fresh Produce

Friday arrived and it was time to party it up, wedding style. We met with the catering staff on Friday morning and learned the ins and outs of what it takes to get an event planned. I worked mainly with Rachel, and she walked me through the process. She had a couple of events that were called in while I was sitting with her, so I got to see the planning in full motion. After lunch, it was up to the ballroom to help set for the wedding I’d be working on Saturday. We met the manager on duty, and were each given different tasks. I got assigned to set the entryway to the provided map. I had a lot of play room to be creative and had a lot of fun. When I was finished with the entryway, I helped string twinkle lights and then we all called it a day. When I returned on Saturday, it was full speed ahead to the finish line on completing all the last minor details before game time. We were introduced to the other two managers and got a quick rundown of the game plan for the day. I was going to be doing a little bit of everything. I helped set up, serve, clear, expo food to the servers, and clean up. In the end, a successful event, and I learned a lot.

When I woke on Sunday, I felt like a train had hit me. I was tired, sore, and wanted to do nothing, but sit. So…we decided to hit the open road and head to the beach in Watchhill, Rhode Island. Watchhill was a great destination to relax for the day. There are a lot of shops, restaurants, a carousel, and of course the beach. It was slightly overcast on Sunday, but still warm enough for us to hit the water. We sanded and swam, and all and all had a great Sunday.

Monday brought the return of work, and the return to another business to tour. Our stop today was Fresh Point, a company dedicated to delivering produce around the region including many regionally grown items. We had a very informative presentation about the business, asked some questions, and then were off to walk the facility. We were able to see how produce is received, and how it gets transferred to the different storage coolers. The produce is all stored by the controlled temperature needed, the gases the produce lets out, and the similarities between like produce items. After our tour, we got to go see one of the local farms that supply Fresh Point with some of their products. We walked the grounds, saw the many varieties of items grown, and even said hello to some horses.

Farm, Forecasting and Surprised birthday party all in that order

Hi Everyone,
Note: I am starting a count down to my 21st birthday (June 26th) and now I am at 3 more days. All birthday wishes and gifts are welcomed lol.
…I am coming to the end of my internship where I am trying to make the most of each day. So far, I have been able to do just that. Monday Carol C. and Eric took us on another tour to FreshPoint. FreshPoint is a produce company that supplies most of Uconn’s produce. We toured the storage area at FreshPoint, which incorporated the building’s cool and dry storage areas and office space. The tour guide even took us out to the loading dock and offered samples of produce throughout, which in my book is always a plus. However, the fun part of the tour came when we went to the Beckett Farm. This particular farm grows everything from beans to apples and even has its own veterinarian practice. I learned a lot that day and took a couple of really nice pictures. I wasn’t excited about the farm tour because I am definitely not an outdoorsy type of girl but it turned out to be really nice. While we were at the farm, we saw the most beautiful horses and we got to take pictures with them. During the tour Eric and Brittney kept picking and eating the vegetables but I was not taking that risk…I like my vegetables washed lol.
Eventually it was time to leave the farm and the horses. On the way home from the farm, Eric and Carol stopped at this strawberry farm and the girls and I picked fresh strawberries, again I couldn’t just eat them right off, so I decided to have them for dinner and boy were they good. Note to everyone, if you haven’t been to the strawberry farm right here in town, HURRY your time is running out. The rest of our day was spent working on projects which are coming along really well.
Tuesday and today was spent doing office work with Eric. I got most of Tuesday to work on my two projects as well as do inventory. We knocked out most of inventory because it was three of us however, we still weren’t done so we had to continue with it today. After we finally finished with inventory, Eric showed us how to do forecasting in detail. Before I forget, we also met with John Kuhl to do forecasting on our menu project but that didn’t take the whole day so that is why we were back with Eric doing Forecasting. In addition, I also had a midterm evaluation with Eric, it went well but talk about a nerve racking experience. Anyway, I saved the best for last. Today was Debbi Lee’s 29th birthday (ok…maybe not 29th) so we had a little surprised party for her. Debbi Lee is one of our assistant managers here at UConn. You could tell she had no idea we planned it and it was nice to see the shock on her face. The cake wasn’t bad either. Man! the staff at the UConn bakery sure can bake up a storm, I will give them that. All this talk about cake is making me hungry so bye for now.
Mahalia

catering

hi everyone,
I have to say that I had a wonderful weekend. I think I have found my calling in life and that is catering weddings lol. Friday was office work where I helped with the final touches of the wedding, it was very nice working in the catering office for half a day, I couldn’t have asked for a better staff to work with. The reason we only worked in the office for half a day was because Brit and I went upstairs to the ballroom to set up for a wedding. We did everything from setting tables to setting up a bar. Man weddings are hard work, by the end of the day I was so tired but little did I know that the work hadn’t started yet.Saturday I catered a wedding at the Alumni House while the other girls catered at the ballroom. From the get go it was work work work. The guest at the wedding were so festive and even though I was helping out, I still had a great time. Anyway, at the wedding I helped serve as well as clean up though I enjoyed serving more than cleaning . After the wedding was over, the work really started. The other staff and I had our work cut out for us. Cleaning up with a fun staff always makes the work go by faster. The night ended eventually and that was basically catering. On Sunday the girls and I laid out at the beach…can’t give you details on that on. Till next time...

Mahalia

Oh The Places You'll Go....

Monday brought the beginning of another work week, and the beginning of many new experiences for me. We started at South Dining Hall to have a mock health inspection with the health inspector. I've had some experience in actual health inspections, but have never had the opportunity to see the other side of things. Cheryl, the health inspector who completes all of the universities audits, was very informative and helpful. She gave us some reading material, and explained to us the different type of audits that can be conducted. We were going to be conducting a risk-based audit. We had our forms and notes sheets out, and we walked around in the order that Cheryl would normally go in. We each got to take turns taking temps and made notations on the audit inspection form. When we were done, we got to ask any questions we had and then had the rest of the day to tie up any loose ends with projects and catch up on our work.

Tuesday, was supposed to be a scheduled day off since I'm working in catering this weekend, but I am leaving town next week for a wedding and will be missing Friday so I made the day up early. I shadowed Eric for the day. We worked on a physical inventory of the equipment that gets completed only once a year. When we were entering in our numbers into the spreadsheet, we realized some prices for items were missing so I worked on locating prices out of the catalog online. When inventory was complete, Eric showed me how the cycle menus work within FoodPro. Tuesday afternoon, the other two interns and myself had a meeting with Gail in marketing to discuss marketing for the luncheon. We had some great ideas to pitch to Gail, thanks to Mahalia, and we were hoping she could turn our ideas into a great end product. Gail was very helpful answering our questions, taking notes, and giving suggestions of what we can do. The girls and I are looking forward to seeing the samples she's drawing up for us. :)

Wednesday began the real adventures....we started our tours. Our first stop was Carla's Pasta. It was here that I had my second celebrity siting since my arrival here in Connecticut. I met thee Carla! She was so nice and very hospitable. She showed interest in our studies and shared some stories of how she got started in the pasta industry. For those who don't know, Carla's Pasta is commercial operation that's been in business since 1978 that provides pasta to many vendors and customers all over the nation. They are even starting to show up in grocery stores out here on the east coast offering steam bag meals (and they are tasty, cause we had a chance to taste some!). Our tour was very interesting, and top secret (no pictures allowed). We got to see the production room, the storage room, and the packaging room. Johnny D. also provided us with lots of information and knowledge about the history of the company. It was great to see a company hold true to the same values and recipes that Carla instilled at the beginning of the company. And when the tour was over, in true hospitable form, we were sent home with some tasty morsels to consume later. :)

Day two of tours, and we were off to visit Omar Coffee and Sysco. What better way to start your day off then with a good cup of coffee, mmmm caffeine. We arrived and unlike yesterday's tour, there were no secrets here, which meant pictures for me. We started in storage and then got to walk through the entire process that the coffee bean goes through to get to our cups. They were in the middle of roasting a batch while we were there, and were prepping to start another batch. So we got to see the beans being dumped into the roaster, the beans coming out of the roaster, and the beans being ground up and packaged. I've worked with coffee for four years, and it was great to see it all the steps it takes to get the coffee to the store level.

We had some time before our next appointment so we made a quick stop to Stew Leonard's to check out their impeccable marketing skills they practice. We pulled up and I immediately realized I'd seen this place on one of those food network shows. They're tricky there, making it nearly impossible to run in and run out to grab an item. This is due to one of two things, either the maze they create to get you through their store, or the samples and interesting decor that is displayed throughout the entire store. Either way, customers are bound to leave with something. Eric swore he wasn't going to purchase anything, and still left with a handful of items. :) Job well done Stew Leonard's!

We grabbed a quick lunch at a local diner, and then headed to Sysco. We were getting a tour of their warehouse and coolers. Let me just say, that if you are a foodie, than the aisles in the warehouse would be your candy store. Wowsers, they go on and on for what seems like forever. We learned all about the different shifts at the warehouse and what each employee does during their shifts. We also got a good understanding of how such a large operation keeps employee productivity and accuracy up. We took a stroll through the coolers, and learned the importance of checking orders when they arrive from vendors to make sure temperature controls have been kept within the appropriate range. We finished with a question and answer session and than headed back to campus.

We've got catering this weekend, and then we're off to see more exciting places next week.

:)ly

Pasta, Coffee, and a cold Storehouse

Hi Everyone,
The girls and I went on three tours this week. Carla’s Pasta, Omar Coffee, and Sysco in that order. Touring Carla’s pasta was a nice experience. While at Carla’s, our tour guide kept stressing how they maintained a clean facility and they sure did. It was almost O.C.D. how clean the place was, in fact they had a third shift that is only designated for cleaning. It was comforting to know that they cared so much about the quality of their product. The tour was short but educational at the same time. The girls and I got to see everything from how the pasta is cooked to how it is packaged. At the end of the tour, we were introduced to Carla and I was a little happy about that. We wrapped up our tour at Carla’s Past with a little Q&A and some free samples and we know those are always good.  Omar Coffee was next and the tour was nice too, What was really interesting about Omar was how the coffee settled on everything in the factory. Some people may think it needs to be cleaned but I call it art. I didn’t know that coffee had to be handpicked, Can someone say labor intensive! Not to mention the amount of work that goes into roasting coffee to the right color, I think I have a new found appreciation for the drink. All in all, the tour was nice and once again the free sample wasn’t bad either. Sysco was an entirely different experience, the place was HUGE. With the amount of volume they stored and to have such a low error rate was impressive. We wrapped up out tour at Sysco in the test kitchen and were on our way. It was nice of Eric to introduce us to that aspect of foodservice and it was well appreciated. Bye for now.

Mahalia

Great weekend and a good start to a week.

Hi everyone,
My weekend with the girls started off at Yale University where we walked around and took pictures despite the not so pleasant weather. During the trip I decided I was starving and what better place to take care of that hunger than a local Yale café. So I went into the cafe and placed my order only to be prompted to participate in a vote which I did, being the good citizen I am. :) On my way out of course I left my umbrella on the counter (no surprise there). After we toured Yale University it was time to hit up this really cool park our friend Tom told us about called Silver Sands Park. While at the park we got a chance to walk on a strip of shells that made its way onto an island (no I am not kidding the other girls may explain this better). It was so cool I am really happy I talked the girls into risking their lives and crossing with me. Ok we really didn’t risk our lives. That experience will be a memorable one and I took lots of pictures to reminisce. When we left the park though we all had to drive home wet and full of sand opps sorry Gretchen. Oh before I forget the girls and I had lunch at the famous Frank Pepe Pizzeria by the campus. I am not sure why it is famous besides the fact that they have the best pizza every! But if you’re a health freak it is not the place for you. We got to campus just in time to make dinner but after glancing at the menu we decided to have "steak night" at this local brewing company restaurant. Man was the food good a bit pricey but your also talking to someone who thinks everything is too pricey lol.
When the weekend was over it was back to work for Mahalia. This past Monday I did a mock health inspection with the other two interns in the South Dining hall. That was fun, I was told I would make a good help inspector because I am stern, go by the book, and tough (not too sure what to make of that last one). The inspection went really well we looked in every nook and cranny of South and even got to address some actual issues. Learning about the different regulations CT enforces was a good experience.
Today I got a day off but I had to spend it doing Unitime. It’s all good though because if I stay on this path I should have this thing done by the 25th. Keep your fingers crossed for me. In addition, I also had to do a self evaluation of my time here lets just say that was interesting. Hope I kept it real. For the rest of the week we will be going on tours so we get a break from the campus not that we need one lol. I will keep you guys updated on the tours. Bye for now
Mahalia

Time to Ketchup.... Like Heinz

Hello Everyone,
Long time no blog... huh? Well now is the time to Ketchup and level the playing field. Thursday would have been one of two days at Chuck and Augie's which is a restaurant that UConn offers to the public. Unfortunately, I went back to PA for a close friend's funeral, so my Thursday consisted of a funeral an a beautiful service for a beautiful friend... Rest in Peace Tracy Garis 11/26/89- 6/4/10.
Friday I was back to the grind working at Chuck and Augie's with Manager Michelle, who is now of vacation. I had the opportunity to work front of the house with Peter, and after Peter knew that I work front of the house at my job back at school, he knew that I knew what I was doing. He showed me how to punch in orders, I use Micros at school, the only difference is a matter of finding the buttons. Front of the house went smoothly, and Peter was a great trainer. FRIDAY= PAY DAY!!!!!!
Over the weekend, the roommates and I went to visit Yale, Frank Pepe's, and Silver Sand State Park. Yale has such a beautiful campus, even though it was under construction, we were able to walk around and take pictures. Looking back at the pictures all we can do is label them building 1, 2, 3, etc because there are so many. About a mile from the college is this excellent pizzeria named Frank Pepe's, if you are EVER in New Haven, please GO it is so worth it, coming from a culinary student, it was like hot, oozy, melting slice of heaven in your mouth. The pizza is delivered on a sheet tray with parchment paper, thin crust with melted cheese sending "Eat Me" invitations to your taste buds. After we left Pepe's we headed to our next destination... Silver Sands State Park. This park offers a sand bar which allows people to walk roughly a mile from shore to an island. My roommates and I walked over to it. However, there was a method to our madness, we had to time perfectly when low tide was, so that we could have enough time to walk over and back without being sucked into the water due to the rip current. Sadly, we made it back... just kidding. Sunday, Gretchen and I found Target.... it was like Christopher Columbus discovering America for the first time, such an adventure.
Monday we had the chance to walk through with Cheryl during a health inspection in South Dining Hall. This experience gave us all a better understanding of what takes place during a real inspection. I thought it was rather interesting seeing exactly is required to be up to code and having the chance to see what establishments get penalized for was a great learning experience. During the inspection we were able to take notes, and jot down remarks we found along the way. The rest of the day was spent working on project stuff. Gretchen, Mahalia and I were able to sit down, e-mail those we needed to communicate with regarding our luncheon for Confratute.

Just for you Carol:

"The menu finalized, look at us now
We talked with Landolphi, Kuhl, and everyone to boot
We are pushing through don’t ask us how
After all team Gretchany is planning for Confratute"

Brittany

Pizza With A Side of Seashells and Vino

Another weekend gone, and more adventures to share with all of my fantastic readers. The other two interns and myself decided we were going to stay close to our home this weekend, and check out some local attractions.

We headed down to New Haven on Saturday to walk Yale's campus. First things first, what a beautiful campus. There are amazing buildings and a TON of history on this campus!!! Very picturesque, and I can understand why so many films and television shows have used the campus as their background. Now, I don't think I would ever want to attend this school, ever. It is crazy spread out. I have no idea how the students get from one side of campus to the other and still make it to classes on time. We parked on one side of campus, walked around for an hour and a half, and still didn't see the entire campus.

After our long stroll through campus, we decided it was time to eat. We had asked around before we left Storrs on suggestions for food. Every single person we spoke to said we needed to hit up Frank Pepe's for the best pizza we would ever consume. So, naturally, we took their advice. I've had a lot of pizza in my day, and I'm not saying it was the best ever, but it comes pretty darn close if it's not.

I had done some research on the internet and had found a state park that was close by so we were now off to Milford to check it out. Our final destination: Silver Sands State Park. There was one main reason this park stood out from the others....sand bar, or what I'm going to refer to from here on out as the "shell"bar. There is an island located about a mile offshore from the beach, and at low tide a "shell"bar is revealed and you can walk across to the island. The island is now a bird sanctuary. We were told that we had about an hour, once low tide started, to get across, spend time on the island, and then get back to the mainland.

When we got to the beach, we saw that some of the "shell"bar had already started to expose itself. We were money, our only problem...we didn't know what time tide had started, so we didn't know how much time we had to get across, and get back. We soon realized, that low tide was just starting. About halfway out, the tide was still working on exposing the "shell"bar, so it was almost like we were walking on water. We made it across safely, took some photos, and then started the trip back, on a now fully exposed walkway. What a way cool experience, and I think it's safe to say that visiting the state park was the highlight of our day!

Sunday started as a pretty lazy day, we all decided to sleep in. When we finally got around, Brittany and I decided we were finally going to check out one of the local wineries here in Connecticut. (For those who don't know remember my mentioning it earlier, I love wine and I had been looking forward to hitting up a vineyard since my arrival.) We decided on Priam Vineyards in Colchester. What a great vineyard to start with! We each decided to do a tasting, and each of us tried 10 of their wines and left with a balloon goblet. After our tasting, we walked the grounds, took some pictures, and then headed back to Storrs.

One side-note about our vineyard visit....Connecticut promotes visiting their 30 vineyards with their Connecticut wine trail passport. For every vineyard you visit, you get your passport stamped on the respectable page, and if you visit 16 or more vineyards you can be entered to win a 13-night trip to Spain. Brittany and I had such a fun time, we are up for the challenge. We have decided that we are going to attempt to hit up at least 15 more vineyards before our departure on July 16th. Wish us luck!

Top Chef I Am Not, but I Had Fun Trying

On Thursday, it was time to throw my next rotation into the mix. I was off to Chuck and Augie's, a restaurant located within the student union. I walked in, introduced myself to the staff, and then was taken back to meet the managers. Michelle and Michael were the managers on duty for the day. I got a quick run down from Michelle on how she opens the store and then was introduced to Derek, one of the chefs and my trainer for the day.

Derek gave me the grand tour of the storage areas, the kitchen, and the prep areas in the kitchen. Due to it being summer, and much slower than school year business, there wasn't much prep left to do for the day when I arrived. We prepped about a dozen portobello mushrooms, and then had some free time before the restaurant opened. Derek told me that during the summer months when things are slower, he gets to utilize his time to help create and develop menu items for future menu changes. He had wanted to experiment with different ingredients to put into a chicken rub. He threw all sorts of spices together to create the rub, and then we tested it by grilling the chicken up. And what better way to know how it turned out then to taste it. :) Derek decided that the rub met his standards (so much that he said I just witnessed the creation of one of their future specials), but he wanted to let the chicken get a little happier in the spices overnight and test the chicken again the next day.

Derek then presented me with the question of "Have you ever made mozzarella cheese?". I told him that I have witnessed the process of making cheese, but have never been an active part of making cheese. Well, it was my lucky day. I was going to not only see mozzarella cheese being made, but I was going to be able to actually help. Never in my life did I think I would be involved in the world of cheese making. Derek explained that they make their own fresh mozzarella for use in the restaurant, as it is a better quality and, surprisingly, more cost effective. I asked a few questions and then we got started. We went through all of the steps and then when it was time to shape the mozzarella, we made both logs and balls. Once the cheese had hardened up a bit, Derek let me taste the cheese to see the difference between fresh homemade and fresh store bought mozzarella. We also experimented with infusing flavors into the mozzarella cheese. We made a small batch of a sun-dried tomato herb mozzarella, and then one of the other cooks wanted to make a barbecue mozzarella. The sun-dried tomato herb was really good! Unfortunately, the barbecue tasted just like regular mozzarella. They decided that during the process, if they tried that flavor again that they would need to use more barbecue and less water in order to really incorporate that flavor profile.

During lunch, I helped Derek on outside expo. As orders came up, we made sure that they were correct and all parts of an order were together before the servers would run the meals to the guests. We had a nice lunch rush that day, so Derek had to hop around to the kitchen to help keep the flow going. I stood back and asked some questions and watched how everyone comes together to create the meals in a time effective manner. At the end of lunch, I helped clean up and then was free for the rest of my day.

I returned on Friday to Chuck and Augie's to see the front of house operations. I learned a little more from Michelle about some of her managerial duties, and then was introduced to Andrew who was working in the Blue Cow (an ice cream shop right next to Chuck and Augie's) that day. He gave me the quick run down on what he does to get the ice cream shop up and running for the day. I helped bring up some stock from the stockroom, and then helped pop popcorn. When my trainer for the restaurant arrived, Michelle pulled me out of the shop and introduced me to Brittany. She is one of the servers, and I was going to be her little minion for the day. I helped with some of the server prep tasks, and then we just waited for lunch to start. I followed her around and learned the ropes of what she does. I helped check on tables, run items to tables, and clear tables. At the end of Brittany's shift, I helped complete her clean up duties which consisted of sweeping the floors and making sure silverware was rolled. Before Brittany could leave, she had to close out her tickets for the day and make sure her funds she was accountable for that day proved to what the register tape said. Michelle let me stay till the end of my shift, and I got to see how she closes up for the day, including some of her paperwork she must fill out on the computer. So ends my time at Chuck and Augie's. It was a lot of fun!

:)ly

Past three days

Hi Everyone,
On Wednesday I worked in barista training for the morning. The girls and I walked around touring five of the six dining halls. When that was all done we had a chance to learn how to make coffee drinks on the UConn menu and use the steam machines. I would like to let you guys know that I am now an expert coffee maker. After training we had lunch at the student union where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Finally, we sat down with some of the union street market staff and talked a bit. J Collins allowed us to play question and answer with him. He also talked about his job on a day to day basis. For the past two days I have been at Putnam as an assistant manager. A list of all the things I have done is below.
• Stamping Invoices and imputing them into FoodPro. By the way Carol E you are the best if you have to deal with that on a daily basis.
• Opening the dining hall, including validine
• Checking attendance
• Faxing sheets to payroll,
• FoodPro
• Unitime
• The procedure to getting things fixed that are broken
• Close Validine and do records count
• Go over health inspections
• Unite Polices
• University Policies
Until next time
Mahalia

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines....We have a Menu

I've taken a slight break from my blogging world, but you can stop the addictive checking (that I know all of you have been doing) to see if I've updated yet. I'm back and better than ever. I had a quiet and relaxing weekend, crossing my t's and dotting my i's on projects and things that I needed to catch up on. On Monday, back to the bakery I went, with no complaints from me. I got to rotate through a few different projects so that I could see multiple tasks that are completed all in a day's work. I started back with Donna. We were going to make 10 dozen daisies out of fondant icing for a wedding cake the bakery was going to be making for one of the staff members. About an hour in and we had completed about 50 daisies, I got pulled to make the switcheroo with the other interns. My next stop was the cooler. I was going to help chop chocolate chip cookie dough that would eventually be shipped off to the dairy bar and put into ice cream. It was about 40 degrees in the cooler, and it felt good after being in the humid bakery. (We had to cut the dough in a controlled temperature environment so that the dough remained solid.) When my hour there was up, I found that the other project was completed so I volunteered to stay in the cooler and help finish cutting all the cookie dough. It was rather peaceful in there, and I was enjoying the whistle while you work atmosphere. After lunch, we came back and got to dabble in decorating again. All three of us were given giant cookies to decorate (similar to the cookies you see in the mall cookie shops that are decorated). I practiced making more icing roses and then put them all over my cookie. We still had time when we were finished with our cookies so we finally got to press our luck with a bakers form of modeling clay, aka fondant. I thought I would try to bust out this wicked looking troll I found in this book. Haha, not so much. My molding skills were definitely below amateur level. I decided to swallow my pride, suck it up, and work on the beginner's bird at the beginning of the book. I'm pretty proud I made the switch, my bird is wicked awesome.

Tuesday was a big day for project luncheon. Brittany and I had worked hard over the weekend to get our menu ideas figured out and give them a home on the food lines on the map of the dining hall we will be using to host our meal. Tuesday was the day the meal actually came to life and went from ideas on paper, to an actual meal concept. We spent the entire day working with Chef Rob (yes, the same celebrity I mentioned in a previous post). We tackled the project of locating recipes that were already in the Food Pro system that correlated with the menu we wanted to produce. Chef Rob tweaked a couple of recipes to make them applicable to what we were going for, he made suggestions if he thought we needed to make changes, and he helped create recipes if needed, as well. We left Chef Rob's office with a feeling of accomplishment, like a little weight had been lifted from our shoulders, as creating the menu was and is one of the biggest hurdles for us and this luncheon. I know everyone of you is anxious to hear our ideas and what's on the menu, but unfortunately I'm going to make you wait just a little bit longer. We still have two more recipes to work out and our desserts, and then I promise I will give you a menu that will definitely wet the appetite.

Today, we had our rotation and training in barista. We got a tour of five of the six coffee shops (one of the shops is closed for the summer) run by the foodservice operation here. Then our tour guide gave us some hands on training on what it takes to be a barista. We were taught what the basic drinks were, how to properly steam and foam milk, and how to brew espresso. Given my history, some of this was review for me, but it was interesting to see the differences in how I was trained in my past to what I learned today. After lunch, we sat and met with Jeff Collins, the manager of all the coffee shops on campus, and had a q&a session where he summarized what we learned on our tour and answered any questions we had.

We had a little time before our meeting with Gayle at 3 pm, so we headed over to McMahon to check in with Eric. We walked into a quiet environment, and found that we must have brought some excitement with us. Shortly after our arrival, a back flow pipe in the kitchen blew, and there was a small Niagara falls, small lake on the floor and all, happening right before my eyes. A stressful time for most, it was interesting to see how something that could turn into a catastrophe was handled pretty calmly. Everyone came together to get the water shut off, and the mess cleaned up.

Our meeting with Gayle was much less adventurous than our quick trip to McMahon. We were going to help do the run for the week that helps produce all the dining units recipes and such for the upcoming week. We all took turns behind the drivers wheel, and Gayle taught us what she does each week. She explained the importance of everything she does, and how what she does effects other areas directly. We also found out today that Gayle, a few years back, was once a NACUFS intern just like we are now. She told us stories of her experiences and we were able to ask her questions of how she took her internship experience at another university and turned it into a career with UConn. It was great to know (and see) how what we are doing now could develop into so much more in the future!

M/T/W Bakery/Rob R and Gayle M

Hi everyone.
Thanks to all who gave me feedback on the types of things you would like to see in the Unitime book I am creating.

Moving on....On Monday we got to do something fun while at the bakery, all three of us had a chance to decorate our own cookie using an array of cake decorations. The cookies were a welcomed break from a hard days work  because for most of that morning the girls and I had been taking rotating shifts cutting up cookie dough for the dairy bar and we all know how picky the dairy bar gets about the size of their cookie dough pieces lol. The coolers were so cold I could not bare it, but the rotation made it survivable, of course you know I am exaggerating a bit. It was funny though because Gretchen thought it felt great in there and even wanted to continue cutting up dough (crazy girl that Gretchen). After the girls and I decorated the cookies, we played with a little fondant and made various figures. My fondant person was Elmo, picture above. That was basically my day at the bakery.
The following day we had to meet with Rod R. our celebrity chef here on campus and plan our teamed menu. I have to say, you guys are in for a treat. Now I won’t give away the details so you will just have to wait and see. Anyway, while working with Rod we made great headway in the project on FoodPro, it turns out many of our menu options are already in FoodPro so we didn’t have much to impute. After our session with Rob R was over it was time to spend a few hours with Gayle M learning how to use FoodPro. She went over the basic components of the system with us among other things. We each had a chance to do a different aspect of her job. Our time with Gayle was broken down into two sessions and today we leaned how to shut down FoodPro, run a few reports, and organize them into the various mail boxes. I find it amazing the degree of paper we go through each week just running those reports for all the different units but we have to do what we have to do. After a lot of jokes, an interesting story, and new computer skills the girls and I were on our way. The next few days I will be doing assistant manager again at the big P,which should be fun. Bye till next time

Mahalia

What's on the Menu?

Hello Everyone,
Sorry that it has been quite sometime since I blogged last, I have been distracted due to a death of a really close friend. Dealing with this loss absorbed a lot of my time, energy, and focus on anything else. But I am doing my best to remain strong, and keep my head up, but the pain is still present.
Moving onto a much brighter subject I have enjoyed working in the bakery on Friday and Monday. Monday was a very fun, floury, fondant kind of day.I started my day working with Steve, portioning out multi- grain oat bread dough into 24 oz, as I was portioning he was doing all the hard work by rounding the dough. Once all the dough was portioned Chef Robert Min, showed me how to operate this monster of a bread machine, which shapes the dough into a "log" similar to the shape of a French Baguette. The following is my nontechnical interpretation of how this machine operates. So you have your rounded dough that has been benching, you stretch the dough out (doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it doesn't look like a ball), you feed this large hungry beast your dough, the machine eats it in one bite. Just like that POOF GONE!!!! if you aren't careful he'll want dessert and not think twice about eating your arm. Lucky for you there is an emergency button. Anyways you wait for the machine to send the dough through it's "stomach" and drop out the bottom. What is fascinating is while the dough is in the "stomach" the machine shapes the dough. So once the dough comes out the bottom, my job was to tuck the ends in, find the seam, and place the dough into a well oiled bread tin, seam down. Then place the panned dough onto a rack and place in the proofer. Behold the monster:

After all the dough was panned, I went back to work with Steve, and he allowed me to scale out an entire bread recipe by myself, along the way he would give me step by step insight. I found this very useful, because he would explain to me about the ingredients, for example the conditioner, is used because it takes away a step of proofing. The dough we scaled out and made was for bread sticks, I got to use the dough rounding machine, and the monster bread machine on this project.

My next task was to stand in the walk-in cooler and cut sheet trays of cookie dough into dices. The cut dough will be sent over to the Dairy Barn to be used in their Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. After lunch was over, we got to decorate large cookies, and I had fun making roses. Donna allowed myself and the other interns to play with fondant aka adult play-dough once we were done with our cookies. I started off trying to make a creepy creature out a book, but eventually gave up, then tried making a duck, realized that wasn't going to happen, so I went back to the basics and made a bird with teeth. This was a blast to create and play around with, Donna added a small detail to the bird, and if you were in the bakery you all know what that detail was....
Time to talk about the menu and what is all on it, but unfortunately we have four more items to deal with before we can unroll all the details. Myself and the other interns spent the entire day with Chef Robert Landolphi going over menu items. Gretchen and I had an idea of what foods we wanted on the menu, so our goal for today was to sit down and talk with Chef Rob. Well the good news is, we did just that, Chef Rob helped to find recipes in FoodPro, also make adjustments on some of our food items, so that we could use the recipes that are in FoodPro. We went through each station and found recipes, it was a very productive day. There are still a few things we need to go over but overall we got a lot accomplished. Gretchen and I sat down and typed out the menu, all we need to do is adjust fonts, styles, and play around with it some more.

Brittany

To all that wish to follow... you must click on the follow button, then select an icon,yahoo or google etc. if dont aready have an account with them its easy to create, click create an account fill in the requested info and then click follow blog and your in and will be able to comment Tony Paguni just did it..and at no time did he ever lose his car

B is for Bakery and Bee's

Friday must stand for fun, cause that is exactly the kind of day I had. We changed our locale for the day, and headed out for the bakery. We got a quick tour by Robert Min, the bakery manager, before we got started. He explained what each piece of equipment does, and how it is used in the bakery here at UConn. After our tour, I was introduced to Donna. She was one of the bakery employees and was going to be my trainer for the day.

Donna had a couple of things on her agenda for the day. First, she needed to make cupcakes for catering. Donna allowed me to make the yellow cupcakes. I weighed out all of the ingredients, mixed all the ingredients per the recipe (using a commercial sized mixer), and then split the batter into two equal portions. The first bowl was going to be basic yellow cupcakes, and the second bowl was going to be yellow cupcakes with a raspberry filling that we would pipe into the batter before the cupcakes baked. We got all the cupcakes completed, and put them into the rack oven.

Our next project, cake decorating. Let me start off by saying that I have in no way, shape, or form, ever decorated a cake other than the basic home baked cake where you throw some icing on the top and call it good. Ace of Cakes I am not. Needless to say, I was a bit afraid of messing up the cakes, but I pressed on. Donna reassured me that you can't make a mistake that can't be fixed. The cakes had already been baked, we just had to piece them together and make them pretty. Our first cakes were Mississippi Mud Cakes. I weighed out the topping for the cake which consisted of marshmallows, heath candy crunch, and mini chocolate chips. We grabbed the chocolate icing and the fudge icing and got started. I was given a quick tutorial from Donna, and then was with her nearby, I completed my cake. I was pleasantly surprised with my end product. This decorating wasn't as scary as I had thought.

The second type of cake that I was going to decorate was Red Velvet cake. There were five cakes we needed to complete. We grabbed all of the icing and materials needed, and got started. We used white icing and then put coconut on the outside of the cakes. Now for the hard part...piping icing designs. Again, no experience ever from one Miss Gretchen Smiley. Donna showed me the design we were going to be doing, seashells. I think she could see the fear in my eyes, so she showed me again and then had me practice on the counter top until I was comfortable. I got fairly good at the up and flick motion of creating the seashell design, and completed four of the five cake's seashells. All that was left was the finishing touches of toasted coconut over the seashells. Voila, pretty cakes complete! We had a little more time before we were leaving the bakery for the day, so Donna showed the other interns and I how to create roses out of icing. I gave it a go, and surprisingly, mine actually looked like a rose! :)

The other two interns and myself had plans to pick up a bee shipment for the hives, so we said our goodbyes to the bakery for the day. None of us really knew what was in store for us over the next few hours. Before I go into detail, let me just say that if anyone ever has the chance to see bee hives up close, or deliver new bees to a hive I'd highly recommend it. It's quite interesting and exciting (and I'm terrified of bugs)!

We arrived to pick up our bees, and found that the bees were in screened in boxes. Each box, contained their own queen bee. We were picking up eight boxes. We put them in the trunk of the car, and set off to deliver the bees to their new homes. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then arrived at the hives. We were given protective hats that had netting to protect us from the bees. We were shown where the queen bee is stored, how to properly put the queen into her new home, and how to put the new bees into their home as well. We were then shown where the queen lays her eggs (we were told anywhere from 1800 to 2000 eggs were laid a day), and how it looks in the wax frame. We were also shown where the honey is stored within the combs. We were doing this all whilst the bees were buzzing all around us, and not one of us got stung!

We trekked it back to the car, and headed back to McMahon to spend our last hour working on our project. We talked with Tom, one of the chefs, for a while and had a good idea of where we wanted to go with our meal. Brittany and I spent a couple of hours Friday evening hitting the books, the recipe books that is, and I am happy to say that we now have a possible menu for our luncheon. We are meeting with Chef Rob on Tuesday and we will see what he thinks. Hopefully, all systems a go!

Back to the bakery tomorrow, and we were promised that we would get to play with some fondant tomorrow. Pretty excited, this decorating business might not be so bad afterall.

Smiley :)

June 4, 2010 Bakery

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your comments on how good our blogs are, they really mean a lot to us...as for the day’s events the girls and I got to intern at the bakery and we had such a good time. We even wanted to go back after a short run in with the campus bees (will talk about that later). Today I worked with Chef Steve, who allowed me to make several batches of cookie dough for the campus dairy bar and I mean really make the dough not just assist in making it. Using those big mixers sure was something else. After the dough was mixed up in the mixers, I had to use a scraper to mix it all in so it was evenly distributed which was like moving stones. I think at one point I even broke a sweat while mixing lol. After four huge batches of cookie dough, it was time to move on to the pecan pies we had to make for South. The recipe for the pecan pies only called for seven pies so Steven and I whipped those up quickly. I had never used a pie dough presser before (not too sure that is what you call it) so that was a learning experience. We had to fill the pie shells in the coolers and that took some guts because those huge freezers in the bakery are super cold. The coolers in the commissary were actually made to hold the entire food supply for the campus back in the day when food was only stored at one place on campus. I kind of wish the freezers at Mcmahon Dining Hall were that big. During my trip to the bakery I also got to practice making flowers out of frosting and was told I was a natural.
I did make several messes while working with Steve but he was cool about it after all, it was not my fault the chocolate chip bag had a hole in it lol. I think after the second time I spilled the chocolate chip pieces on the floor he must have thought I was on drugs or something. Brittney summed up the whole ordeal best, my epic failure at putting chocolate chip pieces in a pan without spilling them. Anyway, I managed to be mess free for the rest of the day and learned something about myself, I am too much of a nervous wreck to work in a bake shop. My hands shake too much when I have to be careful with something. I am happy about the day though, it went really well for all three of us.
During lunch time, we were driven off campus to tend to some new bees we ordered here at UConn. The other interns and I had to go pick up the bees with Carol Cronin and Steven Anthony and transport them back to campus. I was so scared of lifting up the things that held the bees but I had to man up a bit and just take them to the car. I got to see what bee larva and even a queen bee looks like so that was nice. Bees are fascinating creatures; I recommend visiting our bee farm here on campus if you haven’t done so already. You will be amazed at how efficient bees are at sustaining themselves. After our time was up with the bees, I was a little sad because I wanted to hang out with the bees a little more…lol hang out with bees, never thought I would be making that comment. Anyway it's bye for now.

Mahalia

By the way, Gretchen will be posting picture of our bee trip because my camera decided to die when I needed it the most.

Griddle Master, That's Amore

Today, ended my three day stint working with the chefs and cooks at McMahon. What a blast I had!!! On Tuesday, I got the introduction into the world of what a short order cook does. I helped Beth prep some items for breakfast. Then she gave us a quick tutorial on using the griddle top, and I was off and running. My mission: French toast and pancakes. It was a slower morning, so we utilized our down time to prep some items for lunchtime. Brittany and I pre-made grilled cheese sandwiches, and then made some pizzas, all to be cooked later on, of course. We still had some time before lunch so we helped prep for the next day's breakfast by cutting up potatoes and onions. Woooo those were some strong onions, but we made it through tears and all. :)

Lunchtime was much busier as the orientation students had arrived and were hungry, and what better place to eat than the dining halls they will be spending so much time at in their next year. Beth had me maintaining the vegetarian griddle top, so I was in charge of the grilled cheese sandwiches and the veggie burgers. I rocked it out like a champion, keeping up the entire lunch. After lunch was finished, Brittany and I had a chance to run over to South Dining Hall and work on some planning for our luncheon.

Wednesday was a test to see how much we retained from the previous day. Beth let Brittany and I pretty much run the show. We arrived and did our morning prep work, and then got started on breakfast. The students were still on campus for orientation, so breakfast was hopping. I was a pancake making fool and on point, never falling behind. After the rush slowed, we prepped our pizzas and grilled cheeses again for lunch (these items are served everyday). When lunch hit again, I successfully made over 100 grilled cheese sandwiches, all while keeping up with the rush. We grabbed some cookbooks after lunch and started our recipe search, as we are wanting to have the full menu for the luncheon figured out by Monday.

Today, we arrived and wanted to learn more about the areas we had been in the last few days. We worked with Angel today and he showed us how the breakfast potatoes and meats were prepped in the morning time and then he let us help prep for some of the lunch items for today. We had to pan up hoki fish, make pizzas (we sang today...when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore), and then we did some problems that dealt with loss and yields of meats before and after they are cooked. We used the skirt steak for the steak sandwiches at lunch and the hamburgers for lunch. We weighed both meats before and after and found that the steak had a 40% loss and the hamburgers had a 33% loss, both numbers were much higher than I had anticipated. We finished up prep work by cooking off the vegetables for the steak sandwiches and the rest of the steak meat. Once lunch hit, I was back to my comfort zone, rocking out my grilled cheeses like a rockstar. We helped clean up after lunch and then went back to our recipe hunt for our luncheon.

It was great getting to work closely with the full time cooks and to see what they contribute each day to help feed the many that filtrate through the dining hall. Props to them, it's not necessarily an easy job, ergonomically I could see how it could cause discomfort. Plus, it gets super hot back in the kitchens. All worth it though, cause it is fun work!

Short order cook.... please, I am 5' 7"

Hello Everyone,

During the last three days I have been in my comfort zone, cooking food. I had the opportunity to work with the AM kitchen chefs and learn as much as possible from them trust me I tried to gather as much information I could. Tuesday and Wednesday we had the chance to work with Beth and get a better understanding of using the griddle in preparation for breakfast as well as lunch. Since I blogged earlier this week, I will not bore you with repetition but in case you have not read the previous blog..... what on Earth are you waiting for?!

Wednesday was as though Beth pushed Gretchen and I out of the nest to fly on our own. There was not a point during the day that we were free falling. She made it clear as to what she expected us to do and we did everything in an efficient manner. To start off our morning cookery Gretchen and I were the pancake princesses until I branched off into my own kingdom, and became the French Toast Master. Once breakfast was over, our next job was pizza prep, now that's Amore (as Angel would sing)!! We made pepperoni and cheese pizzas. During lunch I was grilling burgers, hot dogs, and garden burgers. Lunch seemed to go really fast.

Today we switched things up and worked with Angel, due to a slow breakfast Gretchen and I were able to get a tutorial on FoodPro, thanks to Debbie Lee. This helped us in order to search for recipes using McMahon and global search. We conducted a meat yield test with the help of Angel. Today was a very productive day, once lunch was underway, we jumped back on the grills because Grilled Cheese, Hamburgers and Garden Burgers seemed to be popular today. I cooked at least 100 hamburgers today. I know that is not a lot compared to McDonald's but I will take it as a win in my book. Our menu is coming together, we are currently still in the brainstorming process, and everyone that keeps throwing "ideers" out there, thank you.

Brittany

June 2nd 2010

Hi everyone,

It has been awhile since I have blogged and a lot has happened since then. This past Memorial weekend I had the pleasure of spending a day in Providence, RI with my roommates and I had a great time. The girls and I ate and walked around Providence for almost an entire day. The rest of our weekend went well too, we were constantly going places and had movie nights almost every night among other things. On Monday we relaxed and then it was time to start work again. All this week I have been an assistant manager with Debbi Lee, where I was assigned weekly inventory. To be honest, at first I was not too happy about this because if you have ever done inventory you know it can be tedious and time consuming. I guess my unhappiness started to show on my face a bit, so Eric gave me a pep talk or something like that lol. It was nice of Eric to tell me to remain positive but I was still feeling a little down about my day. It was not until another manager, Steven Anthony, gave me a one on one lesson on FoodPro that inventory really started making sense.
While working with Steven, he explained how important inventory was, before that I had no idea why it had to be done every week. However, Steven Anthony basically explained that the guys that do inventory pretty much do the ordering for the entire building. If inventory is not done right it can really affect food cost and ordering. After that lesson with Steven I felt like such a jerk because I had been whining so much about it. I also had to correct some mistakes I made on the inventory sheet because I could see how it really screwed up the food cost numbers in FoodPro. Seeing the importance of inventory on the screen really hit home because often times it is easy to overlook your job’s importance, compared to the big picture. For example, today I really wanted to get into the manager roll and do some big stuff like employee discipline which didn’t happen by the way lol. Nonetheless, I have a new found respect for ICA. Today really proves that everything in food service serves its purpose. For now I will just have to see what the rest of the week will bring.
Mahalia

FoodPro: Computer system that manages food ordering, and inventory for a large scale foodservice operation.

Rhode Island State of Mind

My first full weekend in Connecticut was a success. Sunday was our first adventure out and about. My roomies and I decided to go wreak a little havoc across the border. We got up and on the road by 11 am and made it to Providence at noon. I was hungry as we had skipped breakfast that morning, so we decided to hit up Joe's Bar and Grill for brunch before we got started. It was a b-e-a-utiful day outside, so we decided to sit outdoors and enjoy the sites and weather. Brunch was dee-lish and we were now ready to start our adventures.

We decided to walk down by the river for a while and take some pictures of the city.

For being a large city, Providence has a small town feel. You don't get the loud sounds that a typical large city produces (it was quite peaceful actually), which in my book is fantastic! After walking down by the river, we decided to split up for a bit. Brittany and I wanted to see the Culinary Arts Museum and Mahalia wanted to get her shopping on. I looked up on my phone how to walk to the museum, and found that it was quite close. So Brittany and I started our trek to what we thought was the museum. What we soon realized, after walking uphill for a mile, was we were on Brown's campus, not the culinary schools. Oops. We did some recalculating and found that the museum was actually about 4 miles away from where we now stood. We hiked, downhill this time :), back to the car and drove to the museum.

The museum was an awesome find (especially if you are a foodie), and well worth my bad directions. It only cost $7 and took about 45 minutes to navigate through the entire museum. We were able to take quite a few photos here as well, which we were both pleased about. We had some fun, and I even got my picture taken with Emeril, huge bottles of Tabasco, and a prize winning cow.

After we were done at the museum, we met back up with Mahalia and walked around some more. We made sure to hit up the Statehouse and take some pictures here as well. We were all pretty zonked at this point, so we headed back to Connecticut. We got back home, looked over our pics from the day, and checked out our sunburns that were all making their presences now known. Funny how the sunburns at the end of the day make you remember that you didn't put sunblock on that day.

Monday was a chill day for us. We got up and realized our sunburns, still not figments of our imagination, were still making us feel tired and like our skin had been shrunk and heated. We went to breakfast, and then headed back to campus. Brittany and I decided to walk around and take pictures of the campus. When we headed back, we took some time to get some of our work done. We all went out again for dinner and then called it a night. Back to work in the morning.

Griddle Mania and Onions

Hello All,

Today is just 1 of 3 days that I will be working with the AM chef's. Their job is to prepare breakfast and lunch for the guests. The day seemed to go by really fast, Gretchen and I started the day off making French Toast and Buttermilk Pancakes on the griddle top. Soon afterwards our next task was to prep for lunch, this included prepping grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, and somehow potatoes and onions for breakfast tomorrow. To get things ready for lunch my tasks were to cook garden burger, regular hamburgers, and hot dogs at one point when Beth was not around. I was a griddle machine, until half way during lunch Jim asked if I would slice 15 pounds of onions for lunch tomorrow, and I did successfully slice them without crying... unlike earlier that morning when one onion caught me off guard and the waterworks streamed down my cheeks. Due to a meeting with John Kuhl about our luncheon Gretchen and I were not able to see how the morning crew cleans in order for the night crew to get ready for dinner. I am looking forward to see what tomorrow has in store when we have a large number of guests for breakfast.

Brittany