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!