University of Connecticut

Woo hoo, it's Week Two! 5/26-5/31

Week two came quickly for Nicole and I after our long weekend of traveling! 

Tuesday 5/26 

Nicole and I posing for a picture. Photo Credit: Ron Swiller

On Tuesday, we were up bright and early to work our 6 AM shift in the Kosher Kitchen! UConn is unique in that it provides Kosher meals to students in Gelfenbien commons daily during the school year. We worked in the Kosher kitchen to prepare frozen meals to students and guests of the University for catering and South Dining Hall over the summer. We worked with Assistant Manager and Mashgiach, Bruce Hessing, and Chef Bruce Haney. Without Bruce Hessing, the Mashgiach, the doors of the kosher kitchen would not open, or close. He makes sure the production of the food remains kosher and safe for people who live a kosher lifestyle. Chef Bruce Haney has worked in the kosher kitchen since the doors opened in the early 2000s, and has worked at UConn for over 40 years! Nicole and I had a lot of questions about what a kosher lifestyle entails and the two Bruces' happily answered them all! Did you know meat and dairy cannot cross paths within a kosher lifestyle? That is the reason behind two identical kitchens within the Kosher Kitchen. One side is where dairy meals are prepared and the other is where meals containing meat are prepared.

Nicole outside of the Kosher Kitchen! Notice: We are only working in one side of the kitchen.

Wednesday 5/27

Wednesday came along and Nicole and I finally decided on a theme for our meal! Drum roll, please......

Our themed meal will be.......

Hawaiian/Luau themed! 

To start our day off, we sat down with Culinary Operations Manager, Rob Landolphi, Assistant to Culinary Development, Ron Swiller, Production Chef, Frank Cameron and our Director, Carol Cronin, to discuss and plan our menu for our themed meal. Sitting down with so many great minds and creativity was a little overwhelming at first, but Nicole and I are lucky to be learning from these outstanding professionals. In the afternoon we sat down with Dining Services Marketing Team! Marketing Manager, Gail Miller and her team Kevin and Jeff are an extremely creative and capable bunch with a lot of great ideas to make our theme shine! 

Thursday 5/28

On Thursday, Nicole and I learned about purchasing! First, we stopped in Pattie Noren’s office to hear about her work in purchasing! We then learned about what Louise Locke does and her hard work with orders and customer service. We then jumped over to Peter Haynes’ office to learn even more about purchasing! Peter and Louise both place orders for deliveries to vendors. The managers of the dining halls submit what they need in FoodPro and then Peter and Louise make sure the vendors receive those orders so they arrive on the correct day and place! After a morning of purchasing, Nicole and I worked with Chef Amy Gronus. We went through recipes in the University’s program and replaced an old healthy qualification, Healthy Husky,  and reviewed the recipe and nutrition facts to see if it qualifies for a new healthy qualification, Smart Check.

Friday 5/29

Today marks our first day working in catering at UConn! We first met Helen Mesi, the Office Manager of University Catering, to discuss sales in the catering business! After that, we headed over to the catering hall, otherwise known as Rome Balllroom, which just so happens to be one elevator ride above our home dining hall, South! We catered a full service Prom of about two hundred people. It was a busy night, but one that left us feeling satisfied (and a little tired), but also proud knowing that the students enjoyed their Grammy's themed Prom!

Here is the large catering hall! 

All of the students had a name plate. How fancy! 

The center of each table! Photo Credit: My long-armed friend, Nicole Andler. 

Nicole found a corsage on a table at the end of the night! Of course I put it on for size.

Saturday 5/30

Day 2 of 2 in the catering world! Nicole and I arrived and helped prep the room for the evening. There were 400 guests at this Prom and a buffet style meal was served! We helped with replacing empty chafing pans with full pans of food. The lines moved quickly and the dance started before we knew it! Catering is a lot like a team sport, where everyone has to do their part to efficiently keep things moving in the right direction. Nicole and I enjoyed our team this weekend in catering and had a ball at not one, but two Proms! 

An edible orchid on a veggie tray that was out for the reception. 

A beautiful bow I made :) 

One of two lines ready to be served! 

Fancy Napkins

Glasses stacked high for the Prom!

Sunday 5/31 

Sunday, finally! Our day of rest! Nicole and I decided to travel to Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island. It was a rainy day here in Storrs and I was truly doubting if going to the beach was a good idea. We decided to go anyway and it turned out to be a perfect beach day. We laid on the beach all day and went to a local restaurant for dinner. What a wonderful day off! 

Misquamicut State Beach, RI

What a wonderful day at the beach!