Michigan State Week 4

This week was spent working mostly in the largest dining facility on campus, Brody Square. This same facility is also the largest non-military, self-operation dining facility in the country. Monday morning Jens, a student supervisor, gave me a very intensive walk through of the massive dining facility as well as an overview of his position. The dining facility is separated in to what are called platforms. Each platform offers different kinds of dishes and are similar to multiple restaurants in one place. After the walk through I attended an allergen certification class. Gina, culinary services dietitian, taught the course about allergens and how to better your facility's practices to be more accommodating and conscientious of allergens. After the class I worked in the Pangea platform in Brody Square. This platform serves stir-fry dishes where the meals are prepared right in front of the customers in woks. I was able to try my hand at cooking in a wok and it was a great first experience. It was very hot!

Tuesday I worked in the back of the house. This is where foods are prepped to go out to the platforms to be cooked. I first worked on prepping vegetables for a roasted vegetable soup. I sliced and diced about 15 sheet trays of chicken breasts. I also prepped breadsticks for the pasta platform, Boiling Point. The highlight of this day was being able to take part in an ice cream tasting. Hudsonville, who provides the dining facility's ice cream, created new flavors and I was able to test them with a group of various other employees at MSU to decide if the new flavors should be incorporated in to the dining facilities around campus. After the testing I breaded pork chops. I skewed the rotisserie chickens and made the brine for the chickens.

Wednesday was spent shadowing and speaking with Brody Square dining managers as well as the HR Coordinator. Karen discussed her front of the house manager responsibilities. Anise discussed her ordering responsibilities. Andy discussed his scheduling/pay responsibilities. John discussed his responsibility for making sure that when the private dining rooms are booked everything is set-up for those. Jennifer is the HR Coordinator that gave an overview of her tasks and role within Brody Square. The best part about this day was being able to see the Bailey Hoop House. This is a student run gardening operation on campus that supplies some of what is harvested to Brody Square dining.

Thursday morning was spent working in the MSU Bakery. Baking is something I enjoy when I have the time so this was right up my alley. I was even able to assist with decorating cakes and cupcakes which I loved! I made three dozen of MSU's famous game day cookies. They are just sugar cookies that are frosted and a sticker goes on top with either the Spartan "S" or Spartan helmet. Three dozen is nothing compared to the full swing production that occurs during the sports' seasons. The afternoon was spent prepping chili and various other kitchen tasks in the test kitchen.

This was the evaluation sheet for the ice cream tasting. 

This is one of the many bee hives around MSU's campus.

These are pictures of the Bailey Hoop House located behind Brody Square. 

Week 4 at University of North Dakota!

I’m not sure if other nutrition majors experience this, but my friends love to make fun of my healthy eating and overall nerdiness towards nutrition. More specifically, my love of oatmeal has become a bit of an ongoing joke between my roommates and I. I have oatmeal for breakfast every single morning, and sometimes for dinner, too if I ran out of groceries. I also tend to get way too excited if I find a new way to spice up my oatmeal. It’s just so versatile and delicious!!!

You can imagine how excited I was when I was given the opportunity to show off some of my oatmeal recipes this past week at Squires Dining Center. A dream come true! For both Monday and Tuesday, we served one dish of plain oatmeal and one dish of a different hot cereal. We accompanied the dishes with a plethora of fun toppings! Monday we served a Sunrise Quinoa Hot Cereal blend made with orange juice, honey, and soymilk. On Tuesday we served for the first time a four grain hot cereal with farro, grano, quinoa, and freekeh. It was actually delicious! On both days, I used a bit of creativity to market suggestions for what to do with the hot cereal. I suggested peanut butter and banana oatmeal, carrot cake oatmeal, apple pie hot cereal, and a fruity sunrise cereal. My hope is that other people will learn to appreciate oatmeal as much as I do.

Carrot cake oatmeal...It's delicious, I promise!

On both days, I stayed working at Squires during lunch time, where I assisted with the salad bar. I worked the specialty salad station, where I created a specific salad plate that we had advertised as being served in the dining center. Monday’s salad was a fajita salad and Tuesday’s was a Caribbean salad. The bright colors from the fruit in the Caribbean salad made it a big hit! One of my projects this summer was to come up with more specialty salads to be served, so I am hoping to see some of my recipes in the dining center over the next few weeks!

Me feeling awkward about posing for a picture while making salad

Caribbean salad--with mangoes, pineapple, mandarin oranges,
 craisins, and cashews. Yum.

The rest of the week I was back in the office for the first time in what felt like forever. I was joined by another dietetics student from UND, Haley, who is working with Dustin for the next few weeks as well.  We began to do some research on allergen free recipes that will be served in the allergen free concept in the renovated Wilkerson Dining center this fall. This has proved to be a bit tricky—eliminating any recipes with the eight common allergies plus gluten. Most of the recipes are confined to meat and vegetable dishes, but we are able to work with a few unique allergen-free products such as dairy-free cheese, and some gluten free breads, pastas, and tortillas. This coming week Haley and I will be able to help out recipe testing some of the ideas we have come up with!

Just another reason to love this internship....SAMPLES!!! 

On Thursday, I spent the morning with Anne, another dietitian working on campus, and one of her students for the summer, Christine. Christine is working on bringing a farmer’s market to UND’s campus one day this September...AMAZING IDEA! I tagged along with the two of them to a meeting with an RD, Mandy, working for the Grand Forks Public Health Department. Mandy holds weekly farmer’s markets for the city’s employees during the summer and even offers incentive of up to four extra hours of vacation time for employees attending the farmer’s market and other health-promoting events. She had plenty of advise to share with us as to how we can make the farmer’s market successful. I also helped Christine water some of the community gardens that her and Anne have set up around campus. They are growing herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce that are available for anyone around campus to take!

After our meeting, Anne, Christine, and I detoured to a local chocolate
 shop known for their chocolate covered potato chips!

The weather this weekend was beautiful!! (That is aside from our tornado warning on Saturday night...) My weekends are starting to look really similar-- sleeping in, biking or running outside, and hanging out with the friends I have made here. At first, I thought I was going to be bored without having a car here, but I am actually enjoying this change of pace. I'm starting to feel more at home here at UND...which is almost sad since I'm just about halfway done with my internship! I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store for me.

Lions andTigers and Bears…OH MY! PURDUE

Week Two and Three

Have you ever wondered where delicious On The Go foods are prepared?

At the Central Production Kitchen they make wraps, sandwiches and other types of foods for the Grab and Go retail places around campus. Below is a picture of all the food we prepared over an entire work day at the Central Production Kitchen.

Do you ever wonder where college students get their sweet treats?

Pappy’s is a sweet shop located at the Student Union right on campus. They have a variety of milkshakes with every imaginable topping and mouthwatering burgers and fries. Our second week here we worked as employees at Pappy’s and learned how to make milkshakes along with serving  food to guests.  We worked during Future Farmers of America Convention when the line was out the door for three hours. I think we got the real Pappy’s experience and it was amazing!

Above is a picture of Holly setting up the ice cream station which she worked for the Business Awards Ceremony.  The event was over 100 people! Yes, the gals got to ride the ice cream bike around campus.

Above is a picture of all four interns working a Wedding rehearsal dinner at Pappy’s! We served seventy five people buffet style and we had such an incredible time. We enjoyed meeting the staff and getting to know their perspective on Pappy’s.

The Food Tour

Week three we spent most of our time preparing for the Food Tour. The Food Tour is an event that happens in late July where dining services administrative staff receives a tour of different food locations around downtown Lafayette. There are four different routes and the staff is split into four different groups. Our task was to map out the routes and see how long it takes to get from place to place on the tour. We were able to explore downtown while visiting restaurants, small shops and trying different foods.

Every summer downtown Lafayette has a different theme for animal statues. This summer’s theme is lions and tigers and bears (Oh, my). While on the tour we took pictures of the bears to include in the food tour along with the one single tiger we found! Below are some pictures of the food tour routes and the bears we saw along the way.

  

UGA Week 4!!

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that we have made it to this point. But let's get into the meat of the week.

Monday, June 22nd

     We got a late start today, which was great because I definitely needed that extra sleep. Kara and I got to sit in on a a meeting about a new professional development program Auxiliary Services is thinking about implementing called Stepping Stones. It's a program that would allow employees the opportunity to expand on different interest and skills beyond their positions. What I really love about this place is that they really care about their employees and can acknowledge the fact that they may have certain skills that can be useful the university as whole are even considering giving them the chance to explore potential career paths. While in this meeting, I found it interesting how the scheduling would work for the different departments and the employee(s) that would be selected to participate. Although, it was made clear that it would take time to see how and where to place people depending on the requirements of different departments.  

     After the meeting, we headed over to Bolton to with Joey Hreha and Craig Smolenski, two of the closing assistant managers, to check out their very different management styles and learn how run a closing shift. When we got there, Joey was just about to work on the assignment sheet for the closing shift. I thought the set up for this night was interesting because there were quite a few people that were out, so making sure that there were enough people to cover all the stations proved to be a little challenging. When I was with Joey, I noticed how he approached every situation like it was no problem and treated everyone like they had been friends for years. So I completely understand why people would come to him to ask for the day off or when they are dealing with delicate situations.  During my time with Craig, found him be more task oriented than people oriented. He explained to me how he sometimes finds it challenging when it comes to balancing delegating task and not stepping on the toes of other managers, but he also taught me that the key to dealing with that most of the time is simple communication. When it comes time to close a dining hall as big as Bolton, communication is definitely key because you cannot afford to waste time sending three or more people to do the same task because you did not know if anyone had been sent to do it.

Tuesday, June 23rd

     Kara and I met with Kris for breakfast and to just check in on how everything was going since we had not really seen her much in the previous week. After breakfast, we headed over to Central Food Storage. While there, we got the chance to speak with Stuart Hammond, Food Pro Manager, and Brooks Oliver, Materials Manger. Stuart is the keeper of all things Food Pro. He showed us how menus for the different dining commons are organized within the system and also how they go from Food Pro to the easy to read Create My Plate menu on the UGA website. Everything that comes into storage gets a number, without that number it is pretty much non-existent. It was pretty cool to see how they keep up with all the materials they need to keep the dining halls and the eateries running like well oiled machines. Brooks took us on the tour of building while also explaining to us how they pack orders and how the keep track of things like eggs and milk by using the LIFO (last in, first out) method. It is still minding blowing to me see the things that I have learned in class in practice. When Brooks took into the refrigerator, I was practically shaking because it was 32 degrees in there. Now,  I thought that was the last of the tour, but oh no Brooks then took us (almost had to drag me) into the -8 degree freezer. I had never been so cold in my entire life. I thought for sure my ears were going to freeze and fall off. 

                    

                                                                Inside Central

                                 

     After we left Central, we went to O'House to meet with Cole, Mark, Rob, and Chef Sam to finalize the menu, start working on ideas for decorations, and to get a crash course on recipe writing. Without giving anything away, I can confidently say that this menu sounds absolutely delicious and the decoration are going to be AWESOME!! Recipe writing was kind of hard for me to pick up on because it has to be written a certain to specifically for Food Pro and for the equipment that they have at O'House. Food Pro is rather picky about the way the weights and measures have to be put in. To be quite honest, measurements is not really one of my strong points, but the practice from writing these recipes, I am sure I will have a handle on it before I leave UGA.

Wednesday, June 24th

     Kara and I were able to work with catering for an etiquette dinner. We got a crash course on how to properly serve people a plated dinner. I had been on the opposite side of am etiquette dinner, so it was nice to see to this side of it. We helped load and unload the truck, which was pretty easy the first time. But when it came to load the truck back up after the service was over it felt like everything was heavier. We all learned a lesson about completing service to a table before moving on to the next because we had a table that left half served after the whole room had been served. I think that was only because we all putting down plates thinking that someone else was going to finish the table. But we had it all worked out after the salad was served, so that was no longer an issue. I really enjoyed working that event. It was nice that at the end of the dinner, the participants were very grateful and very pleased with the meal.

  

Thursday, June 25th

     I had the opportunity to work with Henry Green, one of the opening assistant managers at Bolton. When I got there, he had already been there for about 30 minutes opening the building. He took me around to show me some of what he had already done such as turning on the lights, opening the back door, and turning on some of the wells for the hot line. Afterwards, he let me check for miss/double punches on employee time clocks and if any students had gone over the allowed 20 hours. It is very important to check and double check the student hours because if they do go over, it begins to complicate things when it comes to having things such as offering benefits and taxes. He also let me make the lunch assignment schedule for the full time employees. We had to check the call out book a few times to double check that the stations were all covered with those people out. That was much easier than making the regular schedule for the next two weeks. It felt like every time we thought we had accounted for the people that were going on vacation, we find a huge gap in time that something would not be covered. With us working so hard on making sure that schedule was correct, we almost missed the transition from breakfast to lunch. Mr. Henry showed that the main thing to check for during that time is making sure that all the balcony doors are unlocked, all the barricades are removed and taken out of the way, and making sure that every station is covered. I also learned that even if we would have completed payroll and missed something, there are another set of eyes that looks over it before it is completely signed off on.

 

The office

 Friday, June 26th

     Kara and I bounced around from office to office today to talk more about the business side of Food Services. We started in Katrina Pittman's office. She is the Human Resource Manager for Food Services. We had previously spoke with her on a walk back to Bolton after the Stepping Stones meeting, but on Friday she was able to show us some of the policies they have and also the process of posting jobs within the department. She made it very clear that when it comes to how long job postings are kept open depends on not only the type of job but how many people put in a application/resume for the position. She showed us a Food Worker 1 position that had recently closed with 243 applicants. She also told us that she tells managers when they are interviewing people to keep at least 3 choices in case someone turns down the position or falls the background check. Something else I learned for her was that they have to keep a separate folder for medical files outside of the personal file that each employee has. I always that the two were one in the same.

     After we left Katrina's office, we met with Katherine Ingerson, the dietitian, and her dietary assistant, Danielle. In talking with them, I learned that they did way more than just community outreach. They also help plan the menus, find healthy alternatives for things that need to be replaced, consulting students with diet concerns and restrictions, among other things. Before talking with them, I had the same idea of dietitians that I suppose most people do, that they only work in hospitals and nursing homes. I had never really thought about how they fit on a college campus, but after talking with them it makes much more sense that they are on a college campus.

     Before we head to our last meeting, we met with Ellie and Paul for lunch with some updates on the Grab 'n Go project. Kara had some great ideas for the labels and packaging and I had some delicious gluten free options to spice up the menu that I believe even someone who isn't gluten free would enjoy.

     The last spot on office hop was Cindy Malcolm, the Assistant Director of Business Service for Food Services. She showed us the ended of the payroll that we had completed earlier in the week. She also elaborated on the different issues that come with students working over 20 hours and how they handle situations when it does happen. She also told about some things they considering with Snelling dining hall because it is so old. They cannot tear it down because it is on the historic buildings list, so they are trying to determine if it will be easier to keep it open as a dining hall and pay for the many different upgrades or if they will turn it over the university and left them figure it out. After we left her office, we spent the rest of the day working on our different projects.    

     

The Weekend

     I spent all of Saturday inside because I do not like going out into the rain. I heard that Athfest was pretty cool this year, but I looked up some of the bands that were there and they were not really my type. On Sunday, I went down to Six Flags for about a hour. It was a pretty nice day to be outside, so I really enjoyed myself.

See you next week kids!!

Flo :)

Week 3: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Day 15: Monday, June 22

This morning we chose our first monthly nutrition theme to write about. For September, we chose “Better Breakfast” so the students know the best way to start their day as well as their semester. We researched all the benefits of eating breakfast, as well as examples of the best balanced breakfasts out there, and the locations on campus that are open for students. We compiled all the information onto a handout that will provide students with the knowledge to make a better choice in the mornings.

The "Better Breakfast" handout for students in September.

Then we went to MyZone, the nut and gluten free area in Commons Dining Hall, to measure appliances and old signs for ordering the newly designed MyZone signs and posters. During our visit, we brainstormed new products that could be included, and a more convenient arrangement of the room. We also saw the managers’ way of maximizing sales and ensuring no investment is wasted; rather than being thrown out, some of the products that are no longer going to be in MyZone are going to be sold in the campus convenience store instead. We are excited to be working with such a special concept this summer and to offer our input from a student’s perspective.

MyZone - refrigerator and countertops stocked with tons of allergy-free goodies.

MyZone - guidelines about how to keep the space gluten-free and nut-free.

When we returned from lunch, we got to work on our next monthly nutrition theme. September 16th is guacamole day, so we created a handout about all the healthy aspects of avocados. We are hoping that there will be a table with samples of guacamole, a recipe card, and our detailed handout to be given to students informing them of not only the ingredients in avocados, but why they are so important to our health and the proper functioning of our bodies. We don’t just want students knowing a certain food is healthy, we want them to know exactly why it is!

We are learning so much about nutrition, allergies, and food service management from both the research during the making of our projects, and from observing the amazingly talented managers each day. Each person has their own domain within food service and are clearly experts in their area.

We're official!

Day 16: Tuesday, June 23

We started the morning researching nut-free bread baking companies to provide the deli breads for the dining halls. Many bread commercial companies have one or two products with nuts in them, which makes nut cross contamination in other products possible. This is something we want to reduce if not eliminate for the student’s safety. After awaiting a reply from a local bakery called Mastroianni Bros,  we were excited to see that their reply confirmed that their bakery and goods are indeed nut-free!

The summertime has proven to present wonderful opportunities to learn about the food service industry, because there are so many unique changes happening for the following school year!

Delicious pad thai that one student informed us is "RPI's best kept secret".

After lunch, we ran into Mark (the retail director) who explained the process of having contracts with large companies like Pepsi, and smaller, local ones like the sushi location on campus. We keep running into Mark  whenever we go to Father’s, the campus convenience store, with an armload of food each. He must think we never stop eating! We have been learning from Mark, Kim, and Tony about different aspects of ordering from Sysco and UNIF - the distributors RPI can purchase from. The distributors offer an impressive variety of healthy foods like kombucha, two-ingredient fruit bars, and tons of items for those with allergies.

RPI's marketplace where we stock up on healthy to-go items. 

It was Maria’s (the marketing coordinator) birthday today! Corey and Tony stopped by the office to surprise Maria with a gorgeous cake that Corey baked and designed. We aren’t typically cake lovers, but this cake was so fluffy and delicious we couldn’t resist going back for seconds. The Sodexo team here at RPI makes the extra effort to make everyone feel special.

The list of new MyZone products to order from UNIF was further finalized. The product codes were entered next to each item on our list for easy access when it comes time to purchase everything. Luckily, most of the products we had found the last week are compliant with Sodexo and can be ordered for the students. It looks like they will have a lot of healthy and safe options for the next school year!

Caroline:

After lunch I accompanied Matt (the General Manager) to a place called Pat’s Barn located close by in Rensselaer Technology Park. Pat’s Barn is known for hosting weddings, and Sodexo, the company that we are working for at RPI, is one of the caterers. Currently, there is an approved list of multiple caterers for any wedding at the barn, and the wedding party gets to choose which one they want. However, Pat’s Barn now wishes to partner with only one caterer. The proposal Matt prepared was all about how Sodexo is the best company for the job, and of course I agree! We also brought a gift for the barn---a wedding cake! The cake was baked by our very own campus baker, Corey, and it looked absolutely gorgeous. My first job of the afternoon was to hold the cake in the car and make sure it survived the trip. It wasn’t hard to focus on it when the smell of homemade buttercream frosting was permeating the car.

Before the meeting, Matt gave me a tour of the barn. It was absolutely stunning on the outside and the inside. It uses some of the original wood to form the cross beams in the ceiling, has many lights strung across the room, and a giant open window to let natural light in. I can only imagine what it looks like in the midst of a wedding.

Pat's barn - the venue perfect for catering opportunities. 

A beautiful rustic and spacious atmosphere.

A view of the balcony and tall ceilings.

A view of the venue's tall windows, letting in lots of natural sunlight.

While waiting for the management team of Pat’s Barn, I learned a lot about how a large company like Sodexo operates, the types of accounts they take on, and even the areas of possible expansion, such as an entire wedding industry through Pat’s Barn. When the management team arrived, I was surprised to see only 4 of them, and we all sat around a small conference table. I was already feeling the pressure of adequately clicking through the slideshow presentation. This wasn’t helped by the fact that they kept asking me questions. Sure they were easy questions, like what school I attend, but wasn’t I just a lowly intern/fly on the wall?? I’m constantly surprised by how interested people are in who we are as interns, our goals, and our input. As Matt gave his proposal, the entire management team devoured their pieces of cake, and were even scraping their plates at the end. I think it’s safe to say that Corey’s cakes are incredible. After Matt was finished, I couldn’t see a single reason why Pat’s Barn would choose any other caterer (#TeamSodexo) but we won’t find out for at least another week.

It was an amazing opportunity to be able to see what a company proposal to gain an account looks like, and especially to hear Matt talk about all that Sodexo can offer, as well as easily answer any question the management team asked him. I only hope my powerpoint clicking helped, and that soon Sodexo can say they are officially the caterers for Pat’s Barn!

A wonderful reminder presented so creatively - we want this in our office too!

Day 17: Wednesday, June 24

We created another handout to feature in October about calcium and bone health called “Save Your Skeleton!” We always learn something new through the research required to make these, and it’s a lot of fun creating them with other students in mind.

Bone health, calcium, and vitamin D handout for students.

Over lunch with Mark and Kim, we discussed new products that would be great to have in Father’s. We also got to hear about Mark’s career journey; he has lived all over the country, and has worked with many different management styles and locations. During lunch, Farid welcomed an unexpected visit from Sysco representatives. This led to more conversation and curiosity about how food distribution works. Matt and Mark explained the process of being approved to buy a new product, and whether it should come from Sysco or UNFI. Matt also informed us of a Sysco food show next week! It’s an event where several vendors offer samples of their products in the interest of Sodexo/RPI buying some for the school year. As interns, we are invited to attend so we can’t wait to taste test all the products!

We skimmed through Kim’s AllerTrain U workbook. AllerTrain U is a training course about allergies for university food service employees. The certification is recognized by FARE, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Culinary Foundation. This certification is definitely something to keep our eye out for after we graduate.

Kim talked to us about acquiring CPE requirements to maintain your registered dietitian credentials. As an RD you need to log several “credit hours” of nutrition education over 5 years, and those can be obtained by attending approved webinars, conferences, volunteer opportunities, etc. She gave us tips on how to get them done, as well as making sure we knew to not wait until the last minute. Any advice she can give us about our future careers is great to hear since it’s coming from someone who has experienced it all firsthand.

In the spirit of “no added sugars”, after work we made oat/zucchini/banana/applesauce muffins!! They were perfect for breakfast or a quick snack, although we have a few ideas for how to improve next time (like buying no stick spray…) We are looking forward to experimenting with more healthy recipes.

Zucchini, oat, banana, applesauce, no-added-sugar muffins!

Day 18: Thursday, June 25

This morning we worked on another handout. We decided to do spices for the month of December since so many baked goods around the holidays are spice oriented. We learned so much about the health benefits of common spices, as well as easy ways to incorporate them into various foods. Spices are full of antioxidants that prevent cell damage from free radicals, and many also have anti-inflammatory properties, aid in digestion, and promote healthy brain function. From now on I’ll be adding cinnamon and nutmeg to my oatmeal in the mornings!

Spices informational handout for students.

For lunch we went to Evelyn’s with Kim and Maria and once again got delicious local food. We are excited to work with her next week and learn more about marketing! Afterwards, we went to MyZone in the Commons Dining Hall and we have good news….MyZone is getting a makeover! It will be painted to match the new MyZone color theme: green, blue, and yellow. We went in today with Kim and Maria to remove everything off the walls and move the appliances away into cabinets to prepare for the eventual painting, and looks like we will be going back with Maria next week to do a more thorough job.

Later that night we went to Barre Bootcamp at our yoga studio and then stopped at Uncle Sam’s Health Food store on our way home. We’ve been hearing a lot about kombucha lately---a drink produced by fermenting tea, yeast, and bacteria that provides tons of amino acids, probiotics, and vitamins. Uncle Sam’s has a tap of 2 different flavours of kombucha with growlers (glasses you can buy then come in and refill continuously). We got both flavours, blood orange and turmeric sunrise. It was a great post-workout drink. We will probably be stopping there more often!

Kombucha tap.

Blood Orange and Turmeric Sunrise flavours.

Day 19: Friday, June 26

This morning we worked on another handout. The theme being that November 3rd is Sandwich Day! We included lots of healthy options for sandwiches that people might not necessarily be aware of. We included ideas like whole grain breads/pitas/wraps, vegetables, fruits, and healthier spreads other than mayo such as salsa, pesto, fruit preserves, and more!

Handout to guide students in compiling a healthy sandwich!

After lunch we were sent a copy of a camp dining menu. There is a camper with Type 1 Diabetes and our job was to do carb counting for all the menu items so she would know how much insulin to take after eating. Kim got all the nutritional information and from there we took the number of carbs in one serving and divided it by 15 to get the carb count for each menu item. The menu was very extensive so this took a while, but it sounded delicious and very different from what we used to eat when we were campers!

It was our last day working with Kim, so before she left we asked the questions we had left about her experience being a dietitian. She gave us really good advice, and shared examples of counseling situations in which she learned valuable lessons. Working alongside Kim the past few weeks was a continuous learning experience, and one we won’t forget!

Day 20: Saturday, June 27

This morning we hit the Troy Farmer’s Market again bright and early to stock up on all our fresh groceries for the week. There were lots of blueberries, strawberries, and vegetables this time since lots of produce is starting to come into season. We also tried about 20 different flavours of peanut butter at one booth until we settled on our favourite: a blend of almond butter and cinnamon.

One of the many prepared-food vendors - we got vegan falafel with beet hummus!

Fresh fruits that are finally in season!

One of many vendors selling freshly baked goods.

Buying local, raw honey with bee pollen and royal jelly mixed in! 

Vendor selling 20+ nut butter varieties and flavors. MM!

After lunch we went to a wine tasting down about 20 minutes away. It was right next to an apple orchard so all their wines incorporated fruits like apples, pears, and currants. We got a cheese plate to go with it as well as souvenir glasses. It was a lot of fun and the drive there was beautiful!

Winery and apple orchard.

Wine tasting time!

That night we went to Beirut, a Lebanese restaurant in downtown Troy. It was a very quaint restaurant and the family that owns it was incredibly nice. They told us about the various spices used in Lebanese cooking and made sure we had a great meal. They even gave us some falafel on the house! We love the variety of restaurants we have to choose from here. We’re certainly not lacking in excellent food.

Chicken Shwarma.

Falafel and tahini on the house!

Day 21: Sunday, June 28

After our morning workout of Hot Power Yoga, we ate lunch then hit the road to Saratoga Springs. We stopped by the farmer’s market to buy some homemade granola bars that are hands down the best ones we’ve ever had! We ended up buying about 6 just to hold us over for a couple weeks. Then we went into downtown Saratoga for another wine tasting. This time we got a choice of chocolate or cheese pairing, so we decided to get one of each, and got to taste 4 different wines. We asked a lot of questions and it was very informative for us. It’s a lot of fun to be able to try a little bit of everything and decide which ones we like best.

The wine tasting in Saratoga Springs.

Throughout all of our culinary adventures here, we take note of how it relates to everything we’ve been learning about nutrition, food costs, and the production process.

After the wine tasting it was pouring rain, so we decided to go home and try a new recipe for baking. We ended up making dairy-free, no sugar added blueberry muffins. Next time we think we need to cook them a little longer...maybe once we work with Corey in the bakery he will tell us some baking secrets to help us out.

Blueberry no-sugar-added muffins (with dairy-free yogurt and butter!)