Summer 2015 NACUFS Internship!: UNH Week 5

Holy cannoli time is flying!

It's been a whirlwind of a week. I've gained some new skills that I already can't wait to put into use!

The Work Stuff

Monday

I kicked off my week with a hefty load of office work and FoodPro maintenance for the Union Court. FoodPro is the essentially the dining services' Bible. It contains all recipes, inventory and ordering is organized by it, and all things nutrition and allergy related are communicated through it. The work I did on Monday involved moving the new items that have been introduced to the Union Court in the last year from general inventory into specific sections based on storage location of the items. This makes conducting inventory and the ordering process much quicker. I also learned how to delete items from inventory that are no longer carried by this location. I think I ended up deleting nearly six pages of old item numbers that were creating too much clutter on the Union Court's FoodPro log.

After work, I went to the Durham farmer's market for the first time to see what kind of local produce and goods this area has to offer. They had local honey, strawberries, farm fresh eggs and meats, and I had my first cider donut (yum!)

Basket of fresh greens from the farmers market

Tuesday

On this rainy morning, the marketing team, my internship director Dahlia, and I went on a tour of each of the retail locations on campus to take notes/photos on updates needed before the fall semester begins. Updates included everything from posters with new bagel prices to new menu additions for some of the locations. I had no idea how heavily dining services was involved in all of these smaller details of the locations. It was overwhelming thinking about all the updates that would be needed on top of all the other projects dining takes on in order to get ready for the school year! Still, I loved seeing all the retail locations and being able to make suggestions that might appeal to the college student customer base.

Tuesday afternoon I was fortunate enough to be able to go to a FoodPro training course that went over all the essentials of using the program. I saw how recipes are written and then entered into the mainframe, what all the FoodPro symbols and abbreviations mean, how the inventory system works, and so much more! I'll receive more practice with the system when I work with our dietitian again.

Wednesday

We began the morning with a meeting with the marketing team to go over the notes from the previous days tour. I had to leave early though to conduct a food inspection at the Union Court. The inspector and I looked over our checklist of the different areas to look at which included Creative Greens, Artisan, and the kitchen. Its funny that I've worked in the Union Court for several days over the course of the internship, but I only noticed certain things like a cracked tile in the corner or a flickering light until this day! I see myself working in plenty of kitchens over the course of my career so conducting this inspection gave me a new perspective and eye for detail that will come in handy.

Thursday

Recipe creation day part two!!! This was such a fun work day and a wonderful learning experience. We are still working on a vegetarian option that can be introduced into Serrano's at the Union Court. I decided to work with tofu this time. Our dietitian Rochelle and Chef Chris came by to help. I've worked with tofu before but it took a few tries to come up with a winning combination of spices and texture. I started with tofu slices but turned to crumbling it into the consistency of ground beef. It worked really well inside the burritos that are made at Serrano. I made sure the tofu flavor had a nice kick by using chili powder and jalapeno seeds in the marinade. I'm so grateful Chef Chris and Rochelle were able to take the time to help me experiment with the recipe and offer guidance/ extra taste buds! I believe the finished product is A+ material!

Chef Chris and myself

Marinated and crumbled!

Burrito with my lovingly named "Texas Tofu"

Friday

I ended the week by working with the marketing team. I spent the morning doing some basic intern jobs like laminating signs and looking up stock photos for posters. After lunch, I got to star in a video about the new finger scanning system that will be used in all the dining halls to replace the current card swiping systems. It was a nice break from being at the Union Court all week and getting to work with some new people. By the end of the day I was mostly just getting restless about - wait for it.................BOSTON!

The Play Stuff

That's right! I finally went to the spectacular, beautiful, history filled super city that is Boston! I had the absolute best time of my life! We drove down, ate some authentic Italian food and wine in the North End, picked up a cannoli from Mike's Pastries, and grabbed a few drinks from some of the bars near Faneuil Hall. I took pictures of everything (obviously.) So I'll just post a few of the highlights!