Summer 2015 NACUFS Internship!: Week Two in New Hampshire

First lesson of week two = New Hampshire nights can be cold - so cold that extra blankets and a space heater are necessary... even though its June. Thankfully, the upcoming forecast is much more up my alley than last weeks, and I'm definitely looking forward to it! Now, with that bit of trivia out of the way, I'm excited to share what my second week in the beautiful NH was all about.

The Work Stuff

I continued my project from the previous week of photographing the step by step process i\of assembling entrees from Creative Greens, Chicken Kitchen, and Serrano - three concepts UNH created for the Union Court dining facility. On Monday, I finished laminating and putting together these build sheets for Artisan sandwiches, and took pictures of all the chicken sandwiches that are a part of the Chicken Kitchen concept. Freshman orientation was this week so the Court was much busier with parents and students during lunch than last week. Monday was the first time Chicken Kitchen was open since I've been here so I learned how to use the fryer, set up the ingredients within the station, and I learned how to put together the specialty sandwiches. After the lunch rush ended, I assembled each sandwich for pictures and spent the rest of the day uploading the photos and adding directions on how to measure ingredients and create uniform entrees. I spent a large chunk of the week doing the same thing for the salads offered at Creative Greens.

Wednesday was unique because a campus program - Healthy UNH who promote various aspects of wellness - had a sponsored lunch time walk around campus. Naturally, the campus dietitian Rochelle, my internship director Dahlia, the Union Court supervisor Kathy, and I joined as a team! Did I mention we dressed up as vegetables for our team's theme? Because we totally dressed up as vegetables:

Dahlia the eggplant, Rochelle the lettuce head,
myself as a carrot, and Kathy as a pea pod

It was so refreshing to be able to get out of the office and explore the more distant areas around campus. We even got to go to Woodman Farm and met the very knowledgeable farmer who is in charge of all the crops grown. He gave us a quick tour and answered all the questions we had about the greenhouse, growing seasons, and where they send the crops after harvest.

One of the greenhouses on Woodman Farm

Some of the scenery right outside of campus

We all had lunch at the Dairy Bar after and then returned to the office to get some work done.

Friday was extra special for me because I got to experiment with a new recipe for Serrano. The Serrano concept at the Union Court is comparable to Chipotle as a build your own burrito/salad/quesadilla station. I was asked to think of a possible vegetarian and give it a tex-mex kick since that is undoubtedly my area of expertise. I decided to go with portobella fajitas that can be used in any of the entree items at Serrano.

Portobella, cilantro, onions, lime juice,
cumin, and southwest seasonings

When I return to the Union Court in two weeks, I'll tweak the recipe to include less lime juice and more balsamic to cut the strong citrus flavor that I ended up with - a suggestion given to me by Chef Chris here at UNH. After meeting him that morning he was kind enough to try my recipe and gave me suggestions to improve the flavor as well as cut costs by including tofu with the mushrooms since portobella tends to be on the pricier side.

It was a successful second week here at the Union Court! I'll be reporting to the Dairy Bar for the next two weeks to learn about all about their mission of sustainability and locally sourced ingredients, as well as the nuts and bolts behind how the store is operated.

The Play Stuff

This weekend I got to check out Rye Beach, NH with some of the girls I work with at the Union Court and a few of their friends! I don't remember the last time I've been to the Atlantic Ocean, and it is as breathtaking as it cold! The weather on Saturday was a perfect 75 and sunny so we laid around and played Frisbee on the sand since going into the water was pretty much out of the question. Afterwards, we ate a random Italian restaurant we passed by on the drive up, and I had a very delicious eggplant parm sub.(True Italian is something I don't get to experience in the good ole TX)