Week Three at University of Northern Iowa

WOW! I can't believe my third week at UNI is over. This past week has been full of a lot of fun things and I have definitely been keeping busy!

Sunday, June 16th-Monday, June 17th
Day 9

Today I worked an overnight shift in the bakery, which lasted from 9:30 PM-3:30 AM. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to stay up all night, but I had a lot to do which kept me wide awake. For the first part of the night, Alex (a student employee) and I made some of the desserts for the following day like Rice Krispie treats, victory bars, and m&m bars. We then iced all of the donuts for the following morning, and put all the cookie dough on trays so that they could be cooked later. Once the cookies had been cooked, we put them on trays according to where they were going to be sent out the next day. 

                                                Some of the donuts and cookies made overnight!

Tuesday, June 18th
Day 10
Today I came in at 5:00 AM and worked in the Commissary. I did various jobs like chopping up fruits and vegetables and weighing them out and bagging them according to where they were going to be needed that day. I also got to use the big Grote slicer to cut meats and cheeses. The last part of my shift consisted of putting together kits of peanut butter and apples or celery and a few other combinations.

Wednesday, June 19th
Day 11
I came in today and worked on my main project, which is planning a special event for the end of July. It is going to be a Wild West themed lunch, with a bunch of bbq and tex mex foods. The lunch is for 800 people, which is alot, and most of them are high school football players here for camp! I spent the day deciding on which foods would be good for the event and what kind of decorations I would need. I also decided on a few other projects that I wanted to work on for the summer, which I am really excited about. I also got to go into Piazza/Redeker, the dining center that is being remodeled this summer. There was a ton of construction going on but I think that it's going to look great! Hopefully I will be able to get in again at the end of the summer to see the progress.

                                                     Some pictures of the construction at Redeker.
 
Thursday, June 20th
Day 12

Today I came in to test one of my recipes for my special event. The recipe was for John Wayne casserole, which is taco meat, cheese, sour cream, peppers, onions, and tomatoes on biscuit mix. I thought it turned out really well and I think I am going to use it for my special event.

 Friday, June 21st
Day 13
 Today was a tour day!! I went with three other people to two sites that were about an hour away from the university. The first was a place called Rolling Hills, which is a greenhouse run by a Mennonite family. They grow lettuce and various spices that they sell to the university, local grocery stores, and various others places. It was incredible to see how hard these people work. Everything in the green house was so fresh and green.

                                                    Pictures from Rolling Hill Greenhouse

Next, we went to CountryView Dairy, which makes strictly yogurt. The owners explained the process of making yogurt, and we got to try some samples including their original yogurt, Greek yogurt, and soft serve frozen yogurt which was some of the best frozen yogurt I have ever had.

                                                           Inside Country View Dairy