Week Two in the UP: Fresh Local Food, Meetings and Menus

I'm now used to the Upper Peninsula pace and will find it interesting to adjust back to my life at Purdue come August. My second week interning at NMU Dining has furthered my appreciation for friendly people and fresh, local food products. While the week was full of marketing meetings, parent orientation events, field trips and of course, time in the kitchen, a few reoccurring themes were presented.

1. A passion for food translates to delicious recipes and happy employees & customers. 
On Thursday, Robin and I visited the Sweetwater Cafe in town to interview the restaurant owner about her inspiration to focus on local, healthy, whole foods and how she introduced her gluten-free menu. The owner is a sweet lady who is married to one of the NMU dining staff. They have kept their cozy cafe running for over 20 years with a focus on whole foods and friendly conversation. When I asked the owner why she pursued this type of restaurant despite knowing that she'd be making less than a cookie cutter, convenient, preservative-food purchasing restaurant [McDonalds, Applebees, etc], I was told an inspiring story about adventure and a passion for food. Her parents had lived in Switzerland after college where she grew up learning how to make recipes from scratch. Back in the U.S. she spent time working at a fancy county inn by day and staying with an Amish family by night. Her appreciation for whole, fresh foods has grown over the years and her passion to share her love for making delicious food has only increased. Her passion is so great, you can almost taste it. I had a lovely lentil burger with fresh cheese and alfalfa sprouts on homemade bread and potato salad. The owner prides herself in teaching the staff the joy of cooking and the pleasure of consuming the creation. She even managed to create a gluten-free menu and instills excellence in her employees to deliver. I hope I can create the same enthusiasm for delivering delicious, yet allergy friendly foods with the NMU Dining allergen program.

Lentil burger and alfalfa sprouts 
with homemade whole grain bread and potato salad

2. Work is what you make it.
Friday was fairly quite in the office because over half of the staff I work with directly took the day off. I was pleased with how productive my day turned out to be- I got 4/7 Student 101 Nutrition Presentations completed and ideas for the remaining 3. You see, I had to create a guide for Robin and her support staff to educate NMU students about a specific nutrition product and transform the information into easy to understand messages for the marketing staff. In addition, I planned what props would make the presentation more appealing, the layout of the station and the sample foods to make and handout. At first, I was daunted by the tedious task, but I went into the task with a positive attitude Friday and created easy to follow, educational documents. I wish I could be here to see them pan out during the school year!

I've had a lot of opportunities in the last two weeks to experience and taste excellent food. Paul, an NMU supervisor of all retail operations, gave me the "grand tour" of all 6 retail locations and finished with a deluxe sushi lunch at Temaki & Tea [No, I didn't eat 3+ rolls of sushi, but I did enjoy half!] The fact that he juggles six external locations means he is constantly moving and trying to convey important information to his staff. As other restaurants out grew their previous locations, the NMU Dining staff were able to get creative with a few restaurants. For instance, Melted is a new, fancy grill cheese station restaurant that offers lunch for the main center on campus. As with any restaurant, there are always improvements to be made, but a positive attitude and motivated spirit allows for needed growth. I think it's great that there are always new opportunities to expand and improve operations.

Temaki & Tea sushi

3. Local foods make the community stronger and the individual healthy and happy. 
I recently ventured out to the local Food Coop to purchase local, organic foods to taste test. It was a perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday, next to my morning bike ride. I am quite impressed at how tight-knit and supporting the community is about supporting local farmers and how prideful businesses are in delivering whole foods. The Food Coop is expanding to include cooking and gardening classes to educate the local community and help establish a relationship with the food. When you cook your food, you're more interested in it!

Chicken, Spinach and mushroom pita,
 Kale salad topped with feta cheese, peppers and avocado
and ginger tea with honey

4. [Repeat.] Kayak when you have the opportunity to, especially with your Dad. 
My Dad drove 8 hours (one way) to spend the weekend with me. I'm lucky to have such a caring and adventurous Dad. Although the weather was unpleasant for the most part, we didn't let that stop us from walking around Presque Isle and kayaking in the afternoon. No matter where we went though, BUGS followed. Usually, I can ignore the little creatures, but the gnats swarmed us by the hundreds when we attempted to touch the lighthouse (see picture below) and when we initially jumped into the kayak. I literally paddled to shore, filled the kayak with water and dumped out the black, winged bugs. On the water, I had a pleasant time paddling and observing the houses surrounding the lake with my Dad. I give my Dad credit- he could paddle wayyy faster than I could! I'm glad my Dad is laid back; he's demonstrated that you can have fun and still be successful.

Presque Isle Lighthouse

Presque Isle Scenery

Always excited for adventure,

Cassandra

Dietetics/Nutrition, Fitness & Health

Purdue '14