Week 8: Wyoming, It Has Been a Pleasure

The last 8 weeks have been a whirlwind, and I wouldn’t have chosen to do anything else or be anywhere else this summer.  I’m so grateful for the experiences I had in Wyoming; it has become a dear place to me.

This week really didn’t have a common thread: every day was different, so the time moved quickly (which I appreciated because I was excited to see my family).

Monday was filled with a field trip to Colorado State University in Fort Collins.  It was fun to see the similarities and differences to UW.  It was comforting to see how much was familiar, though, because it made me realize how much I had actually learned during the previous weeks.  I was impressed with their bakery there: it’s huge!  They had a cool floor-to-ceiling dishwasher.  

You can roll a whole caddy of dirty dishes in.

The coolest part of the bakery was the gluten-free room, which was completely closed off to the remainder of the bakery and had its own new equipment free of contamination.  It’s neat that they have the means to make gluten-free items from scratch.  We also got to see a couple of the dining halls on campus, and I really liked the décor.  They seemed both cozy and upscale.

On Tuesday, we learned about marketing.  It was interesting to learn how far in advance the different marketing campaigns are planned.  Summer is the acknowledged dead time, so all efforts are focused on gearing up for the fall.

On Wednesday, we visited the meat science lab/processing plant on campus.  It was awesome!  I didn’t have to witness any slaughtering, and I learned a lot of cool information about how meat becomes the neat little packages I buy at the store.  I was happy to learn how many safety and sanitation precautions are taken when processing meat.  I liked hearing about grass-fed vs grain-fed beef, and I was also interested to learn how precise the process of freezing meat has to be so that the ATP is depleted in the muscles before thawing (or else the muscle will contract and get short and tough – crazy!).  In the afternoon, we met with Eric, the director of dining services, to discuss UW’s budget.  I really enjoyed this part of the internship because I started to get a sense of the big picture of university dining.  I had no idea beforehand, but UW doesn’t try to make money off their dining; they just try to earn enough to cover labor and repair costs, etc.  The raising of prices at dining locations on campus seems arbitrary to students, but prices are actually carefully calculated based on food cost, overhead, and labor.  The university doesn’t charge students any more than is necessary.

On Thursday, we talked about UW’s sustainability efforts with Amy and then appropriately followed that up with a visit to Acres, the student farm.  We got a tour of the farm and then saw how they prepare for the farmer’s market.  I liked hearing the hoop houses explained: they have sides that can roll up or down, and they make it possible to extend the growing season beyond the impossibly short 3 or so months that are usually available.  I was impressed with the diversity of plants growing on the farm, and I got to sample nasturtium, sorrel, and purslane.  And, like last time, we got to visit with Salem. J

Part of Acres

Inside the largest hoop house

The smaller hoop houses

Nasturtium! A peppery edible flower

Peas

An awesome-looking cabbage of mystery variety

And, like last time, we got to visit with Salem. J

Last day, woohoo!  Friday was carb-alicious.  In the morning, we tested flatbread sandwich recipes for Gardens, a restaurant/bar on campus, because Marta wants to expand the menu.  The only cooking equipment they have is a TurboChef, a tiny but very hot convection oven that gets sandwiches all toasty and delicious in about a minute.  Each of us had two recipes to try, and then we tried variations of those recipes.  All in all, I probably sampled eight different sandwiches.  I was full afterward, but it was fun, cheesy, and delicious.  Marta mentioned that the interns last year sampled lots and lots of hot dogs; I was grateful we had sandwiches instead –they don’t get sickening quite as fast.

 

Spinach Artichoke Flatbread Sandwich:
It tasted like spinach artichoke dip in sandwich form

After our sandwich testing, we had a little going away party…with cake!  It was a GIANT cake, and Deb, the head baker, made it look gorgeous!  Even though I was full of flatbread sandwiches, it was one of the best cakes I’ve had in a long time.  So good!  

Beautiful!

Italian Cream Cake with Pecans

People stopped by to share cake and wish me and Claire luck.  Seeing all the faces reminded me just how many people I’ve gotten to meet and learn from over this internship.  It made me grateful not only for the connections and friendships, but also the diversity of experiences that I’ve gained from the last 2 months.  I’ve never gotten to learn about something from so many different perspectives before.

I’m glad I got to be with so many great people this summer.

 

(Sad this is blurry) I'm going to miss these ladies!

Laramie, it has been a pleasure.