Summer 2013... NACUFS Intern Style!: Wyoming Week 7: Feeling Wistful

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been excited to go back to California since day one of this internship. Not that I wasn’t excited to be here, it’s just that I really like my home. But now that I’m facing the prospect of leaving, it’s sinking in how much I’m going to be leaving behind. I could not have asked for a better experience here in Laramie. The people here have made my summer far better than I even imagined it would be. I have been overwhelmed by their friendliness, helpfulness, and generosity. For the past 7 weeks, I have been surrounded by good friends - people who have been there for me and people who have inspired me.

Awesome Rainbow View from My Friend's House

Now that all that sentimentality is out of the way with…

Week 7 was all about retail dining! It was interesting to see how retail operations compare with the dining hall. At Washakie, it’s all about getting the most bang for your buck. At retail, budget is definitely a consideration, but if the customers will buy an item (and it’s feasible to produce with the given equipment, etc.), then it can go on the menu. I felt like there was more flexibility with what can be offered. Each of us interns got to take turns working in the Rolling Mill Café (a coffee shop/bakery in the union), Panda Express, and the Book & Bean (a coffee shop with a few food offerings in the library). I had fun in each place. I would say the highlights were learning to make chow mein and fried rice in the giant wok at Panda (definitely more work than it looks like!) and working in the Book & Bean. The student manager, Lauren, over at Book & Bean is super friendly and shared a lot of fun trivia. She also showed me how to use the milk steamer (it’s fun making all the foamy goodness), and I got to make myself some hazelnut hot chocolate.

I also got some official cashiering training this week, which was helpful after some stressful experiences of standing in front of the register, completely clueless, and probably ticking off dozens of people. We were shown how to set up the cash registers in the morning. The managers learn by experience approximately how much cash needs to be stocked in each machine to get through the day. I also thought it was interesting to learn about how restaurant chains like Panda Express and Pita Pit have to be run differently from university-run restaurants. A lot of the food has to be ordered separately, and the different corporations send their own representatives to train student employees and to periodically check up on how the operation is being run. There’s a reason why Panda Express tastes the same in every location across the country.

On Thursday, Claire, Katlyn, and I were put on sandwich research duty. J Marta, the retail dining director, wants to expand the menu for one of the restaurants on campus. I swore to myself I would never get a pinterest account, but when she recommended using it for inspiration, I succumbed. It was fun spending the morning browsing food blogs and pinterest for new sandwich ideas.

Friday was neat because we got to visit the UW Early Childhood Education Center and learn about how foodservice (planning menus, following federal nutrition guidelines, dealing with allergies, etc.) works there. It’s basically UW’s daycare program, but it’s an excellent one because all the employees have studied childhood development. They do an excellent job with the kids. One of the classrooms there had a wall dedicated to what the kids were learning about food. The kids made chocolate chip cookies as a project, and there was a fun quote wall with the kids’ responses to the question, “How do you think we will make our chocolate chip cookies?” My favorite responses were:

· “Chocolate chips then flour and then bake them in the oven, then take them out. I’ve made them before.”

· “Make the cookie first then add chocolate chips and stir, stir, stir. Then mix it up with water and stir then bake it!”

Kids are awesome.

After the UWECEC visit, we got to observe a food photo shoot for the new restaurant that’s going to be opening on campus. Food photography is definitely a detail-oriented art, and it was a lot of fun to learn more about it.

Food Photography - It's Intense

Bread Getting Propped Just So
(Also, there's a squirt bottle with water at his feet to spritz a nice shine on the food)

On Saturday, Claire and I drove up to the Snowy Range. It was gorgeous! I didn’t take many pictures all week, and then I took 150 on Saturday. Hence why all my photos are clumped at the end of this post.