Week 8 and We're Done

First, I just have to say that I can't believe this internship is over! Time has flown faster than ever. Even though I've spent most of my afternoon packing, it still doesn't really feel like I'm leaving yet. This whole summer I just kept thinking that there was no way each week could keep getting better and offer something new. I was definitely wrong. This last week was amazing and I really enjoyed it!

Monday Jeanette and I were in the test kitchen. We were working on prep for our food truck special, fish tacos. We tried to get as much prepped as we could so that Tuesday would be smooth sailing! We chopped some things up, made the blackening seasoning, and I made all of the tomatillo salsa that we would need...and then some. Has anyone ever said, "man I have way too much tomatillo salsa?" Didn't think so, so a little extra won't hurt our favorite chefs in the test kitchen, right? :) In the afternoon, we had to cook up a sample for a display plate. Jenna from culinary services came to take a picture of our special so that it could go on the food truck website to entice people to come eat it! I really enjoyed working on the display plate. It's such an art to arrange food for pictures. Lary is really good at this! He helped me create a beautiful plate. I'll have to remember his tricks for the future. Jeanette even sneakily took a picture of Lary in action, which is a pretty big deal since he is the master of avoiding photographs. Sorry Lary :) Jenna came and took some pictures of the tacos for us and got a few quotes from Jeanette and I so that she could write this blog post. The NACUFS facebook page even linked to the article! I felt pretty cool when that popped up in my facebook news feed. 

Here's a screenshot of the Food Truck website with the description of our special

Jenna in action taking pictures for us

Jeanette and I

This is the picture we ended up using for the website. Looks tasty right?

Tuesday was the big day! We started the morning by finishing up all of the prep work that we needed to do. Then we loaded up the truck and headed out! We started the day very strong. The first seven people that came to the truck all ordered our tacos! It made me so excited. The tacos stayed pretty popular throughout the day. I even had some people tell me that they came to the food truck just because they saw online that we were having fish tacos. Jeanette and I met some really nice customers and got to tell a few of them about our internship and our food truck project. Unfortunately, the rainstorms decided they wanted to visit the food truck as well. It started pouring while we were out there, so that slowed down our flow of customers. Luckily it cleared up a bit later, but I think the heavy rain scared a lot of people away. Because of the rain we only had forty something sales, but 31 of those were the fish tacos! Not bad odds at all! We got a lot of good feedback from the customers about the quality and taste of our tacos. I'm definitely going to be making these at home :) I really enjoyed this project and am so glad that Kari and Gina gave us the opportunity to create something. It was so exciting to see something I helped create come together from start to finish and actually be sold and well received by customers. It made me so happy to watch people eating our fish tacos! I hope interns in future years get to do something like this. 

Here's a description and sample plate on the food truck

Most of those lucky people are munching on our fish tacos!

It takes more than rain to shut down these NACUFS interns 

I loved the food truck

I of course gladly supported my own special for lunch

Wednesday was our final day. We started by helping the food truck with some of its morning prep work. Then Jeanette and I got ready for our final lunch. We ate at the State Room, the restaurant in the Kellogg Center on campus. Lary and Saul were there, as well as some other people from dining services. It was a really fun group to eat with and the food was phenomenal. I tried their crab cakes, which were delicious! They tasted so fresh and had lots of good flavor. I also tried their firecracker shrimp, which was shrimp with almond pesto served on grits with Gouda cheese in them. I wish I had taken pictures of my meal so that I could try to portray how amazing this food was. I don't think a picture could do it justice anyways. We also had yummy desserts. Mine was peach melba, which was peaches with MSU vanilla ice cream and a raspberry sauce. I've got your mouth watering don't I? It was such a tasty meal. Jeanette and I also got our NACUFS internship completion certificate and an MSU goodie bag. It was the perfect end to an awesome two months here.

Jeanette and I in the Kellogg Center

I've been looking through all of the pictures I've taken this summer and thinking about my time here at MSU. I still can't believe I was blessed with this amazing opportunity. It was such a great experience to be able to meet so many people and be able to immerse myself in so many different facets of university dining. I also feel very blessed to have been at Michigan State. This university has so many different things going on in their dining services department. I'm so glad that I got to experience all of those different aspects. MSU is definitely a front runner for university dining services. The kids that go to school here don't know how lucky they are to have so much great food at their disposal. This internship was an incredible opportunity and I'll definitely always remember it fondly. As Matt said at lunch today, even though I was only here for 2 months, I'm still a Spartan for life.

MSU Week 7

Well 7 weeks down, 1 more to go here at MSU. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! As always, it was another great week here in the beautiful state of Michigan. It was a great week and a HOT week. I think this was the most hot/humid week yet in East Lansing while we've been here for NACUFS, or at least it felt that way.

To start the week off on Monday, we met with Dan from human resources. He, another employee, and one of their interns met with us for about an hour and half. They talked to us about what HR does, hiring, unions, student employees, etc. I haven't had much exposure to human resources in the past, and this meeting showed me that there is a lot to be learned. HR is an important part of any organization/company, so it was nice to be able to learn from Dan and his coworker's experiences. After meeting with them and eating lunch, we took a trip to Kroger's with Lary to pick up a few more food items we needed for some recipe testing. Then we spent the afternoon testing some recipes for our fish tacos that we're planning to serve from the food truck. We tested a few different marinades/rubs for the fish and a couple different sauces/salsas to go with it. After all of the tasting, we decided to go with a blackened tilapia topped with a mixture of tomato, avocado, and red onion, with cabbage in a flour tortilla. We'll also be serving it with a yummy tomatillo salsa and chips. 

Just tasting some fish tacos in the test kitchen

I've really enjoyed having the opportunity and free reign to test recipes while we've been  here. The test kitchen is a really fun place to work and the people there are all so great! 

MSU has this big agriculture expo every year. I believe this year was the 34th? Anyways, it's been going on for a long time. Just picture a huge carnival, but instead of games and rides, there's tons and tons of farm equipment and demonstrations. Pretty good mental image right? I'm no farmer myself, but it was really cool! Bill picked Jeanette and I up bright and early Tuesday morning so that we could help concessions with a VIP breakfast. Jeanette and I helped serve the plates to all of the lovely people there for a meeting. It was really fun to interact with the guests. At this meeting, the MSU president spoke and I believe it was a state governor or senator also spoke. I can't remember which it was, but it was definitely an important government representative of Michigan :) We also got to hear a live auctioneer auction off a really cool set of model tractors. He had the cool, fast voice and everything!

Ag Expo

Jeanette ready to serve some breakfast

The concessions tent

I love serving breakfast

 After breakfast was over, Jeanette and I took some time to explore the ag expo. It was way bigger than I was expecting. They had everything, from tractors to a guy dressed up in a corn costume, and much, much more. It was really fun to explore the huge area and see what demonstrations they had.

They even had baby chicks that we got to hold

Alpacas came for the occasion too! 

I'm not sure what this piece of equipment does, but it looks awesome, right?

After exploring, we made our way back to the concessions tent. Jeanette had to head out, but I was able to stay and help with lunch. Before I move on, did I mention that this was one of the hottest/most humid days we'd been at MSU? I had the job of working the fryer for the french fries. Just picture the hot, humid, sun blaring, hot fryer environment. It reminded me of summers growing up in Houston. It really wasn't that bad, but I'm convinced my body was born to live in the heat. It was fun working with the concession employees. They were all so nice and friendly! Despite the less than ideal weather, I really did enjoy working at the ag expo!

Wednesday Jeanette and I went back to the ag expo. This time we were working with the sustainability people rather than concessions. We were a type of recycling police, not in a bad way! We just helped the guests of the expo properly sort their trash into the recycling and trash bins. You'd hate to have someone throw half of a hot dog covered in ketchup into the recycle bin and contaminate all of the recyclables, right? That's why we were there. It was another hot one, but I enjoyed being outside again.

Thursday Jeanette and I were back in the test kitchen. We were helping with prep for the food truck. We helped chop and prep some things, taste some food :) and Nick even gave us some tips for caramelizing vs. sauteing onions. I also helped Jeanette make the "pot-hole patch cookies." These things are delicious! One of the employees told me she thinks they were originally inspired by a recipe called diabetes cookies. I don't know if that's accurate, but I believe it. They were packed with all things desserty and yummy. 

I think I'll just take this pan home....

 Jeanette and I also cooled off with a trip to the pool on Thursday. It was a great way to end the day. The outdoor pool at MSU is pretty nice.

Friday was our last day in The Gallery. In the morning I was able to fill in for a missing host. I really enjoyed this. I have this weird love of talking to strangers, so it really was perfect for me. After that, Hilary (one of the managers) showed me some of the HR stuff that she does. Most of it had to do with payroll, which I've never done before. It was nice to hear about some of her responsibilities. During lunch, I helped on the floor making sure everything was stocked and working. It was definitely a busy day. There was a big group of middle school kids on campus for a music camp that came through. They sure do make their presence known. By watching the way they rushed in, I would've guessed they hadn't eaten in days! It was fun to talk to a few of them and see what instrument they played. They seemed to be enjoying MSU. I was sad that this was our last day in The Gallery because Jeanette and I have really come to enjoy the staff there. They're all very nice, and all of the managers were really accommodating and willing to answer any questions that we had. I really enjoyed meeting and working with all of them. The Gallery has a solid group of employees running the place.

Since it was our last weekend in East Lansing, Jeanette and I decided to take a nice trip to Holland. Holland is this cute little town on Lake Michigan. It was only a short drive from MSU, and worth every second. The beach was beautiful and the water felt great! Jeanette and I spent a few hours enjoying the beach and soaking up (too much) sun. We also briefly walked through the downtown area. There were lots of cute little shops to see. I was really glad I was able to see one of the lakes before I left Michigan!

Tunnel Park Beach is where we spent the day

Beautiful view of the beach

Me on the beach

Jeanette and I headed through the tunnel of tunnel park beach

It was another great week! 

MSU Week 6

This past week included some of my favorite things experienced thus far at MSU. I've been so lucky to be at a university with so many cool things only a few hours away. I've loved getting to see so many different places while I've been here.

Monday and Tuesday I spent more time in The Gallery, my home away from home :) Monday I had the chance to work with Mike, one of the managers, and see how he does some of the ordering. We spent some time seeing how much of each item was in dry storage so that we knew what we should order more of. He let me fill out and submit the order online. Technology makes things like this pretty easy!

Wednesday was a lot of fun! We had the chance to see the lovely Ferris State interns, Margaret and Emily, again. Brenda and another man from FSU accompanied them. We started off the day with Lary telling our visitors all about MSU and dining services on campus. I even learned a few new things about the university! We spent the morning touring some of the athletic facilities. I was so excited to get to see everything! We were led around the big football stadium. Seeing everything there just made me even more excited for football season and the chance to cheer on my BYU cougars again :)

The view from the top of the stadium

Me inside the stadium

We got to see a lot of the really nice boxes inside the stadium where the important people sit for the games. They had really nice seats and accommodations! 

Emily, Margaret, Jeanette, and I with the original Spartan statue

 We also toured the Breslin Center, where the basketball games are played. It was very similar to our Marriott Center at BYU, so I felt right at home! It was a really nice facility. We learned about the Izzone, the student section. It's named after the head basketball coach, Coach Izzo. It's a pretty big deal to sit in this section. You have to camp out to be eligible to buy season tickets for this section,  you can't  have missed more than a couple games the previous season if you're a returning member, and when you're in this section you have a heavy responsibility to support the team and be energized. It sounds pretty cool and a good way to get the crowd and team fired up!

The basketball court

The MSU basketball team is pretty good, as you can see by their championship trophies

I loved seeing all of the athletic facilities. I wish I could see a football or basketball game here! It did make me miss supporting BYU sports a lot though. Can't wait to be back for my own team's season. Go Cougs!

We also showed the FSU visitors one of our Starbucks on campus and the manager let everybody get free drinks! We headed to Brody when it was close to lunchtime. We showed them the front and back of house and ate lunch. The lunch was delicious as always, and I think they were really impressed with how big the dining hall was, how many options, and how delicious and fresh the food tasted. I think it left a good impression with them! We also showed them Shaw's dining hall since it's the newest. To end the day, we headed to the dairy store so our visitors could have some MSU ice cream. We also took a peek of what was going on from the observation deck in the dairy. It was a really fun day and I'm so glad that I got to know the FSU interns while I was here. It was fun to hear what Emily and Margaret have been up to all summer at Ferris and talk dietetics with Emily since she just graduated and is headed off to do an internship next year. 

Thursday was my favorite field trip of the internship! We went to Notre Dame! I've always heard about how beautiful and historic this campus is, so I was really excited when I found out that we were going to be visiting the campus during our stay here. I've basically been looking forward to this day since I got my internship schedule. Don't worry, Notre Dame brought its A game and did not disappoint my expectations. 

I just loved seeing all of the beautiful buildings and the campus had lots of green grass and trees

We traveled with Saul and 3 chefs from different dining halls at MSU. I liked touring with the chefs because they think of different questions to ask than I do. We started off the morning by touring Notre Dame's dining facilities. Our first stop was their central food stores type building. We got to see their coolers and dry storage. They also showed us their central processing areas where they do some produce chopping and sauce making that then gets sent out to the dining halls. We also saw the bakery and decorating area. It sure smelled good!

Check out all that buttercream frosting!

Notre Dame cake

Notre Dame has a pub on campus, which is pretty unique. It's called Legends and also has a club inside. It was a really nice building. The club has hosted many musicians/comedians/performers over the years. They had a whole wall with pictures of everyone who has performed there. 

Part of the wall of pictures

Flags from the universities that Notre Dame plays during football season, including my own BYU!

We saw both dining halls on campus. They seemed pretty dated, but were still pretty nice. We ate lunch at one of them. It was fun to taste another school's food and they had some pretty yummy options. Notre Dame is really big on the feeling of community. They really want their students to get to know each other and become united. They even require all students to live on campus with a random roommate for freshman year. Pretty cool! The seating in the dining halls is meant to encourage this goal.

Inside one of the dining halls.

After lunch was my favorite part of the day! We took a walking tour of campus. We were so blessed to have such a beautiful day for this trip. The skies were blue, humidity was low, and there was a nice breeze. It really couldn't have been better. We were led around campus and learned a few history tidbits about the university.

This porch is in the movie Rudy

The grotto on campus 

The gold dome with Mary on top

Me with touchdown Jesus

The football stadium. If only they'd let us see inside!

Another shot of touchdown Jesus

We also made a pit stop at the bookstore and the woman from dining services that we spent the day with was so nice and gave us all goody bags to take home. It was such an awesome day! I loved it all!

Friday Jeanette and I started the day by finalizing which recipes we're going to test for our food truck special debut. I'll talk more about this next week, but don't worry, we're going to be making something delicious :)

The afternoon was spent in the good old Gallery. Lunchtime was super busy. A few large conference groups came through and they filled up the place. It was fun to get a small taste of what every day is like during the school year. I also helped prepare sandwiches for box lunches. Sometimes groups order box lunches from The Gallery. They usually contain a sandwich, chips, soda, fruit, and a cookie. 

I can't believe how close my time is to being done here. The next two weeks should be really fun! 

Week 5 at MSU

This week Jeanette and I started shadowing the managers at The Gallery. On Monday, I got to do the late shift with the afternoon managers. Chris, one of the managers, showed Jeanette and I how they check out the stations after meals so that the student employees can leave. We also attended the daily meeting with the full time staff. They go over products that need to be ordered and upcoming meals at these meetings. Later in the afternoon, we got to sit in on an interview. The managers are trying to fill a few host positions in the cafeteria. I even got to ask some of the questions and take notes at the interview. It was much less stressful being on the interviewer side of things :) It was interesting to discuss after and see what things Chris took note of during the interview. Late night in The Gallery was pretty slow on Monday, but I did enjoy shadowing Sharon, another manager.

I also tried the sushi for dinner. I think I'm beginning to acquire a taste for it.

Tuesday was a really fun day. We drove up to Ferris State University (FSU). We met up with the interns, Emily and Margaret, and their coordinator, Brenda. They took us on a tour of The Rock, their dining hall. It was beautiful! I was really impressed with The Rock. We also saw some other areas of campus. 

FSU clock tower

We saw a hallway with a bunch of display cases about the history of FSU, a Starbucks on campus, and some of the sporting arenas, specifically hockey. Their hockey team is really good and kind of a big deal to FSU, so we got to see all of the behind the scenes stuff at the ice rink. 

There was a hockey camp using the rink that day

There were bulldogs everywhere!

I'm not sure who this guy is, but apparently he played hockey at FSU and is a big deal :)

We also ate lunch at The Rock. It sure was tasty! They have this awesome mongolian grill station, so I took advantage of that. It was fun to pick out all of my ingredients and watch it be cooked. Not too mention, it was delicious!

Watching my food be cooked

After lunch we listened to a presentation about the upcoming renovations to another dining hall at FSU. It was really interesting to hear all of their plans explained and see the blueprints. There's so much work that goes into planning a kitchen/dining hall!

Jeanette, Emily, Margaret, Me, and Brenda (the FSU dietitian)

I really enjoyed visiting FSU. It's fun to get together with some of the other interns and see a new campus. I'm excited for them to visit MSU this week!

Wednesday we were back in The Gallery working with the managers. Chef Eric was the only manager on duty, so it was a little different than Monday. I started off by making eggs benedict to help out the students. I had never poached an egg before, so that was fun. After lunch, Jeanette I decided to work on our project instead. We got a lot done that afternoon, which is exciting!

Thursday we spent the morning in The Gallery again. Since Chef Eric was the only manager again, we spent most of our time in the front of house making sure everything was good to go since none of the full time managers were there to do it. It was a pretty slow day since it was the 4th of July. I did get to put some napkin folding skills to use for one of the stations.

I was just excited I remembered how to make anything

We did some more project work in the afternoon, and then it was time to celebrate America! Jeanette and I met up with some of her family at a Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball game in downtown Lansing. The weather was great, so it was really nice to sit out at the game. After the game was over, we watched the baseball stadium's fireworks. It was a pretty good fourth.

At the game

Jeanette and I enjoying the baseball game

 Jeanette took Friday off, so it was time for me to fly solo. I spent the morning doing project work. I got quite a bit done on the menus. I spent the afternoon in The Gallery doing pretty much the same things we had been doing all week. It was a very slow day because of the holiday weekend.

Overall, week 5 was great! Can't believe how close we are to being done here.