UIUC and a Summary of the End

Hi everyone! Today is my last day here at UIUC and I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by!!!  It has been an amazing experience.  I've learned so much and the experience I've gained here has been incredible!  The past three weeks have seemed to rush by in a blur.  They were busy, fun, and filled with awesome experiences.

I spent a lot of time working in the office, finishing up projects these past three weeks.  I finished updating department bulletin boards, the NACUFS internship manual, and the NACUFS newsletter.  I was also able to develop some cool handouts for a future allergy training event.  I also got to work with CBORD more these past three weeks; entering recipes, finding allergens for menu items, and more.  I was also able to participate in a number of meetings as well.  The meetings were about a number of different things; a themed meal, an allergy training event, a la cart stations, production, a summer camper with food allergies special menu, and innovation.  They were all so interesting and I felt honored when I was asked for my input. 

The Internship Manual that I created.

One of the bulletin boards I updated.  It's all about
what UIUC Dining Services does for special diets.

The other bulletin board.  It lists all of the dining
halls and details their specialty restaurants.

I was also able to work at one of the dining halls, ISR, for a few days.  I had the great opportunity to learn more about forecasting, purchasing, receiving, and menu prepping.  I was also able to help out in the kitchen which is always fun!

Another great opportunity I had was working with the catering department.  One day I was able to work in the catering kitchen, learning all about their operation there and what it takes to prepare for multiple events.  The next day I was able to actually go to one of the events, a wedding reception at Memorial Stadium, and help plate the food!  My time with catering was so busy and exhausting, but I think it was one of my favorite experiences of this internship.  Catering is so fast-paced and demanding; I have so much respect for everyone who works in that field.


The salads we plated included mixed greens, plum slices,
mini mozzarella cheese balls, shredded carrots and a sprig of dill

We were so busy I didn't have time to take pics of the
dinner plates. :( They were beautiful though!

Another great experience I had was working on the Student Sustainable Farm and helping them sell their produce in the University's main quad.  It was just my luck that the day I was scheduled to work on the farm, the Illinois heat and humidity was at its worst! Even though the weather was harsh, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the farm and helping with the farmer's market.  I love that UIUC grows some of their own produce that they use in the dining halls and that everything is grown with Organic methods.  I was able to make a Caprese salad at ISR with the farm's fresh tomatoes...It was amazing!

I want to thank everyone for this amazing summer! I'm so grateful to NACUFS and UIUC for taking me on as a summer intern.  The people that I've met here have been absolutely wonderful.  They have been so kind and helpful, and I have learned so much more than I ever imagined I would!  Thank you for providing me with opportunities that have challenged me, yet have taught me so much and have helped me grow.  I will never forget my summer here in Champaign-Urbana!

  

UIUC Weeks Four & Five

Only three weeks left?!  I almost can’t believe I’ve been in Illinois for five weeks.  One part of me feels like I’ve been here forever, yet another part feels like I just got here yesterday.  It’s weird. 

Anyways, during week four I finished designing my themed meal which is inspired by The Beatles.  Each menu item incorporates one of their song titles, albums, etc.  I’m happy with some of the more clever menu items I thought up like “Stuffed St. Peppers” or “Lucy in the Sky High Ice Cream Pie,” but some were just utterly ridiculous like “I Want to Hold Your Yams…”  Yeah, that was the worst one.  Despite some of the dumb titles, I had a really fun time developing the menu and finding recipes for my themed meal. 

Also during week four I got the opportunity to work at Housing Food Stores.  That place reminded me of Costco, except there were no free samples.  At Housing Food Stores I was able to work with the computer program, CBORD.  I entered new, approved recipes into the system.  Some of them were the recipes that I had made during my week at Ikenberry!  Working with CBORD was a great learning experience.  There’s so much detail that goes into the recipes to make sure that they can be produced consistently by many different people over many years.  I also helped out with inventory while I was at HFS.  That was an interesting experience too.  Obviously it’s not the most exciting thing to do, but it is so important to keep up-to-date and honest inventory counts.  It can save the establishment a lot of money, and the staff a lot of stress.       

Also during week four I got the amazing opportunity to meet with UIUC’s official sports dietitian!!!  I am very interested in sports dietetics and it was so great to hear from someone who is living one of my dreams.  Chelsea was so helpful and informative, and gave me a lot of advice for the future.  It seems I have a lot to get started on when I get back to California… 

The last part of week four involved job shadowing the Catering Event Manager, Aaron.  I got to see what he does in a typical day; lots of phone calls and emails with clients, overseeing event sites, and entering information into their computer program, Event Master.  I also got to attend a meeting with a wedding client.  We met at the beautiful venue, The Arboretum and went over final details for her wedding, which took place yesterday!  We also stopped in at the Corvette Show that was going on that weekend that UIUC was catering.  There were supposedly over 3,000 Corvettes in Champaign that weekend!

I'm not a huge car person, but these cars were awesome!

 

Did week five even happen?  With Fourth of July landing on Thursday, last week seemed to have flown by in a blur!  During week five I worked at Clark Hall and completed some of my projects.  I finished writing my article for the NACUFS newsletter.  It’s about GMOs.  Even after all of my research I’m still not sure what to think of them.  I do have more negative thoughts than positive ones about them, though.  I also updated some of the bulletin boards in Clark Hall last week.  I also helped some of the staff with entering more recipes into CBORD.  All in all, week five was a very office themed week, but my projects were very interesting and thought provoking. Also, staying in one place was a nice change of pace. 

I have no pictures of pretty food to show, so take a look at this stormy, summer Illinois sky:

It was a really intense storm! I made it home just before it started
pouring.

Also, there are a ton of squirrels here...and bunnies.
I like it.

 

This week I’m all over the place again, which equals normalcy.  I’m excited to learn and experience more this week!  Hope everyone’s doing great!  Until next time…       

UIUC Week Three

Week three has come and gone!!  My third week at UIUC had me working at the Florida Avenue Residence Dining Hall and specifically with the Meals on Wheels operation there.  Meals on Wheels is an organization that provides meals for those who are unable to provide for themselves (predominately the elderly).  In fact, the organization's vision is to end senior hunger by 2020.  Their program includes thousands of locations that span across the United States and they serve over one million meals a day.  Another remarkable fact about MOW is that their "staff" consists of mainly volunteers.  UIUC is one of the country's MOW locations and the staff at FAR works so hard to make sure that they are providing quality meals for their customers.  It's FAR's job to develop a menu, prepare cold lunch bags and hot lunch trays for every customer; and supper sacks when requested.  Once these meals are prepared and organized, volunteer drivers come to FAR, pick up the meals, and delivery them directly to the elderly's homes. 

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the MOW operation last week.  It was great to learn more about the organization and see how UIUC contributes.  But most of all, I loved that I was able to help out and contribute to this organization.  

The route bags with ice packs and lunch/supper bags inside.
Each route also has a folder w/ customer info. and driving
directions.

Each morning was fairly similar.  My mornings involved filling brown paper bags with milk, salad, dessert, a slice of bread, and butter.  The majority of the meals are the same, but there are a few customers who suffer from illnesses/conditions that require them to have a modified meal.  FAR accommodates these customers by providing some alternatives which I think is great.  Also, some customers pay extra to receive a supper sack which includes a soup, sandwich, and a piece of fresh fruit.  Once all of the lunch bags and supper sacks were filled and closed, they needed to be sorted into routing cooler bags.  FAR's operation includes nine different routes so all of the meals are sorted accordingly.  Once all of the bags were sorted, it was time to prepare the hot meals.  The MOW menu was set up so that leftovers from dinner the night before could be used for the hot meals, but sometimes the cooks would have to make entirely new menu items specifically for MOW.  Also, some of the modified meals required a healthier entrée, so the cooks would provide options such as brown rice and lightly seasoned chicken breast.  Making the hot trays was pretty fun.  All of the hot food was in a buffet line, and we basically formed an assembly line, with each person in charge of scooping a particular food, putting lids on the trays, or sorting the trays into the correct route's bag.  By the middle of the week we were assembling the trays like a well-oiled machine.  

This is where we assembled the hot trays.  The food hadn't
come out yet...

After all of the volunteer drivers picked up their routes, I helped with preparing the next day's meals.  This meant making and packaging salads, packaging desserts, and putting labels on bags and lids.  Then all of the empty bags were set up on tables for the next morning.  The work wasn't necessarily challenging, but it sure was time consuming!

On Thursday some staff members had the day off, so I was working with people who had never helped with MOW before.  It ended up testing my leadership skills because these employees were looking to me to take charge of the operation and let them know what needed to be done.  I'm glad to report that we all ended up doing great and everything went smoothly.  

 

Just a fraction of the bags that are set up the night before to make
mornings a little easier.

Other randoms from the week:

 

1) I got to make hummus.  It was fun to use the huge food processing machine, but other than that the process was messy and I'm not sure that it turned out so great.  Kind of embarrassing when you consider the fact that making hummus is basically throwing all of the ingredients into a bowl and turning on a machine to do the rest...  Oh well, it was a learning experience, right?

Don't tell Jamba Juice that the blender wasn't a VitaMix!

2) I was able to create a smoothie for one of the summer campers that has a special diet.  Rachel (the other UIUC student intern) and I were given the ingredients and a blender and left to work our magic.  I used to work at Jamba Juice, so I felt quite confident with my smoothie making capabilities.  The ingredients weren't all that fun, but they made for an extremely healthy smoothie.  They were filtered water, organic bananas, organic frozen berries, organic kale, and organic peanut butter.  It ended up being nutritious and delicious!

 

 

Up close and personal.  It tasted better than it looks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know last week was only my third week, but this internship has already taught me so much! I'm learning how to apply knowledge that I learned in classes to real life, in the field situations.  And more importantly, I'm learning how to use my strengths in a professional, business atmosphere; some strengths I wasn't even aware that I had! And I should add that it's helping me work on my weaknesses as well.  Those can't be forgotten!  Anyways, I am looking forward to week four and every week after that! Hope everyone's Monday is going well.  Until next time...     

UIUC Week Two!

I can't believe it has already been two weeks here at UIUC! My second week seemed to fly by faster than the first. 
The work week began with a tour of the Training Table and meeting the registered dietitian who runs the operation.  UIUC's Training Table is located underneath their football stadium, Memorial Stadium.  That place is huge and glorious looking! 

Memorial Stadium @ UIUC

Anyways, the Training Table is a campus dining operation that consists of a kitchen, serving area, and dining area that is accessible to the university's athletes.  The football players get to eat there the most often (every dinner, I think), but other teams are also welcome to eat there once a day during certain times of the year (mostly when their sport is in season).  It was awesome to talk to Katie, the registered dietitian in charge.  She has her certification in Sports Dietetics, and since that is a particular interest of mine, I appreciated being able to pick her brain.  Monday also consisted of going to the local natural foods store, Strawberry Fields, to look for special foods to buy for incoming summer campers who require special diets.  I always love grocery shopping!
The rest of the week was absolutely crazy...in a great way!!  I reported to Ikenberry Dining Hall's kitchen to partake in recipe testing!  I was in charge of making three different salads that incorporated three different grains; quinoa, millet, and spelt.  The first day of working in the kitchen was a bit terrifying, but after asking people to point me in the right direction multiple times, I eventually found my bearings and had the time of my life.  I learned so much about recipes in a college food service as well. For instance, I never realized how time consuming weighing everything out is.  And then preparing the multiple pounds of ingredients is a monstrous task, too!  Everyone on staff was so helpful and I thoroughly enjoyed working there this last week.  I'm going to miss the Ikenberry kitchen and the fantastic people I got to work with there. 

Here are some pictures of the recipes I tested:

1) Quinoa Salad w/ Apples, Craisins, Feta Cheese, and Toasted Walnuts


This one was my favorite!!! I think it was everyone else's fav. too...

2) Warm Spelt Salad w/ Carrots, Raisins, Cumin, and Cilantro

This one was really good too!

 
 
 
 

    3) Millet Salad w/ Broccoli and Chickpeas w/ a Sesame Dressing on the side     

I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the other two.

 

 

 

I was also able to test a recipe for roasted chickpeas and got to choose my own blends of seasoning for them.  The one on the left is Old Bay, and the one on the right is Spicy Garlic Ginger! I love, love, love spicy food! So...I might have made them a wee bit too spicy for the Average Joe...I'll try to tone it down next time. ;)    



 

Also, when I wasn't testing recipes, I was helping the kitchen staff with whatever they needed.  That meant that I got to work in the bakery on Wednesday morning!!! That was so much fun.  Even though I didn't get to eat any of the goodies, I still enjoyed working with all of the sweets.

 

Nestle Toll House Pies.  Basically, you take an empty pie shell
 and stuff it with choc. chip cookie dough.  Kill me now.

They are frozen and then baked fresh before being served.   

I got to use the huge HOBART mixing machine! I made vanilla frosting for...

CUPCAKES!!!

Frosting and sprinkling cupcakes was so fun, but very messy!


My third week is already off to a great start.  I hope everyone else is having a wonderful week too! Until next time...

 

UIUC Week One

Hi everyone! My name is Grace Gontarski and I am interning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this summer.  I am from Sacramento, California and will be entering my senior year as a dietetics student at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA this fall.  I arrived in Champaign Monday night by plane.  Travelling here was an all day adventure.  My preceptor, Robin, picked me up from the tiny airport (I think it only has one gate and one baggage claim carousel!) and brought me to my apartment on campus.  It was nice to just unpack and settle in Monday night.

 

 

My home for the next seven weeks!

 
 

 

Day One

My Tuesday began with signing some housing paperwork and learning about bus routes (since I have no car!).  After that, Robin picked me up and we went to Clark Hall where all of the Housing Administrative Offices are, including Robins.  Robin is the administrative dietitian on campus and a huge part of her job is dealing with food allergies.  I feel so honored to be able to work with her this summer!  Robin showed me around the different floors and introduced me to numerous people who I will probably eventually work with this summer.   They were all so warm and friendly and I am looking forward to working with them.  Next, we headed to Human Resources where final touches were put on some paperwork.  Once that was completed, Robin and I headed back up to her office and talked a bit about the different dining operations the university has and all of the different staff positions as well.  I was then sent to a computer to familiarize myself with the university’s dining website, and their nutritional analysis program called EatSmart.  EatSmart allows the public to access information on daily menus as well as each menu item that the university has to offer.  This information includes nutritional information as well as ingredients.  It is especially helpful for those who suffer from food allergies or those who have a restrictive diet.  Before lunch I was assigned an interesting project.  A summer camper who is coming in next week has a very strange and restrictive diet and it was my job to check the dining menu to see if there was anything being prepared that he might be able to eat.  If not, it was my job to make suggestions, and ultimately a possible menu for him.  His diet is like a three day cycle menu.  On day one he is only allowed to eat certain foods from a pretty short list.  Day two has its own list of foods, and so does day three.  Then he starts over on day one foods.  This was the most bizarre diet I had come across and it made for a challenging first project!  Lunch came soon and Robin and I headed to Ikenberry (one of the six dining halls) for recipe test tastings.  During the summer, the chefs test new recipes that they'd like to incorporate into the school year's menu.  I enjoyed everything that was made, but my favorite had to be the quinoa salad that had strawberries, asparagus, and fresh mint leaves.  After leaving the office, Robin was kind enough to take me on a little tour of Downtown Urbana and Champaign.  I enjoyed seeing more of the town and can't wait to venture out there more this summer.

Clark Hall

Day Two

Wednesday I reported to Clark Hall again.  Today I got to work alongside another dietetic intern at UIUC, Rachel.  It was so nice having her there to share ideas with and also to work on the projects with.  Together, we were able to tackle the challenging camper's special diet and we finished his menu.  Our next project required us to organize all of the university's summer campers that have food allergies into an organized spreadsheet.  I think that it’s great that UIUC puts so much time and effort into accommodating their guests with food allergies.  Before we could finish, we headed down to Ikenberry with Robin to set up a booth within the dining area so that incoming freshmen and their families attending orientation could swing by and learn more about U of I’s dining services.  Around 1 PM it was time to eat!  We headed over to another recipe testing and had a feast.  My favorite of the day was the gluten free peanut butter and chocolate no bake treat, while my least favorite had to be the bacon cheeseburger sushi roll. Yeah, a sushi roll with hamburger meat, cheese, and bacon.  It was weird.  I love that they're willing to take creative risks in the kitchen though!  After lunch Rachel and I finished the chart of the campers’ allergies and then researched different chronic dietary diseases.  I then spent the rest of my time researching ideas for my themed meal and possible gluten free recipes that I might try out in recipe testing. 

The booth we set up for families to visit during orientation.

Day Three

Thursday morning I attended a Meals on Wheels meeting at the Florida Avenue Residence Hall.  The staff at FAR is involved with preparing meals for MOW.  The meeting was to discuss the summer menu and other issues related to the operation.  I enjoyed the meeting and thought that it was very informative.  I was also excited to learn that both Rachel and I would get an opportunity to help develop some of the summer menus and that I will eventually spend about a week at this establishment to help out with the MOW operation.  After the meeting we headed back to IKE (Ikenberry) to man our dining services booth.  More people approached us today, but it was mainly to ask where the silverware was...  Some people did have relevant questions about food allergies and other related issues.  Even though I couldn't really answer the parents' questions that were related to their child's food allergies, I enjoyed listening to their discussions with Robin.  I continue to be impressed with the lengths that U of I Dining Services will go to accommodate students with special dietary needs. 

Day Four

On Friday, both Rachel and I reported to FAR at 9 AM to help out with the MOW operation.  We met with Beth and were given the first and second week menus for FAR. It was our job to see what we could use from that menu to serve to the MOW clients.  We were in charge of making a regular hot lunch menu as well as a modified menu which consisted of lower sodium options.  I really enjoyed this task.  I like making menus and analyzing the nutritional components of the food as well as the colors, textures, and combinations.  Next we headed over to IKE to man the dining services booth once again.  We seemed to get the most traffic today.  Maybe because we had delicious vegan pumpkin donut holes to pass out? There were many people asking about the vegan and gluten free areas today, and also inquiring about their child's dietary needs.  Like yesterday, I enjoyed listening to their conversations with Robin and the other staff.  I also loved that the chefs, Carrie and SooH wa, were happy to come out to meet the gluten free students and talk with their families.  I think that speaks volumes of the staff at this school.  They are not only passionate about their jobs, but they are passionate about the students they serve as well.  Towards the end of the workday I got to head over to the bookstore to get an official I-card! I can now clock in and out with it, but more importantly, I can now ride the bus!  

 

The first work week is officially over and I am exhausted (in a good way, though)!  I am already so excited for what next week has in store!