So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

It's our last day here at UConn.

The depression has sunken in fully.

We've made so many great memories in our short 8 weeks here and we've learned more than we could've ever imagined.  We are so thankful to everyone that took the time to teach us new skills and share their knowledge with us.  The past 8 weeks have flown by and we wish we had more time to spend with all of the people who made this internship great.

We'd like to give a special shout out to Carol Cronin, our internship coordinator.  She created an amazing schedule for us and was there for us every step of the way.  We have learned every facet of food service management from planting and picking produce to preparing the food to be served at the dining halls.  She arranged exclusive tours for us to give us an inside look at restaurants, casinos, and food manufacturers.  She made this internship the absolute best it could be and we could not be more grateful to her.  We were handed off to her by two extremely protective mothers and she did not let them down when she told them she would take great care of us.  She will forever be our east coast mama.

Thank you to all of the managers, chefs, chef assistants, and kitchen assistants at McMahon, South, Buckley, North, Northwest, Putnam, Gelfenbien, and the Union Street Market for all the tips and tricks they shared with us, especially how to make it through the 6am shifts. 

We definitely won't miss hiking up the mountain of stairs outside McMahon everyday but leaving everything else will be really sad.  Leaving our home away from home is an extremely unpleasant thought but we'll be back soon to see all of you fantastic people.  We'll miss you all dearly!

So long and thanks for all the fish.

What week is it?

Our last week here at UConn, and everything is bittersweet.

Last Wednesday Kelly and I attended a Red Sox game, which was a blast! It was the day before the 4th of July and we took the metro into the city. Clad in our awesome Red Sox gear, we watched a great game against San Diego, in which the Sox won at the bottom of the ninth.

That weekend, we returned to Boston, because we loved it so. No really, we want to move there.

We stayed in a ridiculously nice hostel (seriously, they did your dishes for you, what even) in Chinatown and took the T around the city. It's seriously one of the best ways to travel, because it really seemed like driving and parking inside the city were bad ideas.

Boston!

Boston has great food and awesome history. Kelly and I really liked seeing all the Colonial stuff around North Boston, and even toured the Old State house which had copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. We also got to see part of the Freedom Trail, which was wonderfully executed around the city. We really enjoyed the food that we ate there, going to an Irish pub called the Black Rose on the first day and stopping into a bar on the second for dinner called Bell in Hand.

Met this super cool garbanzo bean named T.H. Chickpea.

Kelly and I spontaneously went on a Lunch & Brunch harbor cruise, which took us around the waterside in Boston and gave history about different sites and islands. We also got to eat lunch and sit on an air conditioned boat in the middle of July, so that was a plus, too.

Spontaneous harbor cruise! Hasbrouck's shirt was not intentional!

After getting some Boston cream pie (a requirement for being in Boston) from Mike's Pastries, we took the T back to our car and drove home.

This week, we've worked primarily with a kids camp, called UCann Cook! We worked with 10-13 year old kids who have an interest in the food industry. We definitely really enjoyed working with the managers who have taught us so much throughout this experience, and the kids were really fun to get to know. I worked with Tony and Ron in a saute station with the kids, where we taught them how to grill watermelon, make really great garlic bread, and even how to sear crabcakes.

We also got to revisit some places along the way; we took the kids back to Spring Valley Farms, where Julia and her students showed them around and let them pick peas and try edible flowers. We also went back to play with BABY GOATS at Beltane Farms once again, and Paul had a great time showing the kids around and letting them try goats milk and cheese.

A new experience for us and the kids was touring Carla's Pasta, which is a huge pasta distributor to restaurants around the east coast. We saw pasta being made and our tourguide explained to use the history of the company. We also got an entire box of fresh tortalini each free. Yessss pasta.

The kids also got to play in the bakery, decorating cupcakes and cookies, and also making their own personal pizzas.

UCann Cook! Camp

Thanks everyone for a fantastic week!

- Hasbrouck & Kelly

College: An Unexpected Journey

We've been so busy the past week, we haven't had time to tell you about our theme meal! So here it is, in all it's glory. Our event was on Thursday, June 27 at McMahon Hall. The theme was College: An Unexpected Journey since our meal was primarily for UConn orientation students.

Our lovely event poster, made by the marketing department!

"Forest of the Ents" salad station

 Our face in hole poster, courtesy of the marketing department

Our intern coordinator, Carol, is really good at this.

"Dwarf Mountain" sandwich station

Lembas bread wrapped in banana leaves, thanks to the UConn Bakery

Hasbrouck and I made this display cake from scratch!

Derek and Gary having tons of fun at the beef carving station

Goblin Kaboblin station!

Kaboblins cooking in the tandoor oven

Kaboblins ready to be nommed

Black Pepper Tofu in the Elvish Forest

Smaug's dessert cave

Hasbrouck and I would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who helped out with our event.  Thank you to the chefs, chef assistants, and kitchen assistants who made each plate beautiful and delicious, the marketing department for providing the amazing posters and signs, the managers of each dining hall for letting us raid their storage rooms for decorations, and the bakery for making the dazzling desserts!  We'd also like to thank the staff of Dining Services that we've met over the past 7 weeks who came to support us and our event!

We'd like to send a huge thank you the size of Connecticut to Eric Janssen, Derek Carlsen, and Carol Cronin for all they've done to help us through the entire planning process. When we were told that this would be our main project, the task seemed daunting and overwhelming.  Eric and Derek helped us through every step but were also there to push us to learn on our own.  Carol has always made sure we stayed on task and offered her wealth of knowledge to our planning.  We couldn't have asked for better mentors and we're so grateful we had them as our guides.

Week five (ish)

Since I'm really bad at blogging, I'm going to tell you all about the last two weeks of UConn joy!

Last Monday and Tuesday, Kelly and I spent time at Chuck & Augie's, an on campus restaurant located in the Student Union. We spent the first day in the back of house, working as line cooks during the lunch shift, and the second day we worked the front of house. This was a very fun experience to work in both sides of the same restaurant so close together.

When we worked in the kitchen, Kelly and I were able to create our own "NACUFS Interns' Salad" from the fresh ingredients in the kitchen. Our salad was a spinach-base, with roasted corn, watermelon, and housemade croutons. We tossed it all in a balsamic vinaigrette that we made ourselves, and used fresh goat cheese crumbles on top. However haphazard, it was delicious, and we really enjoyed being given free reign over the ingredients. Thanks Tyler May for all of your help!

 The second day, we worked front of house. Kelly got experience as a host, which is something she had yet to do in the restaurant business and had a lot of fun with. She worked with Marc, who was very helpful and enthusiastic. I worked in expoing, which allowed me to delegate between the front and back of house during the busy lunch shift.

Last week, we also worked with Dave Barbera in forecasting. As mentioned in our of our previous posts, we are required to plan and put on a themed meal during our internship. We learned how to forecast for the event, and for future meals. We used an algebraic algorithm (and some random speculation) to figure how much food is needed for each day, and to plan accordingly.

We live for the weekend

Kelly and I had never been to New England before this trip, and decided that because all these states are so squished together and (mostly) easy to traverse, we wanted to see as much of the Northeast as possible. So this past weekend, we traveled to Martha's Vineyard, one of the most popular vacation spots in New England.

We drove to Cape Cod in the morning and took a ferry to the Island in the early afternoon. I immediately went and laid out on the beach - the ocean is the only good part of summertime, in my opinion. Kelly went around Oak Bluffs and saw the shopping, restaurants, and entertainment in the area. After a few hours of just relaxing, we hopped on a bus and rode over to Edgartown, where we got some delicious ice cream and shopped in cute little stores with unique trinkets.

Martha's Vineyard is very expensive, but we were able to find a hostel to stay in overnight, which was significantly cheaper than any hotel we could have gotten. The hostel was very nice and filled with interesting people from around the world. They provided breakfast for us the next morning and then we were off once again!

The second day we were there, we went to the Western side of the Island, toward Aquinnah. My favorite part of the Island was Menemsha, where we ate a delicious lunch of crab cake sandwiches and clam chowda on the beach. I got to go swimming in the ocean (which was surprisingly cold) and relax out on the sand for a few hours. I tanned. Kelly burned. It was great.

We made our way back to Oak Bluffs, ate some dinner and shopped around before hopping on the ferry back to Cape Cod. Driving back to Connecticut was long and exhausting, and we both crashed as soon as we got through the front door of our apartment.

This week has been spent working on the aforementioned theme meal that took place yesterday, June 27. We spent a lot of time collecting decorations, organizing the kitchen, and preparing small details that would make the luncheon great.

Despite being very busy during the week preparing for our event, we were able to sneak away on Wednesday to go on a few tours of providers in the area with Carol, our supervisor. The first tour was at Omar Coffee Company, which distributes coffee and coffee equipment for UConn and even has a specialty blend unique to our campus called "UC Bold" (which I personally enjoy.) The tour was given by Shannon, Kevin, and Greg who were very informative about the process and even let us have some of their coffee to take home with us! (Yessss, more caffeine.)

Afterwards, we went over to FreshPoint, which distributes locally grown produce to different restaurants, and in our case, dining halls, in the area. We were able to learn about their history, sustainable practices, and even toured the warehouse where all the food is stored. (Protip: Bring a jacket, warehouses are cold.) It was a lot of fun, and Dan Batchelder was enthusiastic and accommodating throughout the entire tour.

Up next, we'll tell you all about our event and other weekend adventures!

Until then, this is Hasbrouck and Kelly, signing off!

Woooaaaaahhhh, we're halfway there!

Since our last post, we have passed the halfway point in our 8 weeks with NACUFS at UConn and the depression is starting to sink in. We've been having so much fun with the staff in each of the locations we've worked in! We couldn't ask for better mentors!

Last weekend, Hasbrouck and I each participated in events for the catering department. Charlotte Levasseur and Helen Mesi were huge helps to us explaining catering operations and the department as a whole.  The event I helped out with was the Taste of UConn on Alumni Weekend.  There was a pork slider cook off competition between 4 different departments within the university.  Each team was responsible for coming up with their own recipe and guests could sample each and vote for which one they liked best.  Kristin Tellier helped me to get a feel for what would be expected of me during the event and the way she wanted the event handled.  The event was a lot of fun and I got to learn how much preparation goes into each catering event for weeks before the actual event, as well as the day of.  Hasbrouck helped out with an event that honored the retiring dean of the School of Pharmacy.  Zulianita Leon-DiNatale and Rich Fentner shared their knowledge with her about working in both the front and back of the house during the event and she had a great time!

On Monday, we reported back to the Union Street Market for our day as baristas.  Megan Den Haan showed us each unit on campus before stopping at Wilbur's for a more in depth look at working in cafe retail.  We had so much fun testing out all the teas Wilbur's has available, as well as trying our hand at making specialty drinks.  One of the sustainability initiatives UConn supports is "From the Grounds Up," which repurposes old coffee grounds as fertilizer in gardens.  There are baskets of old grounds at each coffee retail store for you to take free of charge!  (I'm definitely stealing this idea when I get back to Michigan.)

Tea tasting at Wilbur's!

From the Grounds Up

On Tuesday, we met with Cheryl Radzvilowicz for a health inspection at McMahon dining hall.  We went around to all the stations as well as the back kitchen checking for common health code infractions.  McMahon has a staff of champs so they passed the inspection with flying colors.  Later that day, we put our menu into FoodPro for our theme meal that is fast approaching!  Eric Janssen and Derek Carlsen have once again been a huge help to us in working all the kinks out of our menu plan.  Since we've been shifting to different units outside the dining hall for training, we really enjoy our brief visits at McMahon.  The staff is always excited to see us and hear about how we've been doing in our rotations and where we've been traveling to.  They've been so welcoming and we really appreciate everything they've done for us!

On Thursday, we were given an overview of the purchasing department.  Tracey Roy explained her job as an associate director and we got to take a tour of the commissary where all of the equipment and extra stock is stored.  Peter Haynes offered us a lot of knowledge on his transition from catering to procurement. It was interesting to hear his progress so far in a new department.  Louise Locke took us through her daily tasks in communication with suppliers and how she handles any discrepancies.

On Wednesday and Friday, we rolled ourselves out of bed to be at the bakery before the sun even thought about coming up.  Sandy Sandberg and Donna Kay helped us design and plan our display cake for our Hobbit-themed lunch at McMahon.  We started the day by molding fondant figures for the top of the cake.  We also got to make Oreo cakes for the next day's dinner at McMahon.  Hasbrouck and I had a friendly cake making competition.  (We're still accepting votes, see picture below. Hint: The one on the left is better.)  On Friday, we spent our day at the bakery making all different kinds of bread and finishing up our fondant figures.  As you can see in the pictures, we had a lot of fun.

Oreo cake making competition!

My fondant Gandalf and Hasbrouck's fondant Bilbo!

We made so much bread..

..and then we nommed it all.

I'd like to extend a special thank you to the sweethearts at the UConn Bakery.  On Wednesday, while I was in my early morning grump, I mentioned that I loved pistachio muffins which I had never had before coming to UConn.  When we arrived on Friday, they had made a whole batch of the finest pistachio muffins in all the land.  For this adorable act, we award them the Top Tomato Culinary Award of Excellence.  The muffins were fabulous and you're all adorable.

The tastiest noms, pistachio muffins.

While we were having so much bread baking fun, our intern coordinator, Carol Cronin, came to whisk us away to a flower arranging class at the Benton Museum.  Carol is always finding great things for us to do!  Jim Palmieri of UConn Blooms gave us a one-hour crash course on floral arrangements.  He even let us take our creations home with us!  

Jim Palmieri of UConn Blooms

After our florist lesson, Carol did our mid review and thankfully, she decided she liked us enough to keep us around which we couldn't be more happy about!  Over the weekend, we went to Providence, Rhode Island.  We explored Federal Hill and went to Little Italy for dinner.  We accidentally got caught in a "crosswalk catwalk" put on by students in the design program at the University of Rhode Island.  They designed an outfit and walked up and down Thayer Street modeling their creations.  However, the best part of the trip was the Roger Williams Zoo!  Hasbrouck and I both have a special affinity for elephants so we were really excited to spend a few hours watching them eat grass and dance around.

        

As you can see, our weeks are full of fun and new experiences.  We'll have a lot more for you soon so stay tuned!

-Kelly & Hasbrouck.

Semaine Duex

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Hasbrouck. I am a senior at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I study Hospitality & Tourism Management with a concentration in Restaurant Management and minors in Entrepreneurship and Nutrition.
____________________________________

Our second week here at the University of Connecticut has been filled with a lot of technical work and the on-going education of new skills.

On Wednesday, we met with some of our superiors, Eric Janssen, Derek Carlsen, and Rob Landolphi, to finalize the theme of the event we are planning. At UConn, one of our responsibilities before the 8 weeks is up is to plan a luncheon for one of the Orientation groups coming to campus. Kelly and I have had to come up with a theme, construct a menu, and have design plans for the actual dining hall.

Our theme for this luncheon is The Hobbit. College: An Unexpected Journey (because, let's be honest, there were a ton more things that occurred in college than any of us were prepared for as freshmen). Everyone here is really excited for this theme, especially my fellow Tolkien fans.

After that, we met with Gayle Misener and her assistant to learn how to work the computerized inventory software called FoodPro. Now that our accounts are set up, we can access the entire food inventory and recipes for the dining hall we will be hosting our event in.

The next two days, we got to experience what it was like to be chefs in McMahon. Kelly and I had a lot of fun when we got to work with Beth in the omelette station during morning shift, and again with her and Bruce in the pizza station for lunch. We have such a good time joking around and learning new skills with them (like how to flip an omelette for Kelly, and how not to get covered in flour on a daily basis for me).

Beth looking very disappointed in us for using the serving tongs as castanets.

We had to work on Saturday because we had Monday off for Memorial Day. We worked with Alice Kapsch as managers in McMahon. We helped her with inventory lists and supervising the employees. Saturdays are pretty slow, so we were able to learn easily without the addition of a stressful environment.

WEEKEND ADVENTURES
This Sunday, Kelly and I hobnobbed in Norwalk, CT. We got on a catamaran and rode over to Sheffield Island. We toured the lighthouse and hung out on the island in the beautifully sunny weather before it started raining on our way back.

Sheffield Island Lighthouse

The Mystic Aquarium is where we adventured to on Monday. We got to pet sharks and sting rays and see a lot of ocean wildlife. We also walked around the town of Mystic afterwards, which was super cute and a ton of fun.

We got some ice cream at the Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream shop! 

It was delicious.

Tuesday, Kelly and I went over to the Student Union on campus to work at the Union Street Market. Kelly learned how to be a barista (which she really enjoyed - never give her more than one cup of coffee) and I learned how to make some of the school's smoothies. Terry Cook showed us around and explained the different stations, while later on, Deb taught us both about the PoS system they use.

We also were able to talk with Kim who took us to speak with some of the student managers and supervisors. They told us a lot about how students work in the dining facilities at UConn, which we really enjoyed learning about.

Yesterday we went to a farm!

Spring Valley Farms is a student run farming facility just off campus. Students take responsibility to keep up the crops that are actually used in the dining halls and restaurants on campus. Julia Cartabiano, Sienna, Tyler, and Molly showed us how to harvest and wash spinach and lettuce. We also helped plant morning glories around some of the student houses.

Nice, clean lettuce that we picked ourselves!

Later on, Jim Kupchunos came by and showed us the bees that he keeps on the farmland. We helped feed the bees with a sugar-water solution. Kelly now holds the record as the only NACUFS intern to be stung by one of the bees. Go Kelly! (She's fine.)

These hats are lovely

Playing with the bees!

Today we worked at the UConn Farmer's Market, selling the crops that we harvested yesterday. We also sold other local produce, including strawberries, corn, and honey. A lot of people came by and we had a ton of fun outside in the lovely weather. Thank you, John Smith, James, and Nicole for letting us help out!

Kelly, workin' hard.

Some of the stuff we sold at the market today!

We'll keep you posted in coming weeks for all of our other adventures!

- Hasbie and Speckel