Week 1

Hey y'all, its new intern time! My name is Lauren LaDelfa and I'm the new dietetic intern you'll see running around for the next 8 weeks.  I'm originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, but I've pretty much lived everywhere on the East Coast.  Before becoming an intern at OU, I completed my undergraduate degree in food science at Clemson University in South Carolina, and my master's degree in exercise and nutrition science at the University of Tampa.  I just moved to Oklahoma this past January and let me tell you, I have been blown away... literally the wind never stops blowing! But I'm so excited to begin this new adventure at OU Housing and Food Services. 

The week started off on Monday with some housekeeping things, like new intern paperwork and going over my schedule for the upcoming weeks.  I have quite a few projects I have to complete during my time here, but I also want to experience as much as I can, so having a schedule and good time management is going to be key to get everything accomplished. 

Tuesday morning I spent with the lovely people at the Cleveland County Health Department, going to “Food School” to get my Food Handler’s Permit, which I need in order to (legally) spend time in the kitchen.  That afternoon, we worked on recipe development for a traditional Malay dish, called Nasi Lemak, for an upcoming event.  This bowl dish features a central scoop of rice topped with eggplant and peanuts, cucumber, fried anchovies, and hard boiled eggs in sections surrounding the rice.  In order to make this meal Top 8 allergen free, gluten free, and vegan optional, we used roasted, dried chickpeas in place of the peanuts and roasted shredded carrots in place of the anchovies with the egg as a last minute edition for those that may want it.  This was my first taste of Malay food and I’ll definitely be coming back for more! 

Traditional Malay Nasi Lemak 

Our Top 8 allergen free and gluten free version Nasi Lemak 

Wednesday was the first day I got to spend in Couch dining hall.  After an in-depth tour of the facility from Sam, the general manager of Couch, they let me jump right in and help with the lunch time rush.  I started prepping sides for the veggie line before heading over to the pizza and pasta line, where Tim taught me the art of pizza-making in a brick oven.  I think I made my Sicilian ancestors proud!  I was a little nervous for this aspect of the rotation because I don’t do much cooking myself and I’ve never spent time in a kitchen this size before, but every person I worked with (or gave me directions when I made a wrong turn) was so patient and kind.  Now I can’t wait to go back!

Thursday was Arbor Day, so after a quick morning in the office, I went out to help catering with the picnic they had planned for the University’s tree planting event.  It was still a little chilly out, but the trees have started blooming so it looks like spring has sprung in Oklahoma!  Later on, we did some more taste testing; this time it was Sunbutter cookies, the allergen free equivalent of peanut butter cookies made from sunflower seeds.  They were so good you didn’t even miss the actual peanut butter.

Arbor Day picnic featuring some of the blooming trees 

Finally Friday rolled around and it was back to Couch for me.  We have a Native American meal next Monday and Tuesday, so we spent the morning gathering and prepping the ingredients so all that’s left is the actual cooking the day of the event.  The menu looks amazing, with rabbit stew, catfish with pine nuts, and buffalo meatloaf as some of the stand outs.  They’re really keeping me on my toes with all of these fun recipes!

Overall, it has been an extremely fun week, full of lots of new experiences.  I’m really loving learning more about the food service and culinary aspect of nutrition, as well as the basic cooking skills I currently lack.  Can’t wait to see what next week has in store for me! 

Week 8

I cannot believe I am typing Week 8 already! It is unreal to think this is the last week of my management rotation. It has been a great experience during which the things I learned in the classroom have come to life and solidified themselves in a real way.

Monday I completed the last of my projects! I finished up my performance improvement project and sent it to key personnel for their information. This project generated some good conversations, and it was interesting to take a current process, research and experience it, and come up with an improvement plan. I continued preparing for the NAACP food demo and also helped set up for a catering event that night.

Tuesday I went over to the National Weather Center to shadow Kristin at the Flying Cow. It was a close-knit staff, and I enjoyed working with them! Kristin is very encouraging and makes it a positive environment. She taught me how to input sales and purchases into CBORD and the WOR and allowed me to do several of them. We also helped on the line and closed up shop, which included not only cleaning but counting drawers and inputting deposits.

Wednesday several of us from Food Services helped at the Union's Latino Flavor event. All kinds of delicious-looking Latin American dishes were prepared by catering for students and staff to sample. The event also included dance performances and music. I helped out on the dessert table and wanted to try it all! By far the most popular dessert was the flan. Unfortunately I did not have my phone on me to take a picture, but the picture below is a News OK picture from a past year's event. That evening we held the NAACP event. Dr. K spoke about health concerns in the African American community and ways to live a healthier lifestyle from a nutrition standpoint in order to prevent things like obesity. After he spoke I did my demo and made Dot's Guiltless Guacamole, Baked Chips, and Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits. I talked about what a snack is and isn't (not a full-out meal), portion sizes, and components of a nutritious snack as well as the benefits of the demoed recipes.

(http://newsok.com/article/5399827)

Thursday Dot and I talked about the NAACP event. We had some challenges to face, whether it was ingredients, attendance, or the kitchen, but we figured it out and still had a successful event - success not in how many people showed up but in the information given and potential for impact. Dot was really a great example and showed me how to take charge to make sure we had all we needed. It is so important to plan in time to double check your ingredients, your space, and your equipment and allow for time to correct any issues. Plan, plan, plan is a lesson that I will definitely take away from this experience. Even when it comes down to the utensils and equipment you bring - bring extras because you never know what you're going to need or how your plans may change! And Sam was a great sport and ran up to the office to grab things I missed:)
Dot and I also discussed the controversies surrounding GMOs and how it will be important as a dietitian to be prepared for people with different opinions on the subject. I learned about monocultures, the seed vault, and other interesting information that I never knew before related to this subject.

Today, Friday, is my last day. I cannot believe this is the end of my time here at OU Housing and Food and my first rotation. It has been a truly positive experience. I have gotten to learn from many managers who oversee very different operations on campus. While all the same in some respects, all operations have their own unique challenges, and it was interesting to see how each one was different. I have greatly appreciated everyone who made my time here a success - from Dot to the other managers, to the directors, to the kitchen staffs, to my office buddy Sam - everyone has been so helpful, supportive, and willing to teach me. So to everyone here at OU Housing and Food - THANK YOU!

As I end my rotation here, I'd like to take some time to reflect on what I have learned. While there is so much more than I could type here, here are some of the highlights:

• Plan, plan, PLAN! It takes organization and planning ahead to run a successful operation.
• Be over-prepared. Even if you think you have all the equipment and supplies you need for event, pack some extras. You never know what you might be walking into or changes you may have to make!
• Food allergies are serious and should be treated with utmost care. All areas of a food operation affect how food allergies are handled, and all employees have a responsibility to do their part.
• There is a difference between sanitizing and cleaning, and both require different cloths. Sanitizing gets rid of bacteria and requires a special cloth that turns blue when ready to use. Cleaning gets rid of food proteins and can be done with a cotton towel. This is very important to remember when getting rid of an allergen from a surface - clean AND sanitize!
• Food costs and labor are two important things to monitor and control for the financial health of your operation.
• Managing your employees is just as important as running your operation. If you do not manage your employees well, they will be unhappy, and your operation will not function well.
• You must come in with a positive attitude. Your attitude affects the attitude of your employees and the overall atmosphere of the operation. If you are upbeat, so will your employees be.
• In order to be a good manager, you have to be a good leader. There is a great difference between leader and boss. A leader is willing to jump in right beside his or her employees and get their hands dirty. They never ask their employees to do anything they wouldn't do themselves.
• It takes a lot of team members to run an operation successfully, and good communication is key.
• Managing well also translates to happy customers. If your team is supported, they will be more likely to do good work and produce quality products and satisfied customers.
• Food services requires hard work. You must be willing to help, have a positive attitude, work with integrity, communicate well, and care for the good of those you are serving in order to truly be successful in it.

Thank you OU Housing and Food for a great experience!

Cady

Week 7

It is so odd to look at my calendar and see my last day here at OU Housing and Food right around the corner. My second to last week is going to be a busy one! Business plan + in-service + training for my upcoming clinical rotation.

Monday I continued preparing for my in-service presentation and did some last-minute preparations for my business plan tomorrow. I also worked on my performance improvement project and sent out my ideas to a few key individuals for feedback.

Tuesday was the big day! The Food Allergy Awareness event at Cate went well. While we were not super busy, those who stopped by the table seemed to enjoy the samples and appreciate the allergen-free initiative. We did it! That afternoon I began planning for a National Nutrition Month event for OU's NAACP that will be held next week.

Wednesday I had a training for my next rotation in the morning and then headed back to Norman. There we continued figuring out our plans for the NAACP event - I will be doing a food demo to show some healthy snacks. 

Thursday was my in-service presentation. Everyone here at OU Housing and Food is so nice and easy to talk to that they didn't make me too nervous:) I think it went well, and they passed my pop quizzes with flying colors!

Friday was an early day to say the least:) Since I am doing a project on receiving protocol, it was a good idea for me to go into the storeroom on a delivery day and see their procedures. So I joined the storeroom guys at 4:30 a.m.! I give them a lot of credit for those early mornings. I was surprisingly awake, and as always Ronnie and his team were very helpful and involved me in the receiving process.

Week 6

I started off Week 6 at the Health Sciences Center. It felt like I hadn't been there in quite some time! Rayanna coordinated for me to meet with both Bill and Gary, the managers at two of the three operations on that campus. I also got to speak with her and learn more about her role and the operations she oversees.

On Monday I was in the Union at Beaker's with Bill. I got to see and learn about several tasks and responsibilities that he manages throughout the day, including positive discipline, helping on the line when needed, entering recipes into US Foods to find recipe costs, updating prices, and counting top inventory products. I gained wisdom from Bill as he shared the importance of being consistent, being aware of your own actions and how they are perceived, communication in forming a team, keeping morale up, being kind, and showing you care as a manager. Gary, at the Healthy Hearth, reiterated many of these same themes when I visited there on Tuesday and Wednesday. We talked a lot about managing your team and how to do it well - being a leader rather than a boss. Communication styles was a big one. Each of your employees has a different personality and responds to feedback in a different way. You have to get to know your employees and how they work best. It is also important to give off positive energy as a leader. If you are lazy or have a poor attitude, your employees are going to reflect that as well. If you come in with a positive attitude and show good work ethic yourself, your employees will too. It all starts with the manager. Gary also taught me different tactics he uses to create a team environment, such as "slide deployment." This is when one team member slides over to help another station in need. Looking for "bottlenecks" is another. Gary surveys the operation to see where back-ups are occurring during service - whether at the front or the back of the house. He then rearranges his team to eliminate the bottleneck. It was cool to see how he uses cross-training...employees are trained and ready to switch or help out another station at any point. Doing these things not only helps the team work together better but also benefits the customers. Therefore, management is not only about leading the team and doing what is best for them but also about doing what is best for customers. We also talked about controlling food costs, labor, and food safety. There is so much that goes into being a good manager, and I could go on and on about the knowledge I gained there! Even gained some techy knowledge in the process.

The pictures below will give you an idea of the experience you will have if you visit the Healthy Hearth.

(the cozy dining room of the Healthy Hearth that makes customers feel at home)

(the Nourish Bowl salad that I forgot to take a picture of before I started eating it - the original presentation was great:))

(the self-playing piano that serenades customers as they enjoy their meal)

Thursday I went with Frank to Cate to look at some new US Food products. Always love a good taste test! :) The Environmental Concerns Committee visited, and Frank showed them several spots of interest in Food Services. We started off at the Freight Farm behind Cate and showed them the beautiful lettuce that grows inside. It's a fascinating structure! (See picture below) We then went to Couch to talk about some of the eco-friendly practices used there as well as show them the digestor (liquid food composter). We finished up by showing them the community kitchen in Walker. The committee appreciated seeing what we do in Food Services, and I enjoyed experiencing yet more impressive things that OU Housing and Food Services has to offer! That afternoon I continued working on my in-service presentation for next week and nailed down most of my information.

Friday was an office day that I used to solidified my material for my in-service presentation. I also continued working on my performance improvement project and made good headway! Every Friday Dot sends out an email to students with self-identified food allergies. It includes what foods will be on the menu and what allergens are present in those foods. This helps students a lot when they are planning what they can eat for the week. Dot really stresses the importance of planning. If you want to run a successful operation, it is absolutely necessary to plan ahead! This helps you forecast what is coming, make the appropriate preparations, and anticipate any problems that may occur and how those will be addressed. Dot also works a lot with sustainability. I have really enjoyed learning about the sustainability efforts that are being made on this campus and the value placed on local food. So many neat things happening here!