Week 6

Hello again, I'm back with another update.  Week 6 is now over and was a good one.  I got to start the week off at the Health Science Center campus at the Healthy Hearth.  Dani and Dillion were great and taught me a lot.  Dillion has some super fast chopping skills, I didn't dare to even try and keep up for fear of chopping off a finger or something.  Then it was back to the Norman campus.  I got to help catering with serving food at the Latino flavor event.  We did a couple more allergy awareness events. One of which I was in charge of the educational materials and running the event.  This event was fun because I got to learn some while preparing materials and the sense of accomplishment that you get when you have a successful event.  Then I got to finish off the week in the Memorial Union with TJ and Amy.  Even though this was the Friday before spring break and it was slow they still took me around and taught me about all the different eating establishments in the union.  Then I got to follow Chef Jenn and learn about central production and the OU food pantry.  It's hard to believe that I have been to so many different places here at OU and still haven't covered them all.  I have attached a photo from the allergy awareness event, enjoy!

Week 5

Well, I have failed my technology again.  Not sure what happened to my original post but I'm sure I messed it up somehow.  So, here is the new post.  Week 5 is my hump week, I am now half way through my stay here at OU.  Its been fun and moving fast.  This week was no different in that aspect.  I did spend a bit of time in the office, which was great so I could get caught up on some paperwork that I had.  I also got to assist Ms. Dot in an allergy awareness event at Cate.  This was a great experience because aside from learning more about allergies and running events, I got to interact with students answering questions and handing out free food samples.  Another great week in the books.

Week 4

Well it was another busy week.  I got to spend time learning more about OU H&F operations such as new employee training, housing work program, and food plans.  Then I got to practice my cooking skills in the kitchen at Couch.  Thanks to everyone there again for putting up with me and my questions.  With the help of Byrd and others I prepared a test run on a recipe for Ms. Dot and some upcoming allergy awareness presentations.  Overall the experiment was a success, the dish looked and tasted great.  I got to finish up the week at Crossroads with Gary Baker.  He is full of energy and very passionate about his profession.  We got to jump in and help on the lunch rush, this kitchen has a great team aspect and functioned like a well oiled machine.  Hope next week is just as good (I'm sure it will be).

Week 3

This was a busy week and it went quick.  I learned a lot through-out the week.  One thing that I learned this week was how to use this blog.  After a little research, I found that my post were not being published due to user error (oops!).  That's right, I was doing it wrong the whole time.  So, I apologize for the late post of weeks 1 & 2.  Besides that, week 3 was great.  I worked at Cate through the week with Sharon.  She was great, didn't mind all my questions and taught me a lot.  We started off each morning with her showing me her daily routine of computer/paper work.  Then came the fun part, we would make fresh brioche bread to be used for the burger buns at Ruthie's.  See pic below, you can't tell me that those don't look delicious.  The rest of my time at Cate was spent learning the various aspects of all the lines in Cate and Sharon's day to day task.  Thanks to everyone who works at Cate for having me for the week.

Week 2

Week 2

Hello again, week two was another good week.  I got to work a couple of catering events.  Everyone was very nice and worked really well together as a team, especially setting up for the extremely large presidential dinner.  I didn’t get to stick around for the dinner but seeing how organized the set up was I am sure the dinner went great.  Then on Friday I got to join Kevin Barker in a routine inspection of Wagner Dinning Hall.  This was a valuable learning experience as I learned about all the aspects of what to look for to ensure a safe and sanitary facility.  I will be in Cate next week and can’t wait, should learn a lot.

Week 1

Hello all,

My name is Steven and I am Dot’s new dietetic intern.  A little about myself, I am from McLoud, Oklahoma.  I received my bachelors’ degree in Health Exercise Science from here at the University of Oklahoma in 2008.   It’s good to be back on campus, a lot has changed over the years but at least I feel somewhat familiar with the campus.  I’m excited to be here and look forward to all the unique experiences that OU Housing and Foods has to offer.

My first week is now in the books and I have been learning a lot.  My first day was doing paperwork and getting familiar with things in the office.  The rest of the week I got to spend in Couch.  The first day there happened to be monthly inventory day and so I spent a lot of time watching and learning about their procedures.  There is a lot of stuff to count, amazing they can get it all done in a day.  This first day was also a day that they were having a special dinner for the Chinese New Year, I stayed late this day to help interact with the students and serve some unique and delicious foods.  The next couple days I spent shadowing various people and asking lots of questions to learn what they do.  The cooks have a pretty good system to keep up with the demands of the foods cooked for the day along with prepping foods that will be made the next day.  Sam and Marcia were great in allowing me to see all the aspects of the kitchen as well as showing me all the managerial things that go on.  And possibly the best part of the week was all the delicious food that I have eaten this week. 

So much to learn in so little time.  I have to give a big thanks to everyone in advance for teaching me about their jobs and for putting up with me and all my questions.  I can’t wait to see what the following weeks have in store for me.

Week 8

This week was one of the busiest yet!

On Monday I worked on preparations for my Microwave Madness event. Made a poster with a ton of information about microwave cooking as well as began gathering up all the supplies I would need on Wednesday.
Tuesday I went over to the elusive Headington Dining and met with manager Curtis Gregoire. He explained what the dining hall is all about and how it differs from Couch. It mainly caters to athletic students- so most of the recipes used there are healthier versions of popular foods. They keep a close eye on fat, sugar and calories, but not salt since athletes are basically sweating that out (which is different from Couch as they don't salt anything). The only sweets that Headington offers are cookies (no Sweet Shop). It's a really nice dining hall and the food is delicious!! Afterwards, Curtis had me help with prepping items for lunch service. The staff was very nice and welcoming to me! Too bad I only had one day there, everyone was so great!
Wednesday was Microwave Madness! It was an event held in the social lounge of Walker Tower for a few hours at the end of the day. Students learned how to cook safely with their microwaves (the only cooking equipment in their rooms). We also provided a free dinner of enchiladas, Mexican rice, nonalcoholic Sangria, and donated cheesecake from La Baguette. I'd say it was quite the success as we ran out of enchiladas by the end :).
Thursday and Friday I worked at Couch! Thursday morning I went straight to the bake shop and was in charge of baking a million cookies. OK- it was probably only a few thousand but still. I literally baked from 8am-2pm, just cookie tray after tray. I don't think I will ever forget that a cookie take 12 minutes to bake at 325 F. I didn't ruin a single one, and only got one burn on myself towards the end (I'm now branded so I've joined the club I like to think). I then went to the weekly managers meeting where a vendor was visiting and we taste tested new products- not sure if I'm allowed to say what they were.. Anyway, after that I went and checked out the Tasty Tweets event. This was yet another HFS event that this time showcased products from our own operations like Crossroads and Flying Cow. It's hard to say which food was my favorite, but I really liked the pancakes from Oliver's- they were blueberry pancakes with a lemon cream cheese topping YUM. Friday morning I worked at 6am at Couch and helped make sandwiches for the boxed lunches at Saturday's football game. I think we made over 1000 sandwiches but the crew is so efficient that we finished in a couple hours. Then I started helping in the assembly line of boxed lunches (I was in charge of apples)- but after about fifteen minutes Chef Gary pulled me out and sent me to the stock room to learn how inventory is done. The supervisor there, Christian, walked me through the whole system and then gave me a blank sheet so that I could audit them for one section. He tried to leave me in the dairy fridge but I told him I would freeze so he mercifully let me do inventory on dry goods. It was easy using their system and I passed. Then I met with Marcia Musser, the assistant manager, and we spoke for about an hour or so about how Couch is run and the projects that she works on. Thanks to everyone for spending time with me and answering all my questions!! I then met with Robert Weaver and we had lunch at Headington and then headed over to the west side suites at the stadium to set up the buffet tables and suites.

Another awesome week. AND NEXT WEEK IS MY LAST ONE. How did that creep up so quickly??