Hey! So The fourth of July break threw me off. Last week, the first part of the week, Marcia and I shadowed the closing managers for one of the dining halls here. We learned how to shut everything down and the procedures for closing the lines. Last week was a short work week because we were off for the fourth, which was a lot of fun. My mom came to visit and we went to Asheville, North Carolina. We saw the Biltmore estate and the winery, and then we just hung around Asheville for a little while. They break was nice. I got to enjoy and see more things of Athens. This week has been fun too. We helped with the opening Banquet for the freshman college, and Marcia and I got to make our own flower arrangements!! We also got a chance to work on our flower arrangements for our closing banquet. This week has been filled with a lot of test tasting of the recipes that we will be having at our banquet. It has been very yummy! The recipes are great and authentic!

Busy Busy Busy

My 4th of July weekend was great I went to Chattanooga, Tennessee and visited one of my old roommates from last year at MSU. We got a chance to catch up and she showed me around town so even though I wasn't at home in Michigan I still enjoyed myself.
Now that the 4th of July has come and gone it's really starting to sink in how little time I have left here, before i know it it will be time to pack up and leave. Liza and I still have a ton of work to do on our projects and have been spending a lot of time as of late working on the banquet that we are putting together for later on this month. Yesterday we got to see what the opening banquet looked like and that helped out a lot with putting some of the ideas we had together. Today will be spent working on recipes and helping cook and taste test some of the food that will be presented at our banquet.
Cia

Field Trips!

Here are some pictures from our field trips last week:

These are from Roots Farm...



It wasn't very convenient to take pictures on our tours of Sutherland's and Southeast Processing, but here's a few:

Where to start? Ok, last week I was given the opportunity to work out at Roots Farm. It is a small organic farm that sells produce to a community group once a week for a yearly fee. I had so much fun! I got to help support some tomato plants, but mostly I weeded, which was pretty interesting because they informed me of specific weeds to get because of the damage that they do to the crops. I learned so much information about how to grow and to take care of different vegetables. At 12, Marcia and Kris came out along with some other employees that wanted to tour the farm. Sara, one of the farm workers, gave us a tour. Roots farm has a lot to offer. They grow tomatos, squash, beans, berries, carrots, cucumber, along with a lot of others too. It was a great experience. The next day we were invited to tour Sutherlands in Atlanta, which is a distribution center. It was really nice to see the background work and where and how things were packaged and shipped out. We also got to visit a produce processing plant. That was interesting. Marcia was touched so deeply that she cried twice. It was a beautiful experience. We spent the rest of the week picking out 5 star recipes for UGA's 5 star dinner in the fall. Marcia and I are helping go through boxes and books of recipes to contribute to the menu. It was a great week!

I Cried Twice

To kind of recap this past week I spent Monday Shadowing one of the managers of the catering team, that was a lot of fun to see what events they participate in and how they set up.
Tuesday Liza and I helped the dietary specialist plan what is called The Five Star Dinner. It's one of the many special events dinners that the dining halls put on every year and the menu consist of items from restaurants and other organizations that have won the Ivy Award. No two recipes can be from the same person, so Liza and I started picking out all the recipes we wanted to use and will finish this project tomorrow.
Wednesday we toured a local farm called Roots, they growth a large variety of organic fruits and vegetables and are a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). So people buy in at the beginging of the growing season which is 16 weeks long paying about $30 a week , this is how the farm gets the money to buy seed and the equipment that they need with out having to take out loans. The customers that buy in get a weekly basket of produce that they can come and pick up and are not obligated to work on the farm but more than welcome. The farm is set on about 2 acres of land and only has 2 main people that work it, everyone else consist of volunteers both regular and sporadic. Later that afternoon we meet with chefs Brian and Paul to talk about our menu, Liza and I are planning the Freshman Closing Banquet at the end of the summer and we have to come up with decor, a menu,everything. This project is totally ours so we decided to go with a Mexican theme, and after talking with the chefs we have come up with a great menu that won't be too much work for them. Although they are more than willing to do whatever we want and we're meeting again tomorrow with Chef Paul to look at more side dish options, a couple of menu items include: Milanesa, Tamale's, Pork Carnitas, Churros, Flan, Sopapillas, Apple enchiladas, Red beans, Mexican rice, grilled corn, fiesta bowl salad, etc ( this making me hungry :-)

Today we went on a field trip to Sutherland's a distributor of UGA's that is based out of Atlanta; the people are wonderful. I had a wonderful time touring their facility and learning how they got started and operate in this industry today; they even had a nice lunch planned for us and gave us fruit baskets and goodies bags to take home. There was also an amazing processing plant that we toured which is not a part of Sutherland's but a separate entity that also buys direct and all they do is process foods, like cutting vegetables, preparing greens, spinach, beans, etc. We were able to walk through and see this process and I CRIED TWICE!!! Sure they were cutting up carrots, and celery in to 8 different sizes and making cole slaw with another machine, but the tear jerker for me was the onions. I have never cried so hard in my life I'm talking tears streaming down my face, we weren't right next to them but it didn't even matter. From a distance I watched as they put whole onions bulbs through a processor that finely chopped a full bucket (200lbs) in about 30 seconds. Next the onions were dipped in to a water batch with chlorine (100 parts per million) and then put in a spin dryer, this all took about 8 minutes. Finally it was dumped on a table where it got packaged, weighed and vacuumed sealed. He also showed us the blue book and talked to us a little bit about the industry itself and how he has managed to survive and make a reputable name for himself.
So that is a quick recap of my week, I don't have any big plans for this weekend as of right now so..............................................

Cia

Pictures!

Top: Marcia

Bottom: Marcia, Rachel, and Liza.

These photos were taken by orientation host Bobby Edenfield while the interns were working with the orientation team, marketing the meal plan to incoming freshmen and their parents.

Way Down Yonder on the Chatahoochie

This past week we got an opportunity to go to the regional hospital in Athens and tour their foodservice facility. It was neat to see some of the same equipment and to inquire about the patients diets and how they cater to each patient's needs. Every patient is on the theraputic diet. The Manager we talked to was very nice and gave us some sound advice on Foodservice Management. We also spent some time planning the Banquet that is in July that we will be in charge of. It was fun to come up with a theme and the menu items. We have decided on a Mexican theme and we are excited to finalize some decor decisions this week. The weekend was fun! Athfest was interesting. There were a lot of eccentric bands and cute tents that were set up to sell things from wood carvings to hammocks and clothes. Its a very artsy place, downtown Athens. Today we went tubing down the Chatahoochie River. I think that was the biggest experience of the weekend. Only because it rained, thundered, lightened, oh and lets not forget HAILED! but dont worry, Marcia and I trekked on. So I cant wait until next week when I can write about my experience as a worker on a local organic farm. Stay tuned!