Hey guys! This is Airicca, the new kitchen manager at Cedar
Point, popping over to write a guest post for the blog about Fall Break. If you
don’t know anything about me yet, I have an undergraduate degree in organismal
biology, but am a baker by trade (yup like yummy breads and cookies and sweet delectables).
I love food so much! I’m considering getting my masters in food science. Enough
about me, ON TO FALL BREAK!!!
The prep week started off a little crazy because I had a
family emergency to attend to, BUT my amazing boss and employee (Jon and Joe,
respectively) did an amazing job prepping for the week! Joe made some absolutely
amazing hummus and Jon sliced everything up just beautifully. I arrived the
same day as the students, and everything was great! They pulled off dinner that
night of chili and cornbread fabulously. With approximately 70 students and 10
faculty/staff plus 2 researchers, we certainly had a full house! We also had a
guest employee from Sunday to Tuesday, Mitch. He had been the kitchen manager
for 2 summers prior to this last summer. Much from him I learned.
It was definitely an experience for all. The students ran
into all kinds of food they had never previously encountered such as gumbo or egg
taco scramble or okra. I learned that they didn’t particularly like to eat rice,
and no matter how many pounds of bacon I put out at breakfast, someone would
make sure none went to waste. Or mostly any meat at any meal for that matter.
Haha. :)
I tried to mix and match good old Nebraska fare with other
things. It took a little creativity though because one main goal we had as a
kitchen was to use up all the items we had on hand. If we use it, we don’t have
to store it or throw it away. Both are major pluses: no wasted money or space.
Gumbo, spaghetti pizza, and rice dishes were born of this effort. Soups were a
main staple at night because it was soo, sooo cold! Sadly, cinnamon rolls never
made it to the table because there was not enough time to make them from
scratch for so many people. Never fear, in the summer, we planning on Saturday
or Sunday (or both depending on how ambitious I feel) morning cinnamon rolls.
Two things the students really enjoyed were the fire place
and the hot cocoa! They were in front of that fire place every night and most
mornings. The hot cocoa packets were gone in a flash, and Jon had to go buy more
to keep up with demand. I did note that the students were making their own
coffee mixes with the hot cocoa as well. Smart idea! Peanut butter sandwiches
was also crazy popular (probably due to my crazy concoction of meals and/or the
hungry that comes about from crazy amounts of physical work that happen in a
field class).
Anyway, fall break was a success and now, sadly, Cedar Point
is all closed up for the winter. We are all prepped for reopening during Spring
Break (hopefully) for a volunteer group. Summer is coming fast though, and we
need help! Anyone interested in working at Cedar Point during the summer,
contact Jon ASAP! There are multiple positions open and we are a lot of fun to
work with! I mean come on, what can be more awesome than working at Cedar
Point? :D
