Fall Break at Cedar Point

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