Rotation 9: North Texas Food Bank

Texas is #4 in the top 10 hungriest states in America. The North Texas Food Bank feeds and educates the hungry in 13 north Texas counties. It serves 45 million meals per year and about 25,000 people each day. There are many programs that include nutrition education, budgeting, and cooking classes and then the participants are sent home with a bag of groceries. This week was a true eye-opener. It made me realize how lucky I am to have food when I want it. I spent my week driving all around North Texas to some of the worst poor areas. The south side of Dallas has high rates of poverty and crime. For the first time in my life I saw a person sleeping under a highway bridge, covered in a blanket with their belongings in a garbage bag beside them. The mission of the employees at the food bank is to eventually work themselves out of a job.

On Monday my first task was to tag along grocery shopping with the nutrition education coordinators. We went to Fiesta Foods and bought a cart full of ingredients to make banana quesadillas and tuna boats. We had to buy enough food for the cooking demo and enough food to be sent home with the participants in their grocery bags. (60 cucumbers, 30 bunches of green onions, 30 cans of tuna, 30 bananas...etc) My job was to observe and help out during the Cooking Matters classes. These classes are 2 hours long once a week for 6 weeks and each class has a different target audience. The first one of the day was at a Diabetes Health and Wellness Center for under privileged diabetic adults. This brand new center with a fitness center and dietitian services is free to use by diabetics in the area. It was a very sad looking community. No grocery store within a 5 mile radius of where we were. Where do these people get their food? Convenience stores or gas stations. What types of foods are at those kind of stores? Usually not healthy ones, maybe bananas, but otherwise chips, candy, pop, and hot dogs. This answers the question of how people can be hungry and obese at the same time. The afternoon class was held at an elementary school that had trailer homes for overflow class rooms. This after school program was for kids over age 6 and their parents. They learn about healthy eating, safe food handling, and how to make food. The kids loved helping prepare the food!

On Tuesday I helped with two more classes. The morning class was at the Lewisville Senior Activity Center for senior adults. It was their graduation class so I got to eat a lot of yummy food that they brought in for the pot luck. The afternoon class was at another Elementary school. It was a class for 8-11 year olds. Kind of mass chaos, but they are all very excited to learn and cook. From 6:30-8 us interns had to give presentations at a Diabetes Support Group held at the hospital. Each group of 2 gave 10 minute presentations on various herbal supplements. Mine was vanadium...in case you are wondering...I wouldn't recommend taking it because more research needs to be done.

Wednesday was a busy day. First of all I showed up and SURPRISE-you will be doing a 15-30 minute workshop for about 40 seniors on fiber-here's a handout and there's the fiber kit, we leave in a half hour. I was nervous. While doing the workshop most of them didn't really care what I had to say about fiber because line dancing and Bingo were on the agenda next. I could have just smiled and waved up on stage and nobody would have noticed. I spent the afternoon sitting in on the Nutrition Education Department meeting.

Thursday I drove all the way to the food bank for a 10 minute tour then drove back to where I came from for a Comer Bien Cooking Matters class. This class is taught completely in Spanish so I didn't have any idea what was being said. It was another graduation class so there was a pot luck of lots of Mexican food. All of those dishes should have had CAUTION signs on them because this Wisconsin girl is not used to foods of such spiciness. My lips and mouth were on fire and I had tears. I also tried the ceviche. Ceviche is typically made from raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chili peppers, onions, salt and pepper. Except this ceviche was made with ground beef....I was very unsure about it, but I tried it. I guess it could be compared to wild cat.

Friday I finished up my homework for the rotation. I made a recipe packet using squash, potatoes, and onions as main ingredients, made a lesson plan on nutrition and immunity, and summarized my experiences for the week. In the afternoon I had my evaluation with my preceptor.

Saturday I went for a long run with one of the interns, Amberlee. Dan's sister, Katy, Amberlee, and I all signed up for the Dallas Rock n' Roll 1/2 Marathon on March 27th so we have to get practicing.

***Congrats to my Auntie Donna, Uncle Nathan, and big brother Caden!!! Tyler Dean was born on 10/28/10!! I cant wait to meet him =)

**I had my share of Dallas traffic for a while. I spent over 15 hours in my car this week, most often stopped on the highway because of accidents.

*Go RANGERS! (World Series)

Rotation 8: Neva Cochran Consulting

This week I was honored to be invited into the home of Neva Cochran, MS, RD, LD. Neva is a very experienced and well known nutrition communications consultant. Her current clients are Woman's World Magazine, Maximum Fitness Magazine, the Egg Nutrition Center, and the Corn Refiners Association. She is also very involved in the media, taking part in roughly 800 magazine, newspaper, radio, and television interviews about nutrition. It is an exciting career that is something I would love to do some day.

I spent the majority of Monday working on a meal plan for Maximum Fitness Magazine. The theme was Savor the Flavors of Summer. I had to come up with 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, 2 snacks, and 2 shakes emphasizing fresh produce of summer and minimum amount of time in the kitchen.

Tuesday was a 'work from home' day so I went to the hospital bright and early to be productive. On top of all of the rotation assignments, us interns also have to do an administrative project. My partner, Anna (pictured left), and I are doing our project on Isensix remote temperature monitoring. It includes making sure all the monitors and systems are working correctly, writing department policy, in-servicing staff on how to do the monitoring, and doing a final write-up and presentation. The system was set up in early 2009 but hasn't been used and since then a lot of the freezers and coolers have been moved around or put into storage so we had to go hunt for them. Tuesday we had to go collect monitors off of 10 units that are not in use. It doesn't sound like a physical job, but it was...I shed blood. We had to move speed racks and heavy equipment out of the way to get to the monitors, climb on ladders, cut zip ties, and touch yucky dusty cords. I'm glad all that's out of the way. For Neva, I worked on completing several reading assignments and finishing the meal plan. Neva picked 19 foods from the meal plan that I had to find interesting facts on.

Wednesday I watched DVDs of Neva in many different interviews throughout her career to learn about the proper techniques while doing an interview. Next I received two research articles to summarize for Woman's World. A major part of Neva's job is to take complex scientific information and put it into words that the general public will understand. This task was quite a challenge, but it is something that takes practice. Neva asked me if I would be interested in helping her with a reception she would be having at her house the day before. So at 3:30 we started prepping, about 40 people were expected to show up. To prepare for the party, I made a hummus vegetable dip and plated cheese, cookies, and sandwiches. During the party I served water, iced tea, and wine to her friendly guests and took a group picture. Say Cheese! I was done by 7:30.

Thursday was a very busy day. Once again, I went to the hospital to do my work because if I stayed home I would be too distracted. I finished up the food facts for the Maximum Fitness article, wrote up the two research summaries, answered questions from a Today Show interview that took place 5 years ago, and wrote the key messages for my mock interviews. Intern class was from 2-4 about the North Texas Food Bank. I stayed at the hospital until 6:45 to finish assignments. My goal was to be done before CSI =)

Friday was the day of mock interviews. I picked two topics of my choice: home canning and gout. Then Neva interviewed me about them. I was pretty nervous before we started because I had no idea what she was going to ask me. I tried to use techniques for giving good interviews like bridging, hooking, and flagging. Luckily I picked topics that I am fairly familiar with. The interviews took less than 5 minutes a piece. I did better than I did in class a couple weeks ago, but I still need a lot of practice. It was an awesome learning experience. I would love to have an exciting career and be as accomplished as her some day. I was done by noon and then went to the hospital until 7 pm to finish up some assignments from past rotations. They were starting to creep up on me.

Here is Neva's website: http://www.nevacochranrd.com/

Rotation 7: SUZE Restaurant

I've been looking forward to this rotation for about 2 years! This is the restaurant I wrote about in my first blog where Dad, Mom, Sara, and I had dinner. I got to learn from 2 extraordinary chefs, Gilbert Garza and Jeffery Hobbs, and eat a lot of yummy, mouthwatering food all week. I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 2:30-10:30.

On Tuesday I worked in the "back of the house" (in the kitchen). I did a lot of observing and listening to the lingo of the kitchen. I helped make Sticky Toffee Pudding and sliced and diced vegetables. I tasted a very interesting delicacy...Foie Gras...aka...Duck Liver with aged balsamic dried cherry cassis reduction. I loved the flavor, but I did not like the texture. I got to go take home dinner: Almond crusted Idaho rainbow trout with red quinoa, artichoke, capers, poached tomatoes, and a citrus Italian beurre blanc.

On Wednesday I went to a Holiday Food Show in the afternoon. It had tons of food samples from food vendors. I was stuffed from all the delicious desserts, fried foods, ice cream, cheese, meatballs, ham, and prime rib. From that food show I went to SUZE to help prepare for the March of Dimes Signature Chefs of Dallas Auction. The 15th annual event cost $300 per person and was held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum where 20 top local chefs showcased their culinary masterpieces to the 600 guests who attended the event. The culinary creations were paired with 40 different wines from Napa Valley. SUZE Restaurant served seared expresso rubbed Cervena venison with braised Japanese eggplant, poached lemley tomato, and basil. I got to plate up the eggplant and tomato. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I was busy till the end. For the auction each of the chefs created a special package to be bid on. They sold for $5,000-$30,000! I got to see some of the richest in Dallas. After the auction some of the chefs and I stayed after and finished off some opened bottles of wine...Oh and I also tried on a $135,000 yellow diamond ring.

On Friday I worked the "front of the house" (in the service area) as a hostess. It was slow for a Friday night because everyone was probably watching the Texas Rangers play the Yankees in the World Series. It was still interesting. I got to seat people and take reservations. I enjoyed a nice dinner with wine and champagne on the patio with the hostess, Melanie, and Chef Jeffery. I had Oven roasted baby rack of lamb with rosemary roasted new potato, lemley tomato relish, and mint gremolata.

On Saturday I created descriptions for 5 specialty cheeses to be included on the appetizer and dessert menu. I named the menu: Say Cheese! The different cheeses on the menu are Buttermilk Blue(Wisconsin cheese), Roaring Forties Blue, Chevre Purple Haze, Prairie Breeze, and Kunik. We made sample cheese plates so the waiters knew what they tasted like. I had a hard time choking down the blue cheeses, I think blue cheese tastes like moldy basement floor. The Purple Haze (goat cheese) tasted like how sheep smell, ahhhh yuck! I also got to try some jalepeno jelly. It is bright green and has a sweet taste at first, but then it kicks you. HOTT stuff! It was a very busy Saturday night. The tiny restaurant served 108 guests! I got to end my night by eating Cast iron roasted King Salmon with chilled cucumber mint salad, chilled rice noodle, wasabi rice wine vinaigrette and toasted sesame seeds. Check out http://www.suzerestaurant.net/ to see the menu and the chefs I got to work with.

Kristin's Visit to Dallas

My friend, Kristin, who works in Rockdale, TX on a deer farm came to Dallas for a Sugarland concert. I was lucky enough to have the day off on Friday so we got to go the the State Fair of Texas!! I took the day off of being a dietetic intern and consumed six times the amount of calories I should be allowed for a day. Please don't tell my colleagues. The fair had lots of cool exhibits to check out such as the Museum of Nature and Science, Farmer Mike the Pumpkin Carver, a stunt dog show, and pig races. I loved The Food and Fiber Building, it was filled with lots of food samples and food facts. There were no fried cheese curds to be found at the State Fair of Texas, but I did try a Corny Dog, a Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Banana Sandwich, a Fried Snickers Bar, Frito Pie, and a Deep Fried Margarita. My favorite was the Fried Snickers Bar-it was so warm and gooey and chocolaty! A few other weird foods at the fair were Fried Beer, Fried Club Salad, Fried Lemonade, Fried Chocolate, Fried Butter, Texas Fried Fritos Pie, and Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart.

The Sugarland concert was Awesome!!! Randy Montana and Little Big Town opened for them. We had a blast dancing and singing along.

Rotation 6: Dealey Child Care Center

I spent the last week being called Miss Amber =) I was the most popular person on the playground. I had double lines with about a 10 minute wait to be pushed on the swings and was forced to play Duck-Duck-Goose and Ring Around the Rosie. The Dealey Child Care Center is located right on the hospital campus and provides care for children of the hospital staff, ages six weeks to five years, and also has a unit for mildly ill school-age children. The four day rotation was focussed on nutritional needs and feeding methods for children during these important developmental years. I did a lot of observing of the 3-5 year-old kids during their snack and lunch time. It was a very fun week , but the homework load was overwhelming. I'm a little behind. I had (still have) to evaluate a weeks menu, log the temperatures of food served, evaluate family style food service, do an inservice for food service staff, do a lesson plan for the kids, annotate two nutrition articles, evaluate three kid's nutrient intake for two days, observe, compare, and evaluate kids to standard growth charts, write an article for the parent newsletter, write an ethical situation summary, and finally evaluate myself. Also, I am hoping that I don't get sick.

The letter of the week was 'W'. The teacher has the kids bring in something from home that starts with the letter of the week for show and tell on Fridays. During circle time we all went around saying things that we would bring. I said I would bring a Whisk. One little boy shouted, "I'm gonna bring Whiskers." Then another boy shouted, "I'm gonna bring WHISKEY!"

I wore my hair curly on Tuesday and a 4-year-old girl said to me, "Your hair looks messy today Miss Amber." Kids really do say the darndest things =)

Rotation 5: Technology

This week I discovered what I would rather not do in dietetics. For 8 hours each day I was either on the computer, sitting in on a phone conference call, sitting in on a meeting, or eating lunch. My preceptor gave me plenty of projects to work on each day so I was very busy and the days went fast. I spent one entire day creating and revising 'Other Food Choices' menus for nine different diets. Throughout the week I evaluated new recipes for nutritional compliances, evaluated recipes for accuracy and made sure they were being sold at the proper price, analyzed recipes for nutritional content, and processed purchase orders and invoices. They were all great experiences and I learned a lot, but I don't see myself sitting in an office in front of a computer all day. My mind just can't grasp interfaces, computer systems, and how one program somehow talks to another program....too much.

On Tuesday I met one of the interns, Amberlee, at a Girls Night Out event held at the Village Country Club where we both live. We got a free bag of goodies, a yummy sandwich, pizza, and Pinkberry frozen yogurt. There was also a waxing station. I thought I would give it a try...yeah, it hurt! I screamed a little.

On Saturday I babysat for my internship director's three-year-old twins. We had lots of fun! We watched Ice Age, drew pictures, built forts in closets, walked to the park, and played hide and seek. When I left I got two hugs, a regular kiss on the cheek from one twin, and a cow kiss from the other twin. FYI a cow kiss is when you get your cheek LICKED! He was eating a muffin right before this happened so I was also lucky enough to also get lemon poppy seed muffin smeared on my face.