January 01-2020 Reflection Community Service Date: 10/5/19, Site Hours: +3 hours Cumulative Hours: 24.25 hours

The Challenge:  How hard can it be?

January 01-2020 Reflection

Community Service Date: 10/5/19

Site: Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine

Site Hours:  +3 hours

Cumulative Hours: 24.25 hours

Blog Post Word Count: 461+ words

Master Chef Juniors

At Goldring, the kids class was  set up.  The adult classes are set up in team stations where everything was set up Blue Apron style.  All the ingredients were portioned and prepped.  The students had just chop, mix and sautee the foods.  But the kids were not at the individual small team stations but at the large dining tables near the front of the entrance.  

“Do you want to make tomato sauce?” asked A.

“How do you make tomato sauce?” I asked, cautiously.

“Just heat the pan.  When it gets hot, put the oil.  Rough chop the garlic like you do at home.  And then add the salt and then add the tomatoes.” she said.

Garlic, especially chopped garlic, heats very fast.  

I panicked.

The kids were so sweet, “It smells good.”

I couldn’t respond.

Luckily, Z. another volunteer had better culinary skills and managed to grab the pan from the heat from completely burning the garlic.

I took all the used dishes and utensils to the dishwashers and started with putting away all the dishes from the drying rack.  

I taught the new volunteers how the three bay station worked.

“Knives and blenders get washed here,” I said.

“You dunk 1,2,3” I said to each of the bays “Wash” with soapy water, “Rinse” and “Sanitize” tubs.

Mini English Muffin Pizzas

The kids made English muffin pizzas.  They did not add meat ingredients.  They added vegetables like cherry tomatoes, broccoli, onions.  They grated cubes of mozzarella cheese.  They used plastic knives to cut.  Then their pizzas were baked in the oven.  

“Why don’t we add pepperoni?” asked the chef instructor.

“Too much salt. “

The kids were encouraged to eat the rainbow.  

They also made a smoothie.  One kid had a peanut allergy so he was not placed in the smoothie group.  

It was great to see the regulars like S, a Tulane undergrad.  The CPS undergrads have to perform 60 hours of community service for 3 credits.  I told her about my program, because she had heard of it.

Melted mozzarella cheese + tomatoes = umami deliciousness

After the kids left, I swept floors.  I swept the restrooms.  I wiped the counters.  I helped with the dishwashing and drying.  

In order to revive the vestigial practice of cooking, it starts early.  Not every working parent has the time to spend the time in the kitchen.  So Goldring Center is proactive about health food preparation and getting kids comfortable in the kitchen.  

A completed a demo of properly wiping the tables 

“You have to squeeze very hard” wringing the wash cloth and then use the bucket to grab all the crumbs.   My job was to show the same demo to the new volunteers, since I was on the fast track from getting promoted from “Assistant” volunteer to “Associate.”

The Pharmacology Guide to Proper Cleaning the Tables at the Goldring Center

Think of the table as a giant colon with ulcerative colitis.  What is the first line of therapy?  Mesalamine to block the inflammatory cycloxygenase and LOX pathways.  Take your damp rag to indicate the areas of inflammation.   Make sure to cover the entire surface area of the colon.  You cannot miss spots, or less you will be illustrating Crohn’s Disease which has the pathology of transmural lesions that can affect areas of the small intestine.  Cover the entire surface area of the colon to illustrate the pancolitis.