Week 3

Hello again! The end of week 3.


Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary happened this week. No unexpected need to evacuate! However, we did have a planned fire drill on Thursday morning- which is Pizza Day at the school.  We worked around the fire drill and somehow managed to make over 40 pizzas.


On Friday we had a catering event at a local company for 50 people as well as the regular lunch for the highschool students, which also turned out to be very busy. Everyone seemed to want to buy lunch on Friday, and we ran out of the regular lunch menu. Jed magically created a few more meals out of thin air, so that no one went away hungry. Way to go Jed!


We made kale chips for the staff and students to sample this week. For those of you who don't know what kale chips are: kale drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with various seasonings, and roasted in the over until crispy. By the way, kale is a very nutritious leafy green vegetable not to be confused with kelp which is seaweed :) The first people to sample these kale chips did NOT like them (I appreciate the honesty, really!!) so I started to wonder whether this was a good idea. However, as more staff and students sampled the chips, we got positive feedback. Four students actually came back and asked for a bag of kale chips to take home. It makes me so happy when people actually enjoy eating healthy food!


The staff and students also sampled a green smoothie made with fruit and romaine lettuce. Most people were surprised at how fruity and sweet they tasted. The samples were gone very quickly so I guess that's a good sign. We'll see what happens when the smoothies are actually for sale!

Other tasty menu items included lemon grass chicken with rice and stir-fried vegetables, roast beef dinner with smashed potatoes, caesar salad with homemade dressing, yogurt parfaits with fresh berries and quinoa granola. Mmmmm.


So, another successful week. Until next time...

Week 2

End of week 2. 

Our team is working well together, especially with the help of our student volunteers. Our appliances also seem to be working (mostly) which is a great improvement from last week.
Thursday was our first Pizza Day. We purchased the whole wheat dough from a local store and made the pizza crusts, as well as the sauce from scratch. All in all, we made over 40 pizza on Thursday morning. The line of students waiting to purchase pizza seemed never-ending! I guess just about everyone loves pizza!

Friday was an interesting day. The school needed to be evacuated at 9:30 am due to a natural gas smell in the building, for about an hour. Of course, this cut into our lunch preparation time significantly! However, the weather was beautiful and it gave us a chance to talk to some of the staff and students. What a great bunch of people! The students are eager to help and we have our volunteer list for the upcoming week is now full. They also asked if we would teach a cooking class sometime. It's is such a great motivator for us, to see their enthusiasm! We feel very welcomed at Notre Dame.

So, once we were allowed back into the school we scrambled to get lunch ready. We started serving at 11:25 and at 11:35 the school was evacuated once again. We were told that we could stay in the building to clean up the kitchen but that the students would probably be going home. Jed and I cleaned up and were just getting ready to leave when everyone came back in and wanted lunch! So, out came the food again, and we just about sold out. 

Students and staff also sampled roasted chick peas and apple chips which most people seemed to like.  We will try to make these available each week for healthy snacks.

We look forward to upcoming week and whatever challenges and discoveries it holds!

Week 1

Well, we survived our first week! It was surprisingly smooth- at least that's what Jed tells me, and he's the one with the restaurant-opening experience. It as a little chaotic at times and our brand new salad display cooler leaked all over the floor, but everything worked out in the end. The staff and students are so excited that we are there, and are very supportive of us as we attempt to practise our french. 
Each day, we offered fresh vegetable salad, fruit salad, pieces of fruit and 100% real fruit juice slushy. This week we made watermelon slush/juice sweetened with a little honey. We also offered freshly baked muffins- banana chocolate chip, blueberry bran, cranberry orange and apple spice. Our entrees featured chicken in various forms- chicken caesar wrap, chicken stuffed with goat cheese, crispy chicken, grilled chicken with sundried tomato sauce; roast beef and teriyaki beef with sides of broccoli/cauliflower/carrots, coleslaw, low-fat mashed potatoes, green beans and baby greens salad. The chocolate cake was also a hit. 
All menu items meet the requirements set by the new Food and Beverage Policy, including fat, sodium and fibre content.

Each day was a little busier than the last. On Friday, we actually sold all of our food, and Jed had to go searching the refrigerator for another couple of meals! In the midst of our very busy lunch hour, the delivery guy arrived- bad timing! However, everything worked out.  It will be interesting to see if every Friday will be that successful.
There is still lots to do. We still have to unpack some boxes and kitchen tools, get our office space set up, learn how to use the convection-steam-microwave oven, shop for more kitchen tools, create the monthly menu, do nutritional analyses of all recipes, and probably 1000 other things we haven't thought of yet! Each day is an adventure!

Woodstock`s Food Revolution

September 6, 2011 marks the date of the beginning of my newest food adventure. Along with chef Jed Lau, I will be co-managing the cafe at Notre Dame High School in Woodstock, Ontario.  We will be providing trendy and nutritious meal options to the staff and students of Notre Dame as well as catering to other schools in the Woodstock area.
Follow me as I document our journey - our successful and not-so-successful days!