Campus Club!

For my second field trip experience, I figured I would write about our lab field trip to the campus club on the fourth floor of Coffman.

 

When we first got there, we were introduced to the executive chef at Campus Club, Beth, and Courtney, the sort of director of Cornercopia, the student organic farm on the Saint Paul campus. Courtney had brought over some food for Beth's restaurant and joined us for dinner. It was nice. We sat outside for a bit since it was such a BEAUTIFUL day and just talked about what they did and how they got to be in their current positions. It was really cool to hear how different their stories were but how they both work so closely together.

 

We then took a tour of the facilities including the back kitchen area and refrigerators. I thought that this part was super cool. We were shown where the food was served, where it was prepared, and even where it was stored. She told us some cool stories about prepping for weddings and how it is all super efficient now and I thought that was cool too. While we were in the back kitchen, there was one of the cooks making what looked like bruschetta and it looked good. Beth showed us what she was making for dinner for us and it seemed super simple! It was definitely something that I will be trying when I get a chance. She was a little disappointed that her polenta didn’t retain its shape well but I thought it still looked good. It was nice to see that even the most seasoned professionals can make mistakes in the kitchen.

 

When we were given the full tour, we sat down and ate. Man, it was yummy. We had a spinach salad with berries (the spinach was from Cornercopia!) and the polenta with the veggie soup/sauce. Just writing about it now is making my mouth water! While we were touring, I found out that the campus club is open to non-members over the summer. Luckily enough, I am a non-member and I will be here for part of the summer so it is perfect! I have already told a couple of my friends about my experience and they are ready to go back there with me once it opens for us in June. This was definitely a cool experience and I am looking forward to going back.