Culinary Boot Camp in Santa Maria, round two
Released: Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Tags: Culinary Boot Camp
In the first week of August, a time when most school district employees begin to slowly prepare for the coming school year, a group of 23 food service staff fired up their ovens and sparked the synapses in their brains as they participated in Santa Barbara County's eighth Culinary Boot Camp, hosted by the Souza Center in Santa Maria. Among attendees were cooks from Santa Maria Bonita, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Orcutt, College, Santa Barbara, and Goleta school districts. Many of these attendees work in kitchens whose managers graduated from Boot Camp in January, making it all the more exciting when they return to their schools and can share stories with each other of challenges and successes.
What made this week of culinary training stand out? For one, it wrapped up a great year of Boot Camps: our first was in January at the Souza center, and at our fourth and last we returned to the same site for a round of learning with fresh new faces. Liz Powell and Jeanie Steller were fabulous hosts who not only made everyone feel comfortable in their kitchen, but also contributed a great deal to discussions because of their own experience as attendees in January. Furthermore, they arranged for the food coming out of the training kitchen to serve a group of 60 district staff members at their Joint Administrator's Meeting on Thursday. On the menu was BBQ chicken, herb-roasted chicken, marinated pork with brown rice, butternut macaroni and cheese, mashed red potatoes, a salad, and more.
Another significant contribution to the week was the wave of support coming from family and friends of attendees. On Friday guests began rolling into the lunchroom around 11:15, and by the time lunch was served at 11:30 the place was packed! From babies and toddlers, to middle- and high-school students, to husbands and wives, friends, and parents, all had the chance to sit across the table from one another, share a wholesome meal, and see how colorful and tasty school cafeterias can become. After lunch these guests stayed for the graduation ceremony and watched with pride as attendees completed their week of training.
Special thanks to Kirsten and Bob Criswell of Mallard Lake Ranch in Nipomo, who hosted our reception on their beautiful site, and to Maegen Loring from the Neon Carrot in San Luis Obispo, who catered the event. Also, a big thank you to Engel and Gray for picking up our compost and contributing to a greener week of eating, and to our dishwashers, Rosanna and Liz, who are the most important people in any kitchen.
Finally, a moment of thank you and acknowledgment to Nui Valencia of Lompoc Union School District and Janet Stevenson of Carpinteria Unified School District for all their hard work behind the scenes. These two women, who completed Boot Camp training in 2009 and earlier this year in 2010, work with s'Cool Food Chefs to organize kitchen equipment and ingredients so that when attendees are ready to dive into their recipes, all is in it's place--or mise en place-d, as they say in the kitchen. The kitchen would be crazy and chaotic without you two!
Were you involved in August's Boot Camp? Whether you went through the training, know someone who did, or came for breakfast or lunch throughout the week, we'd love to hear from you. Log-in to our site and post your comments!