Sac-town

The field trip to Sacramento on Friday to visit some of the top dogs in public health was a great experience.

We saw:
Pat Fry, President and CEO of Sutter Health
Dr Mark Horton, Director of CA Dept of PH
Phyllis Bramson, Director of Nutrition Services Division CDE
Kim Belshé, Secretary of Dept of Health and Human Services.

It was really a privilege to not only get time from these very busy and important leaders, but to also have the opportunity to ask them questions and have direct conversations with them. With so much on their respective plates, I was surprised to get so much focused time from them!

The overlaps in their characteristics was surprising, yet they each clearly had different leadership styles. All were optimistic, passionate, confident and committed and knew that they weren't necessarily the expert for everything. Pat Fry had a no BS, tell-it-like-it-is type of personality, whereas Dr Horton sounded like he would be a little more compassionate of a leader. Phyllis Bramson demonstrated a real understanding of effective advocacy and Kim Belshé knew how to prioritize in ambiguous and challenging times.

I look forward to another field trip in the Spring, it is such a treat to do this as part of the Fellows program.

Individual Action Learning Project.... Cooking School Food!

My Individual Action Learning Project (IALP) is one of my many work projects at California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), where I am continuing my summer internship part-time this fall semester. The director and I came up with this project as it is something that CFPA is very interested in. I will be doing a fact-finding research mission on the state of scratch cooking in school nutrition services in California. We define scratch cooking as the cooking, preparing or assembly of whole or minimally processed foods. What does scratch cooking look like in different districts across the state? How do the nutrition services departments make it work? What are the impacts of scratch cooking school lunch and breakfast?

I will be working with some of the senior advocates and directors at CFPA for this project, as well as nutrition services directors across the state. I'll interview non-profit organizations that are invested in this transformation (or maintenance) of school food.

This topic I am really excited about because it definitely blends my back ground as a chef with my current training in public health. I really hope that my initial research will provide enough evidence for CFPA to invest further into scratch cooking school food.

This project is great because it is quite flexible, and that's also what makes it difficult. I have other projects at work that can take precedence, so I need to be diligent about setting time to work on this.

I know my first step is to talk to those senior colleagues and get an action plan for first steps going. Then I'll know what to do from there, and the path will be more clear.

And summer turns to fall...

Well, I'm wrapping up my full time work at CFPA, squeezing in some vacations and getting ready to start up what is sure to be a crazy fall semester!

CFPA has asked me to stay on as a part-timer during the fall, which I am very excited about. I can continue on a project that I can hopefully turn into my individual leadership project for the fellows program too. I'm looking into the impact that scratch cooking (preparing and cooking whole ingredients) in school kitchens has on nutritional quailty of the food, the cost of the meal, and student participation rates. There are a few districts I hope to work with, and I'll really get to lead this project, which is of course exciting!

On a personal note, I was in Alaska last week with my sister. We visited our uncle who lives up in North Pole and spent some time playing outside, including backpacking in Denali National Park. We saw a bear, but he was far away on the other side of the river!

I'm at work this week (past the 12 week mark - but working full time still since school hasn't started yet...) and then off to Kentucky next week for my boyfriend's family vacation. We'll be on a houseboat for a week, which I'm very much looking forward too. We also get to do a layover in either end in Nashville (where I'm from), so that's going to be fun to see family and friends.

Looking forward to catching up soon!

Markell

Working away - 5 weeks down!

Hi y'all!

So my summer internship is going really well, working on many different projects, and actually feeling like I'm contributing. Check out BreakfastFirst.org and look at the Benefits of Breakfast section. You'll see a fact sheet under the Breakfast & Brain Power or Breakfast & Nutrition pages. I wrote it! :)

Hope everyone is doing well and working hard, but remembering what it's like to relax!

Video

So, I was struggling to figure out what to do for my video blog.... and here's what I came up with.

My sister sent me home with a guitar last week, when I was visiting her in Michigan. She's packing up from law school and moving doesn't bode well for guitars. I've always wanted to learn the guitar, and now I have a beautiful Ukrainian guitar, and some free time this summer.

So my post, not so much 'leadership' focused, but hopefully entertaining.

Here's my attempt at Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" after a week of fooling around with youtube clips to teach me how to play.

Hope you can suffer through!

Thanks for listening,
Markell

Summer Internship Time!

Hey Fellow Fellows,
It's been a while. I apologize.

This semester has been packed to the gills, but I'm still loving it (check back in the week of May 3rd, when everything is due... I might have a different story)

This summer, I'll be interning at California Food Policy Advocates in Oakland. I learned about them in the fall, and really was swept away after an informational interview with a recent grad who is a Nutrition Policy Advocate there. I survived the hectic summer internship search, and secured my internship with them last week. Phew!

From their website http://cfpa.net a little about their mission and work:

California Food Policy Advocates is a statewide public policy and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of low-income Californians by increasing their access to nutritious and affordable food.

As California's only statewide anti-poverty program with a focus on hunger and malnutrition among low-income people, CFPA employs a variety of strategies to develop and implement public policies that recognize the value of adequate nutrition and its fundamental contribution to good health and development, education and productivity. These strategies include:

• Research that demonstrates the scope and nature of hunger in California and the efficacy of public and private food programs in mitigating it.
• Development and promotion of strategies and programs to meet the nutrition needs of low-income communities and individuals.
• Public education and advocacy to ensure the inclusion of nutrition in the formation and implementation of sound public policy.
• Technical assistance, training and support to low-income communities in their efforts to identify and overcome hunger and hunger-related deficiencies.
• Collaboration, through conferences, communication and coalition-building, among food program providers and other community-based organizations throughout California to facilitate their working together to mitigate hunger and poverty.

I don't know exactly what project I'll be working on this summer, but most likely it will be related to School Lunch, School Breakfast or any of the programs affected by the Child Nutrition Re-authorization.

As for leadership skills and competencies I hope to work on, I always appreciate developing and strengthening my communication skills. Powerful written communication will be essential for policy advocacy, and I will be able to practice different writing styles this summer.

I also am looking forward to learning more about the state and federal government, and the awareness when working with them that is required for effective policy advocacy leadership. I will be able to observe and hopefully participate with some experienced advocates, and I am eager to learn the process.

Finally, one skill I hope to work on this summer, which I believe is particularly necessary when fighting for policy changes, is predicting how change affects others. Being able to successfully predetermine the different objections that groups and individuals might have, gives you a leg up in being fully prepared to fight, compromise or convince them that you understand their concern.

Should be an exciting summer!

The Power of Food

How have you used food in a professional or personal situation to get something done or achieve a goal? THEN, share with us with a recipe or dish!

So, since I used to be a pastry chef, everything involved food! As some one who loves food, I love feeding people. Starting four years ago, before my sister moved from SF to Michigan, we started what has now become an annual tradition. The Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. That's right, a Thanksgiving feast before Thanksgiving! About two weeks before to be exact (what?! no one would come if I had the dinner after T-day!). This year my roommates and I served three turkeys and countless dishes to over 60 people. Having grown up with a large family, I wanted to show my friends how awesome a large Thanksgiving can be, surrounded by loved ones and good food. We took care of most of the food, some people brought a few pies (and with the 5 I made, it looked like a state fair when we were all set up) and the rest of the guests brought plenty of wine. My Dad had grown up in Texas and was a big fan of sweet potato pie, which is what I grew up eating. Of course I ultimately decided it is far superior to the heavy gummy pumpkin stuff, and honestly - I've converted quite a few folks over the years. I just have to make sure I have plenty of sweet potato pie!

The Far Superior Sweet Potato Pie

Here's the recipe for 2 (9" approx) pies. Sorry if I explain too much, I find it easier to over explain so you'll know what to do! And trust me... you'll want two pies.

Pie Dough (for 2 pies - single crust)
2.5 cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
14 Tbsp Butter (1 3/4 sticks), cut into 1/2" cubes and put back in fridge to stay cold!
8-10 Tbsp Ice Water

In food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add half the cold butter, pulse until the mixture is like coarse sand. Add the remaining cold butter, and pulse until the butter is in pieces no larger than small peas, about 10 1-second pulses.

Dump mixture in medium bowl. Sprinkle 8 Tbsp Ice Water (but don't add the ice to the mixture) over the mixture, and with a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together, adding up to 2 Tbsp more ice water if the dough will not come together.

Flatten the dough into two 4-inch disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.

Remove the dough from the fridge, and let sit for maybe 20-30 minutes, until not brittle, but still chilled! It'll soften up as you start to roll it out, and it's much easier to handle if it's cool. Roll out on lightly floured surface to about 12 inch diameter.

Ease the dough into the pan, taking care not to stretch it (it'll shrink if you do!). Cut off the over hang, leaving about 1/2 inch, fold it over, crimp edge together, make a pretty pattern. (you can probably find a video about this).

Put dough lined pan in freezer for at least 30 min - chilled hard! Then line pan with foil, and fill with beans, pennies or pie weights. Bake 375 deg for 23 min until dough looks dry. Then remove foil, and bake a few more minutes until light golden! (you can always cover edge with foil if it looks like it's getting too dark brown...

the fillin' for sweet potato pie (2 pies)
3 # sweet potatoes (just weigh at the store! and get a little extra to account for the skins..)
3 Tbsp butter, room temp
5 Eggs
3 Yolks
1.5 cups Sugar
3/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cardamom
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Bourbon
1.5 Tbsp Molasses
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 c Whole Milk (yes whole - just buy a pint)

Start this while the pie dough is freezing....but don't forget to throw the pie dough in the oven at some point so you have it cooked when the filling is ready. timing's not critical, but if you overlap it right, it goes much faster!

Prick the sweet potatoes well, and microwave covered with a wet paper towel (the steam helps them cook faster i find) for 10 minutes, about 50% power. Keep cooking a few minutes at a time until a knife goes in easily and they are completely cooked! Then let sit a few minutes, slice open, careful, they're really hot!!! Then as soon as you can pick them up, scrape out the flesh, or cut off the skin however you prefer. I press the sweet potatoes through a potato ricer to help smooth out the texture, but you can mash them with a fork (this is better than using a mixer or processor which will make them gummy..) The hot potato mash will melt the butter easily.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, yolks, sugar, nutmeg, cardamom and salt. Add in the bourbon, then molasses, then vanilla extract, and finally whisk in the milk. Gradually add in the liquid mixture a little at a time at first to the sweet potatoes, whisk gently until combined well.

Pour into the two pre-baked - lightly golden - shells. Bake at 350 (preheated!) for about 45 minutes, until the center is no longer liquid, but still a little jiggly. Watch the edge of the crust, and you can cover it with a little foil if necessary. Let the pie cool on the stove top or wire rack until room temperature (about 2 hours)