Lucy's Senior Project

 Sunday May 23 On the weekends we do not make meals for Spectrum. On Sunday we usually do prep for the week and decide what we are making. Today we went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients for the tacos that the youth requested for our last meal. We also decided to make a cake for Monday so we will have less to do. We made a vanilla cake with vanilla icing and strawberries. The cake fell into a lot of pieces when we were transferring it but after a lot of icing and berries it turned out pretty well!  Time Spent Today- 4 hours Total project time- 69 hours 

 Sunday May 22, 12:15   Week Two Reflection  Spectrum  This past week we have learned a lot about food and what it means to serve an at-risk community. Throughout the past week, we have made non-vegan meals instead of strictly vegan ones and started making lots of desserts. I learned how to cook with meat, which I have previously never really done, especially in this capacity. Cooking meat is a beneficial skill to take with me moving forward. We also have learned that we do not need to make quite as much food. Spending time in Spectrum and serving food we decided there are always a lot of leftovers, which is good except in large quantities which are creating a lot of food waste. Food waste is another thing we have learned a lot about throughout these past weeks. Shopping in large quantities for the week is stressful because you have to manage your produce to make sure you have enough, and so it does not go bad. During our second week we decided it would be easie...

 Friday May 20, 7:55 PM This morning we went to the grocery store to get fresh ingredients. We decided it's easier and eliminates more food waste to grocery shop daily. We bought onions, basil, heavy cream, and bread to make creamy tomato pasta with garlic bread. We came back, prepped our food, and started to combine the variety of different kinds of pasta we had leftover. After we cooked the pasta and tomato sauce we added parmesan and basil to the top. We cut the baguettes in half and poured butter, olive oil, and garlic onto the top, and cooked them as well. We took it to Spectrum, heated it up and served it. It was a slow night so we got to talk to a lot of people and got some requests for our final meal on Monday!  Total Time Spent Today- 7 hours  Total Project Time- 65 Hours 

 Thursday May 19, 6:30 PM  This morning we went grocery shopping to get a few fresh ingredients for our meal. Today, we made vegan chili Mac, although we don't have to cook exclusively vegan we had all the ingredients and decided to use them. This recipe included Tempah which is a vegan meat substitute I have never used before. We were skeptical at first but once it was incorporated into the meal it was pretty good! We got a request for cookies yesterday, so today we made brownies with cookie dough and Oreos. As well as a cumin bean salad with black beans and chickpeas. We took it to Spectrum, heated it up, and served dinner. It was a pretty slow night due to the rain in Burlington so we played an intense game of headbands with the youth as we waited for people to trickle in for dinner. After everyone had eaten, we cleaned up and it was time to go.  Total Time Spent Today- 7 hours Total Project Time- 58 hours 

 Tuesday May 18 10:30 PM  This morning we made vegetable stirfry with crispy chicken, arugula salad, and brownies. We worked chopping vegetables and prepping food until 10:30 when we had to leave for a meeting with Jess from safe recovery. Safe Recovery is an organization in Burlington that helps to educate and protect members of the community. By offering Narcan, fentanyl testing strips, and medical assistance they are lowering the number of overdoses in the community. During our meeting with Jess, we learned how to administer Narcan, when it is applicable to use it, and the stigma surrounding Narcan. We learned that Narcan is not harmful to anyone even someone who is not overdosing. While we were talking, Jess said “You could give it to a 5-year-old who bumped their head, or an 80-year-old man who was having a heartache. By capping off the opioid receptors in the brain Narcan is able to stop an overdose for 30-90 minutes before help can arrive. After our meeting, we came ho...

 Tuesday May 17  Today we made chicken enchiladas with a bean and arugula salad. We started cooking this morning around 8:45 and it was the first time we had cooked meat! I have never cooked with chicken before, it was a good thing to learn, and tasted pretty good! After that, we went to Spectrum, served dinner, and hang out for a while talking with people. It was a pretty intense day, which lead us to talk with the staff about the way in which they handle these situations and debrief. We learned a lot about Spectrum as an organization and the reason they get to provide a case-to-case protocol for certain situations and youth. Spectrum is funded solely through donations so they do not have to follow the same rules and regulations as state-funded corporations. This provides a much more welcoming environment, in which they are able to help counsel the youth.  Time Spent Today- 7 hours  Total Project Time- 43 hours