Kelly's Korner 2

Up and Away to College

We are excited about our fisrt student that's gone away for College.
We do keep in touch letting him know he's P&P for life!

Chef and I had such a fun time gathering goodies for this Care Package!

It's not an easy task figuring out what goes in the box

Grooming products are easier to select than the food items. We definitely wanted to stay on the healthy side
of things as much as we could

Celebrating Our History

The African American Holistic Wellness Program at the Bayview YMCA each year presents

Black History Forums every Tuesday in February showcasing a entertainment and dinner. This year P&P students were food servers focusing on customer services skills.

The students enjoyed serving the food making sure guest felt welcome and got plenty to eat!

The forums were lively, educational and entertaining and the food was delicious!

P&P Students... Not Always In The Kitchen

A Dictionary?....yes we keep one close by when we are not at the computers.
Nothing like a little "old school" teaching!

The students are creating their Vision Boards that will depict what is
important to them and their hopes for the future

Some of my favorite times with the students ...when their quite!!!!!

Black History Uncovered

During Life Skills classes the students watched a movie called Rising From the Rails: The Story of the Pullman Porter.
They took notes while watching the movie and the discussion afterward was truly engaging. I was impressed by the movies impact on enlightening them on how A Phillip Randolph started the black labor union plus more!

Phillip & Sala Burton High School Partnership

Chef Berlin is in the zone preparing a palate tasting class for the students at
Phillip & Sala Burton High School

There are five parts of taste: bitterness, saltiness, sourness, sweetness and savoriness

was a combination of sweet, bitter, sour

trigeminal sensations (hot spice or cool menthol, acidity, astringency)

The other part of this sensory analysis is aromatics, tactile sensation (body, mouth feel),
trigeminal sensations (hot spice or cool menthol, acidity, astringency)
It was fascinating watching the facial expressions as they sampled each food item!

Primed & Prepped Program Sessions

March 8 - May 12, 2016

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

4:00-6:30 pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PRIMED & PREPPED CONTACT KELLY ARMSTRONG AT THE BAYVIEW YMCA (415) 822-7728 OR EMAIL KARMSTRONG@YMCASF.ORG.

Holiday Internships for P&P Students

During the Holiday Season, I reached out to Mann J. Kim of Lori's Diner seeking internships for some of our students. Mr. Kim is a huge supporter of Primed & Prepped and responded with a resounding YES!

I took this photo of Mann J Kim, and Jeong Kim, his wife after having dinner at his new location Capellini, in San Mateo. Mr. Kim told me that this location is also open to my students for internships. It's really beautiful, and the Italian food is quite delicious. Drop by for dinner one night to see for yourself!

P&P Students Interning at Sears Fine Food and Lori's Diner for the Holidays!

It was my lucky day to catch two of the young workers on break!

The students are working as busser and enjoying every minute of it!

These students were Primed & Prepped for work quickly becoming an asset to Sears Fine Food during the busy Holiday Season in Downtown
Union Square! Can I say proud moment!

Before the Internship...

Before the internship, there was a hiring packet that needed to be addressed!

The students were so fortunate to have Hassan Iravani, Regional Director of Lori's Diner, conducting the Job Orientation!

Mr. Iravani was extremely patient and thorough as he explained every page in the hiring packet. The students were paying close attention to his every word.

After the Orientation was completed, the students enjoyed a wonderful meal!

Holiday Dinner at Hahn's Hibachi!

P&P students had a fantastic holiday meal at Hahn's Hibachi Korean Food. During the meal, we discussed what their first day on the job would be like. There was so much enthusiasm at this table that night!

This was a special time for me with the students because I knew they were ready for work. I'm so grateful to Mr. Iravani and Mr, Kim for making this happen and most importantly to the students for following through!

Food Network Chef Yaku Moton-Spruill

Chef Yaku is a graduate from California Culinary Academy and works as the Interim Executive Chef/Executive Sous chef for St. Francis Yacht Club

Chef Yaku had P&P students undivided attention as he shared his career path to becoming a Chef.

Chef Yaku's message was one of empowerment. He told the students to find out what was important to them and their communities and stay focused on seeing it through. He used himself as an example explaining how important it is to him to take out time to come and speak to students like them!

He talked about his defeat on the Food Network's Cut Throat Kitchen and how he is looking forward to going back for the second round in January 2016. We will keep you posted when it airs! Chef Yaku, Primed & Prepped will be rooting for you!

City College of San Francisco (CCSF) Culinary Program Field Trip

Our very own inagural P&P graduate attends CCSF Culinary Program. He was excited to see us during our annual field trip to the college. The students enjoyed eating dinner before the offical tour took place.

Chef Ng, Culinary Instructor since 1991, is the perfect host making sure to explain what it takes to get into the program and
what it takes to succeed. Reading, Writing, and Math. Hhm...can't get away from it no matter what field you are interested in!

Chef Berlin was on hand to quiz the students as Chef Ng was pointing out different equipment and supplies!

Chef Ng, thanks again for a delightful and informational tour! We plan on sending more students to your program!

4th Annual Black Student Union hosted by Senator Mark Leno

Primed & Prepped participated in the 4th Annual Black Student Union hosted by Senator Mark Leno in partnership with the San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators. Thanks to Emily Wade-Thompson, Supervisor of Family and Community Engagement, P&P was allowed to put 300 program flyers in all the resource folders prepared for the students.

It was an amazing event seeing all these young people and a few of them where our P&P students!

The International Culinary Center

The International Culinary Center is located in Campbell, California. It offers a unique menu of culinary training programs including an intensive fast-track program designed to set you on a path for professional success. Distinguished alumni include Bobby Flay. Jacques Pepin and Jacques Torres are amongst the legendary deans at the school.

Rachael Thompson, Director of Admissions, giving the history of the International Culinary Center

Captivated by the wall of fame. They were counting how many of the faces they've
seen on the Food Network. They also mentioned that one day one of their faces would be on that wall!

In between the tour,they were treated to a delicious dinner. They were so pleased
they could go back for seconds...and they did!

The potato pancakes with smoked salmon top with sour cream was delicious

P&P students enjoyed watching the culinary students hard at work

This is a pastry student that was very involved in his work, but he did look up to
acknowledge the students.

They were so captivated by the artistry of the pastries and, even more, delighted that the
students had made cookies for them!

They learned that a pastry chef has to be precise with ingredients whereas culinary it isn't as important

There were many classrooms to visit and interact with!

The final stop is a cooking demonstration that they couldn't wait to see!

Chef Bruno Ponsot, is amazing. He was actually brought to the US by the legendary French chef Paul Bocuse to work at a restaurant he opened in Orlando. He's been with The International Culinary Center since 2010 Standing patiently while everyone was being seated.

P&P students enjoyed Chef Bruno so much that I had to pull them away from him because it was getting late. The students were full of questions and Chef Bruno loved it!

KITCHEN TOOLS AND GADGETS!

Chef Berlin had the students take all the kitchen tools, gadgets, pots, and pans out of the pantry.

Every professional kitchen requires a wide variety of tools - some basic, some very specific. Can openers, colanders, cheese graters, disher scoops, film and foil cutters, garlic press, potato masher, and mandolins are just a few.

The students neatly arranged all the items

After everything was neatly placed, they had to learn the names and usage of each item

The students had a great time seeing who could name the most tools

KNIFE SKILLS

In this hands-on knife skills class, students learn the fundamental techniques of knife skills. They are given step-by-step instructions on how to grasp a knife safely and body position. Each student is given a whole chicken to cut-up and afterward cook it.

The first step to great food is great knife skills!

Good knife skills not only save time and effort, they keep you safe as well.

I beginning to believe that this is Chef Berlin's favorite class. He has just as much fun as the students!

Lights On After-School Resource Fair

Lights On After School Resource Fair consisted of various community organizations throughout Bayview Hunter Point tabling their programs. It was the perfect opportunity to network, invite youth, teens, transitional aged youth & families to learn about all the amazing resources BVHP has to offer.

P&P students used the Lights On Event to practice their serving and busser skills.

P&P students work well as a team!