The May 14th Veggie Fiesta is only a week away and our student Culinary Team is getting more excited by the day.  Many thanks to our wonderful sponsors and donors who provided an amazing assortment of raffle prizes.  Even more exciting, we just received a gift from one of our most generous benefactors to boost the Fiesta’s fundraising goal.  We have been given 5 tickets to Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City Opening Night Gala!  ACT’s premiere production has been much anticipated and the gala event has been sold out for months.  These tickets will be made available through a silent auction (see details below).  Forward this email to anyone you know who is a Tales fan and help us inspire future food leaders!

As a teenagers life goes on, we don’t realize how many qualities we have in us. We’re still at a stage where we don’t even know what really makes us happy, sad, interested, or even excited even to want to finish it. In my high school career, I have noticed that there is a lot of exploring involved, like meeting new people, finding your true self, what you like, hate, et cetera. Even though we are judged by our peers about what we do, our deep rooted values and our personality are what makes us get through the rest of our life. I have been writing a lot about the class and what it’s like to be in a “company”, but this time I wanted to bring in a personal touch to the CEO’s corner and give an insight of how I got involved in Nextcourse and came here.

It wasn’t easy moving from a different country and landing up freshmen year here in San Francisco, and in a whole different schooling system. It’s a grueling process of assimilating and getting with the flow of things. We have mood swings and tantrums due to the fact that pressure of uncertainty hits us. It’s not fun being a teenager who keeps travelling like me, because you don’t make a lot of close friends, but the connections you make with people are very valuable. It’s sometimes frustrating to be a teenager too, for me it was when I didn’t know what I loved to do. I remember when I would do my homework and after didn’t know what to do besides facebook and texting my friends. It was like a soul -searching process. What do I like to do? What makes me happy? It wasn’t until my junior year in high school I realized that writing makes me happy. It was a feeling of happiness and fulfillment when I write due to the fact that it comes straight from my heart.  But it’s interesting to see when adults say that teenagers don’t care, are to self- centered, and selfish to know what’s up with the world. I want to tell those adults that try discovering what you love, have the pressure of growing up, and changing backgrounds. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s more like we have to pay attention to what we need and focus in on that time.

See earlier posts:

No 1, No 2, No 3

Welcome back to an all new episode of the Nextcourse “Teens on greens” blog center, with your host, Ms. Anusuya Mukherjee (aka the CEO in training). Ah, imaginations, one can only imagine such ideas. Welcome back readers; hope you have enjoyed a teenager’s insightfulness on food and her witty behavior in writing. So far at school, I am on my spring break and enjoying the fact that I have only 2 months left before I graduate, exciting!!! My second pieces of writings will be published in 2 months time also, under the anthology by Writerscorp. I have also gotten over my senioritis, so thank you for asking.

Since I write about what’s happening in the class, in this blog post I wanted to focus on the “Eat Ur Veggies” class we had this Wednesday. Personally, I don’t like cooking, so in these classes I focus on how the food is being made. It’s interesting to see how food brings people together. The class that comes for the training is learning English as a second language. My “employees” all know a second language besides English. I’ve known that in the business world it is very important that your company is more approachable to different communities. I’m not a business person and I think that the business world is too complicated for me, give me an experience and I’ll write about it- that seems like a better way to describe what I am doing. The students enjoyed every bit of the class and they also asked what certain things are called in their language.   The class seemed to enjoy every part of the process and so did I.

Vera getting the baking sheets ready

Hey everyone it’s me Vera!  I know I have yet to check in with you all since starting  my internship with Nextcourse Soul Food project. Well things are looking up for me doing this internship.  First, let me tell you that I have a lot of things going on, but it’s all good! We’ve embarked on an evening cooking class called Cooking Matters.

Now this is an interesting class of women with various levels of cooking skills, who have  different preferences and practices, and different styles of cooking, but in the short of it all they all want the same thing — to be able to feed their family healthier food with different options at affordable prices.

My experience with this group of women is that they’re real eager to learn, listen, participate, and try new foods. They’re a very willing bunch of diverse women determined to make a big difference to their family and themselves.

I believe that each woman is benefitting from the classes, they are able to share a new experience creating and making new friends, being able to read a recipe, enjoy what they are making and look forward to the next session.  Also, with them using the ingredients that’s provided for them to re-create the meal at home, it gives them a sense of assurance.

Last week’s class we had a blast and the women enjoyed it very much!  I can tell from the “ahhhs” and the gleeful expressions the women had on their faces as they feasted on Jerk Chicken & Caribbean Orzo Salad.

These ladies were so enthused with learning to cook a different ethnic food that I was impressed with this class as a whole. These ladies learned how to make a jerk marinade (see recipe below), how to cook and use whole wheat pasta (Orzo) and make a dressing to go over the pasta.

Jerk Marinade

Jerk Chicken and Orzo Salad

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

4 teaspoons nutmeg

4 teaspoons ground ginger

4 teaspoons allspice

4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons agave nectar, honey or molasses (your choice of which sweetener)

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced, scotch bonnet peppers or habaneras peppers (depends on how spicy you like it!)

1 clove garlic minced

4 green onion tops chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

Zest and juice of one lime

2 tablespoons white vinegar

8 oz of pineapple juice and fruit

Directions: when preparing the marinade it’s easier to place ingredients into a blender to get everything blended into a paste which would be easier for rubbing onto the chicken, be sure to use gloves because the spices can settle into skin. It’s recommended to let marinade set over night on the chicken. Pre-heat oven @350F. Let chicken cook about 50 to 60 min. Chicken is done when juices run clear(not pink). Enjoy

This recipe is from www.pcfma.com, revised by Vera Pittman

Welcome back readers.  I hope you are enjoying the journey of a CEO in training.

This week’s post is all about how we are doing our product for Goodies 4 Good.  So far, the product development team has researched products and made some snacks in different categories:  healthy bars, cookies and [savory] treats.  We would taste a different category each week and at the end we decided the best one out of the category.  When we re-tested and tasted all of the best ones, we finally decided what our final product is going to be.  Then we did the same for the name of the product.

The finance department is now working out how much its going to cost for the product.  Now that’s one process I feel I can’t help with.  Its funny because as a CEO, I should be involved in everything.  But I really admire the finance team for their efforts.

As the CEO, I’m looking into food justice and how the food we eat is affecting our future.  And as senioritis is moving in, I’m trying to stay away from it.  For the readers who don’t know what “senioritis” is, it is when you reach the end of your senior year and have the tendency to start procrastinating.

Bi-Rite Market CFO Calvin Tsay meeting with Goodies 4 Good finance team

Thank you to Ann!

Mondays are always horrible for me because I have to wake up early and go to school.  But this Monday was different.  At the end of the day, when I was done crunching numbers and memorizing terms, I went to leadership class.

This Monday was different because Ann from Bi-rite Creamery came and gave us pearls of wisdom about how to run a business.  Ann inspired me to pursue my dreams in whatever I believe I am great at.  She also brought us 4 pints of ice cream, which we were all so thankful for!  I was able to  understand more about what the culinary industry has to offer me.

Thank you again Ann!

Anusuya

observations of a CEO in training – my first entry

Welcome to the CEO’s Corner. As this is my first entry, I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Anusuya Mukherjee.  I was born in India and have been raised around the world. My parents are world travellers.

I am a senior at Mission High School and have been in the Nextcourse program since the age 14.  Now, at the age of 18, Nextcourse has given me a lot of experience to finally be a youth leader for the class and the CEO “in training” for our own company, Goodies 4 Good.  It’s fun to be a spectator in the whole action and be able to record in writing what is going on.  Every week, I will be highlighting what the class is working on and my prospective on the progress.  As a youth, my voice must also be heard.  I hope you enjoy reading my editorial.

See other posts:

the CEO’S corner: meeting with Alison of 18 Rabbits

the CEO’s corner: visit to TCHO chocolate factory

Liuyang enjoys the cauliflower

Our Eat UR Veggies student Culinary Leadership Team (now an elective class) has been busy all year learning the fundamentals of culinary education, food politics, and youth leadership.  They are now turning all that training into action facilitating serious peer education with 9th grade students, spearheading a school-wide healthy recipe contest, and developing a youth-targeted healthy snack (read more about this in 18 Reasons Partnership in Culinary Education).  Follow the student Culinary Leadership Team (and try their youth tested and approved recipes) at Teens on Greens as they whisk, saute, and roast to a healthier food system for everyone.

With the 18 Reasons family we launched Goodies 4 Good, a mock business that will develop and sell a healthy, sustainable snack.  The student Culinary Leadership class has been divided up into several departments including:  product development, marketing, sales and finance, and working weekly in consultation with the likes of Alison Vercruysse (18 Rabbits), Calvin Tsay, (Bi-Rite Market CFO), and Naomi Starkman (Civil Eats).  These students are gaining amazing insight into the critical balance necessary for a healthy financial bottom line and a healthy, sustainable product.  Stay tuned for more information on Goodies 4 Good as it develops and how you can support our team by purchasing their snack product.

The second 18 Reasons initiative includes a 5-week intensive on culinary careers that brings into the classroom inspiring sustainable food professionals who will discuss and demonstrate their particular niche jobs.  Slated to begin in late February, these classes will help students conceptualize the relationship between high school and their future careers, as well as build new personal relationships within the larger community.

We are so excited to work with the 18 Reasons community and especially want to thank Rosie and her board for helping us take youth leadership training to a new level!