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Fall Flavors Week of 10.21.24

It's that time of year when the morning air is cool and crisp, leaves start to change color, and you can start to see your breaths in the evening. It's chili season!!

Students have been making chili by the buckets for our clients. We have 3 large group having a chili service. For the very first time, our students are using my father, Mike Livingston's recipe. He has been making this recipe for probably close to 40 years, and has become a family favorite.

We have two more groups to serve chili we are making next week, but so far the reviews have been very positive. Part of the "Legacy" will continue with these students.

And of course, what would a great bowl of chili be without a warm, ooey, gooey cinnamon roll be! I have been told by many people that they haven't heard of this combination outside of Kansas, but it seems like a long tradition to me.

Week of 10.14.24

The students are knee deep in their routines of serving great food. We are currently serving the Moore RMG staff, but we also make our food available for the high schools as well.

Pictured is the service of smoked rosemary porkloin, garlic whipped mash potatoes, steakhouse macaroni and cheese, and our famous snicker-doodle cookies.

Week of 10.7.24

Every once in a while, we are able to shift gears in our routine and really focus on some techniques that you would see in more of a fine dining atmosphere.

Legacy is a Pro-Start National Restaurant Association student organization. So, we are only a few months away from competing again, and the students like to come up with some options for our competition. The plate they practiced may be an option.

We chose to go with seared sea-scallops, melon salsa, and a lemon beurre blanc. This involves a lot of very fine knife work, sauce making skills, searing, and plating techniques that we don't often get a chance to practice.

The students were super stoked about the opportunity, and were so excited to get pictures of their creations. The morning group had one plate and the afternoon had another. They were all very proud of what they did, and saw some opportunities to work on for next time.

Week of 09.30.24

We revisit a favorite seller from last year, our pork dumplings. Made from scratch dumpling shells, all hand cut vegetables. Mades from scratch chili oil to make our dipping sauce with.

This year, we added a great fried rice to the mix. Rice is one of the more difficult things we prepare in our kitchen. Its pretty easy to get the tastes right once you have the flavor profile that you want down. But for those who know, the hardest thing about fried rice is the texture.

Its safe to say, that the procedures for the rice have really been fine-tuned well with this group of students. I think it was by far and away the best fried rice students have ever made here!!

More from the Week of 09.30.24

One of the great things about working in this industry for a lifetime are the people you meet. Through a contact that I made about 5 years ago, we were invited to a private tour of World's of Fun and Ocean's of Fun.

This may seem like just a joy ride kind of trip, but there are some very serious food services offered at the facilities from the Hospitality department. We were fortunate enough to be given a tour of 7 different facilities.

What was a great experience for the students was able to really get a good look at how different restaurant concepts are set up according to the business that they would like to do. They were able to see the factors that go into deciding floorplans, equipment, customer service, and so much more.

Thank you to Chef Nicholas Norton of World's/ Oceans of Fun for accomodating us, and a shout out to Jenni Meseke for the assist in getting us connected with this opportunity!

Advisory Board Meeting Week of 9.25.24

Working in a Certified Technical Education (CTE) school is quite a bit different experience than a traditional high school.

One of the differences is the partnerships that exist between the various pathways and the community. Without these community and business partners, our instructors might lose their edge with what is currently going on in various industries.

To help facilitate the growth of these partnerships, twice a year we host a meeting for all of our Advisory Boards from the community to meet and discuss the issues and strategies of the day that will help our students receive a great experience. For this meeting, the Culinary Arts students have the honor of providing a catered meal for the participants. Its a great time to show some appreciation for those that do so much to help us out.

For the meal his year, we made Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Venetian Pork Risotto, Summer Roasted Vegetables, and mini peanut butter cheesecakes.

We had productive meetings, and a great meal.

Opening Day Week of 9.19.24

It is here!

After months of planning and meetings with a lot of different people involved, Opening Day for Legacy Cafe @ Moore RMG is finally here!!

We have just started the process of making this space a special Legacy place. We had a banner printed off with our logo and a few other things, designed by another instructor's pathway right here at TCALC. Shout out to Mr. Tim Manning and his students for the great job they did on our banner.

The students picked one of our most popular meals to be the first one to serve there, Smoked Jerk Chicken, Black Bean & Corn Salad, and Sweet Potato Cakes.

My German Legacy Week of 9.19.24

The students who named my pathway Legacy years ago did so because they wanted to acknowledge where they had come from and what the people that helped get them there have done.

My mother's side of the family is German. The very first thing that I can remember cooking was with my grandmother for a school project either in the first or second grade. She decided to show me German Potato Salad!

From that point on, I was hooked on being in the kitchen. In honor of my families background, and to explore a cuisine we have not previously done, we made Kraut Strudels, and German Chocolate Cake.

Fall 2024: Internships and Work place Experiences.

This school year is looking much different than others have.

We have a new focus this year for our second and third year students, and that focus is on getting students as involved as we can in opportunities to learn outside of the classroom.

We have always had some of these experiences happening, but this year the goal is to have ALL of our returning students in some kind of internship or workplace experience.

We have been fortunate to have business partners that are opening doors to our program. We were contacted last April by Moore Response Management Group that works out of the old Hallmark location off the highway. They have an internal kitchen and dining room that they have asked us to run. We are taking it step by step, as there was a lot of fleshing out of the kitchen equipment and that is a work in progress. However, while we are working on that, we are still able to offer our great Legacy food to their employees.

Legacy Cafe @ Moore RMG

Legacy Cafe @ Burnett

We are also proud to announce that Legacy Cafe will be expanding into the cafe in the Burnett Center. The cafe has a fully functioning kitchen that has been used for special occasions in the past, hasn't been fully operational to the USD 501 staff for quite some time.

We just recently have been given the go ahead to run operations out of that kitchen as well. We are starting with small steps, and see where it takes us. We will be serving lunch on Thursdays and Fridays starting next week. The Burnett Center staff is excited, and so are our students. We are greatly looking forward to providing some wonderful food experiences for the people that keep our district humming smoothly.

Special thanks to Dr. Anderson and her district team, Nicole Jahnke, Chris Wagner, LeighAnn Wilber and the Food Service team, Laura Nichols and Dustin Dick for their help in getting everything approved.

Legacy Cafe @ USD 501 High Schools

We have also been given the opportunity to have our students shadow and learn from the high school kitchen managers throughout the district.

One of the early conversations was brought to us by Harry Smith, the Kitchen Manager @ Topeka High. He was interested in getting a program in place that some of our students could learn the practical part of kitchen management. We wrote a curriculum that was based on the daily functions of operations. The students began the internships early in the year, and the first group of them are almost finished! They seem to be doing well with it, and getting a lot from it.

Special thanks to Harry Smith of Topeka High, Winnie Atatai of Topeka West and Erina Gamez of Highland Park for their time and efforts to share their experiences with our students.

Summer 2024: Internships with Jayhawk Area Council

This year, several of my students were afforded the oppoortunity to run the food service operations of Falley Scout Reservation Camp Jayhawk.

We cooked up to 425 meals a day for about 5 weeks!! I told the boys that there are a lot of restaurants around town that don't do that kind of business.

As per the norm, we stayed away from processed foods, and made things according to our recipes. The campers and staff raived about the food that the students provided. People were saying things like "this isn't camp food" because it was too good, or "the best food they've ever had by a long shot in a camp".

The students were able to do a lot of camp kind of stuff too while they were out there. It wasn't all work. They were able to do rifle, shotgun, and handgun shooting, swimming, boating, iron man competitions, and a whole lot more.

Hoping for a lot of interested students again this summer so we can go back and represent Legacy!

The Crowning of a Queen

Congratulations to this years Legacy Queen of the Kitchen!!

Last Field Trip of the Year: Closing Ceremony @ Lake Shawnee

Every year, we seek to end the year with a celebration of all the hard work we have done. Technically, it is a complete lesson in how to execute an off site catering.....wink, wink.

Anway, we hire ourselves to cater for the event. We plan it, budget it, shop for it, prep it, and cook it. It's a great way to end the year.

We have done this every year for the last four years. The ending picture is of us on the bridge by the shelter house. It is quite thing to see how the pathway has grown.

Kansas Bakery College Visit

One of the things we added to the roster for the pathway is a visit to K-States Bakery College.

This was an exciting thing for our students to see. We basically got the tour split into two parts. The first part that we got to see and experience was their test kitchen, in which they tested the effects of different kinds of wheat and other staple ingredients would have on various recipes. They had a lot of equipment that our students have never seen before, and was good to be able to experience it.

The second part of the tour was the plant that grinds the different kinds of wheat into flour. Then some scientific testing in which the students measured elasticity of dough, and bubble production through the fermentation of the yeast. It was a really interesting visit and something I think the students go a lot from.

Pro-Start Competition March 2024

So, for years this pathway has been growing physically. We have grown in number of students, differentiated equipment that can be used for all kinds of cooking and baking projects, and we have grown in the events and level of performance expected of the students.

This year, the Pro-Start Invitational competition was added to our repertoire. This was a two day event in Wichita, Kansas. Two teams from the pathway went to compete. One for the culinary competition, in which the students had to make a 3 course meal, including dessert, in under 1 hour. We also brought one team for the business management competition, in which our students had to design a business plan for a new restaurant concept.

While our teams did not place in the trophy standings, they did receive numerous compliments of how well they did for a first time team. We hope to keep representing TCALC well, and to keep raising the bar of expectations.

Also during this week, we certified 43 brand new Serv Safe Manager certified students. This is quite an achievement at such a young age. Most people in this industry don't ever take this certification until their well into their 30's!! We are very excited for their progress and accomplishments already and are eager to see them in the profession.

Our Legacy students also provided the concessions for the TCALC Robotics Tournament. We provided fresh baked cinnamon rolls, coffee, & fresh fruit parfaits for breakfast.

We smoked our famous Jerk Chicken for lunch service, made pasta alfredo, steakhouse mac & cheese, cookies, and a host of other smaller items.

From what we heard, it was a huge success!! We fed over 250 people!

We were also able to tour the Mars Chocoalate factory here in Topeka!! It was a very busy week

Week of 2.5.24 Fireman's Auxillary Fundraiser

Every year, the Topeka Fireman's Auxillary has a benefit to raise money for several different causes in the City of Topeka.

This year, our students were given the opportunity to cater for that event!! This was held at the Topeka Foundry Event Center. The event was for a little more than 200 people.

From feedback, it sounded like it was wonderful!!

Week of Jan 22nd: Three Fires Steakhouse & Longhouse Buffet Visit

So one of our jobs as educators in a CTE classroom is to conect our students to the real world as much as we can. This has multiple benefits. The first being that they can see current industry professionals in their environment and hopefully model professionalism.

The second is that they start to make some networking connections for actual outside the classroom opportunities such as jobs and internships.

This week we visisted several different restaurants inside of Prairie Band Casino. Students were able to see a variety of kitchen concepts and equipment, as well as taste the food, and make connections with some of the HR people that could poetenially provide opportunities for the students, such as a great summer internship program.

I think the students really got a lot out of the visit. There were several areas I wasn't allowed to take pictures in, but we got the ones we could.

Prairie Band treated all the students to lunch!

Week of 1.15.24 Water Boil Advisory

This was a very interesting week. In addition to having an inclement weather induced late start one of the days, our week was kind of sidetracked by the first Topeka water boil problem that I can remember having.

We made our menu safely of course, but were asked not to sell it in the cafe out of precaution. However, we were able to provide the meal for the Board of Education, so at least someone was able to enjoy it.

It was a great menu featuring a Pork Filletino, demi-glaze, vichy carrots, and garlic whipped red potatoes. The board really enjoyed the meal. Since we weren't able to sell it in the cafe, we made a family meal out of it.

Week of 1.8.24 Taste of Kansas Event @ Cyrus Hotel

This is the second year that our program has been honored with the opportunity to cater for the opening session of the Kansas Legislature. We are one of only two high-school programs in the state of Kansas that were asked to do this.

We made our go to menu of Smoked Jerk Chicken!! It is something that we have done several times over the years, and has really become one of our specialties. THis year we made a mango salsa and hawaiian rice to go with it.

Unfortunately, January 10th turned out to be a snow day for USD 501. For safety reasons, we were not allowed to bring our students with us. However, Chef Moody and myself trecked out in the snow and cold to make sure we could still deliver and serve the food that the students worked so hard to provided.

It was a labor of love, and from the feedback, the clients were impressed with what the students made. We were very honored to be given the opportunity.

Week of 12.11.23 Christmas Cookie Exchange & Ginger Bread Houses

For the first time in Legacy history, Gingerbread houses have made an appearance. To add to this year's festive atmosphere, Chef Moody introduced a Gingerbread house activity. Teams were to design their own houses, assemble and decorate them.

The students collaborated, and voted on their designs. The morning class built a Wrestle Mania style Gingerbread structure. The afternoon class designed a zombie-dinosaur apocalypse. Staff were the ones to vote, and the afternoon class won the competition.

One of the favorite things from my childhood memories of Christmas was the family going over to Grandma's house and having a cookie exchange. Various members of the family would bring their favorites, and we had a house full of different kinds of cookies.

This is the 4th year that we have done this with Legacy, and it seems that it gets bigger and better every year. The table with the cookie spread had over 2100 various cookies for students to choose from.

I am hoping that traditions like this are something that students will take with them when the leave, and even build some traditions of their own. Events like this are why Legacy is so special. m has been honored with the opportunity to cater for the opening session of the Kansas Legislature. We are one of only two high-school programs in the state of Kansas that were asked to do this.

We made our go to menu of Smoked Jerk Chicken!! It is something that we have done several times over the years, and has really become one of our specialties. This year we made a mango salsa and hawaiian rice to go with it.

Week of 11.27.23 ACTE Conference: Phoenix, Az

For the first time in more than 4 years, TCALC was able to send representative instructors to the ACTE National Conference. This year, it was in sunny Phoenix, Az.

TCALC sent three representatives from our building as well as three other CTE instructors from around the district. The conference was three days with thousands of CTE teachers from all around the country.

Besides all the great meetings we were a part of, we were able to experience a lot of things that we had never seen before. For example, a driverless car service called WAYMO. There are only a hand full of cities that they run in. It was pretty wild to see.

Week of 11.13.23 Thanksgiving Week

Legacy Cafe does a lot of things for students. We obviously do a lot of teaching and practicing of culinary and baking techniques. However, one of the most important things for me is the opportunity to create memories and traditions.

Food is a huge part of family holidays, and what better time to show that than Thanksgiving. Hopefully, traditions like this will become a big part of these kid's future.

For this week, we went all out!! We made turkey, and ham, and potatoes, and gravy, and steakhouse mac & cheese, all the sides and desserts you can probably think of. It was hopefully a great memory for them.

Students Full of Personality

Legacy Cafe has a lot of wonderful students with a lot of wonderful personality. There's not really a need to say much more, just enjoy!!

The Baking & Pastry side of Legacy Cafe made two different kinds of Bundt Cakes. One was a raspberry almond flavor combination. The other was a caramel mocha bundt cakes. The cafe sold a lot of these, so they must have been enjoyed!

9.14.23 Hummer Concessions

Legacy Cafe had a lot going on this week. Besides the sales from the cafe, we worked the concession stand Thursday night at Hummer Sport Park between the Topeka High Trojan football team and Liberal.

The students had a great time getting out into the publics eye. We sold a lot of stuff, and the kids made a little money in the process for the pathway in the process.

Professional Development

This past weekend, Chef Livingston went to training to become Nationally Board Certified in Career and Technical Education. The conference was all the way out in Dodge City, but it was worth the drive. Two days of meetings and work went by quick. This will be a process, but think it will make me a much more effective teacher.

The picture to the left was taken at a small restaurant in Dodge City friday night. I couldn't resist posing in front of the wings and halo!

Week of 9.8.23

This week we are gearing up for Hispanic Heritage Month. On the culinary side of things, we planned a menu that would explore a bit of that. We had a taco / nacho bar, which being honest, is more of an Americanized version of some Latin classics, but it is a start.

The Culinary students had a wedding reception this week that we provided. So, we decided to have the same menu at TCALC to kick off our focus of Hispanic Heritage.

The Baking and Pastry students also made a dish for the occasion. They served a traditional Tres Leches cake that from the results of the sales, went over very well. The cake was moist as expected, sweet, but not too much, and finished with a plantain.

Our Culinary students did a fantastic job representing the school and the pathway. We received so many compliements from the guests of the wedding and the wedding party about how professional the students were in their appearance, work, and presentation. Job extremely well done!!

Week of 9.1.23

This week was another exploration into menu items that we have never done before!

With Chef Miranda Moody's expertise as a pastry and dessert chef, they ventured out into the world of a little more delicate dessert, a Coffee & Chocolate Panna Cotta with a Pistachio Crumble. The panna cotta combines the delicious flavors commonly found in a speacialty mousse or pudding with the texture of a gelatin.

The new dessert was very well recieved.

We have done a Creamy Tomato Basil many times before, and it is a great combination of red and white sauces. The new element this week was actually making the farfalle, or bow-tie pasta to go with it. Rolling and shaping a pasta dough is something that our students are always wanting to do.

The shaping and cooking went very well, and we made buckets of the stuff!

Week of 8.25.23

This week we did projects that have never been done before by Legacy Pathway students. The Baking & Pastry students learned some basics of baking science and the different roles that common ingredients such as flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and so forth play in the making of what's called a quick bread (a dough that doesn't require yeast). This week, the students made a wonderfuly delicious combination of flavors in a Peanut Butter Brownie!!

The Culinary Art's students took a savory trip to the Orient for their dish. Pork dumplings (Pot-Stickers), fried rice, and a nice dipping sauce.

Students making this dish did a lot of knife work, processing down the cabbage carrots needed for the filling. One of the hardest things to learn how to do well is making a dough that is thin enough to not be doughy, but strong enough to hold everything together.

For the very first time that these projects have ever been done by Legacy Cafe students, I think both projects came out great!!

We had a huge crowd that came out to see what we were up to for the sales.

Week of 8.18.23

So, we started off this week with a bang!! We had all of our new students begin their journey with a serv safe food handler certificate. This is a base line understanding of food safety in the workplace. For the next 4 months, they will be studying and practicing these concepts. In December, they will be taking their Serv Safe Manager certifications. This is a big meaningful step in their journey as it is a requirement for every food service business to have at least one person with this in the restaurant at all times.

Only after students have a baseline understanding of what professional food safety is, are they allowed into the kitchen. On Wednesday, all the students started on food production. For the Baking & Pastry students, Chef Moody had her students prepare Strawberry / Blueberry Angel Food cakes. Definitely not the easiest cake to begin with, but from what we heard, students did very well. Chef Livingston had his Culinary students make smoked jerk chicken, black bean and corn salad, and sweet potato cakes with a spicy honey butter sauce. Check out our comments tab to see what our clientel at Highland Park thought of our offerings.

Here are some pictures of this weeks activities!!

Welcome Chef Miranda Moody !!

Joining us for her first year @ TCALC. A little bit about her:

Grew up in a military family so I’ve moved 22 times

Baking and Pastry Chef for 13 years
Worked as a High School Biology and Integrated Physics and Chemistry teacher for 2 years and a Middle School FACS teacher for 2 years (Chase)

Randoms - Dogs, painting, yoga, live music, gardening

Updates For This Year

Last year, we were busy coming out with a new logo (Pictured to the right.) With Animal Sciences's Mrs. Westhoff's help, we embedded our original logo into a shield of black emblazened with fall god, and our name, Legacy right above it. This is a great development as Legacy Cafe

With the addition of Chef Moody, you can see that the pathway is continuing to grow! We have added classrooms, doubled the amount of students on the roster, are in the process of building a new baking station in our kitchen, and are undergoing a project to purchase, design, and build a mobile food truck as an expansion of our catering services, that will primarily be for bringing our wonderful food products around USD 501!

We are super excited to get this party started!

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