Nice Springtime Surprises…
Over the past few weeks, many of us got caught up in the frenzy of Susan Boyle, star of “Britain’s Got Talent” or as someone called her recently, the biggest YouTube sensation ever. My daughter and my wife watched her on the laptop the other night and they seemed to be viewing with great admiration. I walked by and it caught my attention what a great singer she is. I must confess that later I watched her several times by myself. The real story is that you can never underestimate anyone on how they may or may not appear. Initially, no one gave her much of a chance, including the judges; until, she opened her mouth to sing and then she left everyone spellbound.
We all like to be surprised every once in a while, however, we prefer the surprises to be good one. I attended a student advisory committee at Worcester DC this week; we had a great turn out of 20 some students. When the question of visiting the UMass Dining website came up, most of the students said they did not bother to look at the menu that is posted 1 week in advance. Their comments were, they like to be surprised and they love nice treats. I was joking with them that we might need a sweepstake to encourage our students to visit our website, but that is another story (will keep you posted).
Celebrity Chef Martin Yan arrived yesterday, a day ahead of the Taste of UMass. I am told he travels 45 weeks annually and mostly to Asia. He met with our executive chef Willie to go over the details of today’s event. I took Martin to Berkshire to introduce him to students at Berkshire last night. It was a nice surprise for many of them. They enjoyed being photographed with Martin Yan and many of them were thrilled to meet him in person. Chef Martin is so personable and was able to converse with a number of the students, in several languages. TV Celebrity Chefs do have drawing power and it is a pleasure to have Chef Martin join us again this spring, especially knowing what a busy schedule he has.
This afternoon’s Taste of UMass is going to be fun, with delicious food and fabulous entertainment. In addition, there will be doors prizes, as a Wii to be given out every hour. Who knows, may be YOU will be the one to be surprised by being a lucky winner.
I am Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu