Traditions

My office has a really awful, makes-no-sense tradition.

There isn't too much that I complain about with my job - sure, we work really hard and we work too much, but who doesn't?  When all is said and done, my work is fulfilling and meaningful, different every day, and challenging, and I love the institution I work for.

But this one thing.. the absurdity of it has bothered me ever since I got here, and I only just this week really put my feelings into conscious thought.

We work Saturdays during the school year, offering the same individual interview and tour opportunity on the weekend as weekday visitors receive, so that prospective students who can't take a school day off to come to visit us still get the full visit experience.  There is always someone to work the front desk, and then interviewing counselors have an order: 1st person opens up and closes the office and interviews every hour that we have visitors, 2nd person is second in line if there are two interviews in an hour, 3rd person is the third in line for interviews, but if we don't have any time slots that have 3 interviews then they don't have to come in, etc.

So the wacky tradition?  "First Person" also brings breakfast for everyone.

So not only does First Person have to wear work clothes 6 days in one week (7 if you go to church), but they also get up early, potentially talk with students and parents for 4-5 hours straight, don't get lunch, do all of the trouble-shooting, wait alone for the last however-long tour to get back, AND have to spend time and/or money on bringing a treat.

The smarter ones buy some coffee and donuts from a shop in town and call it a day, and some of us take this opportunity to show or defend our culinary prowess.  Since I believe in the importance of a healthy breakfast, I don't want to just take in junk for my colleagues and let them deal with it (did I mention this has to feed 5-7 always-hungry student tour guides, too?).  If I want healthy options, they should have healthy options (especially the students, who will eat crap if given crap, which is like every day when you eat in a cafeteria).  And a healthy breakfast?  That generally has to be home-made if you don't want to shell out a bunch of cash.  Which means on top of everything else... I give up my Friday night, too!  (See?  Ridiculous tradition.)

I follow this great blog called smittenkitchen and found an intriguing, simple-ingredient recipe for "breakfast apple granola crisp."  Basically - healthy food but punched up with sweetness... or, unhealthy dessert with the sweetness dialed back.  Perfect for a crowd.  So I'm going to refrigerate it tonight and serve it tomorrow morning with low fat vanilla yogurt.  Yumm.  Check out the recipe - and I warn you, her photography is much better than mine, as is her apple-coring skill (holy heck just look at those perfect little half-circles).

I'll be honest - even though this tradition is ridiculous and I complain about it here in jest (-ish), I enjoy having an excuse to find a new recipe.  Especially when it breaks the 2-month writer's block - I'm back, baby, and feeling inspired.

And I'm guessing by the look of it that it will be worth it: