high-bar baking

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. 

Where I come, we have all sorts of sayings like that, some of which are more fit for public consumption than others. 

And this one is true. 

I made Sarah’s Blueberry Crumble because I’ve been enjoying the hell out of playing my way through her latest book, 100 Afternoon Sweets. Although I can’t for the life of me ever remember if it’s “sweets” or “treats,” and yes I did just walk into my bedroom to check. So I’m wandering around Costco, trying and failing to stick my list (always stick to the list! That’s how they gitcha!), when I see a Costco-sized bag of frozen blueberries. Usually I avoid frozen goods at Costco because they take up rare and precious space in my apartment freezer. But Sarah’s book has a “For a Crowd” section and a Blueberry Crumble recipe that calls for north of a kilo of blueberries, fresh or frozen. And since I’m not going blueberry picking anytime soon, frozen it was. (Why would I say “kilogram” when I could pretend I’m on Breaking Bad and say “kilo”? Exactly).

Then, because I needed a crowd to foist them upon, I brought them in to work’s Engineering Fall Food Fest. I’ve attended the event in the past before; the premise is, people bring in food to share, and folks vote on favourites. I usually bring something. I thought about not, this time, but I  feel I have a reputations to uphold. And, you know, a freezer full of blueberries. 

I was the only person other than the organizers who brought food. Many, many people showed up. It wasn’t a disaster; the organizers aren’t stupid, and they’ve been progressively supplementing the event with more and more purchased food each year. But other than the group of folks who planned the whole thing, it was just me. 

Well, I certainly appointed myself the winner. 

But it reminded me of an epidemic we’ve seen in Women in Engineering, as well. A dearth of participation. Not even people not bringing things, but a reluctance to attend anything at all. We don’t know what it is. On top of organizational issues, it’s what’s made me step back from the program (as a volunteer) the most. I believe the need is there, I do. But why should I bother putting time and energy into something that clearly isn’t providing value? More importantly… what will?

I have time on the calendar to discuss this with the lead of the Food Fest. She thinks that the issue is participation vs. attendance, how new folks don’t understand the recurring events and that more effort needs to be put into education. I don’t know if that’s true. It would be a lovely solution to the problem, of course. Because what does one do about — what feels like — a total and complete sense of apathy? 

The crumble was awesome, by the way. Cinnamon with blueberries is a combo that I can’t believe I missed out on for so many years.