University, education and millionaire shortbread

Waiting in the queue for my Chai Tea Latte (aye, dead sophisticated me!) a colleague from the University came over and we debated about the pros and cons of going halfers on a 2 inch square of millionaire shortbread. Now I’ve sat on Learning and Teaching Board, on Validation Panels and on various other ruminative, deliberative and generally talkative committees with this colleague – and none of the debates were as animated as our discussion about whether the base should be shortbread or cheesecake in content and texture; how thick the caramel should be relative to chocolate; and whether either of us was prepared to admit to cleaning out the condensed milk can when millionaire shortbread was being made at home. Now that’s what I call an academic discussion, a robust exchange of viewpoints, a collaborative forum in which the discussion outcomes were no less significant than some of the other discussions we have had to witness / participate in / sound informed about.

In the end we decided to leave the discussion at the level of theory, though with an assumed action point that post-Christmas, the discussion should be resumed with the acknowledgement on both sides that a firm conclusion may only be achievable if the differing opinions were subjected to practical testing (tasting).

Amazing how you learn what you learn these days at University.