Why breakfast isn’t what it seems at Southeast Technical in Red Wing

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From scratch. (Alex Friedrich / MPR)

After an hour's drive, I'm "on campus" -- which is essentially a large building, all self-contained -- similar to what you'd find at St. Paul College and South Central College.

Today that's good, since bad weather is on the way.

I head over to the dining area for breakfast. It's pretty standard for a commuter campus -- basically a grill, some concessions and some tables.

But I see one of the ladies at the grill frying eggs from scratch. She's actually cracking the yolks right there on the grill and serving them up fresh.

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(For some of you out there it may not seem unusual, but I'm more used to seeing premade breakfast sandwiches and big tubs of lukewarm scrambled eggs in cafeterias.)

Nice.

I order three, plus some ham (looks like a cold-cut slice), some hash browns, a donut, coffee and orange juice for about $9.50. (Suck it up, MPR beancounters).

The ladies behind the counter know what they're doing. I get perfect, buttery over-easy eggs. And cook Bonnie Huppert avoids the rookie mistake of making the hash browns greasy.

One of the students sees my plate and says, "Looks like you got the good stuff."

The campus spokeswoman tells me the kitchen ran out of donuts, so one of the women bought some retail on the way to work.

Thanks, Mom.