Irish Beef Stew Day

    It only came once a year, and finally it had rolled around. I had been reminding my friends everyday for two weeks that it was coming, and I could hardly contain my excitement. All day I sat glancing at the clock every two minutes, counting down the seconds until it was time. As the time drew nearer, my excitement grew and soon I was having trouble breathing. Finally, the bell rang and I made my way to the end of the line. Bouncing on my heels I bit my lip to hold back a string of incoherent words, babbles of excitement. The distance between me and the front of the line became shorter and shorter, until at long last, I was at the front of the line. My eyes shone with excitement, and maybe a few tears of joy. I let out a quick breath and said, "Irish beef stew, please!" The lunch-lady stared at me and sent a blow that shattered my heart, "We're all out."

Perfection in a bowl

    As today is St.Patrick's Day, I thought I would post a blog to commemorate my favorite St. Patrick's Day tradition...Irish Beef Stew. Once a year at my high school they would serve this delectable blend of carrots, potatoes, tiny onions, and meatballs. The beautiful medley would gently simmer in a broth that was of the perfect consistency. When you held the warm Styrofoam bowl in your hands you knew that the world was at peace. The gentle puffs of steam would tickle your nose and bid you to partake of this glorious creation. Dipping your spoon into the hallowed ground, you would ever so gently catch a meatball and place it to your lips. Bitting down, you close your eyes and let the taste of stew cascade over your tongue. You fight the urge to swallow, knowing that this perfect moment is fleeting. Once your bowl was empty, you would gently sweep the soft pumpernickel bread around the bowl catching every sacred drop. The rest of the day would be spent in sheer bliss, as you savored the euphoric memory of lunch time.

WHY ALL THE CRANBERRIES?!

    My junior year of high school was fairly eventful one. What with prom, the lead in the musical, and a singing solo with the orchestra, but for some reason this Irish beef stew day was a big deal to me. Maybe it was because I was getting stressed out about the upcoming musical, perhaps it was just cabin fever, but mostly it was because our school always served really crappy food. Now most people say that their school's food is bad, but this food really was bad. For some reason they would end up putting cranberries in every single dish. What you thought was a chocolate chip cookie, was really a chocolate chip/cranberry cookie. That hotdish? Yeah, it was laced with cranberries. The pre-made salad that didn't look like something you find behind a dumpster, viciously riddled with cranberries. I hated beef and cheese nacho day because the consistency of the beef and cheese together reminded me of cat poop, and cheesebread dunker day was a total fail because I could not handle that much cheese without gagging. There was not much for me to look forward to in the ways of the cafeteria, so I was out of my mind with excitement about Irish beef stew day.

He's got spirit...but no one else does

      When that awful event happened to me I promised myself that I would never be denied Irish beef stew again. I had one more shot at Irish beef stew day and I was not going to blow it. St. Patrick's Day senior year rolled around, and I was ready. Counting down the days before S-day(stew day), I would nervously question myself as to whether I would be allowed my bowl of sacred stew or not. S-day arrived and we were on a two hour early out schedule. I have no recollection of why we were on an early out schedule, but I know that we were. What happens with an early out schedule is, you basically have all of your classes crammed into the morning so you're done by lunch time. I'm sure it was some sort of pep fest or school spirit-y thing, at any rate, this meant I was in math class. I sat down in my desk and Mr.Vanderwerf told us we wouldn't be doing anything due to our shortened math period. Meekly I raised my hand and said, "Mr.Vanderwerf? Um...today is Irish beef stew day and I didn't get any Irish beef stew last year, and it's my favorite school food...so maybe you could let me go early?" He looked at me dumbfounded, but then I swear I saw I twinkle dance through his eyes. A smile broke across his lips as he told me, "Yes, Kersti, go get your stew." I packed up my things and headed down to my locker hardly believing my luck. Walking quickly I made my way to the cafeteria, and I was the first in line for Irish beef stew.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

     Triumphantly holding my bowl of stew in my hands I savored every bite. My friends sat down around me laughing to see how much I was enjoying myself. Placing the first spoonful in my mouth I smiled and the world stopped for a moment. This was so much more than a stew, this was a battle, this was a year of waiting, this was almost some kind of Sparta. Once the stew was done I turned to my friends with a bittersweet smile on my lips. The smile turned into a laugh of disbelief as I realized my teacher had let me out of class for a bowl of stew. My friends and I continued to laugh together as the disbelief kept returning. We learned an important lesson that day, never underestimate the power of Irish beef stew.

    

I Never Outgrew That

Really Good Movie: MIA

    Picture for me if you will, an excited 6 year old. She is blonde, she is chubby, and she is very excited. Why is she so pumped? Well, she is watching Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" for the fourth time since she woke up. Her 6 year old self is emitting rays of happiness and sunshine into the room about her, rays that are soon darkened by a terrible and horrifying thing...her sisters. The 11 and 12 year old look down upon their little sister in her stupor of joy. They are sick to death of the gypsy Esmeralda and the evil Frodo, they do not see why this movie should be watched again. As the 6 year old gallivants off to the kitchen to find a snack, the dark shadows move in for the kill. In the blink of an eye the movie is gone, and so are the shadows. The 6 year old comes prancing back into the room and looks around for her movie so she can watch it again, but it is nowhere to be found. That little 6 year old? She was me.

She is so awesome!

           This is a true story. My sisters hid my copy of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" when I was 6 and I didn't find it until I was 11. In my defense they hid it really well, in fact, they hid it so well that the only reason it was found was because my mom was packing things up because we were moving. Man, that was a triumphant day. I loved that movie so much. I had an Esmeralda back-pack, her barbie, her little action figure, and I named one of my cats Esmeralda. She was the coolest Disney character ever, and I wanted to be just like her. Now why I wanted to be like a gypsy living in the sewers is hard to understand, but remember, around this time I also wanted to be a grocery clerk so...keep that in mind. My little 6 year old heart was broken the day my movie went missing, and I believe that is the reason why I still watch movies or listen to new CDs over and over again.

Just 2 little girls from Little Rock

    I first noticed that I was different when I knew all the songs to the "Wicked" soundtrack and my friends only knew the popular(ha!pun) ones. This was when I realized most people do not listen to entire soundtracks and memorize them. They do not listen to just one CD until they know all the songs, they behave like rational adults and change their CDs every now and again. I'm kind of the same way with movies, I'm sad to say. When I was home for my Spring break I watched "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at least 4 times, and that was in less than one week. I like to memorize every part of a movie so I can feel fully informed on it when I discuss it with my friends, at least that's what I tell myself. In reality I know that the reason I keep listening to the same CD over and over again is because the catchy parts of the song get stuck in my head. When this happens I wake up at two in the morning singing to myself, "Turn around and turn around try floating through the air", and I can't sleep until I figure out that this phrase is from "Hello Dolly's" song "Dancing". This is just the way my brain works.

Love me some Gordon MacRae!

   You make think I'm just squirreling around, but this is a very real part of my life. I remember one morning I was having a great dream about a high school that wasn't painful, and I fit in(it must've been a dream). Right as I was about to kiss the super cute boy, I hear the television blaring up from the living room. My eyes pop open and I start getting furious at my father. It is at this point that a phrase starts running through my head, "Hush you bird my baby is sleeping, maybe got a dream worth a-keepin." I had to sing it out loud repeatedly until I figured out that this particular phrase was from "Oklahoma!" in "The Surrey with the Fringe On Top". Not only do odd phrases run through my head, but phrases that fit the situation also come to mind when I see something I recall from a song.

Seriously in love with Cosmo Brown

   The old saying my piano teacher Mrs.Sperry used to tell me is true, there is a song for everything. Maybe I took that too much to heart, but damn if I can't find a song to fit every situation. Take for instance a situation where your friend has gone completely crazy and is thoroughly convinced that his toes are roses. At this point you can start singing "Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses" from "Singing in the Rain". Now this situation is maybe not very likely, but at least I have a song in my arsenal supposing it does happen. A more likely occurrence is when you are trying to help someone with their homework. Say they are struggling with some very difficult problems, like math for instance. "If Tom is half as tall as Bob, but twice as skinny at Dan, when will Tom die of cat leukemia?" This is the time for a situational song like "Learn to Do It" from the cartoon version of "Anastasia" (which is a 20th Century Fox movie, by the way). Your friend is bummed that they have to do math so you cheerfully sing to them, "If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it!Something in you knows it! There's nothing to it. Follow in my footsteps shoe by shoe. You can learn to do it, too!" And then they will have renewed hope in life and discover that Tom will die in 5 months from his tragic infection of cat leukemia.
    Maybe, it's a good thing that I learn all of these songs. I mean, if I can save my friend from killing themselves over a math problem or being so crazy that they think their toes are some kind of flora, that has to be a good thing. In order to preserve my peace of mind, I must first disturb it with countless songs for the sake of everyone else's peace of mind. You know, either that or I just have some kind of fixation based on a childhood mishap. But I'm gonna stick with saving the world one topical situation song at a time.

This is how I'll save the world...you can learn to do it too!