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.