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No Whiners Allowed

I’m sick of whiners.

Now, before you throw an “Oh whatever, Lauren, I’ve been around you when you have to perform any kind of hard labor and you’re a TOTAL whiner,” at me, let me explain myself.

Yes, I can be a whiner. When I was in college theatre, they had something called “Company Call.” Since it was a smaller school, there were a couple days out of the season where the actors and actresses had to help the crew build the set. I’m telling you, when I look back in my life on some of my least favorite (excluding actual tragic ones) situations, my mind goes immediately to Company Calls. I would do whatever I could to get in the least strenuous group, and still I would whine pretty much the entire time. I know there are a couple technical directors out there who probably still want to push me off a stage…

So why was I whining? Because I was lazy. Lazy, lazy, lazy. That’s what whining’s all about. Being lazy. And that’s why I’m sick of it. When someone’s whining, it means that they’re too lazy to make the best of their situation. Lots of people whine about lots of things, but this is the one that ruffles my feathers the most:

I’m sick of people who whine about their unhappiness.

Okay, disclaimer time:
First of all, I’m ranting about whiners, not whining about whiners. There’s a difference.
Secondly, I’m not belittling anyone with actual depression. I realize that sometimes you don’t actually have any control over your unhappiness.
And thirdly, I’m not trying to pretend that I don’t whine. I do, and I wish I didn’t. I’m working on it.

Anyway…
There are many things people whine about, but these are some of the ones I’ve been seeing lately:

“Waaaaaahhhhhh…I HATE my job!”
Well, get a different one. Oh, you don’t want to put forth the effort? Well, there you go.
The job market’s terrible, you say? Well, sounds like you should be pretty grateful you’ve got a job.

“He/she broke up with me, I’m so SAAAAAAAD!”
I know, trust me, I know it hurts. I realize I’m only 25, and that some people are going to say “Oh, pshaw, 25? Like you know anything about relationships…” Well, shut up, I do. I’ve had more than a few of them, and I’m pleased as punch with the awesome marriage I’ve got now. The one, maybe most important, thing that I’ve learned from those broken relationships is that I was never alone. After you look up from sobbing and realize you just got snot on your best friend’s shirt, you should stop, take a breath, and thank the Heavens that you’ve got this amazing best friend to get you through this.
Don’t get me wrong. Everybody needs a good week, week and a half for public relationship recovery. I get that. But seriously, too much longer than that and you’re going to have people fantasizing about slapping you across the face.
You’ve got a great life, you’ve got great friends, and if all else fails, you’ve got yourself. Be grateful and find a new hobby or something.

“My life sucks. In general. It just sucks.”
No, your life doesn’t suck. You suck. (Now, generally, I don’t like telling people they suck. It’s a pretty rude thing to do. But, you’re being rude to life. So there.) Because you’re too blind to see that life is awesome and you’re too lazy to do anything about it. Your big Spring Break plans to go to Cancun didn’t work out? Well, guess what? You’ve got two weeks off to do whatever you want. Go out with your friends. Go for a drive with the music turned up. Go sit in your favorite coffee shop and read a book that isn’t a textbook for once.

If you have time to whine about something, then you have time to get up off your butt and do something about it.

I know everyone’s lives are different. I also know that (generally) the ratio of actual tragic events compared to commonplace annoyances usually pans out to be much heavier on the annoying side. So let’s find a way to take our whines and turn them into something productive. Even if it’s just one thing today, it’s progress…and we should always appreciate

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A Solid Place to Set Our Feet

Sorry about the week-and-a-half-long hiatus. Things have been pretty crazy around the Bonk household. Our computer is on the Fritz, we’ve been apartment hunting, and Charlie turned 1 year old. All of these excuses basically add up to me either not having the time to write a good post, or me sitting down and trying too hard to write a good post. The latter usually results in me getting fed up and not clicking ‘save’.
So, here I am, on my in-laws’ computer, finally feeling like I’ve got something to write about.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet, but we are going to be moving soon. Our apartment complex is raising the rent, and we’re on a budget. I’ve been finding myself looking around the rooms we’ve called Home for almost a year now, and feeling a little unsteady…like I’m not on solid ground.
We’ve spent the last two weeks using our family time (and uber-expensive gas) to drive around looking for ‘For Rent’ signs. Charlie rides in the back with me and eats Cheerios while I scramble to write down phone numbers and addresses and try to avoid car-sickness. It has been no fun.
I’ve been fairly crabby and testy. First of all, I hate moving. Hate. Moving. Secondly, I don’t like meeting weirdos. Not weirdos who could potentially be my landlord, anyway. And finally, I don’t like feeling displaced. I don’t like knowing that in a month, I will be somewhere completely different, and the process I will have to go through to get there will be tedious.

Well, Lauren, imagine how you would feel if your apartment, as well as the entire rest of your town, got violently shaken and then swept away into the ocean.

…I imagine I would feel a whole lot worse.

Most of the people who know me well know that I (almost purposely) don’t follow current events. That may make some people incensed and furious (there are some current event followers I know who are fairly rabid about it, and have let me know the err of my ways on many occasions) but that’s just one of my life choices. This whole disaster in Japan, however, has really affected me. Up until the focus switched from natural disaster to nuclear situation, I followed the Live Blog on CNN obsessively (again, I just know CNN is news, I have no personal opinions as to which news venue is superior).

The thing that gets to me most is the fact that these people’s lives were turned upside down by the ground that is beneath their feet. The stuff they’ve been walking on and trusting their entire lives suddenly up and devastated thousands and thousands of people.

And I’m worried about having to pack up 750 square feet worth of stuff and move it across town?

I think it’s time for yet another personal re-assessment to align myself with what is actually important. Sure, it’s lame that we’ve got to pack up all our crap, find a vehicle with which to move it, transfer our electric and gas and everything else that comes with moving…but at least we’ve got all that crap to move. At least our electricity is available to transfer, as opposed to needing mandatory blackouts in order to preserve it.

I realize there is always something devastating going on somewhere, and we can’t always go around comparing our situations to those in order to keep upbeat. We can, however, periodically remind ourselves of what we have, and be grateful. I’m grateful to know that I’ve got a solid place to set my feet, and next month I’ll still have it; the carpet may be different and the kitchen might be smaller, but it’ll still be there.

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More Awesomeness . . . The Parthenon, Revisited!

There are some things going on at The Parthenon Greek Grill and Taverna that I just couldn’t keep quiet about.

If talking about their amazing desserts, food, desserts, atmosphere, and desserts wasn’t enough to get you to immediately drive to this restaurant, then maybe knowing you’d be eating in one of the cleanest kitchens in Lancaster County will.

That’s right, The Parthenon has been awarded the Lincoln-Lancaster Country Health Department award for Food Sanitation Excellence!

I don’t know about you, but I find this to be pretty exciting. I knew the place was awesome, but knowing I can camp out on the floor of the kitchen (without catching food cooties) and stuff my face with Gyro gives me some serious motivation…granted, I’d probably get kicked out for eating on the kitchen floor, but you know what I mean.

Also, this is kind of short notice, but you simply have to vote for the Parthenon in KLIN’s Munch Madness! It’s the Lincoln, NE food version of that basketball phenomenon that plagues my life every March. Since this is food, however, the event has my full support. Anyway, you have until 8:50 AM Friday, March 25th to vote!

So go out there and make me proud; vote for the Parthenon, tell all your friends to go to the Parthenon, and then go pig out on some Gyro…

…and then bring me some.

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Mmm . . . Food . . . Irish Beef Stew

So I couldn’t help but notice (and I’m sure other people couldn’t, either) that there is actually one blog category still waiting patiently for some love…my Food category.

I should be ashamed of myself.

One of my favorite things in the whole world, and I’ve been letting it just sit there for months, wondering when it was going to get some appreciation. Well, dear Food, I do appreciate you, and I’m going to prove it to you today…

…With some rockin’ beef stew.

Since St. Patrick’s Day is quickly approaching, I thought it might be nice to introduce a culturally appropriate recipe that will give us all a break from Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Not that I don’t totally love Corned Beef and Cabbage. Because I do. I just think we need a change of pace. St. Patrick’s Day seems to be kind of a whirlwind, party-your-face-off kind of day, and throwing a bunch of stuff in a crock-pot and saying “Thanks, Crockey, I’ll see you when I get the beer munchies!” seems just a little cliche. So I’m switching it up and showing you all how to make an Irish meal that takes a little more effort and love.

On a related note, let me point out that when I say “Irish meal,” I mean, “Meal that calls for dark, Irish-like beer and was named that way by the person who posted the recipe on the Internet.” I don’t want to give off the impression that my dear, old Irish great-great-granny has been handing this recipe down for generations…because she hasn’t, and I really don’t think I’ve got an old Irish great-great granny. That doesn’t make this stew any less awesome.

Aaaaaaanyway… let’s start making some Irish Beef Stew. You can check out the original recipe here, but I’ve done a few things differently.

Here’s our cast of characters:

The ingredients you’ll need:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces (NOT extra-lean)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
I bottle of Guinness beer (or similar dark stout)
1 cup of fine red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper

A few quick notes: I used $4.99 red wine. We’re not snobs around here…or rich, for that matter. It also calls for Bay leaves and Parsley…I didn’t want to buy a jar of Bay leaves or a bunch of Parsley…We also used an (entire bottle of, rather than 1 cup of) “Old No. 38 Stout” by North Coast Brewing, simply because they had that available in singles.

Okay, here we go:
Start off by heating the olive oil in your pans on medium-high heat. Cook your stew meat, turning each peace over in order to make sure that all sides are brown (usually about 5 minutes). I used both this cast-iron skillet and my soup pot at the same time, so that I could make sure the meat didn’t get too crowded. You’ll move all of the meat to the soup pot once it’s all brown.

Once your meat is browned and in the soup pot, throw in the garlic and saute for 1 minute. After the minute is up, add your beef stock, beer, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, time, and Worcestershire (or “Werjerjer” in our house) sauce.

Stir all of these ingredients together and bring ‘em to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat to medium or low (our crappy electric stove makes ‘medium’ way too hot for simmering) and let it simmer for 1 hour, occasionally giving it a little stirring love.
Meanwhile…
Melt the butter over medium heat in the same skillet you used to brown your beef (it’s got the brown, meaty goodness in there), and fill with about ½ of your vegetables.

Let’s pause for a minute here and talk about…
…Effort. I know, I know, all of these steps with the meat and the veggies may seem tedious, but these separate steps mean extra FLAVA, so put on some music and just chill while you cook. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.
Anyway…
Saute the potatoes, onions, and carrots until they are golden (about 15 or so minutes), set them aside in a bowl, and do the same thing for the other half. Once you’ve got all your veggies browned, let them hang out for the remaining 20 or so minutes while the broth finishes it’s simmering bizzness.
After the broth has been simmering for 1 hour, add your brown-tastic veggies to your broth, and let this concoction simmer for another 40 minutes. Feel free to drink a little of the wine and watch an episode of Ugly Betty.

After the stew has simmered for that last 40 minutes, you are ready to dish up a bowl full of awesome and enjoy the vegetables of your labors.

Doesn’t that make you feel like you can survive these next few weeks of Winter?

Beer Note
Something I’d like to mention is that Paul and I made this once before using Winterhook Winter Ale by Redhook Ale Brewery. I personally like the flavor of the stew better with this lighter beer, and Paul preferred the darker. Either way, the stew was awesome.

If anybody tries this recipe, please hop back on here and let me know how it went! I’d love to hear whether you like it or not, and if you added or changed things to make it your own.