Prime Stache

My husband and I found ourselves with some unexpected‘day date’ time on Thursday.  “Let’s get some lunch. I want you to try the food at Prime Stache,” he said.

Recently, his workplace held a celebratory employee luncheon with a Food Truck theme. Food Trucks in a suburban office setting are a rare treat.  

Their first selection was hoped to be a local would-be celebrity Food Network’s Food Truck Race runner-up, but they were unresponsive and as fortune would have it, Prime Stache promptly stepped in and put on a luncheon beyond expectations, so much so that I have been hearing from the Hubby for the last 3 weeks how great the food was. Who was I to pass up a Day-Date lunch in Olde City?

Except for the huge mustache hanging straight over the sidewalk I would have  walked right by the place.

Although it was noon and it felt as though we were walking into a dark Saloon that had just unlocked  it’s doors. The interior is dimly lit and comfortably rustic with lots of rough hewn dark wood and exposed brick.

We ordered the Chili Cheese Fries for an appetizer, along with a delicious IPA, Lancaster Hop Hog, suggested by Staches’s mixology guru , Sean Glines. This beer was a malty and hoppy blend complementing my meal nicely.

The fries were a toasty brown, thin cut with skin on, but not overdone. They are half baked and then fried, so there was the potatoey feel that I personally appreciate in good French Fries. The plate was presented with the fries sitting on a base of melted white cheese sauce, not provolone and not cheddar, so the blend was just right, mild by not bland. Topped with the Chili that was not too saucy, and more cheese drizzled over it and with a side of sliced pickled jalapeno peppers.

There was a lot of cheese on that plate, but we soon sopped it up with the fries that came with our sandwiches. Mine was the Salmon Burger, Hubby’s was the Cheesesteak wrap. The salmon burger was good, chunks of salmon mixed with egg and a little bit  of bread crumbs, but the spring mix and feta with an herby aioli was really the better part of this sandwich served on a brioche roll. The cheese steak wrap was apparently a Food Truck only menu item, but they graciously made one for the Hubby. It was a lot of Prime Rib thinly sliced and packed into a flour tortilla with a rough cut slaw. The portion was enormous, enough for two meals.

You can find plenty of positive reviews and info on thisfine establishment on the web. Check it out!

Repurposing Bitterness, Cutting Loose the Emotional Ball and Chain

What happens when in any given situation you’ve done all you possibly could or would and it still isn’t ‘enough’. How should you feel and should you do something more? 

With age, I have learned to more easily have a stoic perspective on letting go and not feeling an obligation to “step up”. The qualifier is, “with age”. I have muttered at least daily, “I’m too old for this crap.”

Lately I’ve experienced more than a few people who carry so much emotional baggage for things in the very distant past and relatively recent past, it feels as though I am surrounded by emotional vampires or adrenaline junkies and sometimes both. These are the times I am muttering, “I’m too old for this crap.” It can be soul sucking to listen to the drama of  displays of hurt feelings, emotional injustices, real or imagined as they suck away from a day that already feels shortened before doing it all over again the next day. 

My upbringing often leaves me with the feeling that I should continue to keep giving or trying or supporting. This is a misguided message that has been passed down to many women that by virtue of gender, we should be able to keep going on – supporting, doing, fixing, making things better, wiping others tears, regardless of how we feel, physically or emotionally about any given thing. I’m not talking about martyrdom or perennial self-sacrifice. I am too old for the self-sacrifice crap. I‘ve earned my entitlement to a little self-indulgence.

I am talking about letting things go and knowing when it is time to forgive and forget, whether it’s about yourself or others or events. Stuff happens. Life is filled with stuff, good and bad. To this I say, “Suck it up Cupcake. Put you big girl pants on and get on with it.”

You might have seen a Facebook post that makes the rounds, “If you want to fly, you gotta let go of the stuff that weighs you down.” I acknowledge this is easier said, than done.

Sometimes, not always, the stuff that weighs you down must be resolved before you can let it go. Whether you have to resolve it with another person or within yourself, depends on how much it weighs you down. Some stuff will never be resolved.

Another axiom that seems to make the rounds in social media is “ holding a grudge is like letting someone  (or something) live rent free in your head.” Sometimes that grudge is personally yours, with your own past or behaviors.

I once read a parable of sorts in 10 Tips to Let Go of the Past and Embrace theFuture

The story told of two monks that came upon a crying young woman, troubled by not being able to navigate her way across a deep river. The younger monk turned away because of a vow to not touch a woman. The older monk silently assisted the woman in need and went on his way, while the younger monk harangued the other about his charitable deed. Finally, at the end of the day the older monk turned to the younger one. "I only carried her across the river. You have been carrying her all day."

It’s a good example of letting go of the past, looking toward the future, but living in the present moment.

Taking from “10 Tips to Let Go of the Past, here follows five personal thoughts of a list of my own unsolicited 2 cents:

1.    Meditate: find some place or time to quiet your brain and slow your heart, whether it’s a brief prayer or silent mantra, learn the value and self-sustenance of being still.
2. Understand: look at yourself and acknowledge how you affect others in your life circle. Negative behaviors will attract negative responses. Take ownership for that but don’t let it define who you are as a person.
3. Accept: Acknowledge the past, good and bad, see the benefits, learn from the outcomes and free yourself from whatever feels like a mental ball and chain.
4. Empty your cup: declutter that emotional hoarding. It has an awful bitter aftertaste.
5. Flex: Be flexible in your thoughts and stretch your beliefs. Don’t be the young monk who would forsake the welfare of another human being and judge another because of an inflexible personal conviction.  He might need similar assistance for himself at another time.

When life gives you lemons, don’t just make the lemonade, add extra sugar. Enjoy the refreshing sweetness of a repurposed bitter fruit.

Make enough of that sweet lemonade to share with others, especially those in your life circle.