My grandmother gifted us some money this past Christmas and we bought a treadmill with it. Matt bought me a t.v. with a dvd player off of Craigslist as a Christmas present so that I could watch something while I'm walking (which keeps me from getting motion sick). I've found I'm less stressed out and worn out if I walk in the mornings.
I've watched about twenty dvds on biblical child training and discipleship while walking on the treadmill. Now I need to wait for the budget to handle another order of dvds. In the meantime, I have picked up several dvds from the library to watch. I've watched the history of chicken and egg production in the U.S. and now am working my way through several cooking dvds.
This morning I watched the "French Chef" while I was walking. It was the good old black and white version of Julia Child making Crepes Suzette. I love to watch Julia. She just wouldn't cut it on today's food shows, though--she made too many mistakes. The opening shot of crepe batter flowing into the pan and a big glop falling onto the stove wouldn't be "pretty enough" for today's food shows. The rubber spatula flying out of the mixer bowl would be another t.v. "no no." It's never a good plan to try to scrape down the sides of the bowl when the beaters are going full boar (but how many times have I, in an attempt to skip the step of turning off the mixer before scraping, tried the very same thing?). That's Julia--you get to see her, warts and all--and most likely, she's making the same mistakes you've made yourself.
Julia ,a.k.a. "The Butter Queen," did make very good use of her favorite ingredient in the Crepes Suzette episode. "This dessert isn't exactly low cal," she warbled. No kidding. I think I gained a couple of pounds just watching her make the crepes. (Believe me the irony of being on the treadmill and watching Julia was not lost on me this morning.)
Julia didn't have fancy kitchen equipment like the TV chefs of today, either. She used a good old fashioned coil top stove, just like the one I use. As for the task of procuring the needed orange zest for the crepe butter, she didn't pull out a zesting rasp, just an simple vegetable peeler. She then finished off the zest by finely chopping it with her chef's knife.
Julia then showed how to prepare the Crepes Suzette table side. "You might want to practice this beforehand so that you learn to do it well before you do it in front of your dinner guests. Oh, I'm really making a mess of this one, aren't I? (as she gouged a big whole in the crepe) Oh well, I'll just tuck that one underneath the others."
Julia wasn't afraid to look a little silly on camera. She had the heart of a teacher and she wanted good cooking techniques to be accessible to all. She made cooking accessible by making herself accessible.
Other than learning how to make crepes, Julia reminded me of a deeper lesson today. When I admit I'm not perfect to others, I put them at ease and their ears are more open to what I have to say. I make myself more accessible to people when I admit that I make mistakes. I'm a sinner, but I have a Savior who loves me so deeply that He was willing to die for me. Jesus covered my sin with His atoning death. In respect to the Gospel, I've heard it said that it is just "one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread." Not French croissants either, but the Bread of Life :)
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