My Day as a " Cooking Video Queen"

I've had my day in the spotlight and am VERY glad to be back in my farm kitchen, known only as Momma, Val, or "The Farmer's Wife". Ahhhhhhhhhh, the bliss of a quiet house, boys working int he fields staking late tomatoes, babies napping, and my husband making kitchen cabinets in the shop. How did I get to be a "Cooking Video Queen"? Welllll, just let me tell you how Steve and Adam, my 20 year old son, crowned me "cooking video queen" for the day.....right Mary?

Last week was a very long week, that's why last week's blog is being written this week. :) That is why I'm basking in the quiet pace of Tuesday... Last week found me making over 200 half-pints of strawberry jam...canning shredded zucchini....baking for the Crossville online market....and falling at Jesus' feet in prayer for His perfect will...and having endless mammograms, sonagrams and finally after 7 plus hours two biopsies. When the dust settled Friday morning we worked as a family preparing for our shareholders...baking bread, picking vegetables, and packing vegetables....all with two clouds over my head ....cancer?....cooking video on Monday!!!??? Sooo, that's how the weekend went. We did get the joyous news that I was cancer free, PRAISE GOD! But looming right up there with the unknown was my day in the "limelight", Monday morning at 9 a.m with Mary from Edible East Tennessee.

Now all Moms, answer this question honestly... What does your kitchen (not to mention your house, packing shed, fields, porch, and kitchen gardens) look like at 9 a.m. Monday morning? After marketing since last Thursday and all the prep , a day with Momma gone, a day of worship and rest (Praise God for Sundays!!) mine is usually a bit disheveled. By lunchtime on Monday I usually have my feet on firm ground again with our bread baked, 8 plus loads of laundry done, and am ready to tackle any challenges the Lord sends that week. Not this week. :) I was up at 4:30 grinding wheat for bread, making my tea and having devotions...for without the Lord's wisdom, direction and reassurance I know how my day will go...poorly. We ate, cleaned up from breakfast for 13 (two married daughters [Missy and Hope] had arrived by now to be my cheerleaders and right hand gals) and gathered our thoughts on how to give me a makeover of sorts...from Momma to "Cooking Video Queen". This is all tongue and cheek of course...I hesitantly chose two dishes I make for the family using our vegetables; gathered the ingredients and was ready for the "film crew" to arrive at 9 a.m.

Was I ever nervous! I am not one to watch cooking shows...we don't have a t.v., just a monitor for well chosen videos. My daughter Hope advised me to go to UTUBE and educate myself by watching a few...no time for that...so the first one I've seen in about 20 years will be my own. Now my older children used to like to watch Yan Can Cook (spelling?) on the Public Television channel in the late 80's...I had to stop many a knife "exhibition" when they tried to copy his style. Matthew (now 27, serving in the Air Force in the Middle East, and anticipating his wedding in California on July 9th) used to jabber in Chinese and make the knives chop furiously like his cooking hero....definitely not my style...so I was me, welcoming you my shareholders into my farm kitchen. I was greatly relieved when Rachel (the camera gal who was about the age of one of my daughters) told me she'd be editing the tape. Praise God! For I didn't know what to do with my messy hands, fumbled over the right words, and even cracked up when I was introduced. Oh my...my day in the spotlight could actually be comical if left unedited. :)

So, I made Zucchini Pizzas and a quickie "fried" vegetable side dish...and lived through it! I found that I could enjoy my new friends, Mary and Rachel, who made me right at home in my own kitchen :) and was actually interested in what I had to say.

What a blessing new friends can be. They left with fresh bread and strawberry jam in hand...now I'm waiting for results again...not from biopsies, but a newspaper article and video online at Knoxnews.com . Mary and I have learned a lesson...20 year olds don't really know if it's a good time to open their home to the public. Mary and I may talk again..........

P.S. It's out...the results are in...3 plus hours of work was whittled down to a couple of minutes tops! Wow, Great job Rachel! I even made sense of sorts!