Labor Day Weekend 2009 included a Girl's Day Out for me and my baby girl, Alyssa. Bill was at work and Chris was away at a friend's house....We went to church, and afterward went to Pier Park at Panama City Beach.
Lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, then shopping, then the movie Julie and Julia. We sat in that theatre and laughed together the entire time. (word of warning--2 inappropriate comments came up during the movie which I really wish were not there and there was a little bit of cussing.... but over all the movie was excellent)
Money can't buy the togetherness of our day and we really needed to spend some un-distracted time together. (as in: turn off the cell phones) We are normally surrounded by her friends or mine or both so this day was a rare and unique treasure.
This movie brought a couple of things to glaring clarity for us. One--I have a lifelong love of cooking and two-Alyssa has a lifelong love of eating so together we are quite the team. Alyssa has been dabbling in cooking for several years now and this movie really set her feet solidly back on that path, I think.... The scariest thing about this day was Alyssa has decided I am going to make her Julia Child's famous Beef Bourguignon. That recipe is an intimidating, all day affair and yet Alyssa is determined. At least one of the ingredients looks very hard to find. Alyssa is determined. So I am seriously considering trying it. Did I mention Alyssa is determined?
After the movie we rushed to Borders Bookstore to see if Julia's book was there and it was. One copy, to be exact. I have no desire to master the art of French cooking (I'm no chef nor do I have the desire to be) so I am not interested in the Child cookbooks to have for my own. We saw display after display about this movie. We kept stopping and laughing at the trailers being shown. The movie was really good even though it bordered on being a chick flick.(those that know me know that I cannot stand chick flicks)
This movie had a couple of things seriously going for it that really blessed me for Alyssa to see.
Marriage in this movie was portrayed awesomely!
Both Julie and Julia's marriages were portrayed as fun, committed, sexy, exciting, a full partnerships with mutual support by both husbands and wives. We really talked about marriage after the movie and how God intended for sex to be within marriage and how good it could be as ordained by Him. We talked about her seeing the same qualities or lack of qualities in the marriages around her.
We talked about how awesome it made husbands look in a time like today-where TV and movies portray husbands as looking foolish, dumb, unnecessary, replaceable, easily-mocked, pansies. We talked about how the wives really valued what their husbands had to say and treated them, for the most part, with respect. (see the movie for the explanation of "the most part" i don't want to spoil it for you.) The wives did not dominate their husbands or treat them as fools. The were not shrews and sarcastic with their men. They were tender and trusting towards their husbands and their marriages. It was wonderful to see.
The movie did a favor for the image of marriage in Hollywood and I hope we see more movies like this. A movie portraying marriage as a full partnership of mutual love, support and respect? Unheard of in media today. What a blessing to see this with my daughter and be able to have such in depth and thoughtful discussions later.
So today, as Alyssa lies sleeping peacefully in the next room, I recommit to regularly tasting/reviewing recipes and posting to my food blog.
http://lordofthefork.blogspot.com/
And I will begin my search for those hard-to-find ingredients for that Beef Bourguignon.
Blessings, ya'll!
Robin
