I asked my seventeen-year old son Alex what he'd like for dinner on Sunday. He was going to be gone most of the day, but I offered to let him pick the meal.
"Beef wellington and birthday fudge."
I nodded. You know, I set myself up by asking. He's never been a cheap kid to feed. He ordered lobster off a restaurant menu when he was in grade school. Now, he's taking a culinary class. If he finds any recipes that sound complicated or expensive, he wants to try them.
"Have you ever tried beef wellington?"
"No, but I've always wanted to eat beef wellington."
Uh-huh. This is what I get for checking out Gordon Ramsey's cookbook from the library.
Not one to be threatened by a challenge, I accepted. I searched for the right cut of meat. I ordered the right mushrooms from the grocery store. I decided Gordon Ramsey and I would create this amazing dish together....if only Gordon were here for a little coaching.
Three hours, two Youtube tutorials, and two sweaty girls later (my daughter Leeza and myself) and we started to think we might pull off dinner. Gordon Ramsey Juniors is what everyone can call us.
"You know what we need," I said to Leeza. "We need some funk music to help us finish."
So, while grooving to seventies disco music (don't judge us), Leeza and I diligently finished the Wellington. As we rolled out the puff pastry, which is the most difficult and delicate part of the operation, I paused and prayed, "Lord, bless this puff pastry. Please let it roll onto the beef as its supposed to."
One miracle later, the Wellington was in the oven.
"You know what we should serve as as side dish?" I said. "Our potatoes out of the garden. Do you want to peel them?"
"Sure!" she replied. I'm so glad she's always up for helping me in the kitchen. But, we didn't consider how difficult the tiny potatoes are to peel from the garden. For some unknown reason, our potatoes didn't grow to full-size.
"I hate peeling these little potatoes," she said as one went flying across the kitchen while the disco music blared. "They're hard to hold onto to. My hand is going to be permanently stuck in a potato peeling position by the end of the day."
But, Leeza is not a quitter and twenty minutes later, we had a pile of peeled tiny potatoes.
In the end, the Wellington was fantastic. The meticulous potato peeling paid off, even if Leeza's hands remain deformed. As I sat at the dinner table watching my delighted son, I couldn't help but to feel so grateful.
Then, an interesting thought dropped into my mind. I wondered what it would have been like to have Christ sit at your table. He loved a good feast. It must have been incredible to sit at dinner, listening to him teach.
Would He have liked Wellington and birthday fudge? What would I say if He were here? What questions would I ask?
I finished dinner and we cleaned up the kitchen. Perhaps its crazy to miss Christ sitting at your table, but I did.
And, I have to tell you, I am looking forward to the day I get to sit at His table, face to face.
Who knows, maybe there will even be birthday fudge.
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