"Küchenschlacht" - Diary of my amazing trip to Germany...

Picture: Salvelio Meyer

"Praise the Lord and pray in his name! Tell everyone what he has done."     1 Chr 16:8 CEV

This photo was taken in September 2012, after I returned from Germany, where I took part in a cooking competition, loosely translated called "kitchen battle" and won! But this photo in no way tells the real story...

Image courtesy of www.morguefile.com

I certainly did not feel like the "celeb chef" that some people called me after my return but much more like Rapunzel in the movie "Tangled", a girl that, just like me, lived in a very tidy castle and had a hunch that her true identity was yet to be revealed. When she met her prince for the first time, you could say she was rather suspicious and reluctant to leave her castle. It had become her place of comfort and she had become fearful of the world. The same could be said of me. But the Lord, our Father, gently nudged me at the beginning of this year to apply to this German cooking show that I watched daily. I hoped I would be able to go, but I really didn't expect to win or that He would use me to praise His name. I was about to be amazed. I applied, got accepted and within a couple of months every detail was taken care of. My flights were paid for and I was ready to go. I knew I was in for some great fun!

Then, just before I left, I felt God wanted me to do something for Him. You see, I teach Grade 2 bible classes at my daughter's school and I had recently taught my kids the gospel message with the help of a Rubik's Cube. (If you want to know more about that message, you can follow the link at the bottom of this page, but stay with me for a little while longer.) When packing my bags, I couldn't shake the feeling that God wanted me to take the cube along. I really had no idea what I was going to do with it...all I knew is that I would somehow try to bring God's "message of love" into the show and that I would do whatever He asked me to do. I was so very keen to go, after all I had NEVER been away from my kids for a whole week and I really needed the holiday and the adventure. If you're a mom, I am sure you'll understand!

 

(This photo is my own)

So that's how I ended up here, an ordinary mom with ordinary cooking skills, from an ordinary town in South Africa in a German cooking show. There were 4 shows to get through and 4 meals to be cooked before one would get into the finals and each day we had only 35 minutes to complete our meal. At the end of each show, all meals were tasted by a Michelin star-rated chef who then had to eliminate one candidate. 

Throughout these shows I kept a diary and I am going to try and share some of my thoughts and experiences here with you. I want you to know though that I attribute ALL of the success I had in this show to my daily routine of early morning quiet times with God. Every morning over there, at about 06h00, I took my bible and slipped downstairs to the hotel lobby and somewhere in a quiet corner I had a one-hour chat with my Daddy God...

(Unless otherwise indicated, I took all my scriptures from the Message Bible.) 

Day 1

After a fabulous trip I had a wonderful arrival at Hamburg airport yesterday where I met up with my mother-in-law and was greeted by a representative from the TV studio. What a "VIP feeling" it was! As for today, and probably for the first time ever in my life, I decided that I shall not be worried and I shall not fear! I shall just cook and trust God to help me finish my meal in 35 minutes flat. Loving Him and loving people is all I set out to do. In my quiet time I asked God for a scripture for today and when I opened my bible, I landed on Matthew 21:28-32. It is the story of two sons, both of which were told to perform a certain task. But while the first one agreed to do it and then went and forgot about it, the second was weary at first, but obedient in the end. In the story, it is implied that it is the latter one that will inherit the blessing from his father. So, although weary at first, I was ready to do whatever God would ask of me! But it seemed that God only needed me to cook, so here is my ordinary Cottage Pie served in an elegant way! 

Day 2

Much to my surprise, I did not get eliminated yesterday. But boy, was I scared! Those cameras make you so very nervous! I had a feeling that God was "giving me favor in their eyes" and that nothing here was completely my own doing. So here I was, Round 2, and ready to cook my starter, a cucumber soup with salmon sandwiches on the side. During this show, the host, Johan Lafer, asked me about the Rubik's Cube that was standing on my stove. I had no real "message" for him yet. I was so nervous I barely remembered what to do with my recipe, so I postponed my answer to Round 3. Later, when I asked God for a word in a quiet moment, He lead me to read Matthew 6:1-4 that starts with "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding." Wow is all I could think! In other words, don't just make the world your stage, but be genuine in your love. That was awesome and very appropriate advice, for when we get nervous and insecure, don't we all have the tendency to "put on a show"? But that is precisely what God did NOT want me to do. Not today, not tomorrow. This was important.

Day 3

Everyone seems so friendly here, but I can't help feeling they don't want to hear any messages from God, even if it is a loving word. But in my quiet time today I came across Matthew 10:18-20 "Without knowing it, they've done you - and me - a favor, give you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don't worry about what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words." How's that for marching orders?? My recipe for today was "Zürcher Geschnetzeltes", a Swiss veal dish with noodles and with that I served a tomato and mozzarella salad for which I cut the mozzarella with a butterfly shaped cookie cutter. Sadly, I don't have a photo of the salad, but it did look beautiful! Let me tell you though, if cooking in front of a camera is not bad enough, sharing a gospel message in-between certainly gets your sweat glands going! I knew I would have to tell him more about the Rubik's Cube today, I just had no idea HOW I would do that in 10 seconds flat. My stomach was starting to tie into knots! In my head and while cooking, I kept going over Mark 6:45-56, assuring myself that Jesus calms our storms when we need him to and boy did I need him to now! Nonetheless, excited and fearful at the same time, with knees trembling, hands shaking and a throat that seemed completely dry, I shared a 30-second version of my "Rubik's Cube gospel message". I know that the studio audience actually loved it and there were millions of Germans watching the show. Praise God, I did it and survived! Never before have I seen so vividly that when God gives you a job to do He DOES equip you and never leaves you alone. And what's more...he WILL reward you. So, no guessing contest...I made it through this round and into the next!!

Day 4

Ok, I am still here and my "job" with the Rubik's Cube was done. Now what? A good friend of mine sent me an SMS with a scripture from 1 Peter 5:10 basically saying that out of difficulties grow miracles. Apparently this was about to come true for me because I was still in the running and heading to the finals. The going gets tougher in round 4 though, as we now had to cook a main course plus a dessert in 35 minutes flat! So I set out to do a Swiss version of "Fillet Wellington" served with a Walnut/Pear salad and a Citrus Cream for dessert. There was a chaotic amount of ingredients in front of me and concentrating seemed really hard because my mind kept going blank. All this in 35 minutes was a challenge and somehow, in all the rush, I managed to drop my pudding on the floor! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, but thankfully I had some left in the bowl, managed to find another glass and so in the last few seconds I was still able to serve it! The strangest thing about today was - I was having fun in the midst of this chaos and loving it! Not something I would naturally do. So, here we were, three candidates left, yet another judge tasting our food and when he chose my food to "pass" all I could think of was "NO WAY!". Against all my own expectations I had now made it into the finals...      

Day 5

I never thought of myself as a wonderful cook and the one thing I could never cook was fish. Imagine my feelings when I received my recipe from the host for the finals. What was it? Fish, of course! To be exact, Zanderfillet which had to be cooked with the skin on and served on a bed of butternut and lentils and covered with some potato straw. We also needed to add a starter or a dessert of our own to compliment the main course. I chose to make a dessert called "Strawberry snow". Knowing my history with fish in the past, I fully expected to lose! After all the other candidate was a very experienced and capable cook. But by now the show had been so much fun, it really didn't matter at all who would win, not to me anyway and I believe neither to him. The "stage fright" had begun to settle down a little and I was just having so much fun to see "God at work through me". Nonetheless, I am not exaggerating when I say that I must have spent 35 minutes praying "under my breath" as I was so way out of my depth! At some point today I remembered that Jesus always prepared fish for his disciples and I laughed at the thought of this being my last meal to cook. As a matter of fact, that's when it became crystal clear to me that God would see me through to the end. I finally realized that in His kingdom you do not have to be great for Him to use you in an incredible way and make you look good in the process! You just have to be available and willing. And so it happened that during this last show, and definitely against all odds, my fish somehow turned out perfect and in the words of the judge "too perfect to be turned down". I won! I was stunned, but oh, what a victory for the Lord! If only I was able to tell someone! Nobody saw this coming, not even the host, who later confided in me that he never thought I would win. But God knew...and He had given me victory with very little doing of my own. I have never cooked this kind of fish before. As a matter of fact, I have never cooked much of any kind of fish before. My hands were trembling, my mind went blank quite often during the 35 minutes and yet I won! I rejoiced because I knew...despite my many weaknesses and shortcomings...in Him I was made perfect!

 

Me with the winning apron and the final judge (Nelson Müller)
(This photo is my own)

CONCLUSION 

The moral of the story perhaps is this:

I am or was just a regular and stressed-out mom, until I finally surrendered control to God. Since then I've been amazed at what God can do and how He fits together the puzzle pieces of your life…if only you let Him. Not only did I get a fabulous holiday away from home and had loads of fun, I now get to go back to claim my prize - a weekend away for two. Something my hubby and I haven’t done in 15 years.

 

Image courtesy of www.morguefile.com

In the process, much like Rapunzel, I have discovered my true identity. I am a daughter of the Most High and His Princess. Not perfect, by far, but happy to listen and hear his voice! I am significant because HE makes me significant. I now surrender each day to Him and trust that he will help me find ways to serve and glorify Him. I hope that you enjoyed this story and that you will have a fabulous day!

- THE END -

Here are some more encouraging stories with things I have learnt during this journey:

• A crucial detail about safety all moms MUST know...
• From mountain tops to hula hoops...back to reality!
• Attitude is EVERYTHING...
• You are important to God...!

And as promised above:

• Getting through my day with the help of a "Rubik's Cube"... (New version) 
• How to get your inner Rubik's Cube resolved...  (Older version)

Plus, here is the link to my story in the newspaper:

• The Global Table (Weekend Post, October 12, 2012) 

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