“Julie and Julia”– A Scrumptious Movie

By Frannie Sheridan

Part 1 – The Movie . . . Yummy!

Passionate, creative people pursue their dreams out of necessity for spiritual survival.

Allowing food to serve as her palette, Julia Child became a beloved food artist. The joy, resilience and warmth which she radiated on television while making her recipes, particularly after she made mistakes like flipping food out of a pan onto the counter and then adopting her “It’s no big deal, just patch it back together” attitude was infectious.

This weekend, my husband and I devoured the recently released movie Julie and Julia. It was, simply put, yummy. From Meryl Streep’s bang-on depiction of Julia Child’s physicality, high-pitched voice and joie-de-vivre to Nora Ephron’s fluid storytelling, which made us hunger for every morsel of the story from appetizer to dessert. (Now, I can’t promise that those will be my final food references, so if you’re hungry I suggest you stop, whip up some beef bourgignon from a Julia Child cookbook, let it fall onto the floor, laugh in a high-pitched voice…and ingest the rest of this later.)

Ephron shows us that Julia Child had a marriage of true joy and friendship, a certain recipe for greatness. Stanley Tucci plays Julia Child’s devoted husband. Prior to her career epiphany to master cooking (Julia Child and her husband had both worked as spies under Roosevelt, a side story which Ephron barely touches on), she struggled with what it was that she should do to for a career. In the film, her husband responds by asking her what makes her happy. “Eating,” she laughingly replies. He then unflinchingly encourages her to pursue her bliss and continues to empower her every step of her journey, from her botched recipe attempts through to her dealings with jealous superiors to her enormous success.

I was tickled by the romantic strength also mirrored in the sub-plot modern day marriage, illustrated by Amy Adams and Chris Messina characters. Adams plays a Julia Child wannabe who became a popular food writer, which Ephron artfully weaves into the telling to keep the story current. The screen writers avoid a second portrayal of a perfect marriage, which would undoubtedly have come across as saccharine, by sprinkling it with some real life bumps, such as Messina’s husband character temporarily leaving in response to his wife having escalated into a shrew.

We roared along with the audience watching Streep and Adams struggle to make exotic recipes, got teary-eyed when relationships were either touching or strained, and rumbled stomachs during the alchemy of mouth-watering recipes.

Part 2 – Getting In Touch with The “Inner Julia Child” in All Of Us

My husband Dani, originally co-owner of Este Café in Queens, now my personal gourmet chef, sat next to me during the movie as we held hands and smooched, smiling knowingly to each other during the on-screen recipes. You see, we too have been bitten by the “food creation bug.” We married our passions to create a comedic healthy cooking show. We recently performed “Frannie’s Wacky Healthy Food Show,” which was sponsored by and presented at Whole Foods Market in Palm Beach Gardens. A 5-minute clip is viewable (above) within this story. Or you can visit my website on the Wacky Healthy Food Show page at www.franniesheridan.com.

My inspiration for cooking began with my Momma. She could cook up a storm. Literally. Once she left the pressure cooker on so long her beef stew exploded all over the kitchen. But after we’d scraped the salvageable remnants into bowls, it turned out to be a darn tasty and funny explosion!  

As an adult, I couldn’t care less about how healthy or tasty a gastronomic recipe is if I’m not sharing it with good-humored company!

We continue to perform “Frannie’s Wacky Healthy Food Show” for private and corporate events. Additionally, the show has been selected for development by a television producer of merit. It is evolving into an edgier concept which crosses ethnic and age barriers.

I encourage everyone to get in touch with their inner Julia Child, cuz ya know what they say; spiciness in the bedroom begins in the kitchen!

Last but not least, I would like to share a truly guilt-free truffles recipe with you. Recommended: you can find these ingredients at Whole Foods Market!

Frannie and Dani’s Guilt Free Chocolate Truffles

• To make approximately 14 truffles, roughly chop 1 and ½ cups pecans or walnuts…(maybe a few almonds if you want more crunch) and put into a mixing bowl.

• For those who don’t like nuts cuz you’re nutty enough hahaha, use raisins instead or even get kooky and add them together.

• Add 3 tbsp of coconut oil

• 2 tbsp of raw cacao powder

• 2 tbsp of agave

• A spritz of cinnamon if you like

• Add ½ tbsp of orange and or strawberry flavoring (nothing too cheap or it will taste icky)

• Mix everything together. Spoon into ice cube trays, and refrigerate. Ready in 20 minutes…sometimes a little longer…

• To remove the truffles, slide any small knife along BOTH sides of the truffle, lift out, and tada!

·        IMPORTANT: TO ENSURE THAT NO GUILT FEELINGS OCCUR, MAKE SURE TO DO THE ‘TRUFFLE SHUFFLE’!!!

Frannie Sheridan will be performing a run of her new humorous and poignant multi-character show “A Celebration Of Life…Dancing On Hitler’s Grave” at a local theatre in November, and also at the Boca JCC Beifield Theatre on Saturday January 30 @ 8:00 P.M, and Sunday January 31st @ 2:00 P.M. For further updates, please visit her website www.franniesheridan.com

Communication Overload – 7 Tips to Help You Manage

By Claudine Motto

All business owners share one thing in common no matter what business they’re in: the need to communicate – with co-workers, with employees, with potential clients, with vendors.

Because requests and information come at us from so many sources, the key is to streamline and organize – use the tips in this article to help you do just that.

Action Step #1: do some spring cleaning. List the number of communication methods, devices and accounts you’re now using (phone lines, email and social media accounts, etc.), and review each of these communication “lines” – do you really need all of them?  Consolidate or eliminate when possible. The fewer places you have to check for messages, the better.

Action Step #2: take advantage of features and technology. For example, Google Voice (free) lets you program one phone number to ring into different phones, saving you from having to give out different numbers depending on who it is and where you might be on a particular day. Voice messages can be transcribed into text, so that you can check them in your email inbox or on your cell phone.

For email, instead of checking several email inboxes, designate one as your main, and have the rest forwarded to it – most email software allows you to do this now.

For your social media accounts, applications like ping.fm allow to make updates to all of your social networking sites from their site.  A real time-saver.

Action Step #3: get real with social media. You set up Facebook and Twitter accounts to market your business, but have these become distractions in your day? Revisit the goal you’re trying to accomplish through social media and decide how long you’ll spend on your accounts each day based on that goal and against the rest of your priorities.

You could for example, decide that you’ll spend 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon – view these breaks as mini-rewards for staying focused.

Action Step #4: answer questions only once. If you’re answering the same questions repeatedly, document them – then put them up on your website or send them out when a customer requests more information.

The key is to keep the process warm and welcoming – make it clear that they can ask further questions if necessary and include your contact information so it’s easy to do so.

Action Step #5: let other people handle some questions.  If your business revolves around email or the phone, consider hiring part-time help for a couple of hours per day. The process will be a little painful until you can train the right person – but well worth if it frees you up a couple of hours a day to work on key projects. You might prefer someone local, but many clients are satisfied with virtual assistants and freelancers – from sites like Elance.com.

Action Step #6: make a choice and stick to it. Client information needs to be at your fingertips – if you keep some client information on paper and some in your computer, it makes it difficult and confusing to find phone numbers and almost impossible to develop a follow-up system you can trust.  And that translates into missed opportunities.

Although paper can work well for many things, software is king for contact management – you can find information in seconds, set up reminders for when you should follow up with someone, and back up the information.  And of course, updating an address or phone number takes seconds. There’s specialized software like ACT!, but Outlook is a good choice in many situations.

Action Step #7: look in the mirror. You are the center and key piece in staying organized and productive. If you’re letting phone calls, emails, and social media jolt you out of important tasks or projects, the only solution is to continually improve your focus.  And to understand how long those distractions really last – the single best tool for keeping tabs on yourself: a timer. Use it to become aware of how long you really spend on certain tasks, and to keep yourself on point.

Incoming information can be a challenge for most business owners – but with a little planning and the right systems, you can put yourself in control.

© 2009 Claudine Motto

Productivity Coach Claudine Motto helps home office geniuses, entrepreneurs, and independent professionals get organized so they can reach their goals with less struggle and less stress.  She offers one-on-one coaching and group training programs – please visit http://www.vistalnorte.com or call 561-641-9500 for more information, to sign up for her monthly newsletter, or to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation.