Photo Credit: India Baker
Photo Details: El Rio Verde Beef Tongue Chimichanga
One of the beautiful things about being a homeschooling parent is that I get to expose my children to cultures that I would not have the time to expose them to if I were trying to juggle public school and homemaking or even a job. I suppose if I had the finances to afford private school I could afford to travel prolifically with the kids and expose them to places far and wide, however, sometimes if you just look in a neighborhood you would not otherwise be caught dead in, you might find priceless gems hidden away. Over coming culture shock in your own city, though, requires having no fear.
The above picture looks like an innocent chimichanga with a typical Mexican rice some sour cream and guac. It is, until you really grasp the bigger picture. The day began typically enough. Bible Study, History, Narration and the typical day would continue one to grammar or Literature, followed by read alouds, silent reading, mathematics, Nature Study all wrapped up with what I like to call Home Keeping, one of the most important lessons as it teaches the kids how to manage time and make wise choices. There are always other lessons that creep into each day, but that is an average day. This day, however, was a trip to Gilcrease Museum to explore their Native America art exhibit, which, if you are in Tulsa is a must see!
So what do a Mexican restaurant and Gilcrease Museum have in common? El Rio Verde is a tiny little restaurant where lunch hour and dinner rush results in standing room only waiting for a seat at one of it's flamboyantly decorated tables/booths or sitting cowboy style at the counter, which every child would blissfully love their parents to choose. Do not expect American style furnishings, memorabilia, drinks, or even standards of service or cooking. This is as close to authentic Mexican cuisine as you can get in Tulsa. Ethnic. Delicious. Colourful. Passion on a plate. Gastronomical art. Thus the link to Gilcrease.
Art requires taking a risk. An artist must have no fear of judgement, preconceived notions must be abandoned or an artist will go mad. An artist must ignore every single person that says that they will never succeed and just create that piece that makes every single onlooker drop their jaw over the exquisite nature of an item that was previously a jumbled mess. Whether a blank canvas and a set of oils and a brush or a block of wood lovingly carved until it resembles the character hidden within that only the most passionate artist can coax out. Fear will send the masterpiece into hiding to wait for the time when that artist or even another will have the patience to lure the piece into existence.
Damien learned how this related to food as he debated what sort of meat he wanted in his chimichanga. You see, El Rio Verde is famous for their "wet burrito". The burrito is covered with a special mildly spicy sauce (spicy to some, however for heat lovers, not at all spicy) and stuffed with rice, lettuce, tomatoes, meat of your choosing and a sundry few other items, topped with a dollop of sour cream and homemade guacamole. YUM! So far, he had only tried the wet burrito and had decided to break his comfort zone and try a wet burrito with beef tongue. He has been debating this option with himself since the first time he ate there and decided that today was the day he would explore a "scarier" food choice. It's no FouFou or Guinean Leaf Sauce, but it is daring for a young man born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He was pleasantly surprised when he chose to get a Chimichanga instead, however, he did get to choose his meat in the Chimichanga as well, and of course beef tongue was surprisingly "beefy" he decided. I must confess, I have tried many "interesting" or even exotic foods, however, I am not partial to trying beef tongue unless I happen not have any alternative, though I was impressed with his character in making this choice. No one dared him, no one pressured him. He chose to expand his boundaries and found out that food can be art, even when the plate is not gussied up like an Iron Chef Special.
Opening his mind to his food options, while trying to maintain a healthy outlook on life and food, helped him open his mind to art. Gilcrease was really just the icing on the cake. And he found a new hobby he would like to explore. Willard Stone impressed him mightily and he now wants to learn how to carve wood in addition to his passion for leather work.
No fear will take you amazing places and help you learn things you never imagined you could or would. Having no fear to educate my children and allow them to be educated, rather than cramming data into their short term memory so that they can regurgitate it onto a standardized test and promptly forget is only fulfilling if I remember to look, listen, and learn myself. If I do not stop to look at the growth of my children, listen to them converse and express the new information they are digesting, and learn to see the truth of living learning and allow my children to truly live then I will cease to educate and begin to dictate information, thus making me as ineffective a teacher as the poor over-worked, under paid public school teacher who can barely manage all the rules and regulations set in place to "teach the masses" while forgetting every ounce of the education (s)he received from childhood to teaching degree. I will teach with no fear, educate with passion, pursue making my children a living example of the capabilities one has when they truly experience life.
"Our journals ask with scorn,–”Is there no education but what is got out of books at school? Is not the lad who works in the fields getting an education?” and the public lacks the courage to say definitely, “No, he is not,” because there is no clear notion current as to what education means, and how it is to be distinguished from vocational training. But the people begin to understand and to clamour for an education which shall qualify their children for life rather than for earning a living. As a matter of fact, it is the person who has read and thought on many subjects who is, with the necessary training, the most capable whether in handling tools, drawing plans, or keeping books. The more of a person we succeed in making a child, the better will he both fulfil his own life and serve society." ~Charlotte Mason
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