Have you heard? Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child has soared to the top of the book lists! For the first time since it was published it will reach number one on the NYTimes bestseller list next week! Amazing how the movie is spurring on cooking and reading!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/business/24julia.html?_r=1&8dpc
However, everyone is in an uproar in the blogosphere and mainstream media about the age of Lipitor and pork fat!
You know, Julia and her husband both lived long and rather healthy lives. Its a matter of chemical make up, family history, diet, exercise and just plain luck of the draw on who has high cholesterol or blocked arteries and although food has something to do with it, it isn't the only reason for health problems.
What Julia Child did with Mastering the Art, was make what seemed a mystery to most Americans, accessible and something that could be accomplished in the home kitchen.
Go to Amazon.com or ecookbooks.com and see how many other cookbooks come up under Julia Child's name and you'll see she didn't limit herself to just butter-laden, meat-heavy dishes. She was bound by the French techniques which suited her personality and thinking, but very often diversified to suit the American kitchen and palate.
I have been a vegetarian for the last 20-some years and have always had a huge dislike of any sort of organ meat such as liver or kidneys, sweetbreads or other innards.
I happened to be home one day and tuned into Good Morning America when she was their on-air cook and watched Ms. Child prepare calve's liver with bacon and onions. Watching that three minute segment, her technique was awesome and her description of each step was so understandable and made it sound so delicious, that I know I could have made the dish, had I been so inclined. It was amazing to watch her.
Showing posts with label Julia Child. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julia Child. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
The J&J Movie: A Feast for the Eyes, the Mind and the Soul
I’d see it all over again.
Highly recommend it and suggest you don’t go hungry.
Julie & Julia is an absolutely wonderful, feel-good film, full of humor, heartache and a glimpse of two women, each with high hopes and perseverance to accomplish tasks they set out to fulfill. Both dealt with the ups and downs, each struggled in their own way, but had the support of loving partners to cheer them on and give that boost when needed.
There isn’t a movie out there with Meryl Streep in it that I don’t devour. The woman can play any role and convince me she is the person she’s playing. Using her voice in Julie & Julia, her talent assured me Julia Child was on the screen.
Brief synopsis: Julie Powell – a real person who lived in Queens and worked in an office as an administrative assistant felt her life was drab and pointless. She decided to undertake the task of making every one of Julia Child’s recipes in her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Not crazy to take that on, but Powell did so in the course of one year and the book holds 524 recipes. That’s 1.44 recipes every day of the year!
And she blogged about it!
Cooking isn’t difficult for those with some experience, and I have some of that, but I’d be fooling myself if I thought I could accomplish this. What? With Child’s training and practice, I’d be lost before getting started. French cooking isn’t terribly hard - although you must master some major skills and it is time consuming if following Child's instruction.
The movie is interspersed with the story line from Child’s autobiography, “My Life in France,” and jumps back and forth from Child’s 1940’s Paris to the current time-frame with Powell’s story.
I often worry about the hype a movie gets and rarely go see them on opening weekend. I don't usually take the critic's word for it, either good or bad and worry that I'll be disappointed and only the good scenes make it to the commercials.
I had been reading all the articles in the New York Times, hearing the stories on NPR and with my obsession with The Food Network, was seeing trailers for the movie, over and over and over again.
I have to admit, this one was simply delicious! I was wrapped up in it from start to finish and so were my companions who went with me. All three of us were bowled away by the performances of Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina.
YOU HAVE TO SEE IT! Take your mother, take your sister, take your best friend. Go and enjoy.
Check it out here - www.julieandjulia.com/
Highly recommend it and suggest you don’t go hungry.
Julie & Julia is an absolutely wonderful, feel-good film, full of humor, heartache and a glimpse of two women, each with high hopes and perseverance to accomplish tasks they set out to fulfill. Both dealt with the ups and downs, each struggled in their own way, but had the support of loving partners to cheer them on and give that boost when needed.
There isn’t a movie out there with Meryl Streep in it that I don’t devour. The woman can play any role and convince me she is the person she’s playing. Using her voice in Julie & Julia, her talent assured me Julia Child was on the screen.
Brief synopsis: Julie Powell – a real person who lived in Queens and worked in an office as an administrative assistant felt her life was drab and pointless. She decided to undertake the task of making every one of Julia Child’s recipes in her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Not crazy to take that on, but Powell did so in the course of one year and the book holds 524 recipes. That’s 1.44 recipes every day of the year!
And she blogged about it!
Cooking isn’t difficult for those with some experience, and I have some of that, but I’d be fooling myself if I thought I could accomplish this. What? With Child’s training and practice, I’d be lost before getting started. French cooking isn’t terribly hard - although you must master some major skills and it is time consuming if following Child's instruction.
The movie is interspersed with the story line from Child’s autobiography, “My Life in France,” and jumps back and forth from Child’s 1940’s Paris to the current time-frame with Powell’s story.
I often worry about the hype a movie gets and rarely go see them on opening weekend. I don't usually take the critic's word for it, either good or bad and worry that I'll be disappointed and only the good scenes make it to the commercials.
I had been reading all the articles in the New York Times, hearing the stories on NPR and with my obsession with The Food Network, was seeing trailers for the movie, over and over and over again.
I have to admit, this one was simply delicious! I was wrapped up in it from start to finish and so were my companions who went with me. All three of us were bowled away by the performances of Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina.
YOU HAVE TO SEE IT! Take your mother, take your sister, take your best friend. Go and enjoy.
Check it out here - www.julieandjulia.com/
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