I'm so lucky

In the summer of 2002 I got an invite to attend a book signing, it was being held at Sur La Table, in Pasadena and it coincided with Julia Child's 90th birthday, in the city where she was born. Although it is one of my favorite stores, and I too was born in the city, undergoing difficulties I declined and never looked back. Not until last weekend did I begin to wonder what would it have been like to have met the fluted voice of la Grand Dame de la cuisine.


I finally got around to seeing the film, Julie and Julia. The combination alone knocked my socks off; Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Paris in the late 1940's, early 1950's and French cuisine. It can't get much better than that, except that I would have loved to be alive and in Paris during that era.


I loved watching the story go back and forth between the two women from different generations.


Julie Powell, wanted to write, but was stuck in a dead end secretarial job, and felt she hadn't accomplished anything with her life. By cooking all of Julia's recipes she comes to life as cooking becomes her salvation.


Julia who had been a secretary marries late and living in France, with her diplomat husband, wonders how to spend her days. She tries hat making, bridge, and then cooking lessons at Cordon Bleu. There she discovers her true passion.


This sunny story is not only a satisfying throw back to another time, but as we go back and forth between these stories of two women learning to cook that find success, you can't help but think of how lives are intertwined.


The story of two middle age woman cooking, while sympathetic, loving husbands support them both, may not sound that exciting but it's premise goes far beyond the ordinary, it's actually a tender love story about how much a woman can accomplish and her dreams come true because she is loved.


Someday, I'm going to try Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. But for now, I have a nice piece of Dover sole awaiting me, which I will cook in gobs of butter creating sole meunieré, while thinking of Julia.


Bon Appetit.