It's been way too long since my last entry! Last night I saw the film "Julie and Julia" and had a wave of remorse about not keeping up my own personal blog. So I will try to be more committed.
The film also was a flash from the past. The first time I ever saw Julia Child on TV was during an art class. My mom and I were taking painting lessons from an elderly artist in her basement. She had a penchant for keeping the TV on. One day, close to Christmas, there was Julia in glorious black and white showing how to make a Yule log. It was hard to ignore that voice! But it was also great fun to see what she was up to. The Yule log was a cake with chocolate frosting applied to look like bark. To enhance the realism, Julia set up a broomstick horizontally and flung some gooey substance at it. It dripped as gravity took hold. Eventually she gathered it up and it became the moss on the log cake. I think it was caramel. Next she made meringue mushrooms in two pieces and stuck something sugary between to act as a glue. But when the camera focused on it, the top of the perfect looking mushroom fell off! After that, we were hooked. We enjoyed the classes, but we also enjoyed watching Julia. She loved to add wine and we speculated that she took sips from the bottle every now and then. And not everything was perfect. But you had to love her good humor and her effort!
My mother, Lorraine, was an ace cook. She was constantly clipping recipes from the newspaper and trying new things. I'm sure Julia Child became an influence for her, too. I haven't cooked from a recipe in ages, but would like to try again. The food in the film looked delicious, so I'd like to find Julia's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking! Is great cooking in my genes? I want to try cooking the French way, just to find out.
Back in the 80's, I dated an actual French chef! His name was Jacques and he reminded me of a young Anthony Quinn. The accent, his looks, and his cooking were totally seductive. I lost my heart in a doomed relationship. He was a recovering alcoholic who longed for his ex-girlfriend. When they ran into one another unexpectedly, that was the end of our romance, though we stayed friends for a short time after that. A friend had me over for dinner once and I promised to cook for her. But instead, I brought my French chef friend over to her apartment where he cooked us both a fantastic New Year's Eve feast! It beat going out and fighting the crowds. But when we got to midnight, there was an awkward moment. So we all kissed and hugged and that was that.
Bon appetit!
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