Eat

:: Getting My Julias Out

April 2, 2010

Wowee. I’m totally behind the eightball, I know. I have been so busy doing work stuff lately, I haven’t really been to the movies. Or even been watching recent stuff on DVD, really. I’ve been hiding out amongst period dramas and BBC thrillers in my quieter moments.  (That in itself  is kind of weird, because I used to HATE period dramas.  I think it was Jane Eyre that turned it all around. Give me a lady doing needlepoint in a fancy frock with her bosoms heaving and I’m in.) 

The point of all this is that I finally got around to watching Julie and Julia today.  That is totally what you are meant to do for Easter.  You are meant to bake buns and watch feel-good chick flicks, did you know that?  I promise it’s true.  You know, I really loved the film.  I did not love Amy Adams (is that her name?), but I loved lots of other things about it. I loved Meryl Streep. I loved the copper pots. I loved the butter. I loved it that Julia wore heels, even though she was a tall woman. I loved the letter writing and the typewriters.  I loved the scenes at Le Cordon Bleu.   I loved her cheery, unbridled, eccentric enthusiasm.  I loved the relationship between Paul and Julia.  OK, that’s a lot of love. I think I was just totally thrilled that there was a film celebrating a woman like Julia Child. Smart, unconventional, bountiful and passionate, a complete example to us all!   Granted, I would rather the whole film was about Julia, but I did find it kind of validating that a blog was actually featured in a film, and the script didn’t call for geek glasses, rubik’s cubes or stalking. Obvously it was a bit of a blogger fairy tale… but still, I think it did quite a good job of portraying how obsessive we bloggers are and how blogging seeps into our relationships and annoys our family members and friends!   (And also that we too have messy houses and imperfect lives.)

But back to Julia.  I have a pair of 1973 Mastering The Art of French Cooking volumes.  I have cooked a couple of things from them, including the infamous Boeuf Bourguignon (delicious!) and Saute de Boeuf a la Provencale (also delicious and beef themed.) The covers of the books are delicious too, and I mean aesthetically as well as literally as they are stained with splashes of those florally labelled French wines (beaujolais?) which you have to drink when you cook French food. (It’s in the rules.)

It is market day tomorrow and I am extremely excited about getting the Julias out again! In fact I have them out already.   I am quite impressionable. All it takes is a little push and I’m off.  I pity my poor family as there will be a week or two of desserts and creamy things ahead, I reckon.  ‘No more leeks’ they will cry.  ‘Enough of the whisked things’ they will protest.  But things could be worse, I guess.  I mean I could still be in my Fondue phase, so I think they are getting off lightly. There is no Kirsch in sight.  What is Kirsch anyway?  Mysterious moonshine from the Alps?

Did you see this film?  What did you think?  I would like to see a film just about Julia and Simone and Louisette, personally…

xx Pip

PS : Happy Birthday to my Lovely Mum!  Hip Hip Hooray!

Also useful :
The original blog that spawned the book and the movie.
PBS Julia Child website

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