Julia & Me!
Julia Child and I have two things in common: a love of eating and a love of cooking. The big difference is that she was a fabulous cook who wrote a veritable cookery bible, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (volumes I & II) while I just buy cookery books with irresistibly mouth watering covers and stash them on my already overloaded shelf rarely to be opened. Ng Kee Cheong, a young lad from Hong Kong who adopted us as a family, said that he couldn’t understand all the cookery books in my kitchen and the fact that I never seemed to use them. It often takes a stranger in your life to point out startlingly obvious facts about yourself of which you are blissfully unaware: would that I had remained so.
When my daughter decided to become a vegetarian, I purchased the most sensible paperback book on the subject (not a single picture in sight) and studied it cover to cover until I had got to grips with the ‘no meat’ thing. I would sit with my tea in the morning and read a page or two of From Anna’s Kitchen, gleaning all the relevant facts, and it is a book I still use now that I have mastered the art of cooking rabbit food (I can’t believe I said that!).
One of my first wedding presents (I was so surprised when I announced my imminent nuptials to find gifts arriving on my doorstep; it was something that had never crossed my mind. Was I an innocent or what???) was a splendid cookery book (once again, thank you very much Frank Deignan) which has been used so much that the covers have become detached and the edges are brown with age (it was a long time ago). Page 268 of my Good Housekeeping, is splattered with the ingredients for Christmas Puddings, a recipe that has been used once a year since I was first wed. The Goulash on page 103 fed many a dinner guest with a slice of Banana Tea Bread from page 329 for afters. If I fancied trying something new, all I had to do was plough through until inspired and away I went: broiling, baking, grilling, roasting, frying, burning, toasting, charring – so much so that when my beloved and I decided to divorce, he looked at me fondly and said that he would miss my cooking! Not a word of a lie, my friends, and I took it as a compliment.
Anyway, I’ve just been to see the film Julie and Julia and I enjoyed it immensely. Now I have to have the book: no, not Julie Powell’s modern take on how her life mimics that of the cook, Julia Child, but the original, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961. I want to make her sizzling Boeuf (à la) Bourguignonne to dazzle unsuspecting guests who will only be invited so I can show off. I promise, Kee Cheong, just in case you’re reading this, that I will keep this book off the shelf and use it as often as this carnivore gets her own way in the kitchen.
When my daughter decided to become a vegetarian, I purchased the most sensible paperback book on the subject (not a single picture in sight) and studied it cover to cover until I had got to grips with the ‘no meat’ thing. I would sit with my tea in the morning and read a page or two of From Anna’s Kitchen, gleaning all the relevant facts, and it is a book I still use now that I have mastered the art of cooking rabbit food (I can’t believe I said that!).
One of my first wedding presents (I was so surprised when I announced my imminent nuptials to find gifts arriving on my doorstep; it was something that had never crossed my mind. Was I an innocent or what???) was a splendid cookery book (once again, thank you very much Frank Deignan) which has been used so much that the covers have become detached and the edges are brown with age (it was a long time ago). Page 268 of my Good Housekeeping, is splattered with the ingredients for Christmas Puddings, a recipe that has been used once a year since I was first wed. The Goulash on page 103 fed many a dinner guest with a slice of Banana Tea Bread from page 329 for afters. If I fancied trying something new, all I had to do was plough through until inspired and away I went: broiling, baking, grilling, roasting, frying, burning, toasting, charring – so much so that when my beloved and I decided to divorce, he looked at me fondly and said that he would miss my cooking! Not a word of a lie, my friends, and I took it as a compliment.
Anyway, I’ve just been to see the film Julie and Julia and I enjoyed it immensely. Now I have to have the book: no, not Julie Powell’s modern take on how her life mimics that of the cook, Julia Child, but the original, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961. I want to make her sizzling Boeuf (à la) Bourguignonne to dazzle unsuspecting guests who will only be invited so I can show off. I promise, Kee Cheong, just in case you’re reading this, that I will keep this book off the shelf and use it as often as this carnivore gets her own way in the kitchen.
Labels: cookbooks, Julia Child, vegetarian
