Smitten with a French Chef

I confess: I'm in love with Julia Child (1912-2004). I had read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell last year, but I wasn't really in love with her then. I did put the DVD series The French Chef on my Netflix cue, but I didn't start watching them until this year.

A week or so ago, I pulled My Life in France by Julia Child from the bookshelf and started reading, and it is this book that made me fall in love with this larger than life woman. Her memoir focuses mainly on her time in France, chronicling the discovery of her passion for food, her lessons at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and her collaboration with two Frenchwomen on Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 and 2. She also writes about the beginning and rise of her television show The French Chef and concludes with her writing From Julia Child's Kitchen (which I'm currently following in eBay), which has recipes and stories.

At first, I was disappointed that the book didn't include a variety of recipes. That disappointment didn't last long because it's a truly fun read. Yes, there is a lot of writing about cooking and food, but it is also a love story. There are pictures of Julia and her husband Paul; the book is about life with Paul nearly as much as it is about her life as a chef and writer. In reading the book, you get a sense of her passion for life and how she completely threw herself into every aspect of food and cooking. She writes of how she meticulously researched ingredients and techniques and how she tried recipes out sometimes 15 times before she was satisfied they were good enough to include in Masting the Art of French Cooking, which is why I had to order it. I have purchased volume 1, and I'm watching volume 2 on eBay, hoping to find a copy at a good price. Because of her meticulous nature, the books are not only about recipes but also about the how and why of a recipe: how ingredients work together, why some techniques are used in some recipes and other techniques are used in other recipes. I get the sense she might have been an early Alton Brown.

Once I acquire both volumes, I'm throwing away The Joy of Cooking. I've never really liked it, and I have found the text rather boring. If Julia's cookbooks are written in the style and voice of her memoir, I expect them to be engaging, entertaining, and informative.

If you're curious about her television show, visit the Julia Child section of the PBS videos where several of her shows can be viewed (all are under 30 minutes in length). The video "Spinach Twins" has footage of Simone Beck, a co-author of the Mastering the Art of French Cooking books, and there is footage of Julia and Paul's home in Provence. If you love cooking, food, France, or a good love story featuring a strong heroine, I encourage you to read My Life in France.

I feel a rant coming on in a future post (I can't be completely rant-free). I invite all readers to comment on this and all posts, as well as also suggest topics you would like to read about.

As always, bon appetit!

Summer Hibernation

A few people will notice that I've been away awhile. I wish I could say that I was busy driving along the winding roads of the Luberon in the South of France all summer (where this photo was taken a few years ago), but such is not the case. Chalk it up to apathy. My ambition fades like a flower when summer temperatures soar, burning the garden to a crisp and drying up any impulse to wander outside to take photos or lovingly tend the garden. My inspiration for writing withered like the plants in the garden.

As the temperatures cooled this past week or two, I began to toy with the idea of writing again but found myself uncharacteristically sick with a fever and hacking cough that lasted nearly a week (the week isn't up, yet I'm still hacking). But, like the garden, I've begun to produce again. We may yet squeeze out a few more tomatoes, an eggplant or two, and some poblano peppers. I'm ready to begin the fall garden and to re-begin my writing.

Since it's obvious I haven't been writing, what have I been doing? True to my obsession with food, I've been reading about food, watching The French Chef with Julia Child, cooking, and eating with friends and family. For fun, I read The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Flinn talks about losing her job and then deciding to fulfill her dream of attending Le Cordon Bleu in France--not just attending, but earning a certificate and the title of chef from the famed cooking school. I loved revisiting Paris as I read her book, and I've tried a few of the recipes she's included. I believe I'm going to have to eat my way through each one as the first two were delicious!

Flinn inspired me to learn more about technique, so I ordered Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen, a culinary school text, and LaRousse Gastronomique, an evidently famous culinary encyclopedia. I'm into the fifth chapter of Gisslen's book; and I'm working through "A" entries in LaRousse.

Still hungering for more of food and France, I started reading My Life in France by Julia Child, who also attended Le Cordon Bleu in the forties. It was interesting to compare the experiences of Child and Flinn at the school, which began as a perk for subscribers of French cooking magazine, the name of which escapes me. By the time Flinn attended in the late 1990's, it seems the school had become much more prestigious. I'm still reading Child's book, which has prompted me to search eBay for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 and 2, co-authored by Child. I'm watching a couple of auctions now, but each has exceeded my $10 self-imposed limit. I may have to make an exception for Julia!

There will be more about food, cooking, and gardening later. Until then, bon appetit!