a Juliaphile in the making
Ever since I can remember, there was this giant lady on the television who I was in love with. She was motherly, lively, and had one of the best senses of comic timing I’d ever seen.
Her name was Julia Child. She changed my life.
My mother and I religiously watched her cook on television. She made mistakes. Her kitchen was a mess when she was finished cooking. She laughed, and chortled her way through every recipe. Her excitement about food was infectious and I instantly adopted as much of her philosophy as I could.
Over the years, as I grew, I encountered countless articles and television segments with her. No matter what I was doing, I’d stop dead in my tracks and go into a trance, hanging on every word. I remember once being at Montgomery Wards in the television department. One of the televisions was tuned to PBS and they were showing her cooking with another chef. Somehow I managed to tune every single television to Julia and sat on the floor watching, mesmerized by thirty Julia’s all cooking.
I’m nothing close to an accomplished cook. I wouldn’t even say that I’m a good cook. I’m an EDIBLE cook in that the things that I prepare can be tolerated by the average stomach, but I’m not a gourmande or anything like that. Yet every time I step into the kitchen, I feel like Julia is there with me, watching.
When I cut vegetables, I can hear her in my mind telling me to “keep your fingers clenched” and “let the blade do the work.” I can’t help but finger a knife every time I see one to see if it’s sharp…or if it’s Julia sharp, the latter being my preferred choice.
She is my own personal inspiration for food, and because of her I’ve never been afraid to try eating anything. Make jokes if you want, but I’ll put anything in my mouth once. And I owe that all to Julia.
I’m about to move into an apartment that has a new kitchen with a dishwasher and a nice brand new stove. The excitement I’m feeling about the kitchen has been keeping me up at night. Although I’ve thumbed through many of Julias’ cookbooks, I’ve mostly followed recipes of hers by downloading them from the internet or flipping through back-issues of magazines. But it’s time to change that.
I’ve just purchased “The Way To Cook” by Julia Child because the bookstore next to the office had it for $20. The first three chapters are “Soup”, “Bread”, and “Eggs.” I intend to cook as many of the recipes I can during the first couple months in the new kitchen to get myself on track.
During this next year I plan to cook as much as possible. The added bonus is that Spin is right next door, and I can slough off leftovers on the folks that work there, so there won’t be tons of food staring me in the face.