Thursday my friend Pete and I went to see Julie and Julia in the theater. Also in attendance were about 30 female grayhairs and one other man. I would have loved to interview some of the women watching with us to get their impressions. The theater was filled with laughter many times. I wonder how many of those women faithfully watched every Julia Child cooking show so they could provide healthy, tasty meals for their families.
I was mostly interested in watching the movie because the main character, (Julie Powell played by Amy Adams) was a blogger. She cooked her way through Julia Child’s book in one year and blogged about it. In the end she became a successful blogger and published a book and then this movie was made.
Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) was a middle-aged married woman recently moved with her husband to France in the 1950s. With time on her hands, she took up cooking. This turned into a lifelong pursuit of perfection and a passion to help American women cook French food.
The movie was absolutely delightful. I laughed. I cried. I wanted to cook something. I left the theater feeling happy. There’s no better entertainment than that.
What really moved me was thinking how one decision in each of these women’s lives and the passion that carried them forward changed the world. Who hasn’t heard of Julia Child? And whereas formerly I didn’t know a thing about Julia Child, I am now very fond of her because of Julie Powell’s blogging success.
Julia Child was unflappable. She dove into cooking and spent years revising a cookbook and trying to get it published. She became disheartened at numerous rejections, but never gave up. Her book was finally published and now she’s a household icon.
So today I bought Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking, which looked like a great buy at 40% off. Since I never learned to cook, I guess I need to understand some basic principles.
Now that I’ve chosen the paleolithic diet, I want to learn how to cook. And her book on French cooking is probably a good place to start. So I’ll be buying that as well when funds allow.
Have you heard of the French paradox? Our medical establishment calls it a paradox because it violates their propaganda about saturated fats and cholesterol. Turns out the French are eating all sorts of fatty things and not dying nearly as often of heart disease as we are.
Amazon’s number 1 bestseller today is Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One , which is at 45% off. Her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 2 is coming in at #16 and is 40% off.
We all have this potential to make changes for the better in the lives of others. What can you do to impact your world? What drives you? What fills you with passion and gets your mind seething with creativity? This is why you are here, and you will never be really fulfilled until you act on these impulses.
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