I discovered Julia Child and The French Chef on PBS reruns. It wasn't so much that I wanted to learn to cook; I just enjoyed the way Julia enjoyed cooking. Cooking at our house was never an adventure. It was an exercise in following a tried and true recipe to the letter and cleaning up as you went along - there was never any mess in our kitchen. I'll never forget the look on my mother's face when she saw Julia Child pitch eggshells over her shoulder. I longed to cook like Julia - just once - using wine and exotic spices and leaving the mess until dinner was in the oven or God forbid - after dinner had been consumed and thoroughly enjoyed. Well, that never happened and even when I had my own kitchen and license to cook, well, licentiously - my cooking habits were so ingrained that I stuck to recipes (for the most part) and cleaned up as I went along. I loved Julie & Julia by Julie Powell - if you haven't read it and you like to cook or just like Julia Child - go out and buy it. Yes, seeing the movie trailers with Meryl Streep as Julia and Stanley Tucci as her husband, Paul, is what made me check out the book. But I'm glad I did. It made me want to make Potage Parmentier as soon as I finished the first chapter! I haven't yet - but I did print out the recipe and I am going to buy potatoes and leeks the next time I go to the grocery. Of course, now I want to read Julia's autobiography and maybe make a clafouti with summer cherries...
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