Julie & Julia

I'm watching my oh so beloved movie Julie & Julia...and of course, I've shortened the length of the movie considerably by watching the Julia parts only. Tonight I watched all of the extra bonus features before starting the movie and shed a tear once again during the heartfelt moment Julia's neice talks about her last day...to be that loved.

Julia Child inspired me to cook before I even knew who she really was...I had no idea as a preschooler the woman I was impersonating (while playing with my play-doh) a woman who the entire world knew. I only knew her from a PBS show we could capture with our rooftop antenna. Sitting alone in front of the tv, in our living room, I was mesmerized by her size, her voice, her zest for life, the strange foods she fondled, carved, sauteed, peeled, sliced and diced. It was such a revelation...and I couldn't even read a cookbook, yet.

Around the age of 12 my mother announced she was in possession of a cassette tape I had made in my bedroom, on one of those little rectangle single cassette recorders with the record button you had to press along with 'play' to get it to record. Well, it was of me, when I was 4 or 5, playing with play-doh and impersonating Julia Child. As a young girl I was terrified this tape would cause hours of humiliation, so I taped over it...to this day it is one of the biggest mistakes I think I've ever made. Not that it was worth money, but the idea I could hear myself, as a little girl, full of gumption and a talent for impersonating people, trying to emulate a woman who still is such a source of inspiration...anyway, it makes me miss Julia even more when I watch the movie...it inevitably leads me to think of that recording. It reminds me of how long she has been in my life.

Thanks Julia for opening my eyes to the world of food, thank you for teaching me, entertaining me, keeping me company and telling me to be fearless in the face of uncertainty. You may ask,"did she really do all of that?" My answer, "ask anyone who has seen me cook."