Paris in July - cooking with Julia, weeping over Dunkirk

I recently started rereading Julia Child's My Life in France with Alex Prud'homme. One thing led to another and I rewatched Julie and Julia, with Meryl Streep as Julia Child, Stanley Tucci as husband Paul, and Jane Lynch as her sister, Dort.

Loved the Julia parts of the movie, ground my teeth through the Julie parts, but my husband and I ended up cracking open Mastering the Art of French Cooking for dinner last night.

Poulet Saute aux Herbes de Provence - Chicken Sauteed with Herbs and Garlic in an Egg Yolk and Butter Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Julia Child

Ingredients:
1/4 pound butter
2-1/2 to 3 pounds cut-up frying chicken
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground fennel
Salt and pepper
3 cloves unpeeled garlic
2/3 cup dry white wine or 1/2 cup dry white vermouth
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dry white wine or vermouth
2 tablespoons fresh minced basil, fennel fronds or parsley

Directions:
1 ) Heat butter in a large skillet until it is foaming. Add chicken pieces and saute for 7 to 8 minutes, turning often. Do not let chicken color more than a deep golden yellow. Season with herbs and salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook, uncovered, for another 20 to 25 minutes, turning 2 to 3 times, or until chicken is tender and juices run clear. Remove chicken to a warm platter and tent with foil to keep warm.
2) Mash garlic cloves with the back of a spoon. Remove peel. Add wine and boil down until reduced by half.
3) Beat egg yolks in a separate small saucepan until thick and sticky. Beat in lemon juice and wine with a whisk. Add liquid remaining in saute pan, a half teaspoon at a time, until a creamy mayonnaise sauce begins to form. Beat over very low heat until warm and thickened.. Remove from heat. Add finishing herbs and adjust to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

It really was marvelous--we used only thighs and breasts, and since I am a dark meat fan, I preferred the thigh over the breast, but both were marvelous. Tender, savory, and just the right amount of lemony finish.

We had this with a rose, per Julia's suggestion, and accompaniments were potatoes sauteed in clarified butter, broiled tomato and summer squash, and finished the meal with espresso and a sliver of brie. I had bought creme brulee for dessert but no room. I also bought some smoked oysters to have on Triscuits while we cooked.

Afterwards we watched Dunkirk, which absolutely stunned me. I ended up weeping through most of the final third of the movie. I cannot imagine being that brave or that scared.

It took me awhile to place Mark Rylance, one of the small boat captains who helped evacuate the British army in May 1940, but he was, of course, Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall.

This post is part of Thyme for Tea's annual July in Paris blogging party - here's a link to her roundup that starts week 3.

The Joy of Cooking...Julia Child's "My Life in France"

It all started with the movie Julie & Julia, which was quite fun and inspired me to ask for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 for my birthday.

It continued when I suggested that my daughter get my husband, for his birthday, My Life in France, co-written by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme, who is not the son of chef Paul Prudhomme, the conclusion to which I had leapt, but a great-nephew of Julia. I co-opted the book after Christmas when Colorado plunged into a deep freeze and I needed another "pick me up," and absolutely loved it.

First the premise, the book is a series of mostly chronological anecdotes based on letters that Julia and her husband, Paul, sent whilst they were living in France shortly after WWII. As the foreword says, virtually every word in the book is Julia's or Paul's; Alex assembled them into a cohesive whole, which is no mean feat because the narrative does hang together remarkably well.

Julia's practical, no-nonesense joie de vivre shines through gloriously and the reader, at least this one, comes away thinking she has a new best friend. It's easy to see why Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, fell in love with Julia Child and mentally talked to her throughout her year of cooking her way though Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julia Child's personality is strong and her style is unique and unforgettable.

As a middle-aged dreamer, I loved reading about how Julia came to her vocation rather late in life--mid-30's--and learned virtually everything she knew about cooking and food as an adult. That gives me great hope. She provides a striking role model for those of us who aren't willing to let the "young folks" have all the fun!

As a lover of travel, I relished Julia’s adventures as she made a home for herself and her darling husband in a series of apartments and houses in Paris, Marseilles, Germany, and America, none of which was even remotely perfect but in all of which they found something to love and laugh about as they worked through the kinks of small kitchens, domestic help, hideous furnishings, and the like.

As a wannabe cook, I loved reading about her struggles to understand technique and her dedication to find the freshest and best ingredients and not settle for poor, out-of-season fare. I learned about another Julia cookbook that is now on the birthday list for next year, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking.



As a romantic, I enjoyed reading about the relationship she had with her husband—I especially loved the Valentine cards they sent to family and friends. She also writes of his accomplishments and talents, and I felt that I was privy to a very special, wonderful relationship. My one complaint is that I wanted more photos. Those in the book are snapshots, which gives a wonderfully intimate feel to the book, but I love to look at photos in biographies and autobiographies and wanted more.

As a writer, I found Julia’s description of the trials, tribulations, and joys of collaborating with others to be fascinating. Reading about her approach to the task of creating Mastering the Art of French Cooking makes this book required reading for any writer, not just those of us of love travel and great food and wine as well.

Her work ethic is what you would expect, and reading this book has inspired me to not shy away from tackling the big projects in life as well as the little ones. I also found refreshing Julia’s confidence in herself and her abilities—no false modesty here, nor should there be.

Julia Child was a multi-faceted, talented, interesting, strong woman who lived long and well—the slice of her life chronicled in My Life in France simply demonstrates how much richer she has made the world through her dedication, work, toleration, curiosity, and joy of cooking.

Julie & Julia

I needed something to balance The Moonstone, something to read just before turning out the lights at night, something easy, frothy, fun, but still interesting. Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously has turned out to be just the ticket.

I've read loads of reviews of the book, both before and after seeing the movie, and have been anticipating all the less than great stuff others have written about. So far, so good. Julie Powell swears a lot, talks about sex a lot, rants and raves and has histrionics all over the floor, but she is funny, fallible, interesting, and has a few gems that redeem her and make the book more than simply notes on a weird project.

This is the first book I've read that refers to 9-11. I guess that's to be expected since I read so much pre-1900 literature. Most of the time when Julie writes about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it's on a purely personal level. Working in a government agency that is dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy, she recounts struggling to balance her frustration with her job and the raw emotion of the families she encounters. However, this little passage pulled away from her usual ego-centric response and was poetic and poignant and good writing:

When I was offered a permanent position back in the spring, those yellow trucks with the giant toothed scoops were still raking delicately through neat furrows of debris, searching for bits of people. Every once in a while, when you were downtown or even when you weren't, you'd still find a torn bit of paper skittering along the gutter. Pages from legal memos, work orders, inventory sheets--all of them mashed in this odd way, like the icing on a cake that's been wrapped in cellophane, and smudged with a strange pale powder, as if they'd been dusted for prints. You always knew just where they'd come from.

My other favorite bit, and I'm only just over half of the way through the book, is the last thing I read last night and is really what the book is all about. This is the closing to the chapter in which Julie deals with lobsters:

...sometimes you get a glimpse into a life that you never thought of before. There are hidden trap doors all over the place, and suddenly you see one, and the next thing you know you're flogging grateful businessmen or chopping lobsters in half, and the world's just so much bigger than you thought it was.

So that night I made my New Year's resolution, better late than never: To Get Over My Damned Self. If I was going to follow Julia down this rabbit hole, I was going to enjoy it, by God--exhaustion, crustacean murder, and all. Because not everybody gets a rabbit hole.

She's right--not everyone gets a rabbit hole, but worse than that is not enjoying the ride when you do.

Sunday Tally: Bon Appetit

Yesterday morning I wrote a post-it note and stuck it to the microwave. I completed 6 of the twelve tasks on the note and feel worthy!

The tally?

15 pints of tomato glut--I used a recipe from Joan Gussow Dye's This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader. I've made it for years, and I usually make enough each summer to last fall, winter, spring. I use it in soups and stews, on pasta and with rice. I grow virtually everything needed--I only buy the celery, and this year had to buy bay leaves as our bay tree hit the dust around about March.

Three-quarters through with Drums of Autumn. Brianna just met Jamie. Have I mentioned before that I think Diana Gabaldon is a terrific storyteller. Planning to go to the Tattered Cover in Denver on September 22 to get her final book in the series, An Echo in the Bone: A Novel. Am dog-earring all pages in Drums of Autumn that contain the phrase "echo in the bone." Two so far. Planning to go to her reading September 23 in Highlands Ranch. Anyone else going? How cool is it that she will be in Denver area that day after her final book in the series launches?!

Refilled quilted pillows and hand-stitched opening. My husband and I made a gorgeous quilt for our bed that he finished while I was travelling this June with our older daughter. We started it three years ago, and it's gorgeous--almost exclusively Kansas Troubles fabrics. Love that palette. Anyway, for practice, before we tackled the quilt, we made two throw pillows that the cats adopted last year. Last month, I took them back. Unstitched one side, washed them, restuffed them, and then yesterday finally restitched the open side. The kitties are happy :)

Made 3 pints tomatillo salsa, trying to duplicate the Cantina Laredo salsa. Again, everything from the garden except the tomatillos. Next year, we grow tomatillos. Got close. V. good. Could live on this stuff, but maybe more charred cilantro next time?

Went to church. Haven't been since before Easter. Something always comes up, but it was great to go and feel part of my Methodist church family again. Wish I could bottle the music. Pat the organist has a rare talent.

Went shopping with 14-year old son. Bought two pairs of jeans, converse sneaks, henley shirt, zipped sweatshirt, backpack. He's happy. It doesn't take much.

Saw Julie and Julia with husband and two of three teenagers who call our house home. Fantastic. Loved it. Didn't find Julie whiny. Found both interesting and funny and inspiring. Came home and cooked favorite summer stew for dinner. Ready to tackle Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. Have added Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1) and My Life in France and Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously to Xmas and Bday lists. Totally marvelous to hear two fourteen-year olds laughing out loud with parents during movie!

Watched disc 2, episode 1 of Playing Shakespeare. David Suchet and Patrick Stewart debate and demonstrate two different interpretations of The Merchant of Venice's Shylock. The most interesting point is that director John Barton claims that he gave both of them the same direction and each came up with a very different approach to the character. I think I like Suchet's better, but it's hard to really say having viewed only parts of four scenes, but I liked how Suchet handled the final exit of Shylock versus how Stewart did.

Framed the poster of Top Withins that I picked up at the Haworth Parsonage when I visited it in June. I googled trying to find the image to share, but to no avail. But, it is wonderful, very Van Gogh-esque, and will be a nice image around which I hope to add some book shelves to my office walls soon.

What didn't I do? Didn't make zucchini bread. Didn't do the expense report for the biz trip I took last week. Didn't sew the button on a jacket that has been sitting on the mending pile for several weeks.

All in all...a good weekend.