If you missed "Julie and Julia" in theatres recently, you missed a jewel. An absolute must-see for all foodies, this charming film (written and directed by Nora Ephron) deftly weaves together two completely separate narratives.
The first is "My Life in France," Julia Child's enjoyable memoir about how she came to fall in love with la belle France, her years in Europe, and the struggles she faced in first learning to cook, then publishing her most famous cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Surprisingly, she didn't write the memoir until the last years of her life, and in fact, the book wasn't finished and published until after her death.
The second is "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell. Julie, in a dead-end job, decided to cook every recipe in "Mastering the Art" in one year and blog about her experiences. The blog turned out to be hugely popular, and this memoir resulted.
I'm not sure whose idea it was to combine the two books, but whoever it was is a genius. Director Ephron brilliantly shifts between the two stories, without clunky tools like subtitling "Paris 1948" (intelligent film-goers can see the styles of cars and the Eiffel Tower and figure that out, thank you). There are occasional poignant scenes and several hilarious ones (two of my favorites, without spoiling anything, involve Julia and onions and Julie and lobsters). Meryl Streep nails her performance, as always. It must be tough to portray a real character that so many filmgoers have living memory of, but she pulls it off. And I'm really beginning to like Amy Adams.
After the movie, we purchased "Mastering the Art" (had to order it online and wait six weeks for volume 2; the bookstores were completely unprepared), one of the most unique cookbooks we've ever seen. Not just recipes, but instructions on how to whisk an egg, turn an omelette, dissect a chicken, etc. A true learning experience. We won't do a recipe a day, but so far, we've tried classic French onion soup (a success) and a classic hollandaise. Not so much. It broke. People always ask, "What does a broken sauce look like?" and the pros always reply, "You'll know when you see it." Uh, yeah. One minute, it's a lovely sauce. The next second, it doesn't resemble anything remotely edible. Yuck.
The movie isn't out yet on DVD, but be watching for it soon. And the bookstores are now full of all things "Julie and Julia," so you shouldn't have any trouble at all finding the books. As Julia would say, "Bon appetit!"
Upcoming blog posts:
- Columbus Day weekend in post-Ike Galveston
- Enjoying once again the Texas Renaissance Festival
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