Julia Child is a Goddess!

Food has always been an important part of my growing up years, because my mom is a fabulous cook. I remember being a little kid and watching her roast a chicken or bake bread. I love that she always let me help, no matter how imperfect something turned out because a 5 year old was involved in the process. This really instilled in me a love of cooking. I think I like it so much because it's my way of giving service. Who doesn't like receiving good food? Baking and desserts are my specialty (mainly because I have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know), but I've been trying to break out into other things - soups, rice (I recently made a delicious lemon risotto), and everything else that sounds great.

A few days ago I was at Barnes and Noble looking for some good summer reading, and because of all the "Julie/Julia" hype (which I am DYING to see), Julia Child books were all over the store. Her biography, "My Life in France," caught my eye because first it's about Julia Child, so it involves stories about good food, and second it's France. Maybe the French phrases she uses could help me polish up my French. So I picked it up and started reading. Well, reading is an understatement. I'm devouring this book. Julia does such a great job at giving details of French culture and food. She talks about how only through practice, practice, and more practice did she become a great cook. She says to never, ever apologize for any mistake you make while cooking. If you do, your eaters will only focus on the mistake and not on the good parts.

It was this quote that I loved: "I had always been content to live a butterfly life of fun, with hardly a care in the world. But at the Cordon Bleu, and in the markets and restaurants of Paris, I suddenly discovered that cooking was a rich and layered and endlessly fascinating subject. The best way to describe it is to say that I fell in love with...food - the tastes, the processes, the history, the endless variations, the rigorous discipline, the creativity, the wonderful people, the equipment, the rituals!...What fun! What a revelation! How magnificent to find my life's calling, at long last!" So, to quote Mrs. Child, "Bon apetit!"