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Remembering Julia Child

chezcherie

By chezcherie
in Food Traditions & Culture

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chezcherie

chezcherie

Posted
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One year ago, I was standing with my feet in the sand near Santa Barbara, when I got the news that Julia had, as I heard her say once, "slipped off the raft". I will stand tonight at the water's edge and raise a glass of rose to her, and her wonderful, long life. What will you do to celebrate her legacy?

"Laughter is brightest where food is best."

www.chezcherie.com

Author of The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook ,The I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook and The I Love Trader Joe's Around the World Cookbook

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racheld

racheld

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I hadn't realized the time had passed so quickly, but my two grown children and I spoke of her fondly yesterday over lunch. When they were small, our rural home with its spiky TV antenna admitted only three channels: ABC, NBC and PBS. We watched Miss Julia every week, faithfully copying all her ingredients and directions, and, as I stated in last year's thread, we pretended we were going to find cepes and truffles at our local Safeway.

We replicated her dishes as best we could, enjoying her as much for the fun and entertainment as for the food and the recipes.

So we got an early start on her Anniversary Remembrance---we were enjoying good food and thoughts of a friend, never met, but happily remembered.

Fairy Tea

My Blog--Thanksgiving and Goodwill
LAWN TEA

PAXTON PEOPLE

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TrishCT

TrishCT

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Even though it is sweltering hot tonight I am making her chocolate mousse recipe. It was the first thing I tackled from her French Chef cookbook when I was a kid.

One thing of many I truly appreciate about Julia was the amount of time she really took to make sure her recipes were adaptable for the average american cook. She was always good about telling you what recipes freeze well and how long things keep.

Since she and I shared a birthday (August 15) ...I'll raise a toast to her in a few days as well.

Bon appetit.

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oneidaone

oneidaone

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This is a tough week - 10 years ago on the 9th Jerry left us, we had a very pedestrian dinner of

Rice-A-Roni "porcupines", fresh "nalo corn, "nalo" greens, North Shore Tomatoes and a bottle

of 2000 Qupe syrah. Thanks for reminding me that a year has passed so quickly with so much

events to recall, my beloved Maggie left us on 9/28 and now we have 2 rescued dogs living with

us to ease the pain and void in our lives. I think I shall enjoy some very good fresh greens for

salad with some fresh just picked tomatoes and some farm fresh red peppers roasted with some

North Shore Cattle Company beef, simple but very tasty food as Julia would have enjoyed. Just good simple flavors celebrating the land and have a drink in her honor toasting toward the mountains and the sky to thank her for all she brought to us and all she continues to inspire.

Mekealoha Pumehana Mme. Julia and A HUI HOU............ :wink:

"You can't miss with a ham 'n' egger......"

Ervin D. Williams 9/1/1921 - 6/8/2004

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MelissaH

MelissaH

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I'll be in Washington DC in a couple of weeks. In the time I have away from my meetings, there's one thing on my "must-see" museum list: the kitchen in the Smithsonian.

MelissaH

MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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Jennifer Iannolo

Jennifer Iannolo

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Though the timing is purely coincidental, I've just finished reading her biography, An Appetite for Life. I think more highly of her now than I ever did, and owe her a lifetime of gratitude, for she's one of the reasons I started on this path. What a gal.

Jennifer L. Iannolo

Founder, Editor-in-Chief

The Gilded Fork

Food Philosophy. Sensuality. Sass.

Home of the Culinary Podcast Network

Never trust a woman who doesn't like to eat. She is probably lousy in bed. (attributed to Federico Fellini)

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oneidaone

oneidaone

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I relished "Appetite for life" for many weeks and months! How inspiring was that?! I was taken

away by the romance and love shared by Julia and Paul, their love made me cry that such passion could occur on this planet! Of course my beloved Higz is at Paul's level of support and passion and

I think that if anyone no matter what their occupation/life path has that that is all one needs.

Funny, I must now tell that she and my dad were in China at the same time working on the same

base/mission and when I knew that it made my adutlhood love of her even more meaningful! I can't

believe my dad a Flying Tiger amd Julia were in the same company! I wonder if ever at that

juncture they talked food since my dad was from a reservation and had fished/trapped/and gathered wild rice from the lakes just to survive as a youth......The idea of these exchanges just

rattle my brain and imagination!! Both are gone but certainly NEVER FORGOTTEN!!!A HUI HOU.......

"You can't miss with a ham 'n' egger......"

Ervin D. Williams 9/1/1921 - 6/8/2004

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Jennifer Iannolo

Jennifer Iannolo

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Inspiring only begins to capture it. While you savored it over a period of time, I greedily devoured the story in a couple of days. I will likely read it again very soon to savor a second degustation. :)

How amazing that she and your father shared such an unlikely connection -- I can imagine what an exciting shock that must have been for you.

What I admire most is that she always stayed true to herself; she valued independence and held her ground in a time when it was most unconventional to do so. But what I relished discovering was her sensuality and pure sass (some of her one-liners had me laughing out loud as I read).

My greatest regret was that I didn't get to meet her and talk to her about cooking. I was one degree of separation from her for almost a decade, but did not yet feel accomplished or learned enough to take advantage of it. The folly of youth. :)

It is a person's sense of life that either draws me in or repels me, and Julia's bright optimism and pure joy for living is, even now, magnetic. The work I'm now pursuing is a tribute to that kind of living, and that kind of spirit. May I discover many more like her in my travels.

Jennifer L. Iannolo

Founder, Editor-in-Chief

The Gilded Fork

Food Philosophy. Sensuality. Sass.

Home of the Culinary Podcast Network

Never trust a woman who doesn't like to eat. She is probably lousy in bed. (attributed to Federico Fellini)

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srhcb

srhcb

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Though the timing is purely coincidental, I've just finished reading her biography, An Appetite for Life.  I think more highly of her now than I ever did, and owe her a lifetime of gratitude, for she's one of the reasons I started on this path.  What a gal.

Jacques Pepin's The Apprentice, an entertaining read in it's own right, contain several passages concerning Julia. I was interested to learn that Jacques had been asked by the publisher Helen McCully to read Mastering the Art of French Cooking in manuscript form.

"A woman up in Cambridge wrote it." he was told. An hour into reading the pages typed by Julia herself Jacques had become engrossed in the work.

"I was a little jealous." he write. "This is the type of book I should have written."

Julia and Jacques became lifelong friends. The book Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home is my favorite cookbook.

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suzilightning

suzilightning

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and linda ellerbee (who also shared birthday with Julia and you, trish) wrote about finishing her birthday hike from the head of the Thames to London two days early(13 August) only to call her office and be told that Julia had died. her reaction:

"Nonsense. We share the same birthday. We always exchange cards. Julia is going to be ninety-two on Sunday. How can she be dead?"

this is from her new book Take Big Bites. one of the best books on her relationship to food and people and travel and life.

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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kjente2

kjente2

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Friends and I went to Copia where several events were held to celebrate what would have been Julia's 93rd birthday and the first anniversary of her death. The day started with a demonstration of Julia's favorite ratatoille by Marie Simmons and hosted by Linda Carruci. There was a wonderful banana cake served in the lobby for her birthday. We went to a one hour film of Julia's life that included clips of every age of her life and recitations of poems her beloved Paul wrote to her. This coupled with all of the other events that Copia does so well made for a delightful day and a celebratory remembrance.

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bevman

bevman

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I owe my interest in food & wine to Julia (well, and to Graham Kerr -- in the time before he gave up the sauce and became a lot less interesting). I had the opportunity to meet her on a couple of occasions. She was engaging and charming despite her copious years. A photographer friend took the famous photo of her hands making pasta, hovering above an egg in a flour nest. This photo, which she signed for me, hangs on my fireplace and is a centerpiece that daily reminds me of her grace.

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