Did you know that Julia Child didn't start cooking until she was 32 years old? She later entered Le Cordon Bleu at age 37. Ahem, that's about how old I am, minus one year (don't say it out loud). This is what I love about Julia - she not only opened the door to the professional kitchen for many women, she personified possibility. I'm 36 years old and I can still do anything. Why do I think that? Julia Child.
There are many books inspired by Julia Child, but if you haven't read Julie and Julia yet, you have exactly 96 days before the movie version comes out. I loved this book. I'm assuming that if you read food blogs, you've heard of Julie and Julia, but just in case you only plugged into the world recently, it was written by Julie Powell who, bored by her dead end job, decides to cook and blog every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking--all 524 recipes. Her crazy blog, the Julie and Julia Project, gives her life the shot in the arm she needed: she finds purpose and writes a terrific book about her experiences cooking and blogging (which is now a movie). A book about blogging recipes? It sounds boring, but it was a wonderful story of someone who finds themself.
Towards the end of the book, Julie Powell sits down to write Julia Child, who had just died, a thank you. She writes, "I have no claim over the woman at all, unless it's the claim one who has nearly drowned has over the person who pulled her out of the ocean." That line made me sob when I was reading the book. It's in the movie preview, and I sobbed after that too. I'm not sure why Julia Child makes me cry. I can only think that it's the same reason why I tear up when I watch commercials for the Olympics: they are both so damn inspirational.
Here's the movie trailer {hat tip to Amateur Gourmet}
Thanks to Flickr user Rakka for the fun photo.
