Julie & Julia

The Book, The Movie

 Several years ago I read "Julie and Julia" simply because I ran across a fun review of it. And I love food, and the stories of foodies.

This book is the true-life memoir of a young woman in the midst of re-defining her life, marriage and self-worth, who on a whim, decides to complete the 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" a seminal cookbook originally published in 1961.

For Julie, life had been a series of unfinished "projects" that left her feeling less than successful. With a dash of self-reflection and a dose of her supportive husband, she realizes cooking and writing are her two great passions, and by combining them through a cooking challenge (524 recipes in 365 days) and blogging about it, she can prove her self-worth.

I loved the book, light and easy, full of funny cooking success (and failure) stories with a big side of personal growth and growing pains. Her blog was wildly successful, the book too, and then what followed was every writer's dream: a movie deal.

Yesterday I saw the movie at the military theatre on site. It is fun too, and will leave you laughing in your seat. A few slow moments creep in, and unless you really enjoying cooking and all things food, you might find yourself a bit bored. But only for a minute or two. Before you know it you'll be chuckling again at Meryl Streep's dead-on portrayal of a delightful, spirited and all-together hilarious Julia Child. Streep does a fantastic job mastering Julia's mannerism, accent and smile.

Go see it! It left me longing to cook more, to get back to my Tuesdays with Dorie, and explore new recipes. I'm also planning on reading "My Life in France" the autobiography of Julia by Julia. I've heard nothing but good things about his book!