<p>I’ve never understood why people eat aspic. Even good aspic. But the bourguignon is superb. Did your mother use one of those horrible “cooking wines”?</p>
<p>Loved the movie… because of Julia and Paul Child’s love for one another and zest for life… I lived in France briefly in the early 70’s as a teen and found their experience that was portrayed in the movie and in her book to be honest and accurate… very modest kitchens, disdain for Americans… and yet we came away with a genuine love for life in France… the pace, the food, the sights… their TV and music was crazy…but that added to the joie de vivre… the language sounds lyrical … Julia’s line in the restaurant about “I can’t believe French people get to eat French food EVERY day” was just perfection…</p>
<p>My first Boeuf Bourguignon was from Mastering the Art …my girlfriend prepared it for dinner one night and she provided me with the recipe… I bought my first Le Creuset pot specifically for this dish… and now I have many, many of their heavy pots… they are my favorite and I get them all at the Kittery Maine outlet… </p>
<p>Fine Cooking had a cover on beef stew a few years ago… with a recipe that is easier and just as good, relatively speaking…</p>
<p>brown 3 - 4 lbs stew beef (dried with paper towels and then sprinkle with S&P) in 3 TB oil over medium heat…
then brown onions in leftover juice/oil (add a TB of oil if needed),
then adjust heat down just a tad, and sprinkle in 3 minced cloves of garlic…
then 3 TB of flour to crust the onions…
sprinkle in the herbs you want (I usually use thyme or rosemary, and a bay leaf or two) add 2-3 TB tomato paste… this makes a pretty dense paste…
(periodically I might pull it off the heat as I am adding things at this stage, if I am slicing and dicing or measuring as I am cooking!)<br>
Finally, add 1 can of diced tomatoes… I add the juice, but that is a personal preference…
1 bottle of red wine (I like a good Chianti)
and equal parts of chicken and beef stock (usually 8-12 oz of each) …
bring to boil on top of stove, put aluminum foil inside the pot, touching the liquids, cover and bake in 450 oven for 1H 15 M… (this is the perfect time to go for a 1H walk!!)
add already cooked potatoes, beans, carrots or whatever after it comes out of the oven…
and serve or save for another day!! it is foolproof… meat is always tender… </p>
<p>The Fine Cooking issue had all sorts of different spice/liquid combinations to try, but the above selections have consistently delivered for me…</p>
<p>At 51 I watched ‘It’s Complicated’ and laughed out loud many (MANY) times! I sent a 20-something couple and a 40-something couple to see it. All loved it. I think it’s ageless. As noted above, I missed several lines because of my own, and others’ laughter. Love watching Meryl in almost anything (I simply could not get into Mama Mia).</p>
<p>Julia Child was a Smithie!!</p>
<p>[Julia</a> Child Gift to Smith College](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/01-096.html]Julia”>Julia Child Gift to Smith College)</p>
<p>My H and I saw “It’s Complicated” recently and we both loved it. I laughed so hard I almost made myself sick! We always see anything with Steve Martin because H worked with him in CA when they were teenagers. Martin is only a year older than my H, but looks 10 years older b/c of his white hair.</p>
<p>Told DH I wanted to see “It’s Complicated”. He wasn’t really enthused but went along.
He laughed as loud as anybody in the theater, which was populated mostly but “older” folks like us. A. Baldwin’s Skype scene was side splitting.</p>
<p>I loved Streep’s Julia, but I’m sorry it was in this movie. I feel like it was sort of wasted. The real Julia had such a rich and interesting life that a full length bio on only her would have been great.</p>
<p>Julia’s publisher has explained why she didn’t like Julie’s blog and had no interest in meeting her. Julia’s life and cookbooks were all about the food. Julie’s blog was all about Julie. Very different focus. Julia didn’t think that Julie was disrespectful to her; her ego wasn’t that big. Julia thought that Julie was disrespectful to the food and to the art of cooking.</p>
<p>I recently spoke with my mother about aspics. I’ve had aspic once or twice and thought it was just terrible, while my mother thought it was very classy.</p>
<p>I have seen the movie, read the book, and viewed the blog. The movie is by far the best of the three. It has all sorts of good scenes with Julia in France. The book barely mentions Julia in France, but rather focuses on letters written by Paul in southeast Asia; letters written before the two of them ever married or moved to France. The blog is full of 4 letter words, and is mostly Julie whining about hating this, or hating that, with lots of foul language in between. I can see why Julia Child didn’t like it, Julie Powell took great glee in trashing many of Julia’s recipes. </p>
<p>As for myself, I would never eat anything that Julie Powell cooked. The description of the maggots breeding under her dishrack totally disgusted me. Ugh!</p>
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<p>We had some British neighbors over for Thankgiving one year and they didn’t know what to make of the obligatory midwestern Jello mold that I served. They said they thought it was good, but who knows - maybe they felt about it the way I feel about aspic.</p>
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<p>I am laughing just remembering it.</p>
<p>I’ve seen the movie–thought Streep and Tucci were fabulous. Also read My Life in France and enjoyed it very much. (Don’t think Julia and Paul were spies–although they may have been “spies” in the fashion of Roald Dahl, David Oglvie, and Ian Fleming in DC before the US entered World War II.) My H has a funny Julia Child story. As a graduate student he lived in Holden Green (married student housing at Harvard) and Julie lived up the street. He would see Julia fairly often in the local grocery/butcher shop (Savenor’s). One day, H went into the shop and at the butcher counter saw a large roast with a note on it. The note said “Jack–Thanks for the use of the roast. Julia.” Apparently, Julia had used the roast for one of her PBS shows (which were filmed in her home) and was returning to the butcher shop.</p>
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<p>Ewww! The movie never gave me the feeling that Julia was “cheap”.</p>