Busy, Busy

It's been a busy busy couple of weeks. I'm not sure where the time went but there was a lot of working and cooking going on. I'll post some recipes in follow-up posts.

Dave's Aunt Jeannie and Cousin Lynn came by from NJ for a visit Sunday afternoon. We tried to ignore the heat on Monday, and took them to see the view from Mt Washington, gave them a CMU campus tour, and then a very humid walk through Phipps Conservatory before saying Uncle and having a lovely air-conditioned dinner at Bravo followed by a screening of Julie & Julia.

I am a big fan of Julia Child. My mom and I watched her show when I was young (I think it came on after Lilias Yoga and You on PBS). Mom gave me her Mastering the Art of French Cooking when I started to appreciate finer foods (she wouldn't part with her copy). And now this movie was brilliant!

Unlike many of the reviewers I enjoyed the character of Julie, perhaps because I strongly identified with her. So many times in my life I've been uninspired by everything happening in my life, but cooking something yummy with the best, freshest ingredients I could find/afford brought me joy.

Even the shopping for the ingredients was part of the fun. I loved the scenes in the movie of Julia shopping in the Parisian outdoor markets gasping and cooing with delight at the wondrous array of produce on offer. I was so inspired by the movie I made Julia's Chicken Fricassee recipe on Tuesday night along with some fresh corn on the cob.

SPOILER ALERT

The thing about the movie that I didn't like much was the part where Eric walks out on Julie...I mean this guy was so supportive and patient all along it just seemed totally out of character for him to not come back after a couple of hours, and not even call to let her know where he was.