i of course, as most chefs these days did, grew up with yan can cook, the frugal gourmet and julia child in my living room all the time.  they loved food as much as i did which made me feel a connection to them, though i only knew them through the television.  watching the new movie, julie and julia, brought me even closer to julia and also introduced me to a fellow, slightly crazed yet food loving julie.

i thought i knew a lot about julia child, but this movie opened my eyes quite a bit.  i just thought of her as a culinary icon who i respected for her work with classic french cooking.  now i love her for so much more.  the fact that she did not start cooking until after 30, yet she was able to master french cooking is inspirational, especially to many out there who are career changers, bravely starting culinary school after years in the workforce.  her late start in other areas was interesting to learn as well, but i will just say that was an interesting tidbit of information.  fact is, she just loved food and loved to eat…and of course loved butter.  here here!

the other side of the story focusing on julie was interesting as well.  she was in a rut and was able to pull through it, with a few bumps along the way, by cooking.  i have had a crazy year with all that has happened and i find that the times i am most happy are when i am cooking, so i was happy to see julie feel the same way.  that is a lot of recipes to test through when you are working a full time job so i was impressed that she made it through.

the movie made me want to get working on my cook book, get working on my blog, and most of all it made me want to chow down.  i went out for sushi with some friends after the movie (ok not very french but it hit the spot) and devoured an overabundance of food.  would have loved to dig into that duck from the end of the movie, but a bunch of raw fish did the trick.

i went to the premier of the movie to prepare for a live cooking demonstration i did via ustream with my alma mater, le cordon bleu.  julia child was of course a graduate of le cordon bleu as well, which is what ties it all together.  i was asked to prepare two dishes that played supporting roles in the movie, boeuf bourgignon and chocolate chiffon pie.  one a classic from julia child that julie had a bit of a rough time with in the movie and one a comforting chocolate dessert that julie creates early on to unwind from a hectic day at work.

the experience was new for me.  i have been in front of the camera many times, but never alone.  and i have done many a demos in the past years, but again never alone.  i kind of felt like i was talking to myself at times, but then i would glance at the director and see him chuckling which encouraged me to continue with my semi witty banter (big fan of witty banter, probably why i am one of the only members of the gilmore girls fan club).

the cool part about the demo is that people were watching it live and were able to write in questions via twitter.  now i am the least tech savvy person i know, (in fact my friend johnny who is my new media coordinator will be uploading this for me since i haven’t the faintest idea how to do it) but i have jumped on the twitter bus and have been having fun with it.  i use it to promote events and such and just to share random deep—and not so deep—thoughts with whoever is tweeting along.  bit bizarre?  yes.  but fun none the less.

back to the demo… those viewing wrote in questions as the demo went along.  i was a bit confused i will admit because the questions on my screen all appeared to be coming from one source, le cordon bleu, so i was slightly saddened thinking no one was writing in.  i found out later that they were all just being filtered through and then re-sent by lcb, and were in fact from real viewers.  thank you to those who participated.

all was well until the very end when i sliced off a tiny bit of my finger while cutting up the chocolate pie.  i very slyly slid it under a towel and continued with the wrap up.  once the cameras were off and i revealed a bit of a bloody mess, i realized i did not need to hide it… for those who have seen the movie or seen dan aykroyd’s impersonation of julia, i should have just laughed it off and worked it into the demo as a garnish.

working towards having live demos on a regular basis so stay tuned….. until then go check out the movie.  and be sure to get a large popcorn.  or better yet, smuggle in some boeuf bourgignon.