Cooking with Hollywood: Julie and Julia V

One of Julie's "sayings" in this movie that I hear often repeated is, "You can never have too much butter!" That one, however, I have to disagree with. When something is swimming in butter, it becomes a greasy, unattractive dish, not to mention the unnecessary nutrition and cholesterol issues. "Mounting" butter is the best way to add it. That means you add a bit at the end so that although you have minimized it, the delicious taste of the butter comes through.

Cooking with Hollywood: Julie and Julia IV

One of my favorite parts of this movie is the reaction of both women when they made a decision about what to do. Julie became obsessed with her project. She told her mother it was about "having a regimen...It gives you something you have to do, every day. Julia told Simone Beck that she "lept out of bed to get to school early". That's what goals do to you. It was the same with me. Suddenly I could get up at 5 am and get to school by 6, bright eyed and ready for action. I even did it on icy roads. Even that was an accomplishment. In all cases, we were encouraged to try new things at every bend. That's fulfillment.

Cooking with Hollywood: Julie and Julia III

I've been away for awhile, but am still committed to blogging! It has been so long since I've seen it that I decided to watch Julie and Julia again to refresh my memory. I can hardly believe it, but this is the third time I've watched it, which is going some from someone who has never seen any other movie twice. I was thinking about what it really is that attracted me so much to this movie and I think it can be summed up in one word... PASSION. For both women, a project was undertaken despite all odds, with no guarantees, but one that determined a personal sense of success or failure. Both persevered through the pain of rejection on many fronts until the sweet smell of victory was in the air.

It's always great to see someone accomplish something that they have really worked hard to achieve. For me, this movie was especially personal because I saw so much of myself in it. I went to culinary school because I finally could, not because I had to. The passion for cooking that was fed there grew until I also published a book. I could relate to all aspects of both projects... not being taken seriously,working harder than I had to and in some cases should have, the drive, the development of the passion, the inability to stop, etc. and finally, the day the books arrived.

Rejections are the hardest part of any project. In retrospect, tho, they cause us to show our real stuff. In the back of my mind was always an essay I read by Tom Clancy about publishing. Can you believe that he got 50 - yes, FIFTY - rejections for Hunt for Red October? It was said that it was too technical and no one would buy it. Just goes to show you that there's a time, place and purpose for just about everything.

Cooking with Hollywood: Julie and Julia II

After watching Julie and Julia, I was struck by the changes in the publishing world since the original appearance of Julia Child's cookbook. First, it's even more difficult to get any publishing company to take on any type of book. Because of the increased ability to self publish in a cost effective way, the market is flooded. Because of cheaper labor costs, many books nowadays are even printed outside the country and then shipped back here for sale.

At the same time, technology has changed the way we think about and read both books and cookbooks. As people turn more and more to the Internet first when seeking information, the need for books has decreased and we are beginning to see hard cover and paperback books becoming dinosaurs. (When was the last time you looked in an encyclopedia?)

The invention of digital readers has helped, but has also changed the way we read. I love mine, especially when I travel because I can take lots of books along without all the weight. I still don't feel like I want a cookbook on a reader though. I want to see the whole recipe and all of the information on one page - all at once - with a stunning picture of what it should look like when it's done. (I picked up Mastering the Art of French Cooking at Borders the other day, but didn't buy it because... well... it didn't have any pictures!) As well, my cookbooks are more of a "collection". They sit around me like friends and encourage me to experiment with different dishes in the kitchen.

Cooking with Hollywood: Julie and Julia

Time to move on to another "foodie" movie. How about Julie and Julia? The best thing about this is that I will get to watch it again. I have yet to run into anyone who didn't like it or didn't think that Meryl Streep was incredible in her part as Julia Childs. It was a cuddly, fun, feel good sort of movie and the only one that I have ever sat through twice. It was interesting to me that Julie and Julia both did what they did for the same reason I wrote my book. They both followed a passion for learning about food because they needed "something more" in their lives. In all cases, the project became bigger than itself and morphed into a career.

Cooking with Hollywood: Ratatouille 9

Thinking about restaurant critics is an interesting topic. In Ratatouille, the critic was well known and the kitchen had the opportunity to respond when he walked in the door. The Michelin food critics are, however, anonymous. Those that criticize that system wonder how you can assess the validity of their opinions if you don't know who they are or what their credentials are. Michelin says, however, that their critics are highly trained, experienced and organized. They eat at all kinds of different restaurants twice a day and submit long, detailed reports on every experience. For many years, the Michelin critics were criticized for being highly influenced by expectations that restaurants would follow French haute cuisine rules and ideas. i.e. traditional methods. Recent articles, however, seem to opine that they are trying to accept and give credit to new ideas and methods. As we speak, Michelin is creating a rating system for US restaurants. It is, however, interesting that most of the best rated chefs are French and/or trained in France, isn't it?

Cooking with Hollywood: Ratatouille 8

Often cartoon style movies have very grown up humor and/or make/discuss important issues. With Ratatouille, a very serious issue lies underneath the plot that has to do with the Michelin rating system. The Chef Gousteau character clearly imitates the real life situation of what happened to Chef Bernard Louiseau of La Côte d'Or restaurant in Saulieu, France. Chef Gousteau even looks like him. Chef Louiseau achieved his life's ambition to become a Michelin 3 star chef (the best) but then confided to another chef that he would kill himself if he lost a star. In February of 2003, he did just that, shooting himself with his hunting rifle after his restaurant had been downgraded by Gault Millau and there were rumors surfacing that he would lose a star.

As in the case of Chef Gousteau in the movie, Chef Louiseau may be physically gone, but his ideas had and still do have great influence on French cuisine. He introduced many ideas and products. As well, his restaurant is still flourishing and still has 3 Michelin stars, due to the efforts of the current chef and his wife. Young chefs are still learning and benefiting from his style.