Happy Birthday Julia!

Today is Julia Child's Birthday. Oh I know she passed in 2004 and it does sadden me a bit because I grew up with Julia. On weekends I would get up early and in my powder blue silk quilted robe and my little bare feet I would trot downstairs and prepare myself for an hour of Julia. I would sit on the red shag carpeted floor, legs crossed in front of me, Boo Berry cereal in my bowl and center myself in front of the television (you know the kind with a knob that made clicking sounds as you turned to each of the 10 local affiliate channels). 

I loved Julia. I loved everything about her. Her voice, her recipes, her mannerisms - she inspired me. She made me believe I could cook anything. She made me happy - still does. Just the mere mention of her name makes me smile. She's like this mysterious guardian cooking spirit who watches over me and tells me to "cook with abandon or not at all" in that fantastic glottal-like nasal voice she had. Julia was my first culinary inspiration.

I love to think of my childhood and those mornings I spent with Julia - just us - watching her create dishes that I couldn't wait to grow up and make myself. Since I was too little to actually make these fantastic foodie fantasies myself, I pretended. I would go to my play kitchen and pull out my faux food and make chateaubriand or boeuf bourguignon (yes, thanks to Julia I knew what those were) and serve them to . . . nobody actually. I think there were just a lot of imaginary left overs in my play fridge now that I think about it. Nevertheless, I loved every minute in my play kitchen. The cool metal doors clanking open as I reached inside the refrigerator for my hollow plastic eggs and Tupperware filled with fake carrots. The squeaking of the metal oven door as I slid my masterpiece into the hot box, setting my timer so I wouldn't overcook my "dinner". Yep, I loved my kitchen - still do. It is my favorite room in the house. I'm comfortable there - I know where every spice and every utensil are carefully stowed away until they are called upon to help create flavors of happiness.

This weekend I think I'll put in the movie Julie & Julia, break out a cookbook and make something (with butter or cream) in honor of my guardian chef in the sky. Remember kids - "Cooking is a lot like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all". Happy Birthday Julia - Bon Appetit!