julie and julia

i have just finished this brilliant book. go and read it, once you have finished reading this. written by julie powell, it is an account of her year-long project to cook 536 recipes in 356 days from the famous American cookbook, mastering the art of french cooking by julia child. julia child is nothing short of a legend in american cookery; at the age of 37, finding herself relocated in paris with her husband, she learned how to cook and, in turn, returned to the US with a mission to teach americans how to cook like the french. she was the first person to present a cooking show on tv in america.

what a challenge you might say but more interesting it is also a personal crusade to find purpose and joy. i just borrowed julia child's mastering the art of french cooking from the library, and am too daunted to even open it! this is one serious cookery book, i can't imagine picking out one recipe from such a tome, never mind attempting all of them. respect to julie powell, what a challenge she set herself. i feel inspired!

bloggers might be inspired to learn that this project started life as a blog, back in 2002 when i didn't even know what a blog was.

julie's book has won an award for food writing and is the proud recipient of the very first blooker, the newly-created prize for books based on blogs. congrats, a large gimlet to you!

now that i have read this book i would be interested to read about julia child's experiences in france. if anyone is interested in more authors who have done the same thing, try m.f.k fisher.

what should i do?

Your Career Type: Enterprising

You are engertic, ambitious, and sociable. Your talents lie in politics, leading people, and selling things or ideas. You would make an excellent: Auctioneer - Bank President - Camp Director City Manager - Judge - Lawyer Recreation Leader - Real Estate Agent - Sales Person School Principal - Travel Agent - TV Newscaster The worst career options for your are investigative careers, like mathematician or architect.

What's Your Ideal Career?

whither shall i wander

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

thought for the day

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowline. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"

Mark Twain.

isn't it true that it is the things you didn't do that niggle away at you?

travel blogs

the next best thing to travelling is surely reading about it, something i like to do. here's some i have read earlier..

viva mallorca by peter kerr

not sure about this except i know i didn't enjoy it, in spite being set in an exotic location, real life story of a family who try to eke out a living from a fruit farm, it just didn't hold my interest. i even read the whole thing, hoping to find some saving grace and it just didn't have it for me. boring, dull, doesn't make me want to even go to mallorca. 'nuff said.

down and out in paris and london by george orwell

if you enjoy reading about tramping then this is the book for you. it is an easy read and not-so-popular topic, probably the original reality book. worth a look if only because it is quite different to anything i have ever read.

almost french by sarah turnbull

ozzie traveller sarah turnbull falls in love with a frenchman quite by chance, whilst travelling in bucharest. this is the story of how she visits him and end up staying and tries to fit into parisien life.

some amusing descriptions of the differences between french and australian women - lots of culture clashes that revolve around the struggle of living abroad. are they too different to make it work? happily no.

in spite of the challenges she can't help but fall in love with paris,( as well as her husband) even tolerating the nation whose favourite hobby is striking oh, and rioting.

confessions

i can juggle
i have acted on stage and people paid to watch
i can speak three languages
i am addicted to sudoku
i studied latin
i have lived in 4 countries
my grandfather was a missionary
my mother is a magistrate
my father was born in africa
i have taught english to foreigners
i got my first job at 16 as a waitress in an italian restaurant
i have an ear for music
i have not seen my father in 15 years
my last remaining grandparent lives in Switzerland and i have not seen him in 20 years
i appeared in a National newspaper, twice
i have been driven home by a policeman, without being arrested
i have seen a killer whale in the wild

asian influenced

because we watched memoirs of a geisha last night, not a bad movie but the book is better), i was inspired to find a picture of a kimono as they are so pretty. i loved this one, it has a flowering plum tree pattern apparently based on a design by the Rimpa artist Ogata Korin (1658-1716).

kimonos were popular in wood block paintings, or ukiyo-e, which means pictures of the floating world. these prints first appeared in the Edo Period (1603-1867). perhaps one of the more famous images is Mount Fuji by Hokusai.