What better way to celebrate a significant birthday than to share favorite memories about the person being fêted? So to recognize Julia Child's 100th, I asked some of Portland's best food writers about their first impressions of her, as well as what influence she might have had on their own cooking and their choice of a career. Best of all, they share the Julia recipes that they can't do without!
Read Oregon Foodies Cook Up a Batch of Memories of Julia Child. Then check out these recipes:
- Cookbook author Ivy Manning on Reine De La Saba (Chocolate Almond Cake)
- Food and travel writer Peter Szymczak on Chicken Liver Mousse (Mousse de Foies de Volaille)
- Cookbook author Diane Morgan on Roast Chicken (Poulet Rôti)
- Food writer and recipe developer Linda Faus on Grilled Chicken with BBQ Sauce and Spice Rub
I have to say that, for me personally — and probably for many of my generation — my strongest Julia memory is Dan Akroyd’s SNL sketch! I certainly had been aware of her before that, enough that the voice and mannerisms were familiar, but as a teenager my mind was not thinking much about cooking. Eating: yes. Cooking: no. It wasn’t until I was away at school (The Joe Kubert school— and Joe died just over the weekend, which you may have seen me mention in a tweet) that I actually became interested in cooking, and that was about the time of the Cajun Revolution, which I loved but had precious little to do with Julia. But that SNL sketch will live in my mind forever. The very fact that they could satirize her meant she was an icon.
ReplyDelete- Karl Kesel
You are so right, Karl. I remember the first time the Ackroyd sketch aired…we were on the floor! Thanks for the memory.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your article in the Oregonian on Julia Child, and would like to add an anecdote.
ReplyDeleteI was living in Boston in 1968 and was given her book (Volume I) which I loved and plowed through as best I could. Making an omelette gave me trouble - I just couldn't seem to do it the way she described and it took longer than the 14 seconds or whatever it was.
So, I just decided to call and ask what I was doing wrong. I knew she lived in Cambridge so I looked in the phone book, found her number and dialed. She wasn't at home but Paul Child was and he answered my questions with hesitation. (Basically, he just said keep practicing and don't sweat the timing.)
A nice memory!
- Mary Barlett
Cooking with Mary Bartlett
Thanks for sharing your story, Mary. Love that they answered their own phone.
ReplyDelete