Ahh chick flicks...

I am normally horrible at admitting that a movie is a chick flick. Tonight's pick was an A+ chick flick, as noted by the couple sitting next to Suzanne this evening...

Setting - the end of the movie
Chick says - "See it wasn't that bad"
Dude says - "I just want to kill myself right now"

I don't know much about Julia Child except that she's quite tall, is known for french cooking and has that unmistakable voice. If the movie depiction of her is correct, she was really a remarkably driven woman who had a good sense of life. She was a roll with the punches kinda gal. Her husband adored her and I always fall victim to that story.

It made me think about my own love of cooking. My Mom is shocked that I can cook as well as I do and even more shocked that I actually like it. We were an average, middle-class, meat-and-potatoes kind of family, but I always considered my Mom a wonderful cook. She always made things we liked and to this day, I dream of being that kind of cook for my family. My favorite things were porcupine meatballs (a classic Betty Crocker recipe) and my Mom's handmade egg rolls with homemade bbq sauce.

I often give my Mom a lot of jabs b/c I consider her a cheater now... she doesn't do as much from scratch, eats a lot more frozen foods and can be completely content with a sandwich on a paper plate. That is simply not how she raised me though. We always had full place settings at the dinner table and we ate together. Napkins were folded under forks on the left side of the plate, glasses were placed on the upper right corner of the place setting above the knife and we ALWAYS had place mats. I didn't love it when I was younger - I was the table setter and dish dryer - but I love it now. It just seems proper and relaxing to sit down to dinner that way.

Tony and I love watching Food Network now, looking at cookbooks and cooking magazines and wandering stores like Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma. We appreciate kitchen gadgets that are functional and have done quite a good job at using everything that we have. It was do-or-die on using the immersion blender recently - we got it as a wedding gift but I only recently opened it for the first time. I loved every second of it! I love making soups (just made a chicken curry and vegetable udon for the first time - so good) and I love making side dishes like salads. My all time favorite is a Martha Stewart macaroni and potato salad. More than cooking, I love baking! Baking is all about the yummy. This week, stay tuned for lemon pudding cake.

I'm not sure what kind of cook I will be for my kids, but I hope to expose them to lots of foods and to teach them that it's okay to hate foods, as long as you try them.

http://www.julieandjulia.com/