Monday, March 23, 2009

Book Review: My Life in France

My Life in France is an autobiography by Julia Child mostly, as the title would indicate, about the time she and her husband spent in France after the Second World War. Before going to France, Julia and her husband Paul had recently gotten married after they met working for the US government in Asia during the war (Julia Child was actually a spy! But that didn't come out until Fall 2008 when the CIA released their old records.)

Julia didn't know how to cook at all when she married Paul and moved to France, and immediately upon arriving on French soil, she fell in love with her first French meal. After that, she took to the kitchen and enrolled at the Cordon Bleu. From the start, Julia took her cooking very seriously, yet she still had fun with it.

What I loved most about the book was Julia's passion for cooking and enjoying life. She definitely had a stop-and-smell-the-roses type of attitude about their time in France. She tried all sorts of new food items and learned how to make them and even improve upon some. Once she took up cooking and cook book writing, she was so passionate about inspiring others, making sure they had fun, and getting every last detail in the cookbook right. She would try recipes 20 or more times to make sure every detail and explanation was accurately captured! Now that's dedication!

The book made me want to slow down a bit and enjoy my surroundings, whatever they may be. It made me really glad that we have a St Louis to-do list (all of fun things) and that we're slowly ticking each one off the list!

2 comments:

The Boring Runner said...

Slow down = booking 6 things on Saturday instead of 10?

Kidding, kidding... sort of ;)

Home Away said...

i said made me want to, not that i actually would slow down :)