City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

What a beautiful summer day is now just about to end. And with another 24 hours, my week off will also be about to end.

I've found the days pass by with a welcome pace, and have found time for what seems so elusive when I am always about to go to the shop, or tired from having been to that shop.

I have had delightful lunches with friends. I have gotten to Central Park several times. I have been to some beautiful galleries and museums. I have gotten my sketch book out and actually sketched and painted.

I have had my ophthalmologist give my glaucoma riddled eyes the healthy okay. I have had my treasure of a stylist bring my hair back to precise bob-dom. Shocking even to me, I have done a bit of apartment cleaning.

Perhaps even more shocking, I have even been taken out to dinner by a charming man, who continues to offer me invitations though I show him little encouragement.

And, today I went to the movies, for the first time making use of my senior citizen discount.

The film that I saw, Julie and Julia, has just opened. One of its stars is Meryl Streep, who normally I do not seek out, even though she is an acclaimed and accomplished actress. Back in the 1970's, she lived not far from me, and I know that she is not a tall person. I really wanted to see how she would portray the legend that was Julia Child.

This film is a depiction of two marriages that are linked by a blog begun by Julie Powell, who very much admired Mrs. Child.

I liked the movie much more than I had expected I would. It took me back to my early days in early apartments, when I began to learn how to cook. Nowadays, I rarely use recipes, except when baking, but back then I regularly referred to several books.

The Joy of Cooking is a very good manual and my copy still has its tattered dust cover.
My aged copy of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook is a brittle-papered paperback. I still use it for many baking recipes around Christmastime.

However, it was when I first became of aware of Julia Child that I discovered that with a bit of time, it was possible to actually prepare classic dishes.

The dust cover for my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is long since gone. There are strange stains on various pages, remnants of meals prepared decades ago.

I used to love experimenting with the book's recipes, and felt so accomplished when something turned out just right. Many of these dishes were prepared for long lost boyfriends. I cannot tell you the last time that I made a souffle, although I do still have several porcelain baking dishes at the ready.

Seeing that film today really did take me back to a time when I still had so much to discover about life. Sitting here now, and thinking about the scenes depicted in the film has got me a bit contemplative. It was lovely to sit in that dark movie theatre, and see the glory of Paris and the more familiar challenges of bringing beauty and civilization to certain more modest NYC neighborhoods.

The director and cinematographer did wonders to make the rather petite Ms. Streep seem to be the very tall Mrs. Child. I will also admit that Ms. Streep did a marvelous job of bringing Mrs. Child back to us. I suspect that kitchens might soon be busy again in many homes.

The film also opened up anew the question of ... why do we write blogs, and for whom do we write them.

Best wishes to all.