This afternoon, I saw Julie & Julia, and it was excellent. It isn’t really a movie about food – it’s a great movie where food happens to play a major role. There’s plenty of amazing-looking food to make you hungry (and by the time I left the theater, I sure was hungry!), but the most important parts of the movie were more about dedication and courage than about cooking. That’s what makes it great – it starts with cooking as a common theme in these two women’s lives, and shows how it not only creates opportunities for them, but shapes them. It’s ostensibly about cooking, but it’s really about life.
It helps that the two main characters are both adorable, endearing, and played as human with all their strengths and flaws.
Of course, I can’t help but compare myself with Julie, the intrepid young writer who decides to blog her way through Julia Child’s cookbook. Here I am, writing a food blog (albeit one with an entirely different angle and aim), and hoping to change the world in some small way. I, too, struggle with finding the discipline to cook and blog after a long day at work. Where Julie blogs to escape from her job, I’m fortunate to like mine and find it challenging – which means I have a balancing act of finding time, energy, and creativity for both. On the other hand, I don’t have anything like Julie’s dedication or work ethic – I’m happy if I can crank out a couple interesting posts a week, while she averaged better than a recipe a day. I honestly can’t imagine that kind of achievement – a masterpiece in its own way. But I certainly relate to the excitement and frustration of sharing your thoughts, sending them out into the void, and hoping that they give someone a little meaning.
So I left the movie feeling a little shabby, but also deeply inspired – to blog, and to cook. Tonight, I did both (and some work around the house, to boot) and that’s a nice feeling. Tomorrow I’ll share what I cooked. It’s not French; I’d have loved to cook something French after that, but somehow French cooking doesn’t really lend itself to a vegetarian diet. (Or does it? Would it be blasphemy to vegify Julia Child’s recipes?) But I did cook something delicious, and slightly ambitious! You’ll have to wait and see what…
If you’ve seen Julie & Julia, comment and tell me what you thought!