Mastering the Art of Cooking & Living

Nora Ephron did it again with the movie, Julie & Julia! She directed a beautiful film with a simple story line, simmered with applicable life lessons from captivating characters. I love the juxtaposition of Julia Child’s adventures in France while chronicling the life of a young married couple living in a 900 square feet apartment in Queens, NY. She works at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation assisting 9/11 families with insurance claims. Her job calls for her to be objective with callers but it is difficult when most people project their own frustrations on her. Needless to say, her job is stressful and she’s miserable in her cubicle. To make matters worse, she subjects herself to having lunch with a group of rich friends with well-paid jobs and lavish lifestyle. As a refuge, she turns to cooking to cope with her frustrations and disappoints. She started out with one cake in her tiny kitchen, which fills a void for a night. She then came up with the unique idea to start blogging about cooking Julia Child’s cookbook. As an incentive to finally finish something she started, Julie sets a one-year deadline to get through Julia’s cookbook. With her plan in motion, the virtual Julie/Julia Project was born.
As Julie settles in her newfound purpose after a hard day at work, we learn that Julia Child is loving Paris and pondering about what she should be doing because she doesn’t want to go back to government work. Like Julie, she runs her ideas by her husband who listens intently to her list of possible pursuits. One thing we know about Julia, in addition to her love for France, is that she loves to eat. By day, she learns French with a tutor and tours the city. The interaction between Julia and her husband is always pleasant and loving. He seems to actually care about every word that comes out of her mouth. The way he listens to her is comparable to Julia’s mindful eating of every meal. She takes pleasure in all her daily activities from shopping in outdoor markets to searching for a French cooking book in English.
Julia found her purpose and decides to go to cooking school. She is in “utter bliss” at Le Cordon Blue. Ironically, the Director of the school, who is female, dislikes Julia Child from the moment she met her. Imagine Julia's predicament, about to enter a school that’s all male and must face a Director who does not have 1 ounce of confidence in her. Although I suspect Julia had dealt with more challenges than presented in the film. As I watch the movie, I wonder, what would happen to Julia and Julie if they did not have the support of their husbands? They also made the time to learn how to cook and to practice cooking daily. One distinction in Julie’s relationship with her husband is the limitations of their interaction inside their apartment. In spite of this minor difference, they both seem to have talent, drive and a quiet fearlessness about them to pursue their dreams. As Julia and Julie, write about their experiences with cooking, it is evident that it has a profound effects on their sense of self as they navigate through their daily routines. Their discovery and love of cooking stimulate their lives and in turn, inspire us to jumpstart our own. Bon Appetit!