Just Call Me Julia (or Paula Works too)...

"I am a combination of Paula Dean and Julia Child!" These are the words that I found leaving my mouth as I talked with a friend last night. Perhaps I have set my expectations for myself a little too high. I blame commercialism, though.

First Paula Dean signed a contract with Wal-Mart, and now her beautiful kitchen utensils flood the aisles. At first, when she started with her speckled pots and pans, I shuddered at the Paula Dean emblem. Maybe the woman could cook, but her taste in colors was atrocious. Then, this woman, or I suppose a team of highly trained designers and such, completely changed my ideas and opinions of one Paul Dean. I'm enthralled with her wonderful new collection. The rolling pin caught my eye first. It was a French one, which meant that there weren't handles on it, like the typical rolling pin. It was made of beautiful wood, and I could imagine rolling out table tops full of homemade noodles, pastas, and cookies. I HAD to have it, but I didn't need a rolling pin, at least this is what others said. I had already received one from my grandmother. This was not one of those cheap new ones either. Grandma gave me an old, tried and true, not going to fall apart in your hand, rolling pin. Still, I had birthday money, and I am now the proud owner of a Paula Dean rolling pin. Soon, I hope to be a proud owner of the Paula Dean stoneware. The only thing stopping me is the knowledge that I have NO room in my cabinets for such things.

Then there I was sitting innocently on my couch one day, when a movie trailer came on television. The movie was called "Julie and Julia," and it told the story of how a woman named Julie cooked the Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," in a year. I knew that I had to see it. It was a cooking movie, and I love to cook. It was just perfect for me. I found out that there was a book with the same title as the movie, the book that inspired the movie, none the less. This I soon acquired, and began reading. Now, I'm still in the middle of the said book, and while it's not the greatest piece of fiction, actually, Julie Powell, the author, is not that great of a writer, but I will not go into a literary critique at this point. What the book and the commercialism surrounding it and the movie have done, is instilled in me the desire to become the next Julia Child.

Again maybe my expectations are too high. This, however, can be discussed at another point. Right now I have to get the tv dinner out and put it in the microwave.