Bon Appetit

I never read. That is unless it's a quilt book or news headlines online. So imagine my friend's surprise when I announced at lunch today, "I am reading Julie Powell's original blog chronicling The Julie/Julia Project." At first all she heard was the "I am reading" part seeing as how that was significant enough.

I can't wait to see the new movie Julie & Julia out next week. I know Julia Child, but I don't know Julie Powell. I'm not inclined to buy the book since there are not likely to be any quilts in it, but I did decide that reading the blog that Julie wrote throughout the project would give me a good sense of who she is.

I once saw Julie on Martha Stewart's show and was impressed that she would take on such a gargantuan task of cooking her way through Julia's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Back in the day I used to watch Julia Child and Graham Kerr on public television. I was too young to have them inspire me to hit the kitchen, but they seemed to have a lot of fun and didn't shy away from the failures and near misses.

Martha Stewart is the one who inspired me to experiment in the kitchen. While a lot of her recipes could be intimidating, there was always something I could take away from a demo. Like using fresh herbs or olive oil or even real butter - all things my mother never did even though she was a good cook.

Without the influence of these chefs, I would probably have never attempted my first galette last night. I've been looking for something to do with 1.5 cups of fresh blueberries that have been sitting in my fridge for almost two weeks. I went through my cookbook shelf and finally ran across the recipe in my copy of the classic tome "The Joy of Cooking."



Although I didn't make my own pate brisee and used a frozen pie crust instead, I have to say it turned out quite tasty. Mine looks a bit messy, but it's supposed to look rustic. I accidentally punched a hole in it as I was folding the crust over.



But this was quick and easy. Very easy. I will definitely be making this again. Maybe next time I'll make my own crust. Martha's got a good recipe.

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