oh julia

I have always been a little in love with Julie Child. Yes, even before the movie. Growing up, whenever a cooking question came up in our house, my dad would often say "Well, Julia says..." in his best Julia Child drawl. Last summer, Bret and I were able to visit her kitchen, as it is preserved in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. It was lovely and cleverly arranged, for a tall woman, which of course I took a liking to right away, but mostly it was a bit of her, right there in front of me. As I have grown up, I have come to appreciate more about Julia, first it was her food, then it was her food and her joy for life and now - as I find myself at 35 years old and still not quite sure what I want to be when I grow up - I am drawn to Julia because she found her true passion at 37 years old, and she followed it, with all her heart. I admire her for that and I am thankful, that one roasting hot summer day in DC, I was able to drown out the crowds and forget the heat for a moment, and spend a little time with her.