As written on March 2010, I want to update 12 years later
On the recommendations of fellow blogger Troy at The Grounded House Spouse, I finally watched Julie & Julia or is it Julia & Julie. Unfortunately he no longer blogs.
A Treat with a capital "T" it has been. I did not know what to expect when I heard about it. Meryl Streep had been nominated for an oscar, so I guessed it would be a worthwhile film. I knew it was about cooking and I was saying to my daughter I might get my mojo back (not that I have completely lost it) watching it because Troy is very verbal about this book.
My conclusion: I am today able to kill almost three birds with one stone: You see I had no idea, it was also about blogging! Julie's eagerness to start a blog to help her focus and concentrate with one subject is endearing and her excitement at her first comment is a treat! (Slightly disappointed when she realises she knows the author of the comment)
Do you remember your first comment on your blog? Let me know what it felt like? Mine was from my friend Liz from A day in my life, and I was so over the moon! Thanks Liz ♥
Her(Julia) guessing how many people are actually hitting her blog and the enormous amount of comments she eventually gets is a joy to see.
But most of all, the cooking is fantastic! The film literally took me back down memory lane and reminded me that I am from a long line of extremely good cooks in my family and I have the best of both worlds.
Look at my profile. I am French with a long tradition of French cooking and I am also from a little island with a long history of Creole cooking. We are actually a melting pot of cooking influences, from the coast of Africa, to the shores of India and further afield with the Chinese escaping the Revolution of their country. We have had the Portuguese stopping and leaving their legacy. I was into fusion way before they had invented the term for it!
We have a little bit of everybody and I personally think the best of everybody. As much as we adapt to a country and adopt its ways, in our kitchen we remain what we grew up to be, smells and touch are us. Do you get what I am saying? We all have memories linked with good food.
Anyway to come back to my upbringing: On the island, we love our fresh fish, our aromatic spices, our dairy products: butter and cheese, our fresh vegetable, especially our greens picked very often in the fields, exchanged with other family members for fruits such as avocadoes, or if it is in season, the juicy mangoes and pineapples and I mention but a few!
I have jumped from one litchi tree to another to taste the freshest and most scented fleshy fruit.
I have eaten the most buttery avocado from my parents' garden.
I have eaten the best chicken dishes cooked on logs by my aunt in my great-grandmother out-of-house kitchen smelling of smoked garlic waay before it was fashionable to have garlands of smoked garlic!
I have been served the biggest and most delicious langouste (rock lobster) just because my host was able to climb down the cliffs not far from his house and found many for a dinner party.
As a treat for Easter my mother and my aunt have cooked for me one of the most delicious fish I know légine.
My cousins have all spoiled me when I have visited with Palm heart gratin, smoked sausages in the most divine tomato sauces.
I have eaten Pigs trotters on picnic by the sea side with the moon as the sole source of light.
I have dipped my dim sum in hot chilli sauce whilst looking at the waves crashing in front of me.
I have barbecued fresh shrimps on Christmas day on the beach.
I have had the most succulent pork caramel and litchi stir-fry home made by my cousin Christine.
My best friend from primary school, invited me to her house where I saw her mother using a wok for the first time and her Dad grew his own beanshoots and trimmed them delicately with scissors ready for use.
I have helped my aunt prepare intricate canapes for her Saturday dinner parties when I was an impressionable teenager!
I have helped in the cake decoration section, of a renowned patissier on my island!
I have hand-picked greengages to make jam till midnight, with colourful and slightly eccentric cousins!
I have been served the tastiest couscous, well known Morrocan dish, my Aunt Jocelyne (her speciality)!
My mother's chicken a la Creole is renowned and I have copied her method many many times.
My father had a good nose for wine! Although I do not drink I can still pick a good cru!
I learned to make a bechamel with my maths tutor's wife, when I was dropped off there for extra maths lessons : "the secret you see is to wait for the flour and butter to acquire a rich biscuit aroma, before adding your warm milk". The money was not wasted Mum and Dad: I like maths and cooking!
I have lived in Paris in the XV arrondissement not far from the Convention market to be able to shop even as a student where I was offered an array of potatoes varieties, the freshest endives during the Spring, the juicest apples and the Brie de Meaux, from the cheesemaker from Meaux.
I have lunched with my friend Liliane on the Champs Elysées! Discovered still on the Champs Elysées the best sorbet house in the world!
I have eaten with my husband in one of the best restaurant in Stockholm, Berns.
I have had Mussels and chips in St Tropez over looking the millionaires'' yachts.
I have torn a pizza whilst sitting on a wall in Monaco Bay looking through the clear water at the array of fish!
I have eaten boiled eddoes in olive groves in the South of France!
I have eaten foie gras in the Perigord region of France! and spread it on my children's bread...to go to school...
I have gestured in Venice to be able to eat the freshest clams! Not to mention the ice-cream during the heat wave in August 2004.
I have enjoyed the sushis at Nobu in London.
Mingled and eaten in the noisiest restaurant of Hong Kong usually only for the locals.
I have sat crossed legged in Chiang Mai, Thailand to eat their delicate morsels.
I have been served the biggest stuffed oysters at Redondo Beach, and they were out of this world.
I have people watched and drank good coffee during breakfast at the Back Burner Cafe on Hermosa Beach.
As I write down all these memories and many more that I have not mentionned: I am suddenly not surprised by my love of food and my high expectations! Not for the fanciest restaurants but for the love that can be shown in a plate of eats!
I have not written all this to try and impress you, but to remind myself that this blog is also my space to record memories and traditions.
And to finish I would like to add that I still love cooking to this day, even the simplest of dishes. I love entertaining a few or many! My kitchen is my favorite room in my house! The place where the life of my family is!
PS: Did I tell you my son is training to be a chef!!
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I am updating this post by telling you very briefly what has happened over the course of the last 11 years.
I have carried on with the most extraordinary food stories ever.
In Japan I had real tempura and entered restaurants where no one speaks English ! And came out to tell the tale of a good plate of food.
In Taiwan I've ran away from stinky tofu but lived there long enough to shop like a local. Even telling the stall holder how to carve my chicken, and realising that we had become an attraction.
Discovered a restaurant where the chef now is known by 2 Michelin stars. It is an absolute joy to discover a talented person at the beginning of their career and talk positively into their lives and see them blossom and do so well.
Tairroir you still are my favorite in Taipei.
Also in Taipei, in the Ximen area, I have climbed the stairs of little restaurants to go and find tasty ramen and tempura dishes, all on my own, during my meandering, discovering days.
In Mauritius, I discovered a very simple little restaurant run under a veranda.
In Portugal carried my tin of sardines packed locally so I could eat it back at the caravan in a creole sauce after a day of sightseeing.
In Korea I've acquired a fondness for kimchi and bbq cooked at the table. Liked the restaurant with the virtual queuing to eat pigs trotters, Korean style. You write your name of the chalkboard and are given a rough time to come back when the table is ready. I do not speak Korean, all this was done with a lot of gesturing and very kind waitresses.
In Hastings, eating fish and chips in the upper rooms of Maggie's is a special treat, with a full view of the fishing boats.
In Colorado I've eaten steak cooked by a cowboy.
In New York I had my first porterhouse and boy was it big but delicious.
In Cambodia I ate their traditional dishes and was fortunate enough to see it prepared by the extraordinary good hearted people.
In London I had the privilege to eat in Star Michelin restaurants and feel at ease chatting to the chef. This has happened because my son is now a fully fledged chef and wherever he has worked we were blessed to go and eat. The view in Sky Gardens is amazing whilst you are served with delicious food.
In Belgium we ate at the chef's table.
In Versailles we had a Ile Flottante out of this world.
In Calais we ate the best arranged plateau of fruits de mer you can wish for.
I am writing this after nearly a year of not going out apart from being out of lockdown for a brief time in September for my birthday, where we ate at Elystan, Phil Howard's restaurant. Liam, my son, trained in his Michelin Star restaurant.
Food food food glorious food. You are an important part of my life and my family life.
I am always amazed how food is intricately linked in my memory to feelings and smells. But most of all I realise that my memories of people also centre around food.
As I have reached a milestone in a my years and that my health has made me extremely cautious with many ingredients, I am grateful for all the experiences I 've had.
May there be many more that I can share,
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