Boeuf Bourguignon

Kitchen Aftermath & a Delicious Finished Product!












Yes - I love the movie "Julie and Julia".

My favourite scene is when Julia's husband, Paul comes up with just the right word to articulate a flavour Julia is trying to describe - just, exactly, perfectly the right one. You know you have found the love of your life when he can finish your culinary sentences correctly! The look on her face when she realizes for the millionth time that the man she is spending her life with is really and truly the one man meant for her... I'm a softie for scenes like that, particularly when they combine love and food!

These two women found themselves in the kitchen. They came alive when they were cooking, feeding, creating, and savouring everything around them.

I know that cooking and eating have helped me enjoy my life more. I certainly didn't do enough of it when I was practicing law. Now, I really do take more time for the things I delight in. The things I find DELICIOUS.

Friday evening - premiere night. I wished I had spent the entire day cooking, but the workweek went by quickly. Yet, at 5:00 I thought I had just enough time to make Beef Bourguingnon before the movie. See the splattered pages 315 - 317 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking for better instructions than I'll ever be able to give you here...

I literally "consumed" the movie (waiting for it since July and then finally enjoying it!). We walked in the front door after the movie at 9:00 and inhaled the gorgous smell of perfect food. Really honest, perfect, delicious, well-made food. Call it "boeuf Bourguignon" or "beef stew" but it was delicious.

Harrison came with my mom and I yesterday to see it. I love that he watched the entire movie with enthusiasm. Later that night, we were both hungry and I had only the pious building blocks of meals in the fridge. Sometimes, I'm frustrated when I have nothing easy in the fridge and actually have to "make" something! But I usually find this is the ripest opportunity to create something awesome!

I took out a puff pastry sheet and sprinkled some chopped up ham and 2 year old shredded cheddar cheese on top. Then I dropped two whole eggs on top of that, wrapped it up, and put it on the Silpat. * you have to get one of these things - nothing EVER sticks to it!!!!* Harrison called this dish "slices of heaven", proclaiming "That Julia Child sure knew what she was doing!" :)

On a whim, I invited my entire family over for lunch today - on about two hours notice. I made fresh zucchini cakes (shredded zucchini, s + p, 3 tbsp flour and one egg) fried in olive oil, with a homemade mayonnaise. I reheated the Boeuf Bourguignon from Friday, and served fresh cherry tomatoes out of the garden with sliced bocconcini mozzarella and basil. For dessert, I bought an angel food cake, and served it with a sauce of pureed strawberries and cream.

I love the chaos of a family gathering. I love that 2 year olds and 90 year olds eat the same things, in the same portions! I love that my dad gets surprised when I make something delicious - like it came out of an "easy-bake oven" or something. I love when my mom insists that she help me with the clean-up when I really don't want her to... and then saves me my 19 minutes for blog-writing. I love leftovers!

Most of all, I love that cooking provides each of us with energy for our lives. Whether we're crying from trying to prove something when we're chopping onions, to blinking away tears from a buttery sole meuniere, to watching the men we love describe our food, to resisting our own misty eyes when we retire eventually from a career that truly exemplified who we are - food.

Food gives us energy for living our lives to the fullest.