Artwork from Jessie Hartland’s “Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child”

Today is Julia Child’s birthday and she would have been 100 years old! Wow what a life she led and how she changed cooking in the United States. I miss her, I miss her iconic voice, her stately presence and she was really the one that started cooking for television.

Wouldn’t this make a great needlepoint canvas to stitch and then hang in your kitchen? well I do and I dropped a hint to Maggie as I see it in her line…don’t you agree?

Julia would always say “don’t apologize for your cooking mistakes. It is, what it is!” What a great outlook to have about cooking, don’t you think so? Well unless you are a chef in a restaurant, then the mistakes are not quite viewed the same. For those who have known me forever, my previous career was a chef for a very, very busy steakhouse chain. For many of those years I was the only woman chef in the company. That was my life passion for over 25 years! For many of those years I would work at least 1 day at week in a needlepoint shop. I knew that someday soon the body wouldn’t be able to handle the daily rigors of restaurant work and I would need to find another love of my life. Once I fell in love with needlepoint, I knew that would be my next career. I wanted to learn all about the industry, get to know the designers, the artists, the threads and well just everything about needlepoint. There was so much to learn, would I ever get it?

Julia was my hero as she was a dominant force in a man’s world. The restaurant business is definitely geared not for the faint of heart. She brought French cooking to the United States, wrote cookbooks and started her own shows before there was the Food Channel.

BTW I really don’t cook much at home, I can cook but I don’t anymore. I probably have the most ill equipped kitchen that you could imagine. Anyway I would rather spend my time stitching! besides who’s going to clean up after me? and it’s been way too hot lately to even think about cooking!

Julia was quite the cat lover and isn’t that another reason to love her? I bought this book on my last trip to Warwick’s. I am not an e-reader type person, I want to hold the book in my hands, look at the pictures and all that kind of associated with that. I am collecting a few books to keep me company on the plane as I have just a few road trips coming up.

A quote from her book “une maison sans chat, c’est la vie sans soliel” translates to a home without a cat, that’s life without sun. I know that I could not envision my life without a cat or two to share it.

Speaking of cats, where did AlleyCat ever learn this position? It’s not very cat like, nor is it very lady like! It has been hot, so maybe she is trying to keep herself cool…who knows? Gotta love her as she never ceases to entertain me! and until next time…keep on stitching