Julia Child's Life in France

This may seem like a long time ago but back in May, our book club - This Book Makes Me Cook - picked the iconic book "My Life in France" by Julia Child. I've read this book before, I've seen the Meryl Streep movie based on the book and I readily re-read this highly enjoyable saga last month. I even created a dish inspired from the book. But it's been so crazy around here with exams and assignments that I've only just gotten around to telling you about it.

First the book, it's all about Julia. And the way she immersed herself in France the moment she arrived. In all the culinary surprises Paris has in store for her, her trips to the coast to see that special food and her training at Cordon Bleu, the real Julia shines through. Her passion and her personality then reflect in the book she writes with her two new found friends. A book that has inspired home cooks ever since.

I could have picked a French dish from the book. But to me, the message that Julia is trying to send across is that cooking should be simple and it should be perfect. So I decided to look for the perfect version of one recipe that's been out of reach so far - chocolate cake. Well, I do have a fabulous eggless chocolate cake I swear by and a fantastic flourless cake I will tell you about sometime. But so far, I had nothing going in the normal chocolate sheet cake/cupcake world.

I only tried one recipe but I agonized over which one to bake for weeks. The final choice was Chocolate-Chocolate cupcakes from my other baking icon, Dorie Greenspan. Perfectly moist, and topped with an intense chocolate topping, these cupcakes were an instant hit at a party I took them to.

And we might have some exciting book read coming up this month, so write in if you would like to read along.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Amazing the visit was worth…
saadepunjab.com

August 2, 2012 at 8:09 PM

Sugar Lane said…

Hi! I’ve just discovered your lovely blog!
wanna eat each and everythin, would love you to take a look at mine and let me know what you think ;)
Kisses from Spain,
S

August 6, 2012 at 10:09 PM

rohitpendharkar said…

Well amazing, and tempting at the same time.

MedeCure

August 25, 2012 at 6:32 PM

Doodlequeen said…

Julia went to my college!
Every year at Smith College, we have Julia Child Day- it's a FEAST.
Anyway, that book is so important to me...

October 7, 2012 at 2:20 AM

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru

Bombay Foodie

Search This Blog