Bon Appétit

I've been traveling a lot lately as some of you may know and one of the movies that is always offered in flight is Julie and Julia, but for some reason I consider it and then usually decline. Maybe it's because it felt a bit chick flick-y or because those chef shows, Top and Iron, despite their popularity among many I know, always make me annoyingly hungry. But tonight, pretty much due to the lack of selection at my local Blockbuster and from hearing from a few trustworthy sources that it was a good film, I brought it home along with two slices of pizza, a sprite, and pint of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked frozen yogurt to stuff myself with to avoid any hunger pangs mid movie and to beat down a pretty vicious hangover.

Anyway, within minutes of the gargantuan Meryl Streep — who in proper Meryl form transforms completely into character making her mega-star status fade far away — appearing on screen I was smiling, then quickly laughing out loud. And despite having my preconceived judgments of the spritely Amy Adams being just a little vanilla, she melded as well into a totally relatable girl I would see riding on the F train. The story of Julia and the story of Julie told simultaneously are perfectly juxtaposed making you a little sad for a second when one segment ends but then instantly happy to be reacquainted with the other characters. Maybe it's the hangover, or missing my boyfriend, or it being that special time of the month but the chemistry between both couples made me so happy for everyone out there who is love with a sweet man and want it so bad for everyone who isn't. I would say kudos to the casting agent for that one, I would take either husband if I needed to.

And finally, it inspired me to do two things: write this terribly long blog entry (obviously much more likely to occur) and to cook. Here's hoping I follow through with the latter. I did make my first roast chicken for Karsten and I when I was in Berlin a few weeks ago, and I will have to say that I enjoyed the whole experience: grocery shopping, preparing the food, then feeding someone else and having them genuinely like it. Usually I am just chopping up some veggies and tofu for myself, but this felt different and rewarding. Not saying I am going to debone a duck à la Julia any time soon, but I wouldn't mind following a recipe and whipping up something buttery and French. Hopefully as enjoyable, as this enjoyable (not even for a lack of a better word but because that is simply what is was) little flick.