Cookbooks Count
So there's something that not everyone knows about me. I haven't read a "book" in a very long time. What most people consider to be a book, just distracts me from all of the things I might want to be doing. I can hang in there for a chapter or two, until my mind starts to wander and 7 pages later I look down and realize that I have not actually read, only seen the words on the pages. This isn't to say that I don't relax, oh the contrary. ( I live a life of leisure...not really but I try. I like to pretend I live in some romantic city in Europe where everyone rides bikes and work weeks don't start until tuesday. Where people choose homes for their gardens, and proxemity to a coffee shop, bakery, the farmers market & their job. We all walk to work, unless it's too cold in which case...we stay home & drink coffee.) 
I try to read books, I really do. At least, I try to choose real books when I'm am choosing books. But in the end, during the final filter, they all end up back on the shelf and I walk away with a journal and a stack of cookbooks. Which is why Julia Powell's book Julie & Julia really caught me off guard. Recently, well a few weeks before Julia Child passed away, I became mildly obsessed with her. No idea why. Other than the vague memories of her mumbling away with a cleaver in her hand and watching as a small child, not knowing who...or what she was and not knowing whether to laugh or cry but staring in awe. She was on TV alot at my house. I almost wonder if I was the one persuing her program, with some kind of sick "I don't want to see it but I do" mindset. Anyhow, fast forward all these years and I suddenly rediscover her. I think I may have hated her at one point, the way I hated David Letterman and then crossed that fine line and fell deeply in love with him. There I was, 31 years old, unearthing some kind of love for Julia Child. For Christmas that year I bought my husband the Julia DVD in which she cooks with other famous chefs. It's more like a "best of" than anything else, filled with snippits of her wisdom (actually, I believe it is called "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom") and anticdotes. My husband loved it. We passed it around to family & friends, eager for them to enjoy the same bizarre infatuation we suddenly had for her. And I think, we never got it back. (I had no intention of going on about Julia here, what I want to go on about....is Julie) Julie (I will let you find out about her for yourself, when you go buy her book) did an amazing thing. She thought outside of the box. Way, way outside...and the kicker is that she was so outside of the box that the outcome was absolutely unpredictable. After a crazy year of cooking 524 recipes and wondering where on earth she was going in life, she is now an author and in my book...a stupendous success, in the true meaning of the word. She really got me that Julie. How I love the underdog, and how I love an offbeat success story and even more, I love brave leaps of faith that lead to unimaginable realms of joy. As I was saying, I haven't read a "book" in a long time and last night, when I woke up at 2 am unable to sleep, I shuffled to the couch, plugged in a night light and leaning in, read her book until 7 in the morning.
SPT-1/17/06
PICTURE DAY 1978
It goes like this: you are a sweet, shy just turned 5 year old. Your older sister, whom you idolize is 14 and just got her braces off. She has brilliantly white, straight teeth that line up perfectly when she smiles. You spend days upon weeks trying to imitate this, and have finally got it down in time for picture day. You are short, and stuffed into your size 5 granimals dress & turtleneck, white tights and buster browns. On your way out the door, your mom yells "don't use your 'sh*t' smile" (this sounds meaner than it really is, it's just that she has decided that you look like you're swearing under your breath when you do it) So, you wait your turn in line and they prop you up on the stool, legs dangling. The photographer says "smile" and you flash your very best perfectly straight teeth together lips stretched way out smile, only to year a mean man say "NO, your REAL SMILE". You say "...but that IS my real smile". This little game goes on for 4 or 5 takes, then the staredown begins. His last words: "Fine, this is what you want your kindergarten picture to look like?" .....stare.......FLASH. Grrr.
I would still give him dirty looks, but I love this picture. My best friend has it hanging all over her house, including the 8x10 of it on her refrigerator. She uses it to make her laugh and has probably clocked alot of hours laughing at this, mostly because IT'S FUNNY! and also because she knows how mad I had to be in order to make that face.
