I love to cook, (and eat). I have a foody blog that I no longer maintain, called The Proper Binge in honor of the late Great Julia Child, and a personal blog where I list family recipes and cooking adventures. Since it seems I’ll be staying at this address gor a while, I thought I’d share some of my cooking stuff here.
I’ll kick it off with my memorial Julia Child post.
In Belated Memory of Julia Child
8/15/1912 -8/13/2004
I grabbed this blog’s name from a Julia Child Quote:
“Life itself is the proper binge.”
Some more words of wisdom from my cooking hero:
“I just hate health food”
“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook”
“In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.”
“I wouldn’t keep him around long if I didn’t feed him well.”
“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate, you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
“Because of media hype and woefully inadequate information, too many people nowadays are deathly afraid of their food, and what does fear of food do to the digestive system? … I, for one, would much rather swoon over a few thin slices of prime beefsteak, or one small serving of chocolate mousse, or a sliver of foie gras than indulge to the full on such nonentities as fat-free gelatin puddings.”
To cook is to create. And to create well…is an act of integrity, and faith.”
“I have trouble with toast. Toast is very difficult. You have to watch it all the time or it burns up.”
“It is the Americans who have managed to crown minced beef as hamburger, and to send it around the world so that even the fussy French have taken to le boeuf haché, le hambourgaire.”
“I am sure that an unhappy or suspicious stomach, constricted and uneasy with worry, cannot digest properly. And
if digestion is poor, the whole body politic suffers.”
“While attitudes about food have changed through these last years, fortunately the principles of good cooking have not. The more one knows about it, the less mystery there is, the faster cooking becomes, and the easier it is to be creative and to embrace new trends and ideas and in addition, the more pleasure one has in the kitchen.”
“Wine is essential with anything! Particularly omelettes for lunch.”
     -from USA TODAY
“Most important of all, food is a family affair and every meal (including breakfast) should be a joyous occasion. While we are here on this earth we should not only be nourished by our food, we should also enjoy the infinite pleasures of the table – as well as enjoying the cooking of what goes upon it.”
“Dining with one’s friends and beloved family is certainly one of life’s
primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and
eternal. In spite of food fads, fitness programs, and health concerns,
we must never lose sight of a beautifully conceived meal.”     -From In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs
“The pleasures of the table — that lovely old-fashioned phrase — depict food as an art form, as a delightful part of civilized life. In spite of food fads, fitness programs, and health concerns, we must never lose sight of a beautifully conceived meal.”
“Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music.”
     -From La Belle Cuisine
“I was a Republican until I got to New York and had to live on $18 a week. It was then that I became a Democrat. “
“Pro-choice is the only way to be– because women are human beings, after all, and should be treated as such.”
For 40 years, Julia has recited variations on what she’d wish for her last meal: caviar-oysters-foie gras followed by pan-roasted duck. For dessert, a poached pear or pungent sorbet with walnut cake. Now, when asked yet again what she would like for her “last meal,” she coyly quotes chef Jacques Pepin: “It’s going to be a very long one.”
     -From Ms. Magazine
And don’t forget Julia’s “reverse martini” of ice, vermouth and a “slosh of gin.”
Bon appetit!
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