The Plan

I love to bake, always have. I love to eat, and sweets are by far my favorite. Therefore instead of cooking my way through a book, I will be baking my way through it. If you read the introduction you probably saw the marked difference in the tow cookbooks Ervin and I decided to use for this project. His has over 300 recipes, mine has 16. I gave myself eight weeks, a supposedly easy amount of time for 16 recipes. I am already behind.

I, like Julie of the movie, have a problem finishing things. I considered starting small and if I thought I could do a “real cookbook” then I would pick one of those next. I then proceeded to talk myself into the idea by telling myself that A) We were thinking about getting rid of this book as we had never used it, and B) We would never be able to finish eating a ton of desserts each week, so two a week was a good number.

This past weekend came and went as I have not made anything yet. We did buy the ingredients though so tomorrow night I am going to crank out a batch of cookies, or bars. I haven’t decided which yet. I do have it narrowed down to two recipes, Chocolate Almond Macaroon Bars, or Double Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies.

After considering what I will do once I finish this book, I have picked one that has many recipes, to be revealed at a later time. If I only make two a week at that point I will be going through it for at least three years. That will not do. Hence, I have thought of some food relocation options, other than eating them ourselves that is.

We can take them to work. Which is brilliant for Ervin, but everyone at my job is always trying to eat healthy. I will become a pariah if I do that more than once a month.

We can give them to family. Again, this is a good option for Erv’s family, but not for mine due to health reasons.

We can donate them to the local homeless shelter. This works on Saturdays only.

We can mail them to people in the military. I am a member of http://www.soldiersangels.org/. You should check it out.

I can freeze items that are freezable. I am a big fan of freezer cooking. I won’t be doing much of that for the next year though as Erv works his way through his cookbook. Freezing some things should still be doable.

So there is my plan. Now I just need a kick in the behind to get myself started.

Movie Review: Julie and Julia

When I saw the first trailer for Julie & Julia, I wanted to see it. I wanted to do it! Of course, that is the point of a trailer, to make you want to see the movie. So this past weekend, we went out and saw it. I have to admit I started having some doubts when elderly person after elderly person started entering the theater in front of us. We weren't the youngest people there though as I saw a mom take two girls in the 7-10 age range in.

I don't want to give you any spoilers, but here is my review. The movie started off a bit slow I thought, but was definitely worth seeing. It made me smile and laugh through most of it. There were a couple of sad moments, but nothing that brought me to tears. It did inspire me to want to cook even more. It was very interesting to see how Julia Child became the fantastic cook that she was and how her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking came to be. As for Julie's story, I didn't find it quite as interesting, but it was still fun to watch her cooking "experiences" as she worked her way through Julia's cookbook.

As to family friendliness, it is "Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality." That is pretty much spot on. No violence, no death (besides lobster), and no nudity was seen, though Julie was shown in her underwear. There were references to sex and both couples had scenes (with kissing, etc) leading up to more intimate moments, but those moments were not shown. The language was strong at some points, I recall one F-word and one B-word for sure, but as the rating said it was brief at each encounter.

A great thing about the movie is it inspires all ages to cook. I wouldn't have thought it reaches all ages but it does. As I said the theater was full of an older crowd, then there was Erv and I, and the Mom with two young girls. I overheard the two girls talking to their mom after their movie. They were asking her if they could get Julia's cookbook and cook their way through it. She told them they could probably find the book online, but they were going to be skipping the chapter on gelatins!