l.i.c., nyFriday night is date night, and it has fortuitously, fallen on the night of the opening of Julie & Julia. András is the move man in our family -- There is just no competing with his ambition to see them all. But I’d been talking about this movie since June, so today when I woke up, the first thing I said was:
“We have to buy tickets for Julie & Julia this morning. It might sell out”
András’ sleepy smile widened into a huge grin. “Babu,” he said, using his sweetened Hungarian endearment for me. “It's not going to sell out.”
“Yes it is! Tonight is opening night!”
He laughed. Hard.
“It’s not Star Wars.”
“But everyone is talking about it!”
“No one is talking about it. You just think everyone is talking about it because you work at the Food Network. Most people don't even know who Julia Child is.”
I beg to differ. Julia, and Simone Beck, changed the way America eats. Today Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was the number 2 book on Amazon.com. Not number 2 in cookbooks, number 2 in all books.
“We'll see in Queens then. At least no one in Queens knows who Julia is,” András said.
We agreed to see it at Kaufman, the local Queens theater, after meeting at home for a quick bite. I made sandwiches out of thick slabs of cold butter {no, that’s not cheese}, rounds of fresh purple onions, and spicy arugula on whole wheat bread. I sheared two ears of corn and tossed the kearnels in olive oil over high heat {for 2 minutes} and threw them together with our latest batch of tomatoes and thin strips of lemony sorrel. As simple as it was, these clean summer flavors were not meant to be rushed. Every bite was bursting with life. We savored them a little too long and almost missed the movie.
We finally arrived, just as the opening credits were rolling, and tucked into the only two empty chairs in the very front row, making larger-than-life Julia even larger, and more lovable.
Throughout the movie, András laughed louder than anyone.
“She’s crazy!” He said.
“She’s wonderful.” I said.
But you already knew that. The moral of the story is this: People in Queens know about Julia Child. And, raw purple onion and butter sandwiches are divine. Better, even, than beef bourguignon.
3 comments:
I just had warm cranberry walnut bread with thick slabs of butter today. You're one of the few people I know who enjoys slabs of butter!
Claire, I was completely decadent with slabs of butter today. I toasted two pieces of raisin walnut bread, layered on slabs of butter and bittersweet chocolate while the toast was still warm, and pressed the two halves together until the butter and chocolate melted into the middle. Divine! Try it sometime. xx
Post a Comment