Item #17 – Cook a Dish out of the Julia Child Cookbook

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Item #17 (Cooking Goals) – Cook a Dish Out of the Julia Child Cookbook

I have several culinary aspirations on my #40for40in40 list. My list itself was partially inspired by the movie Julie & Julia where upon “Julie” challenges herself to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s cookbooks in 365 days. Given that, I had to add Cook a dish out of the Julia Child Cookbook to my #40for40in40 list.

As I may have mentioned before, we had to move my mom out of her home a couple of years ago to an independent living center and then this past March from independent living to a memory care facility. Our mom has early onset of Fronto Temporal Dementia or FTD. Moving her through these progressions of care and witnessing her decline mentally at such an early age has been one of the hardest things that my sisters and I have ever been through. It’s heart breaking and painful but we’ve tried to find strength, resilience, and most importantly humor along the way. Because after all, if you don’t laugh… you’ll cry and even though a good cry is important sometimes you can’t stay that way for long or the sadness of the situation will swallow you too.

When we downsized my mom the first time, a special selection of her cookbooks went with her to the independent living apartment. She requested a unit with a full sized oven too because my mom loved to cook. Sadly, due to her condition, the oven was never used and I don’t think the cookbooks ever moved from the shelf that my sister Brenda neatly arranged them on. Fast forward two years later and there were no longer room for her cookbooks in the memory care facility. My sisters and I divided up the prized collection and I was fortunate to get two of Julia Childs books that my mom had to take home with me. There wasn’t many things that I was able to bring home to Seattle from my mom’s place but I carried them home on the plane like precious cargo.

At first when I added this item to my list I thought I would select one of Julia’s more complicated recipes but simple recipes can be delicious and I didn’t think I could go wrong with anything I chose. I decided this year for Christmas dinner I would make Filet Mignon with Mushroom and Madeira sauce accompanied by mashed potatoes (my husband’s request) and cooked carrots (Larry’s request). My mom’s favorite go to cookbook and the “family bible” as we call it is Sylvia Sebastiani’s Mangiamo (Let’s Eat) cookbook. It holds the recipe for Carrots in Wine which my mom used to make for us during special occasions. So Julia… meet Sylvia. Sylvia… meet Julia.

To say that the filet’s turned out delicious would be an understatement. But after all, it’s Julia. I had never really cooked beef on the stove aside from browning hamburger meat (my husband usually barbecues for us) so I was pretty proud of trying that for the first time and having them turn out so well. The sauce and the mushrooms were exactly what I was craving. And the minute the carrots came together, the familiar aroma of my mom cooking came flooding back to me.

Randomly last night I was looking for something to watch before bed and Julie & Julia was on. I hadn’t seen it in ages but I caught a few minutes of it. I smiled when I realized that Julie snagged her copy of the very same cookbook I was using for this from her mom’s house too.

I am realizing more the comfort that you can find in an aroma or a family recipe. Thank you to my husband and boys for enjoying such a great holiday meal with me. Thank you to my sisters for allowing me to have those cookbooks and always being my go to gals for recipe ideas, culinary disasters and laughter. And thanks Mom… Julia’s books will have a good home and I’ll do my best to keep your culinary legacy alive.

And so that completes #17 on my list. 21 items checked off the list and 19 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40