Last week, on a flight home to Boston, I watched the movie Julie & Julia for the first time *gasp*! As a devout watcher of chick flicks and a self-proclaimed chef, I have no idea how I had never heard of this (true) story or seen this movie…it’s like it was made for me.
If you haven’t seen it before, here’s a quick synopsis: “Julie Powell [played by Amy Adams] is a bored, 30-year-old secretary living in a rundown apartment in Queens. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, so she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s [played by the queen, Meryl Streep] 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes, in the span of one year. But she comes to realize there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye.”
In addition to being an incredibly entertaining and wonderful story, I found myself resonating with parts of Julie Powell’s character. Julie works a dead-end job that she absolutely loathes as a secretary at a government agency, is married to her high school sweetheart, and lives in a tiny apartment in New York. While I’m not unsatisfied with my job (I actually quite love it so far) and am single, I do live in a tiny apartment with a fun-sized kitchen and have a similar desire to unwind and escape the workday by engaging in a post-work activity.
My favorite line from the whole movie is when Julie is making a chocolate cream pie and says, “you know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate, and sugar, and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” That scene brought the biggest smile to my face…food is medicine for the soul.
I also see glimpses of my personality in Julia Child. When her husband asks her “what do you like to do?” she responds effervescently, “eat!” It’s no secret that I’m a major foodie and love to indulge in life’s delicious creations. Perhaps my favorite thing to do is gather with friends and family over a delicious meal. Food has a way of bringing people together and cooking for the people I love has become my love language and something I cherish deeply.
After watching the movie, I’ve felt ~ inspired ~. Let me paint you a picture. It’s a snowy Tuesday night and I’m cozied up on the couch, stomach full from a scrumptious dinner, pajamas on, skincare routine done, face mask on, candle lit, heating pad on, toe stretchers in (iykyk), tea steeping, a couple blocks of Hu chocolate ready to be devoured, and Julie & Julia on in the background…vibes are high writing this blog post.
Tieghan Gerard, also known as Half Baked Harvest, is, to put it blatantly, my muse. Tieghan lives in Breckenridge (a fellow Colorado girl) and started her career as a food blogger /recipe creator in 2012. Since then, she’s written three cookbooks and has grown an audience of over four million followers, making her one of the most popular chefs on social media. My Mom and I have been following Tieghan since the blog’s inception – crazy to think it’s been almost ten years. We are quite literally her biggest fans, frequently stalking her blog for new recipes and avidly reading her cookbooks. Every single time I’m following a recipe, you can bet that it’s either Tieghan’s or one of my Mama’s.
While I’ve made countless of Tieghan’s recipes (both from the blog and cookbooks), I’m energized by the thought of making my way through her cookbooks. There are certain recipes that I’ve skipped over time and time again either because they are skill-intensive or aren’t something that I would normally make. In hopes of pushing me out of my comfort zone, both in skill and palette, I’m going to (sort of) copy Julie Powell’s efforts and cook my way through Tieghan’s cookbooks.
I’ve spent the last five months getting settled in my new life in Boston and oriented to my job. While it’s been a steep learning curve and I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of challenges to come, I feel ready to dip my toe into a side hustle again and am craving something to decompress after work. Let’s do this!
Julie Powell called her series The Julie/Julia Project, a year cooking through the book ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’ Thus, my series will be called The Katharine/Tieghan Project, a year cooking like Half Baked Harvest.
The Challenge: one HBH cookbook recipe per week. The contender: Katharine Kaufman, healthcare consultant by day, obsessed foodie by night.
In the words of Julie Powell, cheers to “nobody here but us servant-less American cooks.” Looking forward to this series!
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