French Chef Saturdays

After months of waiting, I finally managed to watch "Julie & Julia," which was on my movie wish list during those last few months of pregnancy with Elias. Of course, Elias came a little early, I was too covered in baby-vomit to really care what we watched, and then the movie left the theaters. Besides, the kid was a screamer so I wouldn't have heard it anyway.

Anyway . . . Scott and I watched the movie as a Redbox rental. I adored it. Enough to order it through our TiVo/Amazon set up, which is supposed to be a 30 day rental thing until you start watching it, then you have 24 hours to wrap it up. I never rent a movie twice, so this was a huge thing for me. I cannot even begin to detail my utter disappointment when I clicked on the title only to learn that when you buy the weekend special for $1.99, it is just that - a weekend special. If I choose not to watch it by the end of the weekend, I might as well flush two dollars down the toilet because it would achieve the same thing. Scott was caught off guard by the depth of my emotion and, in true amazing-man fashion, purchased the film on his way home from work the next morning. Sigh - I love that man.

We both watched it again, enjoying the dialogue, the characters, and the storyline. Scott and I both tend to be fans of dialogue driven movies. If we don't like the conversations and the characters, no amount of special effects or blood can win us over. (In fact, the further away from the "Inglorious Basterds" bloody moments I get, the more impressed I am by the characters. Scott thinks I'm crazy. To which I say just one look at our lives is enough to make someone hear the crazy comment and simply reply with: "Duh.") But, after this movie, we both found ourselves thinking about French food. A lot. Scott kept saying that he was going to pick us up copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" so we could give it a try. I checked around a little bit and the only copies I saw were relatively expensive considering how hard he is working right now, so we were thinking it would just wait for a couple of months. Then, while buying a Barbie Movie for a dreadfully ill Abigail one day in Target, I spied the anniversary edition of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" poised on an endcap with the most glorious sign above it: 60% off!!

We have now designated Saturday as our French cooking day. Our cooking supplies are dreadfully under-stocked for Julia Child's recipes, so we not only find we must shop for ingredients, but we are having to purchase pots, pans, scrapers, etc. However, we are still spending less each week in supplies and ingredients than we used to ordering pizza one night each week. (For the record - how sad is that statement?) Our newest acquisition is a gorgeous blue dutch oven which arrived in plenty of time for our beef stew recipe - scheduled for next Saturday. Tomorrow's meal is Ratatouille, which was chosen by the children, who are learning French cooking right beside us. Tucker's favorite thing to do is chop anything so he can announce he is finished with a Julia Child/Meryl Streep inspired victory cheer.

We are enjoying the time in the kitchen together immensely and we all anticipate Saturday with an eagerness similar to Christmas morning. I would have never thought that we would, as a family of 10, find that our favorite activities together would include camping, bike rides, swimming, sledding, and preparing a fine, French meal.