Thank you everyone for your wonderful support with this blog. You are greatly appreciated by me!
And now on to the post…
As I mentioned not so long ago, I will be hosting my sister’s bridal shower very shortly. I will be making a lot of food for nearly 50 guests and this will be a great challenge! As you know, I love cooking and have an intense desire to learn French cooking. Julia Child, although American, revolutionized cooking by introducing the French way; slow, fresh, and delicious!
For this occasion, I will be making a French recipe from Julia Child, spinach turnovers (spinach twins as she calls them). The spinach turnovers consist of pastry rolled out into a square, topped with a spinach mixture, ham and mushrooms, more spinach mixture and finally half of the pastry is turned folded over and sealed for baking.
Here is a link to the full recipe on an online episode of “The French Chef”. Just click the pic below…
As I have grown up (this process is far from over) I have found immense inspiration in a few individuals.
I was very young I was inspired by my stepdad’s Indian cooking and developed a unique love for food. I was five years old the first time he cooked some delicious chicken curry. I can remember this meal in great detail. I didn’t know what to expect, and I wasn’t expecting much. I was only hoping for the usual dinner of pasta or rice to show up in front of me on the dinner table in my small townhouse. That changed one evening when I was served a meal I would never forget! My plate arrived in front of me and I smelled something I had never smelled before…pure pleasure. I took my first bite and my taste buds were born! I was inspired by the Indian food! (I proceeded to ask if we could serve chicken curry to all of my friends at my birthday party.)
Around the age of fifteen I had found a new inspiration, Christine Cushing. She was (is) a celebrity chef on food network and I loved her show. She inspired me to become a chef (I lost this dream after graduating from highschool). She had trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and she served up delicious meals inspired by her classical training and her own creativity. I would become the next Christine Cushing!
Fast forward once again to this November. I had just started dating my French boyfriend and certain dreams and passions were arising again. My dream to live in France and my dream of learning French cooking had once again awoken after a long hibernation (caused by the pressures young Canadians may feel after highschool to pursue the “right” career and education that will get them the “best” paying job and stability). I walked into the library one day and VERY coincidently the book right in front of my eyes, on display none the less, was “My Life In France“, the autobiography of Julia Child. I had heard of her briefly here and there but never really knew who this woman was. I fell in love with her life after reading this book and to France I would go, the decision was made.
I proceeded to read her other biography, watch her A&E biography, look up some of her recipes on-line and cook them for my French boyfriend (winners every time), watch that hit movie “Julie and Julia“, download and watch many episodes of her cooking show “The French Chef” and ask for the best-selling “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” for my birthday. What I call inspired, others may call obsessed. Oh well, to each their own!
She is my latest and greatest inspiration! The parallelism between her life and my own is outstanding and her beautiful love for French food is captivating. Also, the relationship her and Paul Child shared was beautiful. The love they created is the most inspirational bit of all. Thank you Julia Child for showing me what is possible!
A bored housewife turned into a food revolutionary…What is possible in my life?
Mon Aventure Française! 