Big Night and all things food

olives, originally uploaded by Justin Davis Davanzo.

So last night Nita and I saw Julie and Julia, which I was excited to see after reading Julia Childs book "My Life in France", which chronicles the beginning of her cooking career and her personal life with Paul Childs while they lived in Europe, and her journey to creating the now famous cookbook, and it was as inspiring as I thought. First, the portrayal of Julia Childs by Meryl Streep is incredible. She embodies the spirit and mannerisms perfectly. After reading the book, you really get a sense of her constant positive outlook on life and this for sure comes across in the movie, but more importantly, the cross over between Julia and the modern story that is going on with Julie is equally inspiring in its own way. For those who don't know the whole story, basically Julie sets out to write a blog about cooking all of Julia Childs recipes, all 525 of them, in 365 days. During the story we see the trying times of this challenge and how difficult something like this could be, but more importantly, we see two great examples of people who took charge of their life, but following through and not letting things stand in the way...this is the main part that I am inspired by....Julia Child sat with Paul when she was age 37 and asked herself, "What should I do?" I relate to this as I am not only the same age, but I have that same discussion with myself on a daily basis...except mine often involves some sort of cuss word...

Now, not that the decision is easy, but once it is made, that is the key...to follow through, no matter the challenges or how many are against it...the modern day story of Julie, who funny enough, has a government job ( sound familiar?) is great to watch as she seemingly comes up with this crazy idea but as she follows her journey and realizes her true dreams come from the challenge she finally understands what her life is meant to be.

Of course, all of this has a Hollywood spin, but the reality for both is still true, and if you read the book, you will for sure see how Julia Childs beat all the odds and constantly persevered in her pursuit of doing what she loved....

I also loved watching Stanley Tucci, the adoring and supportive other half...who was always there for Julia even though for him at times, his life felt a bit dreary...he also had a government job, but of course watching him reminded me of another one of my most favorite movies...Big Night...all of this is based around the love of food and wine and after we saw the movie last night, I was not only inspired to follow through, but I was damn hungry...so we went and had a great dinner at the local pub...The Hungry Toad...I had London Broil and a great glass of wine and we talked of all things present and future...

These are the kind of stories i love to read about and know they are true...it brings me back to what is important and gets the blood flowing and shows us that it is never too late to do what we want, or to at least try...I think it also reminds us that we CANNOT do it alone...we all need our support system...no matter who or what, but we need that too. And to remember, much like I wrote about in my book...(plug plug) about Vincent Van Gogh...here again we see the years it takes to make it...Julia Childs spent 8 years writing this book and more cooking before she became Julia Childs as we know her...And the modern day Julie, probably spent the majority of her younger years trying to figure out how to be a writer...i don't know as much about her, but it does mention that she wrote a novel in the movie and has been trying for some time...point is...to remember that it does not just happen and all the little things add up...So for me, this Monday...which is partly cloudy and so so...i need to remember this...

Today I am going to take down my second photography show in a few hours and at first I was a little bummed, but now I am excited to start another show and to make some things happen....this is not an overnight effort...this is a journey into the wilderness....

so remember to pack all the essentials and bring your favorite person or thing with you so when you break down, they can help you laugh and see that all things will work out just fine.

Go see this movie...at least it will make you hungry if not totally inspired...

Love and Understanding.