Julie Powell had calves brains on the stove and cucumbers on the cutting board as she spoke about her blog, the Julie/Julie Project. Her dare to herself late last summer was to keep an open journal
for one year as she cooked every recipe in Julia Childs’classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Thousands of readers are panting with her now as she races to the finish. This is a personal blog lifted by wit and style toward real writing and performance art, not to mention fame and fortune. Here’s a sample of her prose:
“Okay. So Monday night was Foie de Veau a la Moutarde (Liver with Mustard, Herbs and Bread Crumbs.) This I made after attending an obligatory office party, so it was nine-thirty or so before I started cooking. Luckily, Foie de Veau a la Moutarde is pretty damned simple. Eric had bought some really very lovely calves’ liver, sliced a half inch thick. First I dredged these in flour and briefly sauted them in hot butter and oil, just a minute or so on each side. I set them aside in a pan while I beat together three tablespoons of mustard, minced shallots, parsley, garlic, pepper, and the bit of fat from the saute pan. I schmeared this over the liver slices, then laid the slices in fresh bread crumbs that Eric had kindly whipped up for me in the Cuisinart, because what can I say? The man is wildly devoted to me. Once the liver was coated with the crumbs, which I pressed into the liver with my hands to make it stick, I put the slices in a broiling pan, basted them with melted butter, and stuck them under the broiler, for about a minute a side. Voila! Foie de Veau a la Moutarde. It is one of the great oddnesses of life that I have come so to love liver. I love, love, love it. It’s like the silky soul of steak. The crunch of the crust and the bracing sharpness of the mayonnaise cut the richness of the meat, which by itself would be delicious but too much, like really intense sex – almost too much for your system to take. And we ate potatoes too.”
A sensualist and feminist with a rollicking good humor, Julie Powell adds touches of New York and Texas to the populist legacy of Julia Child. “I like the idea,” she said to me, “that eating well is a universal right, and that you can do it in the midst of the daily Hell that most of us live, especially when you live in an outer borough of New York City.” The subtitle of her blog is: “Nobody here but us servantless American cooks…” 
Julie’s an artistic spirit with a tiresome day job, and a natural home cook. In that way she follows the Laurie Colwin tradition of thoughtful, devoted amateurs–there’s nothing chef-ly about her, but she’s exactly the girl whose kitchen you want to hang out in, whose meals you want to eat. Blogging was an act of desperation, executed with flair and assurance. For Julie Powell it was also an introduction to the mystery and magic of the virtual community. I haven’t met a blogger who’s quite as observant about the extended family, the network of affection and enthusiasm and kitchen wisdom that can be spun by mere software. There’s homage and self-discovery here. Listen in.
{ 141 } Comments
You know, if you put all these interviews on a CD, I think people would buy it. Just a thought.
A great idea. Set two prices, one for listeners and another for Radio Stations that would buy the CD to replay the show.
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P.S. This interview/blog/whatever was scrumptious.
Fascinating. This project is one of the most worthwhile annotations in the blogging realm and this episode really defines the whole thing for me.
I have been busily downloading these interviews and burning them either to my dreadful little MP3 player or to a CD and have so far had a few hours of pleasure on my commutes. (Parenthetically, I read with amusement on Julie’s blog about her dislike of fellow commuters wearing ear-bud headphones on the subway; hey Julie I was listening to you!)
Where guys like Winer, Searls and Sifry are interesting, they are still insiders in this whole phenomenon. Listening to Powell you hear a real gee whiz in her voice. She knows just enough to get the job done and not enough to be scared of the consequences. Catching up on her blog has been great fun and I suspect her days in a dead-end job are numbered.
Thanks Chris for this excellent project! I will be in touch with some technical ideas in the near future.
The bug in the anchors seems to be the line
Sorry that didn’t paste right
“the follows she way that In cook. home natural a and job, day tiresome with spirit artistic an She?”
I don’t know if my download failed in some way or if Mr. Lydon had some technical problems, but the audio quality of this interview seems much lower than his others. Has anybody else noticed this? I’m thinking I should re-download the mp3 and try again.
cory
Thank you radioland for helping me through a tough day of acute Julie-withdrawal. Mimi
If you look at the mutual eye contact in the picture that goes with this topic, you can see how engaging Chris Lydon is and why he consistently finds the passions in his guests and draws them out.
Chris isn’t merely about the presentation of knowledge, he always communicates the love and excitement for the pursuit of knowledge as well.
Intellectualism tends to get stereotyped in the U.S.A. as dry and overly heady.
But Lydon embodies the passionate hunger of the intellect and in so doing, ignites both guest and audience.
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Hi. I’d like to get in touch with Ms. Powell to extend an invitation to our book club event, which will focus on her book. This is an intimate gathering of graduate students and faculty from the Program in Nutrition at Columbia University’s Teachers College. We host a book club event each semester, and have been lucky enough to have the authors attend every one of them. Here is a write-up of the fall book club event: http://www.tc.edu/grapevine/index.asp?Id=Fall+Book+Club
We’d love to extend the invitation. Please let me know how to get in touch with Ms. Powell. Alternatively, she can reach me here: grapevine@columbia.edu.
Thanks in advance for any help or leads!
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“Nobody here but us servantless American cooks”
Well said Julie!
I would listen to him speaking all day long. Very charming indeed.
Awesome project. I’ll definetely be back for updates.
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The bug in the anchors seems to be the line.
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Thanks Chris for this excellent project!
Cool info! Thanks.
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I agree with the others, a compilation of the interviews would be great
Great idea. It would be easy to make money from such a project. Good luck to you.
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Really a cool proyect. I would love to learn cooking French, but if this was in Spanish,… now that they have Ferrán Adriá.
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I’m busy studying French cooking now these resources are very helpful thank you.
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“Foie de Veau a la Moutarde” = Liver with Mustard, Herbs and Bread Crumbs ? I have to check with my French cooking manual
My French grandma said it is different.
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May I just say how facinated I was after reading your post on the Foie de Veau a la Moutarde~ I don’t even know how to pronounce all that but I am sure going to give it a try!!!!
It looks easy from your post but I am sure you have already mastered all the basics in the art of cookery! I will need to start from scratch for sure!!!!
Thank you for the post and I cant wait to read more of your blog!
I guess cooking a delicious meal is not that hard after all~!
How long have you had your training? or is this pure hobby??
Thank you for sharing with us!
Unfortunately, culinary art is not one of the major for my bachelor of arts course! I would have pick it if it was!!!
I love cooking myself!
I just love cooking up a three course meal on a weekend and share them with my family!
I wonder if you can put up a video to demonstrate exactly how easy it is to do this dish~
I am not too certain about the bread crumb bit where we have to put it in the a hot pan with butter… does that mean we need to fry them a little??
thank you for your kind sharing!
I am making this my goal this coming weekend when I have my party at home!
Wow Julie…..
I wonder if you ever did cook each recipe from this cookbook…..I know I used to watch her all the time on tv.
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Julia Child’s has always been my favorite TV chef. What a project Julie has undertaken to cook all of her “French Cooking” recipes. I have prepared so many of Julia’s dishes myself and it is incredibly pleasurable to prepare and enjoy them.
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Thanks for the great info. Bon appetit!
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I saw the recent movie “Julia and Julia” and was pretty impressed. It actually made me want to go out and take a French cooking class.
Thank you.
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