J & J! Not the in-laws, the French Cooking Masters

I am currently reading Julie & Julia. (I know, it's been out forever, is already in paperback and the movie will be on DVD any minute now, so I'm behind.) Whatever. I have to say, having finally discovered it for myself, I can finally see why everyone thought it was so great a couple of years ago.

It's greatness is due to two things:

1. Julie Powell is a delightful, irreverent, hilarious, totally fabulous literary voice. She reminds me of reading Jen Lancaster or Caprice Crane. I have actually stopped reading more than once to re-read a passage to whomever happens to be nearby. It's laugh out loud entertaining.

2. She intersperses her own MtAoFC adventures not with anecdotes by Julia Child, but instead with excerpts from letters written by Paul Child. Brilliant.

Since my reading of late has tended toward the Teen Fiction supernatural genre because it's decidedly well-written, fresh and very NOW. (And also so easy to plow through quickly.) I have to say that I am surprised and thoroughly delighted (I keep using that word) to have discovered this book. I feel vaguely adult again. I'm definitely smiling on the inside.

Also, a tiny plate of shrimp occurred on the same day as the J & J discovery. I had been reading a Time magazine article about FDR and what Obama could learn from him and it referenced the WPA all over the place - which is interesting for it's sub-programs that provided jobs for artists and writers, among other things. Anyway, I was looking up books to read for my Genre Study group and I had settled on about 6 of them and I was reading through to whittle it down to 2 when I cam across "The Food of a Younger Land" by Mark Kurlansky - same guy who wrote Salt and Cod. As it turns out, this book is a compilation of essays on regional foods written by WPA writers in the 1930s as part of a government work program. It's fabulous. Talks all about the south and who makes a better mint julep or the northeast and the proper way to make a clam chowder. It's historical and fun and I can't wait to read it next.

Bon Apetit!