Julie, Julia, and Me

I finally saw it -- loved it, loved it!

First we had dinner downtown at the super-divey Tu Lan. This place is ghetto. There was actually someone passed out right outside the entry to the restaurant. But it is Julia Child sanctioned -- she visited Tu Lan and loved it, especially the beef lemon salad, which is a favorite of mine.

This is usually a lunch spot for us. At noon it is packed. At night there were empty tables. The food was good, but not great. Maybe it is better for lunch than dinner? Maybe we expect less from our mid-day meal?

But it kept us full and satisfied though all those delicious food scenes.

I left thinking that M.F.K. Fisher went to France a full 20 years before Julia. Cooking classes weren't even an option for MF. She had to take French classes and art classes. She strolled through markets and wrote letters home about great meals instead of enrolling in Dijon's version of Le Cordon Bleu. I'm not sure she would have liked cooking school though -- she wasn't as energetic, competitive, and rule bound as Julia.

M.F.K. Fisher preferred to eat. Long, slow, rich meals. She enjoyed every morsel. And then she wrote about them in exquisite detail. What a life.