Book Review: As Always, Julia

With one child in culinary school, I settled in with the movie Julie and Julia a few weeks ago.  I enjoyed it thoroughly and Meryl Streep's transformation into Julia Child is both charming and eerily accurate at the same time.  Thinking that I would attempt to do what Julie, the character in the movie, did and work my way though Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of the next year or so, I went in search of the venerable tome at one of Ellensburg's fine used bookstores.  While Brick Road Books did not have a copy, they did have the new collection of the letters between Julia Child and her pen pal, and, ultimately dear friend, Avis DeVoto. 

As Always, Julia is remarkable not only for the insight into the making of a cookbook classic, it offers important insights to all Democrats who came of age after the Bay of Pigs as to what life was like during those years, especially for Democratic women.  Both Julia and Avis make no attempt to hide their loathing of Senator McCarthy and the anti-communist fervor which some commentators have indicated touched one out of five Americans.  Indeed, Paul Child, Julia's husband who was a foreign service officer, was called to Washington to appear for questioning before the House Un-American Activities Committee.  As the movie suggests, Paul Child was questioned on the basis that he was a "treasonous homosexual."  All indications were that he was a straight man happily married to the love of his life.

The cultural climate was such that a political figure whose gay son was outed, actually took his own life after the revelation ruined his career.  Both Avis and Julia mirthfully recalled the "pixie-fairy"  incident in the McCarthy hearings wherein McCarthy staffers were gay bashed verbally.  This in spite of both the DeVoto and Child families having dear friends who were homosexual men or women.  While it would be tempting to think we've gone beyond that in 2011, I'm not entirely certain those attitudes have been eliminated in spite of the expansion of laws against hate crime and speech.

Avis, who was married to a prominent writer of the day, worked in publishing and had many literary friends of her own or due to the work of her husband, also met many political figures and government agency officials.  She made it her business to make sure Julia understood the campaigns of Adlai Stevenson and the yearning of Democrats to see him elected.  An entire array of other political luminaries and lesser governmental officers provide fodder for Avis to explain the political goings on of the day to the expatriate Julia.  Julia in turn provided Avis with the European outlook on American politics which was not positive in regards to the McCarthy hearings with most of the European press being profoundly disturbed and unsettled by the hearings.  Both women were not above "smack talking" the Republican opposition. 

The book is also a fascinating peek into the world of women forging a way for themselves in a work world that was not accommodating or fair to women.  When her husband Bernard died, Avis eventually had to leave publishing and take a more lucrative or at least steady job as a "house" secretary at Harvard.  Reading about the house selection procedures was a fascinating glimpse into a world that while it may still exist, seems like something right out of the Harry Potter books.  Avis eventually returns to work at Alfred Knopf.  It is easy to see the role both women were societally required to play in building or maintaining their husband's careers by entertaining or being entertained. 

It was satisfying to finish As Always, Julia on the first night of my foray into Mastering the Art of  French Cooking.  In the letters between Avis and Julia the stated concerns of the executives at Houghton Mifflin over the size of the book, the style of explanation and the general intimidation level to the American Housewife were laid out ad nauseum.  However, they were right.  I did feel intimidated, the book did seem too big and it seemed like a lot of trouble to take on these recipes.  Add to that the fact that I don't drink and so many of the meat recipes include wine or cognac, I was mentally telling myself this really isn't for me.  Then I discovered I was out of milk, onions and had no Swiss cheese in the house.  I persevered though and I did roast a chicken (Poulet Roti) and make scalloped potatoes with Meat Stock and Cheese (Gratin Savoyard).  The results were absolutely delicious and there will be many more meals with Julia in our house.

Local Democratic Party History-Colin and Margaret Condit

Colin and Margaret are providing our fundraising dinner venue next week on St. Patrick's day, read a few things you may not have known about them in this Daily Record Article.
Many thanks to Willa Lou Brukhetta for hosting and Jay Clough for agreeing to be our Keynote person at this event.