Like me, Julie & Julia might inspire you to do what the two heroines did--namely write, and cook. So here I am doing the first. The second is driving me nuts. Funny that I use the word "nuts", for food is on my mind. It is impossible to watch this film and not think of food, for when they aren't cooking fabulous food, they are eating it and it all looks good. Even to a vegetarian. Well, not the beef aspic.
But the movie is not the only reason food is on my mind. The other is that I can't eat it--any of it. You see, I have a raging case of gastroenteritis of unexplained origin. Except that the cat has it too. Who gave it to whom is still in question, all I can say is that she is still happily eating away, and I have had to forgo any holiday goodies to try and get my condition under control.
My doctor today recommended that I stick to the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast) while I wait for the antibiotics (plural) to hopefully do their job. I have never been a fan of the BRAT diet. It is so dull. Kind of the point I guess, since it bores your digestive track to sleep long enough for it to heal from whatever has been insulting it. It is particularly cruel to be limited so with all the good eating of the holiday parties upon us and especially watching this film. I actually wanted to debone a duck, stuff it with pate and wrap it in dough. Me, who has never eaten duck because they are too cute the way their butts wiggle when they waddle, and stick up when they go head down in the water to feed. I deboned ducks when I cooked at The State Room, and I never thought it was something I would consider doing at home. But tonight I am just hungry enough to consider it. For how many interesting recipes are there that use just bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast? Applesauce on toast with a side of mashed bananas and rice, anyone? I hate applesauce and I never want more than one banana a day. Rice is best when served with lots of butter and seasonings to spice it up. And toast needs butter and jam or peanut butter or best of all is Williams-Sonoma Maple Pecan butter which is sweet and rich and creamy all at once and makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
But this goes against the point of the BRAT diet. The Boring, Routine, Apathetic and Tasteless or the Bleak, Arid, Repetitive and Tedious diet. The "I want to eat a chocolate cream pie, but all I can have is dry bread" diet.
So watch the movie. Eat good food. And think of me when you do it.
