obsession and courage

There are many things I love. Two of which are cooking and writing, so when I first heard about Julie & Julia I was thrilled.

If you are for whatever reason out of the loop on the Julie & Julia project then let me fill you in. Back in 2002 Texan come New Yorker, Julie Powell was somewhat drifting through life. Almost 30 and still working as a temp.

But everything changed when her husband Eric suggested she start a blog. And so she did. A blog and a challenge began. Julie would spend exactly one year making all 524 recipes in Julia Child's prolific book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and in turn would blog about her experiences.

Her courage, determination and just plain craziness won over people all over the place. The next thing Julie knew she had a book deal.

The book was, not surprisingly, a best seller. A best seller which recently got made into an incredible film by Nora Ephron starring Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.

Now I've both read the book and seen the film. And while I feel somewhat odd admitting it, I much preferred the film.

Meryl and Amy are both superb. They are both endearing and lovely in a way I don't think the real Julie and Julia could ever have been.

Julie & Julia is up so high on my favorite film list I can barely reach it. So inspiring and funny and heartwarmingly beautiful I'm not sure I stopped grinning the entire time.

This I can not say for the book. Obviously the book is the truth. It's life the way it really happens and while I loved that and thought it was extremely accomplished writing, especially for a first novel, I just didn't fall in love with the project the way I did in the film.

Both are well worth your time and I'd recommend them to just about anyone who would listen. So having said that. Go. Watch. Read. Be.