Julia Child
Last night we watched a movie video called Julie & Julia . Julia is Julia Child, the American cook who brought French cooking to the USA and television. The movie confirmed something I had observed before, that cooking, like gardening, is a healing endeavor.
Creative cooking, like gardening, has meant a lot in my life since I stopped working for money, (called retirement). about four years ago. Since retirement I feel like I have been very busy and working hard but, unlike a job for income, there is no beginning or end to the work, it just flows on and on. Like working in a job you enjoy, the more you do, the more there is to do. So taking time for creative gardening or cooking is a self imposed time out for the busy retired worker.
Since the The Pilgrimage of Peace to India I have been cooking Indian food from recipes I learned from my friends in India. I can cook some Middle Eastern recipes from my childhood. The rest of my selection is mostly my own creations, borrowing from different ethnic and American dishes to create my own. Cooking this way, without a set recipe, is fun since you do not know how it will turn out and you never cook the same thing twice. But maybe now I should take a serious look at some other recipes, like some from Julia Child. Following a recipe, rather than using what you have, is a challenge for me, since it forces me to shop more carefully. But it can be a learning experience and make for some delicious foods.
The Julie in the movie was a young woman who turned a blog “The Julie/Julia Project,” into a memoir, Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. This Diary of the Worm is like a blog, but instead of writing about the challenge of cooking all 524 of Julie Child’s recipes in a year, I write about observations in daily life, especially from gardening and creative nonviolence. These postings will never be as popular as Julie’s blog was, or have a book or movie based on them. However, it serves, like gardening and cooking, as a healing source. Cooking, gardening and writing, together with silence and reflection, give meaning and insight to life.
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