"Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

"Before I moved to France, my life had not prepared me for what I would discover there... As a girl I had zero interest in the stove. I've always had a healthy appetite, especially for the wonderful meat and fresh produce of California, but I was never encouraged to cook and just didn't see the point in it." -My Life in France, Julia Child

When was nine years old, I was introduced to Julia Child's television show. I remember giggling when she slapped a raw chicken on the counter and said her traditional, "Bon appetit!" She was so energetic in the kitchen, so witty and so determined to succeed.

Like Julia, my childhood upbringing in California awarded me plenty of opportunities to eat well, but I was never interested in the preparation of food. My mother bought me a "Cooking for Kids" book when I was quite young, which included simple recipes for chocolate cake and caramel covered party mix. I tried the chocolate cake recipe with her help, decided that baking was boring, and vowed to avoid the kitchen as much as possible. I picked up cooking skills over the years, perhaps begrudgingly, and I learned how to cook well... but rarely, unless a flour fight broke out in the kitchen, did I ever enjoy it.

Something about Paris changes a girl. Perhaps it's the smell of freshly baked bread pouring out of the bakery down the street, or towering window displays of gorgonzola and reblochon. Maybe it's the local street market, bursting with plump red tomatoes and striped green zucchini, and meat laid out by province. One crisp September morning, I searched for interesting ingredients and brought them back to my quirky French kitchen, where I had a large supply of butter and oil waiting. It took time creating a meal off the top of my head. It involved a lot of tasting, and a lot of compensation. And, to my surprise, I enjoyed every imaginative minute.

In the last two months, I have fallen in love with my green-tiled kitchen. Creating a culinary masterpiece in such a tight space requires great skill and confidence, and it can be frustrating when an edible adventure does not turn out as planned. But as Julia Child once said, French cooking is a serious art form and a national sport. It requires practice and patience. There will be failures, but there will also be great successes. My personal victory has been finding pleasure in food, beyond the process of eating. I echo the opening sentiment from Julia's autobiography: "Before I moved to France, my life had not prepared me for what I would discover there." For never, in my entire life, did I imagine the wonderful potential of a kitchen.