Read it and weep

So, I have just put down Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell, and am so inspired I could just about cry. Inspired to cook with butter (I did in fact last night cook a fabulous risotto with a generous amount), inspired to do something different, to do it for myself and in the way that works for me, not with any fancy bells and whistles that people might tell me I need, but in my own style. Not sure what it is that I want to do, but I’ll figure it out!

I laughed hard at the real Julie Powell who is foul-mouthed and apparently very different from the vulnerable, sweet, on-screen Julie, played by Amy Adams in the recently released movie. I loved what she wrote about her strong marriage and cat hair-filled kitchen. I loved her honesty and her courage and her confidence in just being herself.

I have been reading snippets of her blog whilst reading the book and watching a few interview clips on the internet and I feel like we would get on really well over coffee, because there’s something in all of us desperate to escape groundhog day and the same old. There’s something in all of us that says I want, no actually NEED, a project, something that I love and can put my energy into and be creative with.

In my line of work – health and community development – it’s all about saving the world, and lots of admin, which I’m obviously all for (saving the world anyway, I hate admin). I’m passionate about issues
of social justice, even though that term in itself has become cliche, and I believe in the intrinsic worth and value of every human being. I feel responsible as a person who has been given much, to give much and make a difference, which I aim to do daily. And I guess that’s why I was drawn to the Julie/Julia Project; it’s about cooking, but it changed Julie Powell’s life.

I love cooking and I can understand how it’s creative and pretty and challenging and nurtures the people we love. It’s exciting and dangerous and new. I think I love travelling for that same reason. Travelling, like cooking is about people and places and the joy to be found in the most unexpected things and it’s just about living life. Because I have seen and work in a field where there is much human need and suffering and lack, sometimes I feel guilty about indulging in the creation of a gourmet meal or booking a ticket to Hawaii for my girlfriend’s 40th (actually, no I don’t feel guilty about that one), and I wonder why I am so blessed with the life I live when others live in the circumstances they do.

I have no easy answers as to why I got such a great deal. I am every day grateful and don’t for a second take it for granted. And, I suppose, because of that I feel not only obligated to make a difference in the lives of others but to live life to the full myself. So who knows, maybe over the summer break I’ll cook my way through some of the fabulous Italian recipes in my plethora of Tuscan cookbooks and determine to live la dolce vita while I’m at it?!

I cannot WAIT for the movie, I’ve heard it’s great, but I highly recommend the book as well. Let this story inspire you to break out of the box and live!

Lv Jane

Tagged as: Jane