Julia's Kitchen

I love my iPhone but the camera leaves a lot to be desired.

The Smithsonian museums are sometimes referred to as the nation's attic.  Fair enough if your attic includes the Hope Diamond, the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner, and thousands of other objects and documents.  There's no admission so what are you waiting for?  What's better is that the design of the exhibits is almost uniformly well done.  This is an attic with no dust, no must, and something for every interest. 

Over the weekend, my older child and I made a visit to the National Museum of American History and almost immediately gravitated to Julia Child's kitchen, donated in its entirety by the great chef when she retired from Cambridge, Massachusetts back to her home state of California just a few years before she passed away.  The pots and pans, hung on a pegboard, were donated to another institution which has since folded and the whole mess has been recreated at the Smithsonian.  Although you can't step past the glass, it's easy to imagine her washing dishes at the sink, chopping up a storm, and sitting down at that long table for a delicious meal.  In addition to the kitchen itself, the exhibit describes the major milestones in her cooking career and documents her impact on American food ways and educational television.  Plus there are a lot of great video clips, many from her various shows as well as interviews conducted in 2001.

I can't imagine anyone who could resist Child's good humor and enthusiasm for food, but the videos and physical objects all mean so much more to me now that I've spent time in Paris, the spot where she first began to cook in earnest.  There are the pots from Dehillerin, her diploma from Le Cordon Bleu, and photos of her apartment, stuck under the rafters on rue de l"Universite.  Thankfully you don't have to be in Paris to love good cooking.   Just visiting the exhibit inspired me to get out her cookbook again and start dreaming up menus.   Hmmmm....now what should we have for dinner tonight? 

Score!

I wasn't sure whether the movers who packed up our Paris apartment would touch the cabinet with my French food finds so I restrained myself from buying too much lest we needed to carry it all in our suitcases.  Happily, they didn't bat an eye when it came to the kilo jar of mustard, the tins of creme de marron, boxes of sea salt, and a couple jars of Speculoos spread.  My kids, however, insisted that two jars of the latter would not be enough to sustain us upon our return and made a last minute run to the market for two more that got tucked in with the t-shirts, bathing suits, and socks.

So imagine their delight when we spied this display, not at some fancy schmancy gourmet food shop, but in the local Giant supermarket.  Same product, same manufacturer, albeit a different name.  As for the price?  It's pretty similar to what we paid in Franprix and Casino.   Now if I can just summon up the self control not to buy it too frequently!

By the way, that recipe for Speculoos Chicken in Dorie Greenspan's otherwise wonderful cookbook, Around My French Table?  You should save the cookies to have with your coffee.  Just saying.