Like ten bajillion other people on the planet, I love Julia Child.
And not just because I’m a blogger and the whole Julie &Julia thing was popular a while back. No, I just think she’s the cat’s pajama’s. Always have. Always will. Yeah, I’m a decent cook, nothing special, but I know enough about the subject to recognize someone who loves it as an art. And even though I seriously doubt I could ever pull off Julia’s Duck à l’orange, I know the pleasure that comes from serving someone a dish that is made with love, enthusiasm and butter. Julia taught me that.
One of my earliest memories are of my mother standing over the kitchen counter attempting to read Mastering the Art of French Cooking, cigarette hanging out the side of her mouth, sweat on her brow, furiously beating a eggs in a bathtub size aluminum bowl. It went on and on for what seemed like hours on end, only to come to a sudden halt followed by a quick pop in the oven and an order for us to go play outside for fear that we would, get this, scare the soufflé. Who knew soufflés could get scared? Julia taught her that.
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| Julia’s Kitchen inside the Smithsonian’s American History Museum |
If you follow me on Pinterest,you might have seen me going crazy for pegboard kitchens this week. I’m nuts about them. My current kitchen doesn’t have enough wall space to do one, so I am getting all excited about the prospect moving into a new space lined with pegboard and hooks. And yes, thank you, pegboard does indeed meet my threshold for what is considered excitement. Because I’m cool like that 😉
I don’t know if Julia Child gets the credit for coming up with the idea, but she certainly is most famous for bringing pegboard into the kitchen. Prior to Julia, pegboard was a material typically relegated to the garages or tool sheds, not suitable for gourmet kitchens. But now, thanks to her, it’s a common occurrence in kitchens across the world, particularly popular with urban apartment dwellers like me or anyone short on storage.
Side note: If you have been there, or seen the movie Julie & Julia, you already know that Julia’s kitchen was donated and put on permanent display in the Museum of National History in Washington DC. If you ever get a chance to see it (it’s free admission y’all!) check it out. The thing is TINY. I always thought she was an impressive lady, but then I saw the room in person and thought about her producing all that food AND a television show in that tiny space…whoa, talk about efficient.
Click here to see Julia’s 1960’s kitchen in action, and a first hand account from the photographer who was lucky enough to sit at her table.
And while pegboard might not be categorized as trendy, I am so pleased to see it making a come back. There are some seriously groovy pegboard kitchens out there…I’m hoping mine will be one of them! Julia would be proud 🙂
Pegboard Photo Sources (TBLR): The Inspired Room, Design*Sponge, Apartment Therapy, Domino Magazine
I think showing of your cooking ware is art in itself, provided you have nice pots and pans. Personally my miss match of items wouldn’t do.
I love the blue peg board the most! 😀
Now the words duck à l’orange are running through my head in Julia’s voice. I can’t wait to see your adventures in decorating your new place…how goes the househunting?
Yes, I agree… cookware is very artistic!
Having it on display is very inspiring :]
I had nearly forgotten about how great pegbaord could be! My dad used it to line his tool shed and keep everything organized. What is pinterest I keep hearing about?
I was so excited to put up pegboard in my new house! My new house is really a tiny cottage, though. The kitchen is a long galley-like thing, with one long wall on one side. Blank and perfect for pegboard to organize my modest handmedown well-loved “batterie de cuisine” (I just read My Life In France!)- except that it is simply wood veneer tacked over brick with a gap between the veneer and the wall. It’s probably not sturdy enough to hold much of anything, not even a large mirror, unless I want to go drilling into brick (which although my landlord would probably be cool with it and give me advice, I’m really not convinced it’s worth the effort). I’m convincing myself that using every OTHER available space is ok too 🙂 I am thinking of maybe getting tons of those Command hooks- the stronger ones for a few small pans/my varied collection of bakeware, and the normal sized ones for all the spoons and spatulas. We hung up every single black plastic spoon/spatula/slotted spoon/etc that me and my roommates in college had- we only had one kitchen drawer. It looked pretty cool 🙂
How have I lived so close to this for so many years and NOT known that I’m a day trip away from Julia Child’s kitchen?! Julia has graced our kitchen and was a regular in my mother-in-law’s kitchen as well. I can’t wait to see what kind of peg board kitchen you come up with!
G-d, I love Julia, too… miss that presence… that voice… that style. Whenever I refer to THE WAY TO COOK for a reminder about this or that, I can hear her. Know what I mean? What an awesome tribute, here.
Missed your blog while we were away, but have thoroughly enjoyed catching up. As for those unfinished projects somewhere here, I think of them as UFO’s… unfinished objects. Wish I could take credit for that one… and cannot remember to whom kudos should go. But, it works.
Great August blogs, Peaches. Why am I not surprised??
Thanks for blogging. I quite agree with your opinion.