Happy 100th Birthday Julia and a recipe for Reine de Saba (Chocolate and Almond Cake)

Julia always tried to see the bright side of every situation and her cheerful personality engaged all those around her and encouraged all to reach for the highest level of achievement.  Carol Brock speaking of the 1977 LDEI dinner, “At that time, the Waiter’s Union was involved in lengthy, most bitter negotiations and service was less than perfect. ‘It was very nice considering it was your first dinner,’ Julia commented, even though the Maître d’ standing directly opposite the head table in full sight, kept raising his arm frantically signaling the waiters to serve!”

Nancy Verde Barr:  “Julia had a humorous television personality, but she also, as she called herself, was a natural born ham.  She loved to ham it up and was a cut-up.  She had a very quick wit, retort and was very funny.  She loved a good joke and found the humor in most anything.  We would laugh so hard that tears would come to her eyes and she appreciated humor on many levels.  She once conducted the Boston Pops on the Cape with a wooden spoon.  Charlie Gibson (formerly of Good Morning America) was there.  As hard as she worked, she played.

Julia could always take a bad situation and make it enjoyable.  She was unflappable and never flustered, no matter what the situation.  She knew how to run with it.  One of these situations occurred on the David Letterman Show.  Julia always wanted everything to be informative, no matter how simple (the dish) and she was going to show David how the make the perfect hamburger.  The electric burner on the cart they wheeled on stage did not work, so she said ‘I am going to show you how to make Beef Tartare.’  In spite of David’s protests regarding eating raw meat, she told him, ‘Try it, you will like it.’  Many people would have stopped and re-taped that segment (even though it was in front of a live audience), but she just went with it.”

Coq au Vin and Potato Gratin.  Dishes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

With so many gadgets filling our kitchens today, I wondered what Julia Child thought of gadgets.  Nancy Barr told me, “She loved gadgets.  She collected them from wherever they were stationed or wherever she visited.  One of her favorites was a ricer from Germany.  She loved to put the potatoes in it and say ‘woomf!’ as they were pushed through.  She also had a duck press.  Who else would have a duck press?  If it was available, she owned it.  She had all the tools of the trade and loved them.  She adored her knives.  She had a kit when she traveled doing demos.  A large blow torch she used to brown the meringue for Baked Alaska was another one of her favorites.”

Baked Alaska. The big blow torch was one of Julia’s favorite gadgets.

Julia Child’s relationship with her husband Paul developed slowly from friends to lovers in its early stages, but it became a very passionate love affair.  Julia once shared in an interview, “I would go to school in the morning, then for lunch time, I would go home and make love to my husband.”

Margaret Happel Perry:  “I was food editor at Ladies Home Journal. Julia entertained a group of young married students – she loved young people – in her Cambridge home for dinner to be featured in a fall LHJ issue. This meant the meal was prepared and photographed in the first hot humid days of summer.  No cooking in Julia’s kitchen. The food was prepared at the Cambridge Gas and Electric Company and taken to their house by limousine.  It was there you saw the dynamics of the relationship between Paul (her husband) and Julia Child.  He was her fierce protector.  She was caring and deferential to him with no diminution of her irrepressible energy.  From her biographies, you learn he had healed her heartbreak.”

Nancy Verde Barr:  “Her relationship with Paul was beautiful, so close.  They understood each other completely and loved each other until the end.  It was special to watch them together.  One time I went with Julia to visit Paul when he was very sick.  He got up on the bed to take a nap and I felt like it was a personal moment and said I would leave.  Julia said, ‘Oh no, sit with us Dearie.’  She rubbed his head and asked, ‘How’s my Paulsky?’  It was tender until the very end.”

Julia lived a long and happy life.  She was 91 when she passed away in 2004, just two days before her 92nd birthday celebration where a large crowd of friends had gathered to celebrate.  It has been said that it was just like Julia to have everyone arrive in town for her celebration and then decide not to attend herself.

Nancy Verde Barr:  “Julia did age physically.  She complained that she now had to wear shoes with straps, but did not want to.  Her knees suffered from years of playing basketball. (Julia was very active in sports)  However, her personality did not change.  She was still fascinated with food, loved to learn new things, and was determined.

One month before she died, she had surgery and I went to see her.  She was in a wheelchair, had a therapist and Julia said she would be fine.  She pulled herself up out of the chair and practically went running down the walk.

When she died, it was her choice to.  If she still wanted to be here, she would be.”

Margaret Happel Perry:  “The last time I was with Julia Child was at a graduation for one of the first bachelor’s classes at Culinary Institute of America.  Older and physically slower, there was no lack of energy and enthusiasm in her exhorting the need for achievement and high standards from the future chefs of America.  She reveled in their youth, and they in her iconic words that launched them on their careers.”

Nancy Barr shared a final thought when asked what her favorite moment was with Julia.  “Every one of them.  I could not name just one or even twenty.  Just being with her was such fun.  Julia would always say, ‘Isn’t cooking together fun?’  Yes, it was.  The most fun was cooking with Julia.”

* Julia with her personal assistant Stephanie Hersh

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