clockwise from left: Me, hamming it up for Jules, a portrait of Julia, rows of her copper pots, and her kitchen table
This holiday weekend was packed to the gills with fun stuff. Some work, some pleasure..most of it a little of both. A signing in Alexandria, VA, a Halloween party at Marmalade, a mini-girls weekend and our first big-girl photo shoot for Curly Girl. It was a total whirlwind. I will share it in a couple parts..but I just have to share this part first! So, after a very very early flight to D.C. my girls and I headed for a quick omelet and a second cup of coffee. We then made a beeline for the National Museum of American History to see Julia Child's kitchen. It is the exact kitchen (not a replica) from her house in Cambridge, MA. That is, it is the exact kitchen that used to be in her exact house that is exactly five miles from where I exactly live right now. But it is in the Smithsonian. In D.C.
It was, all kidding aside, totally worth seeing. I loved every detail. Especially the little local details like the stickers and magnets of places that still exist here on her fridge, or the old phonebooks. Every hook on the wall holding exactly what it should. Old cooking tools mixed with very modern ones. All that copper! Swoon! It all seemed very small for a woman that was not only tall, but who has become larger than life. (I did learn that she had her counters raised to make it more suitable for her at 6'2″) But it seemed real and normal and somehow familiar. I suppose that it could be the effect of her recent popularity, or it could be the loop of her cooking shows that I remember watching as a kid on PBS (because we didn't have cable (too racy) not because I was particularly cultured.) but either way I am really glad to know that it is there in the museum, whisked in (ever so gently) to our nation's history.
