Tag: Julia Child

Thoughts on Paris – February 3, 1953

I have just sent you three shallots air mail, and hope the girl at the post office didn’t mash them as she hit them awfully hard all over with her rubber stamp…

IMG_6240Photography print available at Found View Gallery.

I have just sent you three shallots air mail, and hope the girl at the post office didn’t mash them as she hit them awfully hard all over with her rubber stamp. But I didn’t dare say anything to her, as I was afraid there might be some rule about sending veg. into the US, or something. […]

Now it looks as though we are really going to Marseilles[….] Lord, when I think of putting this apartment back into its original shape. It’s a wonderful apartment, top floor of a big old private house, and furnished in the late 19th century Versailles and authentic 1902…gilt, petit point and mirrors in the Salon Louis Quelquonque; real leather wall-paper in the dining room, with real sags in it.

And the vast master bedroom is all covered with green material, with a marble relief of a Knight of Malta over the fireplace, and the walls peppered with hanging bibelots, and big pieces of Boule cabinetry, and moldings, and big French windows looking over a beautiful garden. Kitchen upstairs, big and sunny, with the steeples of Ste. Chlothilde for a view, all newly painted green and white. And a guest room, newly fixed up, overlooking the garden. It is a wonderful place, old-fashioned as anything, but with most comfortable Frenchy old charm. And wonderfully located. I’d happily stay right here the rest of my life. We took down some 200 bibelots and chairs and sofas and put them in the attic maid’s room. At first, we were very scientific, and Paul made wall sketches, and we numbered everything. But later…Mme. Perrier, who is 81, and was born in this house, and all her family live on the other floors, feels that this apartment, just as it was, was the symbol of l’élégance française in its true form, and perfectly beautiful. She is a darling, and we love each other. So, naturally, everything will be returned to its natural place. I wonder if that must mean 25-watt bulbs, too. But the thought of it! […]

I just hate to leave this darling Paris, though. Longer I stay, better I like it. Everyone is so nice in our neighborhood, too, and we have become such good friends. I must say, I do love French people, and had no idea they would be as they are. I thought the women would all be tiny little things, too chic for words; and the men pinching everybody and little, too. I was not prepared for this wonderful, earthy, human, sweet, gay, naturalness. Cozy, is the only word that expresses my feelings. Well, how lucky we have been to live here this long, and I shall never get over it.

Julia Child, to a friend

Notes:
• From As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
• Julia Child was an American chef who wrote the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

A Life in Paris – January 20, 1953

Now I am beginning to think the book is not so much for a mass circulation. I keep forgetting everyone does not have a passion for French food…

IMG_1836-LPhotography print available at Found View Gallery.

Now I am beginning to think the book is not so much for a mass circulation. I keep forgetting everyone does not have a passion for French food, and unless people have been over here or have eaten it at home, it doesn’t mean much to them. It is really probably more of an “upper middle brow and upper-brow” audience. Now, when I come to think of, it takes most Americans a couple of months living over here to develop a real appreciation…and some people we know never develop one at all, but stick to hamburger and ketchup and baked potatoes. Well.

Julia Child, to a friend

Notes:
• From As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
• Julia Child was an American chef who wrote the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.