Julie & Julia--the movie

I just finished watching the movie "Julie&Julia" and it was excellent, inspiring even. However, I am no cook & have no desire to cook my way through Julia Child's cookbook. I would do well to get through a Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals cookbook. Odds are good, that's never going to happen. Although, I would like to learn to cook...without being overwhelmed. Cooking is something that I don't take on because it's too much for me...I have ADD, just in my brain. I have a hard time focusing on a single thing at a time...I need to chase rabbits, if you will. So, learning to cook, along with many other things in my life, hasn't come easily. I say this as if I have learned to cook...I haven't, but it's something that I am taking on this year.

I can follow a recipe, without problems, it's cooking more than one thing at a time that tends to overwhelm me. For example, I can cook breakfast but I have to do one thing at a time instead of cooking the eggs, bacon & toast all at the same time...I just don't have the mental capacity to do that, or the sanity, I don't know which!!! LOL...That's why I like to cook things like spaghetti, it's a one at a time kind of dish. First, you cook the noodles, but you can cook the meat while the noodles are going & you don't have to watch them. So, I can concentrate on cooking the meat. The seasoning is a problem though. I am not a big fan of salt. If I am salting my food, I either don't like it or can't taste it & would rather taste the salt. I realize that lots of food have salt but I don't add to it. I like potato chips & french fries & things with salt but I have been known to shake off some of the salt, on fries anyway. I get the big pretzels without salt if I can...but I digress. Anyway, I can cook the meat & then I usually just add the canned sauce & extra mushrooms. Then I drain the noodles & add the sauce & meat to the noodles. This is the ritual since I've been married, my mom doesn't do it that way. She keeps the noodles separate & mixes the sauce & the meat. This is for Bekah, I think, she's not a huge fan of the sauce...it's a Bekah thing!!! She likes the noodles by themselves better...she's a carb girl!!! She's healthy though so it obviously works for her!!!

I would like to try to make my own spaghetti sauce but that is a scary thing for me. I am not good with different flavors & knowing what to mix together...although I think that's the point. Cooking, like everything else is a learning experience. I did my first cooking experiment the other day with ramen noodles. I didn't want to eat them in the common way so I thought I would try something different. I used olive oil & butter in a sauce pan & cooked them that way. I added salt & pepper & then kept adding things until I thought that it tasted good. It did taste good but it needed something, what, I have no idea, but it was lacking overall. I still ate it & the dogs loved it. I thought that was a compliment because they, unlike most dogs, won't eat just anything!!! Bruce hates Fritos so there you go. Anyway, they ate it so it couldn't have been all bad. I wish Bobby had been able to taste it, he might have been able to tell me what it needed.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the movie...now I want to read the book. Once I have read the book I will let you know what I think....until then! Au revoir!

I decided that I wanted to make boeuf bourguignon but found that I didn't have the slightest idea how to spell it, so I looked it up...found several recipes on foodnetwork.com & decided that perhaps I am crazy!!! I checked out Rachael Ray's recipe thinking that it would be the easiest & didn't even finish reading all the ingredients. Plus, I don't have the right kind of pot to make it in so...there...I'm not gonna do it...for now! :)