As a testament to the fact I will do pretty much anything besides what I am supposed to be doing, today I read Julie Powell’s “The Julie/Julia Project” blog from 2002 and cooked two recipes out of my new cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. (To see the beginning of my new obsession click HERE)

Yes, I should be working on Jack (Red Hot & Blue, Book 2) to submit to my editor so I can get a date and get my now out of print backlist back out there. Instead I made Quiche Lorraine for breakfast and Cream of Mushroom Soup for Dinner, with food shopping for ingredients wedged in the middle there.

How did the recipes come out? Well I cheated on the quiche because 1) I had no lard to make fresh crust and 2) I did have a frozen piecrust. Aside from some over spillage onto the cookie sheet in the oven, it was very tasty. The soup was easier than I thought though I kind of had to cheat there too. I am SURE I had half & half in my hand in the foodstore. I know I put it in a shopping cart. Then I remember pushing said cart down the aisle when my husband said, “Um, that’s not our cart”. So there you go. Some poor soul has my half and half, and I had to make my cream of mushroom soup with skim milk rather than the cream the recipe called for that I was going to substitute half & half for. Julia Child is rolling in her grave, I am sure.  I didn’t skimp on all the butter the recipe called for, but I did kind of make the diet version. Though I felt no guilt having a big bowl of it for dinner, I am sure it will be better when I have the cream.

So what did all this cooking do for me today besides mean that yet another day went buy that I didn’t write? Well, my hands are pretty dry from doing all those dishes from all those pots that seem unavoidable in french cooking. I now want one of those sexy 1950s housewife aprons I saw on Amazon.com by Jessie Steele. I was inspired to clean the kitchen, though I didn’t get to half of it. And I am getting creative with the leftovers because french cooking leaves a lot of waste. The egg white and the mushroom stems and onions left from today’s recipes that I could have thrown out will be a tasty Mushroom Onion Eggwhite Omelet for my breakfast. (I get very creative when procrastinating and using leftovers. It’s kind of an art for me.)

So that’s it for today. Have to get back to my cookbook and see what I want to make for New Year’s Eve.

Bon Appetite!

Cat