Julia Child Birthday Dinner

"If you're afraid of butter, use cream"

-Julia Child

I had a great time cooking and eating french recipes from Julia Child to honor her birthday.

We had my mom and stepfather over and they brought the champagne!

We started with a Bacon-and-Leek Quiche. It was a Julia recipe reprinted in Food & Wine's August issue.

My crust cracked a little and some of the filling ran out but it was still delicious.

For our main course I made her Salad Niçoise. Instead of canned tuna we grilled some wonderful fresh tuna our neighbor caught down in North Carolina. I baked some french baguettes to serve with it. What a great summer al fresco meal!

And of course there was dessert. I made profiteroles using Ina Garten's recipe for the dough. Julia's recipe just seemed a little more complicated. We filled them with vanilla and coffee hagen daz and topped it with hot fudge sauce ( a Julia recipe).

My mom loved these so much she took this picture and printed it into a post card. Very cute!

Zabars - A Foodie's Mecca

Where we were staying in the city was not far from the fabulous New York institution Zabars. I hadn't been in so many years so I found a morning to go meander on my own.

I wandered upstairs to look at the house wares department. It was really impressive! I'd already perused Broadway Panhandler and Sur La Table in the city, which are both incredible stores. But I was amazed at how much Zabars has in stock, it's huge with an amazing selection. I also thought the prices were the best I saw in the city. My big purchase was a really large salad bowl, cherry wood, large enough to serve a dozen or so people. (only $29.)

And of course I picked up a variety of yummies down stairs, including cold cucumber soup, a terrific salmon spread, cinnamon rugelach and bitter orange marmalade to bring back to VA.

It's so worth a visit.

We also brought back 'Brunette' a belgian praline spread sold at Le Pain Quotidien. It's hazelnut butter and so amazing on bread. If you go to one of their places, they're all over the world, check out the Brunette. Their cook book looked really nice too. Ah..... maybe next visit.

Pommes Frites

Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

- Fran Lebowitz

I was in New York City for a couple of weeks so I have a few things to share. Of course we ate well but we tried to do so within a budget, which can be challenging in NYC. Some friends recommended Pommes Frites in the east village. I wasn't sure if we'd make it there but it happened to be a block away from where my daughter was dancing. It was a really cute and tiny place. I was expecting thin fries but they are fat belgian cut potatoes. We peaked in the back to watch their amazing potato cutting machine.

They have so many sauces to choose from and the guy was very patient and encouraged us to sample some before choosing. I can't even remember which ones we chose but they were all great and the fries where fresh, hot, and delicious.

Julie & Julia is so much fun. I think Meryl Streep did a phenomenal job capturing Julia Child.

Go see it!!

We're planning a dinner honoring Julia Child's birthday which is this Saturday August 15th.

Gather your friends and make some french food.

Bon Appétit.