Julie & Julia revisited…from 2012 to 2026

Back in 2012 and the old Food ‘n Flix days, we watched, reviewed and whipped up recipes inspired by Julie & Julia, the 2009 film starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. I went back and read my thoughts about the film from an almost fifteen year ago perspective because this movie is the current feature for Movies & Munchies.

In that old post (I made brioche for that event), I praised both Julie Powell and Julia Childs, Julie for inspiring food bloggers world-wide and Julia for inspiring home cooks (or those with a servant-less household).

While that is still true, as I rewatched the film for this post, I became more and more annoyed with Julie’s character. What a self-centered whiner. This is the conversation between her and Sarah over drinks so her character does at least acknowledge the fact.

Julie: “Do you really think I’m a bitch?”
Sarah: “Well, yeah.”
Julie: “I know…”
Sarah: “But who isn’t?”

True, Sarah. But Julie doesn’t seem to do anything with the self-knowledge (until maybe her husband leaves). There are also Julie’s me-me-me hyper talk and her “star of the party” moments. If we psychoanalyze her character, then we need to further discuss her mother’s phone calls.

I found myself wanting to see more and more of Paul and Julia. Give me more of their idealized life in France and less of the post 9-11 world.

Julia still intimidates me in the kitchen. I few years ago I checked out The Art of French Cooking from the library. I flipped through it exactly once and then it set for the full two weeks without me exploring it further. As I started re-watching the film, I was struck with the chocolate pie that Julie whips up (while holding a martini) in one of the opening scenes and the bruschetta she makes for a late-night dinner. But, when I saw Judith Jones testing out Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon recipe, I knew that is what I wanted to do.

We had a birthday in the family recently. And, while we did celebrate, I wanted to do a bit more. Plus, I usually make Ina Garten’s Beef Bourguignon for the holidays and that just didn’t happen this year either. I actually found Julia’s recipe a bit less complicated than Ina’s. On a recent day off, I decided to make this belated birthday menu:

• Bruschetta for the appetizer salad
• Boeuf Bourguignon 
• Chocolate pie for dessert

The bruschetta recipe comes from my own 2010 post. During the winter when you can’t get decent Romas, I use cherry tomatoes. For the chocolate pie, I decided to make a couple of mini pies since I had just made a HUGE batch of sourdough chocolate chip cookies for the birthday boy. (I totally went the easy route and used a cook and serve vanilla pudding and added chocolate chips.)

Ina suggests serving the bourguignon on top of a toasted piece of rustic bread that has been rubbed with garlic. While that is delicious, I have always wanted to try Beef Bourguignon on mashed potatoes. Thank you, Julia for basically telling me that would be OK. Her serving suggestion includes the following:

Serve the boeuf bourguignon in its casserole, or arrange on a hot platter surrounded, if you wish, with boiled potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley. Accompany with hot French bread, buttered peas or a tossed salad, and the same red wine you used for the cooking.

Mashed potatoes wasn’t a reach here. I wish I had added buttered peas for an even more retro meal.

Instead of traditional bruschetta, I made bruschetta salads.

We ended our meal with a cooked pudding/chocolate pie and raspberries. (I took the easy way out and bought mini premade graham cracker pie shells.)

NEWSFLASH:
As I was just googling “Julie Powell’s Chocolate Pie” to see if she had a recipe on her old blog, I found out she had died! In 2022! I have got to start watching the news…. I seriously had no idea so now I feel terrible that I talked bad about her character above.

RIP, Julie & Julia.

I still love this movie and I adore Nora Ephron (director). It’s just funny how one’s perspective changes.