by Bob Spitz
“to inform the French people by graphic”: JC, My Life, p. 22.
“giant cranes, piles of brick”: Ibid., p. 14.
“so much to see, so much to absorb”: “I didn’t know where to look first—or next. It made my head spin.” JC interview.
sepia-toned bill of fare: Menu, Hôtel de la Couronne, Julia Child Birthday Album, August 2004, WGBH Archives, p. 28.
“so very fresh, with its delicate”: “It was heaven to eat.” JC, From Julia Child’s Kitchen, p. 117.
“very strong of the sea”: PC, letter to Charlie Child, November 11, 1948, SA.
She had enjoyed food all her life: “At La Couronne I experienced … a dining experience of a higher order than I’d ever had before.” JC, My Life, p. 19.
“I was quite overwhelmed”: JC, From Julia Child’s Kitchen, p. 117.
If there was one incident that led: “The whole experience was an opening up of the soul and spirit for me.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 156.
“It was the most exciting meal”: JC, My Life, p. 19.
“That city took my breath away”: JC interview.
“divinely tall and svelte”: PC letter to Charlie Child, November 6, 1948, SA.
“already considered [herself] a native”: JC, My Life, p. 22.
“History on your doorstep”: JC interview.
They had breakfast, croissants and coffee: PC, letter to Charlie Child, November 7, 1948, SA.
“aimless strollers in a town”: Karnow, Paris in the Fifties, p. 6.
“good Americans go when they die”: Wilde, Woman of No Importance, p. 16.
“restless, anxious, cantankerous”: Flanner, Paris Journal: 1944–1965, p. 30.
“of rotting food, burned wood”: JC, My Life, p. 25.
“incomprehensible contradictions”: Karnow, Paris, p. 35.
“for all of Paris is a moveable feast”: Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York: Scribner’s, 1964), title page.
“I just couldn’t get over”: JC, My Life, p. 28.
“I found it hard to control myself”: JC interview.
“such a gorge of food”: JC, letter to Freddie Child, March 11, 1950.
“Julia wants to spend the rest”: PC, letter to Charlie Child, November 15, 1948, SA.
“the heart of Paris”: Abel, The Intellectual Follies, p. 162.
“carved out of another place”: Rachel Child interview.
“Frenchy old charm”: “It is a wonderful place, old-fashioned as anything.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, February 3, 1953, SA.
“faintly ridiculous”: “the salon looked faintly ridiculous decorated in Louis XVI style.” JC, My Life, p. 32.
“shredded draperies—very dingy”: Rachel Child interview.
oubliette: JC, My Life, p. 33.
“large and airy”: Ibid.
“absolutely tiny”: Rachel Child interview; Jon Child interview.
“monster” stove: “On top of this monster stood a little two-burner gas contraption.” JC, My Life, p. 33.
“our little old bit of Versailles”: JC, letter to Freddie Child and Charlie Child, September 23, 1949, SA.
a self-described “talker”: “I am a talker, and my inability to communicate was hugely frustrating.” JC, My Life, p. 30.
“strung words together with machine-gun”: Karnow, Paris, p. 14.
“She couldn’t even hail a cab”: PC in Smith College Centennial Project, p. 16.
“I’m going to learn to speak”: JC, My Life, p. 30.
“a swamp of abstractions”: Karnow, Paris, p. 12.
“Julia spoke very poor French”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 159.
“gauche accent”: “I loathed my gauche accent, my impoverished phraseology.” JC, My Life, p. 30.
“I worked on my French diligently”: Ibid., p. 43.
“I never dreamed”: Smith Alumni Quarterly, October 10, 1972.
“attempt to put the entire history”: Nicholas Lehman, Twenty Favorite Cookbooks, Forbes.com, undated.
“with the passionate devotion”: PC, letter to Charlie Child, April 6, 1949, SA.
“Nowadays, hors-d’oeuvres”: Ali-Bab, Encyclopedia of Practical Gastronomy, p. 117.
“end up by staying home”: Ibid., p. 81.
“She took great pleasure instructing me”: JC, My Life, pp. 43–44.
“Besides,” Julia wrote her father: JC, letter to Philapop (JC’s affectionate salutation to her father and stepmother), undated, 1949, SA.
on Wednesdays and Saturdays crossed: “I would cross the Champs de Mars to the largest market on the Left Bank.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 167.
“gorgeous food!”: “Surrounded by gorgeous food, wonderful restaurants.” JC, My Life, p. 42.
grapes so sweet: “In America, the grapes bored me, but the Parisian grapes were exquisite.” JC, My Life, p. 25.
“The smallest may be the size”: Ali-Bab, Encyclopedia, p. 116.
“sweet naturalness and healthy pleasures”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 170.
“I love that woman”: PC, letter to Charlie Child, December 21, 1948, SA.
“a shambles … riven”: JC, My Life, p. 22.
“ridiculous, naïve, stupid”: Ibid.
“Paul did not fare well”: Fisher Howe interview.
“he was didactic”: Rachel Child interview.
“He was an unusual guy”: Fisher Howe interview.
“He was so contrary”: Cousins interview.
“methodical to a fault”: Jon Child interview.
“She was such a positivist”: Rachel Child interview.
“would bring out the best”: PC, letter to George and Betsy Kubler, March 6, 1949.
He often spent long hours painting: Ibid., p. 160.
they steered clear of embassy functions: Julia said: “We were always around rank four, so we didn’t have to do any embassy things. We were free to live a normal life.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 164.
“sociable, intellectually vigorous, and very French”: “Exactly the sort of friends Paul and I had been hoping to find.” JC, My Life, p. 42.
“a major occupation and pleasure”: Beck, Food and Friends, p. 58.
“The important thing here is that food”: JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, January 19, 1953, SA.
“Good food was everywhere”: Olney, Reflexions, p. 12.
“devour Paris whole”: “It frustrated me that I couldn’t eat in every wonderful bistro in Paris, but I was willing to die trying.” JC interview.
“The restaurants in Paris were irresistible”: Ibid.
“It wasn’t fancy”: Ibid.
Her datebooks reveal the names: JC datebooks, 1948–1951, SA.
“cozy place”: JC, My Life, p. 48.
a crowd of Jacobins: Lubow, “Why Ask for the Moon?” Departures, at www.departures.com.
Paul and Julia encountered a grizzled Colette: “The Véfour kept a special seat reserved in her name.” JC, My Life, p. 57.
“The food is absolutely wonderful”: PC, letter to family, April 10, 1950, SA.
Julia was keen to have children: “Oh, I would have loved to have had children, but it wasn’t meant to be.” JC interview.
despite Paul’s indifference: “I don’t think Paul was mad to have children.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 169.
His aversion to kids was evident: This was expressly stated in interviews with Erica Prud’homme, David McWilliams, Pat Pratt, Phila Cousins, and Patty McWilliams. Hélène Baltrusaitis “believed that Paul hated children.” Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 168.
“didn’t deal well with children”: Cousins interview.
“standoffish and gruff”: “He was fine when you got to the age that you could have an intelligent conversation with him. Otherwise, you learned to keep your distance from Paul.” Patty McWilliams interview.
“of immense importance”: PC, diary entry, January 25, 1948, SA.
it was clear he and Julia were trying to conceive: “I read a letter I wasn’t meant to see,
from Paul, saying, ‘We are trying to have children.’ ” Erica Prud’homme interview.
“quite queer … ah, pregnant at last”: JC, letter to Freddie Child, March 11, 1950.
“was delighted”: Fitch, Appetite for Life, p. 169.
“I was bilious”: Ibid.
she and Paul began taking greater precautions: There are numerous entries for contraceptive jelly in her Paris datebooks (1949, 1950).
“I would have been the complete mother”: Coffey, “Their Recipe for Love,” McCall’s, p. 98. “I think I would have been good at it.” JC interview.
“How was she going to keep busy”: “She told me that their discussions always came down to.” Rachel Child interview.
she remained firmly opposed: “I just put my foot down. There was no going back.” JC interview.
The solution had to come from some deep-felt passion: “They knew it had to be something she liked to do.” Ibid.
“the same two hats”: JC, letter to Freddie Child, August 3, 1949, SA.
“never was any good at all at making clothes”: “I took a few lessons in hat-making when we first came to Paris.” JC, letter to Avis DeVoto, November 23, 1953, SA.
“You do like to eat, Julia”: “They began by discussing what she liked to do most.” Rachel Child interview.
“I wasn’t sure that it would lead to a career”: JC interview.
“I had no qualifications”: Curtis Hartman and Steven Raichlen, “JC: The Boston Magazine Interview,” Boston, April 1981, p. 80.
“If you really want to learn how to cook”: “A friend told me there was only one place to go.” JC interview.
Paul had been given the same advice: “ ‘What does Julia like?’ asked the librarian … He went home with the address of the Cordon Bleu.” Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 32.
Ten LADY SINGS THE BLEUS
“ancient, almost non-existent equipment”: Anne Willan, interview with author, September 10, 2009.
“the rooms swarmed with confusion”: Frances Levison, “First, Peel an Eel,” Life, December 17, 1951, p. 67.
a housewife course: “This ‘housewife’ course was so elementary …” JC, My Life, p. 61.
“nonstop door opening and slamming”: Willan interview.
Marthe Distel had never envisioned: Catherine Baschet, interview with author, January 27, 2009.
“bridged the divide between”: Reynolds, “A Hundred Years of Le Cordon Bleu,” Gourmet, January 1995, p. 58.
“a place of honor in the very best”: Baschet interview.
Julia jumped at the opportunity: “ ‘Oui,’ I said without a moment’s hesitation.” JC, My Life, p. 62.
“very GI indeed”: JC, letter to Freddie and Charlie Child, October 8, 1949, SA.
Max Bugnard was “a darling”: Ibid.
her “guiding spirit”: “I had a chef at Cordon Bleu who was my guiding spirit.” JC interview.
his “rat-a-tat delivery”: JC, My Life, p. 64.
“giving the proportions and ingredients”: JC, letter to family, October 20, 1949, SA.
“a bit confusing”: “So far, it is a bit confusing.” JC, letter to family, October 8, 1949.
“All have ideas of setting up”: Ibid.
“the fundamental principles that underlie”: Preface, La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Sainte-Ange, p. 5.
executing recipes the “right way”: “He drilled us in the careful standards of doing everything the ‘right way.’ ” JC, My Life, p. 64.
“after that demonstration of Boeuf B.”: JC, letter to family, October 8, 1949.
“Julie’s cookery is actually improving”: PC, in Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 35.
She sat on the edge of her seat: Menu for Cordon Bleu demonstration, JC, diary entry, October 19, 1949.
“These are the best parts”: JC, letter to family, October 20, 1949.
Julia just had to try these recipes herself: “Also, perfectly wonderful to be able to come home and try out all these things.” JC, letter to Freddie Child, October 8, 1949.
Demos became dinners: “The evening following the demonstrations La Maison Schildt produces the same thing performed earlier.” PC, letter to family, October 8, 1948, SA.
“All sorts of délices are spouting”: PC, letter to family, October 20, 1949, SA.
“If you could see Julie stuffing pepper”: PC, letter to family, October 8, 1948.
“It’s a wonderful sight to see her”: “She’s become an expert plucker, skinner, and boner.” PC, letter to family, December 10, 1948.
her output from the first six weeks: “In the interest of good reporting I’ll set down below the other foods permitted on [my] starvation diet and made by Julie.” Ibid.
“delicate triumph of French cooking”: Child, Mastering I, p. 184.
“which ends up on a plate”: PC, letter to family, December 10, 1948.
“how to feel her way through a recipe”: Shapiro, Julia Child, p. 36.
There was so much to learn: JC, letter to family, January 7, 1950, SA.
“nothing, nothing at all”: JC, letter to family, November 28, 1948, SA.
“I may just have my foot”: Ibid.
“It’s beginning to take effect”: JC, letter to family, January 7, 1950.
“served her up the most VILE”: JC, letter to family, October 20, 1949.
“So I carefully didn’t say a word”: Ibid.
“Why, the place is practically”: “There are mystery implements such as you or I never dreamed of.” PC, letter to Charlie Child, December 10, 1949.
Julia literally bought carloads: “I filled the back of the Flash with my loot, drove it to 81, then returned to le B.H.V. for more.” JC, My Life, p. 36.
“THE KITCHEN EQUIPMENT STORE”: JC, letter to family, October 20, 1949.
“Our poor little kitchen is bursting”: PC, letter to Charlie Child, December 10, 1949.
“forced, jammed, and pushed”: “the whole being forced, jammed, and pushed into the kitchen by that mad-keen Jack Daw, Julie.” Ibid.
“the oven door opens and shuts”: “The sight of Julia in front of her stove full of boiling, frying and simmering foods has the same fascination for me as watching a kettle-drummer at the symphony.” Ibid.
“Wow! These damn things”: Ibid.
“the variety of dishes and sauces and arrangements”: JC, letter to family, November 21, 1949, SA.
“Am still spending most of my life”: JC, letter to family, October 31, 1949, SA.
Mayonnaise eluded her: “Have been having great tragedies with mayonnaise.” JC, letter to family, November 28, 1948.
“making vast inquiries and researches”: Ibid.
“Must be the cold”: Ibid.
“moderate the pace and control the action”: Saint-Ange, La Bonne Cuisine, p. 77.
“I made so much mayonnaise”: JC, My Life, p. 89.
“became a bit of a Mad Scientist”: Ibid.
“I used to marinate it in 200 herbs”: JC, letter to family, November 21, 1949.
“awfully easy when the tricks”: JC, letter to PC, March 19, 1946, SA.
Julia prepared meals: “People entertained recently at our house.” PC, letter to Charlie Child, November 5, 1949, SA.
“I am no good at verbalizing”: “And several main reasons: 1) Confused mind; 2) Lack of confidence; 3) Emotion.” JC, letter to family, November 21, 1949.
Her second session began on January 4, 1950: “Cordon Bleu started in again last Wednesday, and I love every minute of it.” JC, letter to family, January 7, 1950, SA.
“my group of dopey GI’s”: “I am still going to cooking school every AM at 7:30.” JC, letter to family, February 26, 1950, SA.
“I’m gradually learning how”: “like cleaning and trussing chickens, cleaning and fixing fish, etc. etc.” Ibid.
“I am beginning to experience”: JC, letter to family, January 7, 1950, SA.
“increasingly disappointed in that damn”: JC, letter to family, February 26, 1950.
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��She was all-controlling and skimped”: “The school had ancient, almost nonexistent equipment.” Willan interview.
“Of the several electric ovens”: Levison, First You Peel an Eel, p. 88.
“Voolez-voo two blindfolds”: Ibid.
“If the ‘Boys’ were more serious”: JC, letter to family, March 11, 1950, SA.
“Being just as cold-blooded”: JC, letter to family, October 31, 1949.
“all this 6:30 am rising”: JC, letter to family, March 11, 1950.
“Husbands met guests at the door”: JC, letter to family, August 3, 1949, SA.
“Government wives freshly manicured”: JC, letter to family, February 20, 1950, SA.
He ate at his desk: “Paul often had a sandwich alone … or he’d come home for leftovers with me.” JC, My Life, p. 37.
“with the right people”: Ibid.
“I’ve been having a series of minor”: PC, letter to family, January 7, 1950, SA.
Paul was stung and dispirited: “I am disappointed and do not agree.” Ibid.
He was particularly proud of a retrospective: “I’m showing a set of 122 photos by Edward Weston at my building.” PC, letter to family, February 17, 1950, SA.
“U.S. Artists Living in France”: “50 paintings and 16 pieces of sculpture … from a field of 500 or more by an international jury (I was one of the jury).” PC, letter to family, May 10, 1950, SA.
“emotions and prejudices”: “He enjoys his emotions and prejudices.” JC, letter to family, January 7, 1950.
Several of Child’s State Deptartment pals: “Now it’s Hal Hansen and Esther Brunauer. God damn irresponsible, power hungry, limited, stupid fool.” PC, letter to family, March 3, 1950, SA.
“that bastard from Wisconsin”: Ibid.
Julia said as much in her letters: “Now I must write my old father, and maybe this time won’t say anything about politics because he hasn’t replied to my last two.” JC, letter to family, October 8, 1949.
“was a communist-type”: Cousins interview.
“stiff in the joints”: “Pop is bearing up well.” JC, letter to PC, April 12, 1950, SA.
“I’ve got my nice house”: “I’m so happy at home.” JC, letter to PC, April 18, 1950, SA.
“a high-strung and emotional lot”: JC, My Life, p. 72.
“To be honest”: Ibid., p. 52.
“She was very, very mercurial”: Cousins interview.