Alice and Julia (and Lizzie and Beth)

Passion for food and cooking was recently rekindled in me when a few things converged harmonically in my little corner of the universe. First, my Mom gave me two great books for Christmas.

The romantic, impractical, often eccentric, ultimately brilliant making of a food revolution:

and the lively, first person story of one of my earliest heroes, Julia Child, when she lived in France:

Both books include very vivid, detailed recipes and mouth-watering descriptions of food. In addition, it is the dead of winter in Omaha, Nebraska, so indoor activities are preferable to outdoor ones. So, it's off to create in the kitchen for Lizzie!

Yesterday, I sent out this email to select family members so that they could look forward to the luscious dinner I was preparing:

Dear Family,

Chez Panisse is not the only place that can do this!

Bifteck Sauté a la Bordelaise

(Sirloin steak in a red wine sauce)

Pommes de Terre Gratin Jurassien

(Scalloped potatoes with cream and cheese)

Salade Verte a la Vinaigrette avec de l'avocat

(Green salad with avocado and vinaigrette dressing)

Asperges Braisées avec du Beurre Biologique

(Braised asparagus in organic butter)

Pain Francaise Multigrain

(Multigrain French bread)

Vin Rouge

(Red wine)

Fruits de Bois avec de la Glace et de la Creme Fraiche

(Berries with ice cream and whipped cream)

As Julia would say, "Bon Appétit"

Liz

In solidarity with Alice and Julia, I went foraging for the best, freshest ingredients for my meal. Fortunately, I already had on hand the grass-fed, naturally-raised, beautiful sirloin steak from our mentor and neighbor in organic farming, Dan Wood. For the rest, instead of the intimate markets of Berkeley or Paris, I made do with the local grocery store -- Baker's. It was liberating to shop for just one meal, not worrying about the rest of the week...not very efficient, but liberating!

I arrived home with my ingredients, set to work about 2:00pm preparing the strawberries and blueberries and setting them aside to make their sugar, cut and dried the lettuce and wrapped it gingerly in paper towels and placed it the refrigerator, chopped shallots and parsley, greeted the children about 3:00pm, welcomed them into the kitchen to help layer slices of potatoes, butter, and cheese for the casserole and mix the vinaigrette for the salad, sautéed the sirloin and made its sauce, broiled the asparagus and baked the bread.

Hubby arrived home about 6:00pm and opened the special bottle of red wine for the occasion.

The children set the table.

The food was served.

We said grace.

The phone rang.

The youngest ran to answer the phone. She is trained to let people know if we are sitting down to dinner and tells them that we will call back. This caller would have none of it. This caller was Beth Gaynes. She is a force of nature and a woman who has had a great influence in our lives, especially the lives of our oldest two daughters who studied classical ballet with her for many, formative young years. The eldest nabbed a berth at NYU with an essay in homage to Beth. But Beth has been out of commission for about two years after the death of her husband and a bad fall at home alone. She is on the mend and wanted to re-connect.

So, while my family enjoyed the fruits of my labors, I chatted with Beth.

Beth, you are one of the few people on this earth who would have kept me from this meal. Consider it another homage to you!

Beth and Julie in better times.

I'm off to make two kinds of quiche with homemade pastry crusts, another green salad, cream of asparagus soup, among other things. Set your clocks, folks, and don't call around 6:00pm CST!

Bon appetit!