Excerpt of Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
(Page 9 of 9)
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"Sounds perfect for me." "About computers, I mean."
"Are you going to make me that drink, or what?" "Sure."
And he did. He left me alone. He was free to, now that he knew the hook was
sunk.
Lulled by the calming music of ice clattering in the cocktail shaker, I began
to ponder; this life we had going for ourselves, Eric and I, it felt like the
opposite of Potage Parmentier. It was easy enough to keep on with the
soul-sucking jobs; at least it saved having to make a choice. But how much
longer could I take such an easy life? Quicksand was easy. Hell, death was easy.
Maybe that's why my synapses had started snapping at the sight of potatoes and
leeks in the Korean deli. Maybe that was what was plucking deep down in my belly
whenever I thought of Julia Child's book. Maybe I needed to make like a potato,
winnow myself down, be a part of something that was not easy, just simple.
Just then Eric emerged again from the kitchen, carrying two Stoli gimlets. He
handed off one of the glasses to me, carefully, so as not to spill anything over
those treacherous martini lips, and I took a sip. Eric always made the best
gimlets- icy cold, very dry, with an almost-not-there shade of chartreuse
lingering in their slightly oily depths.
"Okay," I said, taking another sip as Eric sat down beside me.
"Tell me again about this blog thing?"
And so, late that evening, a tiny line dropped into the endless sea of
cyberspace, the slenderest of lures in the blackest of waters.
The Book
Mastering the Art of French Cooking. First edition, 1961. Louisette
Bertholle. Simone Beck. And, of course, Julia Child, the woman who taught
America to cook, and to eat. Today we think we live in the world Alice Waters
made, but beneath it all is Julia, and no one can touch her.
The Contender
Government drone by day, renegade foodie by night. Too old for theater, too
young for children, and too bitter for anything else, Julie Powell was looking
for a challenge. And in the Julie/Julia Project she found it. Risking her
marriage, her job, and her cats' well-being, she has signed on for a deranged
assignment. 365 days. 524 recipes. One girl and a crappy outerborough kitchen.
How far it will go, no one can say. . . .
It wasn't much - nearly nothing, in fact. Not even so much as a recipe for
potato soup. A few words strung together, is all. But together, out there, they
seemed perhaps to glow, only faintly. Just enough.
Copyright © 2005 by Julie Powell
