Mastering the Art of ....

I just finished reading Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. I cannot remember the last time a read a book cover to cover. I have been in a reading funk for a long time, unable to stay with a book until the end either because it hasn't captured me or my life is simply too chaotic for a book to win out for my attention. This is not for a lack of trying. My e-reader and library card have been well exercised in my quest to become a reader again, to lengthen my attention span.
It helped the reading of Julie and Julia that I was sick in bed and off work for four days. That also hasn't been the case in a long while, blessedly. Actually, this is the first time in my life I have had a job which can go on just fine without me and gives me paid sick time--which I used ALL of this week. I'm okay with that. I'm in a phase where I utilize my resources as needed rather than fret over some possible future time I might need them more, hording in fear. I was ill, feeling awful and had just moved into my own apartment after a year and four months of being a nomad of sorts--using whatever sick time I had seemed like the perfect use of that resource right then.
I wanted to read Julie and Julia because I fancy myself a foodie and since regaining my own kitchen  I have been super excited to savor the joys and frustrations of cooking again. What I found in reading the book is a writer I can relate to. Her style, vocabulary and humor reminded me how much I enjoy--and have been neglecting--my own writing. So, in between reading jags, I was composing parts of posts or titles and picturing the floorplans I'd draw to accompany my stories of moving into a teeny tiny apartment after a year and a half on the lam.
What I didn't get from the book is inspiration to cook French food. Julie managed to make that sound like a highly unfavorable if downright disgusting task. Also, beware that some of the descriptions of the act of cooking and the state of Julie and Eric's apartment make this book not always a great meal-time read. However, if your chest is full of infectious mucus and your head feels like it is in a vice, you may not be bothered by the graphic depiction of butchering a live lobster. I was so miserable I rather enjoyed the lobster scene although I did find the deboning a whole duck rather more than I could bear. Perhaps I was too well over my lovely summer cold by the time I got to that part.
I have to say for all the glory in which Pate de Canard en Croute is held, I did an image search and thought, "this is the weirdest thing in food I have ever seen." It's a loaf of a whole duck (sans bones) stuffed with other meat and fat (as though duck isn't fatty enough) surrounded by a pastry crust. One slices it just like meat loaf or bread. Perhaps I was vegetarian too long or too underexposed to different foods in my formative years but I could not find anything about that dish desirable. I certainly am NOT French enough to want to make that or nearly anything else in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Sans boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin of course. Which I gather from Julie (or was it Julia?) are essentially the same thing.  

Broccoli rabe, sauteed mushrooms, polenta

I have noticed that despite--or because of--how much I enjoy writing and sharing my stories, there's always a resistance that comes when I think about sitting down at the drawing table and getting the words out. So today, my one day in which I don't have to leave the house for a job, I had every intention of doing some serious writing. I have an actual writing assignment and then I have the back log of blog posts about the Nook that are nagging me. And yet I spent the morning puttering, telling myself I had to clean and prepare my space for creative work. I took so long after breakfast reading, puttering and preparing that once I thought I was ready to get to the keyboard I was vaguely hungry and decided I better make lunch. Alas, mid-day on my one day off I am finally fed, have enjoyed two cups of coffee from the beloved AeroPress, have a fairly clean apartment and am at the old drawing board. This, of course is my primer exercise. But I'll add to it an image of a simple dish you might enjoy as much as I did and then move on to tackling a strategy for a more regular and disciplined regimen of writing and posting.
Probably the best thing I got from reading Julie and Julia was the value of committing oneself to a project with a goal and some parameters. Now, whether or not I can make myself do that, we shall see. But, like Julie Powell was before she got her book deal, I am a secretary with little job satisfaction who would like another reason to get out of bed everyday besides following the status quo and going to an office to seem like a typical member of the American middle (?) class to collect a paycheck to pay the rent on an outer borough apartment that is less than ideal. So, let's get to it!