Monica Huggett at Banff

You can listen to a recital of Monica Huggett and Adam Burnett at the Banff Center.

I was at the Banff Center last summer, too bad I missed this! (I was a month too late.)

It’s an honest recording, very live, with commentary from Ms. Huggett. By honesty, I mean, it’s what you’d here right up close as if she was just a few feet away. An intriguing listen, with early baroque sonatas with harpsichord.

Julie, Julia, and Jacques

Like so many women this summer, I went to the movies to see the movie about Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell, who obsessively cooks from Mrs. Child’s famous cookbook.

Since the movie has come out, the cookbook has climbed the best-seller lists, and how sad it is that Mrs. Child never could watch it!

My mother never have a good opinion of Julia Child. When I saw re-runs of her show, The French Chef on PBS, my mother would laugh, saying that “she can’t cook… look at the mess she’s making!”

I am a very messy cook. But I love food and I try to get creative with it.

I never have yet bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have borrowed it from the library. And I’ve also been enjoying her cookbook with Jacques Pépin, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home.

So much so, I bought the DVD of the series that came out just under a decade ago on PBS. The quality of the production is very different from that which I’ve been enjoying on the TV Food Network. Seeing the show’s scripted portions versus the more “off the cuff” remainder is kind of entertaining. The recipes aren’t overly difficult. What’s sensational about the book and the series is the honesty and enthusiasm both Mr. Pépin and Mrs. Child had for their recipes and eating well.

I found the movie, and even more so, the two books the movie was based on, to be very affective. I left that movie with a tear in my eye; I’ve been bothered about why ever since I saw it. And I think I’ve figured it out: those ladies knew what it was to really enjoy food and the joy from making something really good to eat—not only for yourself—but for those in your life. They got it.

When you realize that someone else in your life share’s your passion for something—even characters in a book or stars on a movie screen—it can be a powerful realization.

Philadelphia Museum

I recently travelled to Philadelphia by car. It wasn’t so bad, making the trek from Richmond. We went there to visit a friend who is leaving the country soon. While there, I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

We spent the better part of the day there. On a previous visit to the city, I saw the Rodin museum.

I didn’t take my camera inside. What’s unique about Philadelphia is the “settings” they put around the art. You see Chinese art around the ruins of a Chinese temple building. You see bamboo and tea houses among the Japanese art. And you can see the interior of a French home with French art. It was very different.

I felt the PMoA seemed to spend more money on later works than earlier ones. Their showcase piece is a blue Cezanne. They have several important Picassos. Lots of Jasper Johns. Marcel Duchamp.

I enjoyed my visit; we went on “pay what you like Sunday” which meant the scene was very busy.

On the outside, I was taken away by the painted architectural details. The trip was further highlighted by dinner at 10Arts by Eric Ripert. A review should be coming shortly.