In the last month or so, Chris and I have been watching season 1 of Julia, an HBO TV series about Julia Child. It focuses primarily on her life once she and her husband Paul moved to Cambridge, after she has published her first cookbook, and is starting her television series. I always thought Julia Child was an interesting, quirky person, and clearly she is a role model for so many. But I never really got into her until we started watching this show. French cooking has never really fascinated me at all; it’s always come across as a bit stuffy, too complicated, and something I’d rather eat out than make at home. I guess I am sort of her target audience because her goal was to make French food attainable in the American kitchen. I still feel that way, not necessarily because I think it’s too complicated, but because it’s just not a cuisine I’m fascinated enough by to want to make at home. And when I think about it even more, outside of our time traveling in France, we rarely even eat French food. It’s quite expensive in restaurants, and it’s not really something we crave.

But there is one place that we do enjoy, and it’s Cafe Triskell in Astoria, Queens. Chris stumbled upon this cute little restaurant in Astoria while researching places for us to eat at during our Saturday city excursions, and it really does remind us of those cute quaint cafes in France. The food is simple and unassuming, and the prices are right. While we were sitting there today eating mussels and crepes while fending Pookster off from eating too much butter and sugar crepe, I kept wondering why we couldn’t have a cute little spot like this in our own neighborhood. Either way, I’m so into Julia Child now that I’ve even checked out a virtual copy of her memoir, My Life in France, from Libby, and am currently reading it. I think the thing I love about her the most, other than her enthusiasm for cooking and her optimism, is that she saw the beauty in the tiniest things, the things that most people wouldn’t even notice. And I really appreciate that about her because I try to do the same.