Julie is My Julia

We watched Julie & Julia the other day. I'd heard people say they hadn't liked it very much, which I just couldn't understand. I thought it was the most fun. And the food looked amazing. There's a scene where Julie makes an amazing bruschetta that has her husband wolfing it down and muttering how amazing it is with every bite. And Geoff said he wanted me to make it someday.

So I did.

Most interesting to me was that she fried the bread in a pan instead of baking or broiling it. I'd never seen that before. So I tried it.


Prior to the putting it in the pain, I dipped both sides in some olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and fresh garlic.


I will admit that there was a SIGNIFICANT amount of olive oil used to make these. Significant. But, since this was an experiment and since we are embarking on a SIGNIFICANT diet in 2010, I didn't let myself feel too badly about it. I'm sure they would also be good if you just spread a little on both sides.


Then the requisite tomatoes and basil....Julie clearly used heirloom tomatoes in her bruschetta, but those didn't quite seem to be in season in Queens at the end of December, so...I made regular old tomatoes work. Added sea salt, cracked pepper a smidge of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.


And they were amazing. Geoff had his eyes closed as he ate them. He couldn't stop saying "wow. oh wow." He was basically Hanging Up The Phone. So I knew they were a great success. And it was fun to be inspired to cook and try something new. Thank you Julie & Julia.

Now come on over and I'll make you some....