Everyone has a calling in life. I loved food. So much that I tried to be Julia Child during my junior year at Albion College. It was Halloween. One of the fraternities was hosting a costume contest. Armed with my can of Aquanet hairspray and a denim shirt…I had a plan! The fact I won a bottle of Jack Daniels is history. My quest to enjoy food was part of destiny.

I loved everything about Julia from Jim Henson’s Muppet’s tribute to her  books. However there was one problem. I was a terrible cook!

Life has a funny way of leading you to your destiny. In the winter of 1991, I fell in love with a man whose mother was a terrible cook. As much as I must tell you that I adored his mom, she lacked any culinary skills. Her loss was truly my gain!

I married her son a year later. You need to know that he wooed me with his culinary skills. I would work late and he would pick me up on his old fashioned paper boy bike. The baskets would be loaded with gastronomical treats. I would jump on the back and he would peddle me home to enjoy a special gourmet picnic! Although he was very handsome, he won me over with his cooking, and my heart followed.

Fast forward – twenty-one years later – I am still in love with that man of mine. His culinary skills make me weep. I have become a triathlete to combat him meeting me at the door with a glass of wine and dinner on the table. It’s love at first bite!

Thank you Julia for inspiring me to dream of food and to find a man that exemplifies all you believed