La reine de Saba

Ever since watching the movie Julie and Julia, I have been on a Julia Child kick. We rented episodes of her old PBS TV show, The French Chef, and I bought her first book: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I never saw Julia on TV, but I sure enjoy seeing her cook now. The woman COOKS. So stuff goes flying once in awhile, and not everything turns out picture perfect. No matter. Isn't that the way we all cook?

Reading the book I picked up a number of small hints that have made a difference in my cooking and they all have to do with patience (no surprise here). Dry the meat you want to brown before putting it in the pan; wait until the butter foam subsides before you put the eggs in for an omelet. Julia is solid, down to earth, and cooks simple food that is delicious. She is The Woman.


I enjoy cooking, or rather, I love eating good food. My mother hated cooking, but knew that good food = health, so she cooked. My grandmother liked to cook and always had something special waiting for me when I came to visit (and that was often). I enjoy cooking dessert, or baking, most: those lovely aromas. One of Julia's favorites was the Queen of Sheba cake, and I have made it a couple of times, and they have been devoured. Only one "drawback", it uses ground almonds. That means blanching almonds and peeling them. To me, life's a bit short for that kind of thing. But the cake is worth it.

I went to Tucson yesterday to shop and bought the almonds, and Dan said when he saw them: "Ah, Queen of Sheba! Yum!" I told him that getting the almonds prepared was a pain, so he volunteered (no cook, he). So the almonds were blanched and peeled, yesterday, and today La reine de Saba is in the oven as our weekend treat. Bon appetit!