Welcome back to Cooking With the French Chef, in which I review episodes of Julia Child’s original show, cook out of the new edition of the French Chef Cookbook and share the results with you. Past posts can be found here. Next to Beouf Borguignon, Julia's Queen of Sheba cake seems to be one of her most famous … Continue reading Cooking With the French Chef: Reine de Saba Cake
Cooking With the French Chef: Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Welcome back to Cooking With the French Chef, in which I make recipes from the new edition of Julia Child's French Chef Cookbook and review episodes of Julia's original TV series, The French Chef. Past installments can be found here. Coquilles Saint-Jacques is a dish I've been wanting to make for a long time but never … Continue reading Cooking With the French Chef: Coquilles Saint-Jacques
Cooking With the French Chef: Boeuf Bourguignon
Welcome back to Cooking With the French Chef, in which I review episodes of Julia Child's original show, cook out of the new edition of the French Chef Cookbook and share the results with you. Past posts can be found here. Our first official installment! This month's recipe is a no-brainer: Since Julia made Boeuf Bourguignon … Continue reading Cooking With the French Chef: Boeuf Bourguignon
Cooking With the French Chef: Introduction
Et voilá, here's a new series! As of today, it's sixty-one years since Julia Child's peerless first show, The French Chef premiered, and a few months ago a fancy new edition of The French Chef cookbook became available. Naturally, I want to review it, but instead of publishing one post with the results of a … Continue reading Cooking With the French Chef: Introduction
Four Hundred Years Ago
2023 is the four-hundredth anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio, and I can't believe I forgot to commemorate it. Oh well, it's December, obviously, so we're still in the ballpark. Phew. Anyway, the First Folio was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, by Henry Condell and John Heminge, two friends of … Continue reading Four Hundred Years Ago
Page To Screen: Emma
While it's hard to touch Pride and Prejudice in terms of screentime, Jane Austen's 1815 novel, Emma comes pretty close. Like Pride and Prejudice, one of Emma's major themes is marriage, but unlike that august work, there isn't the looming spectre of home passing to someone else in the event of Father's death. There is, however, the looming spectre of … Continue reading Page To Screen: Emma
C.S. Lewis, Poet
It's very common knowledge that C.S. Lewis was a brilliant author and professor, but what isn't often talked about is his poetry, probably because a lot of people over the years haven't really liked it, not to mention Lewis's other works, particularly Narnia, cast big, wide shadows. Another possible reason for the avoidance might be … Continue reading C.S. Lewis, Poet
Still More Cuisine, Stars Hollow Style (This Time It’s Official)
It's time for another Stars Hollow food adventure! Those of you who have been around my blog for at least a few years will no doubt remember my reviews of Eat Like A Gilmore and its sequel, Daily Cravings, in which I not only reviewed the books but cooked out of them. So yeah, we're going to … Continue reading Still More Cuisine, Stars Hollow Style (This Time It’s Official)
Page To Screen: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
While Thornton Wilder is best known for his 1938 play, Our Town, he was by no means a one-hit wonder. Eleven years before Our Town, his novella (and only his second published work), The Bridge of San Luis Rey would release to wide acclaim and win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature the following year. For those who aren't … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Gowns By Adrian
Hollywood's Golden Era had no shortage of distinctive and wonderful costumers, such as Edith Head, Irene Sharaff, Kalloch, and Walter Plunkett, but for sheer prestige, we have to look to Gilbert Adrian, whose story is told in Rizzoli New York's Adrian: A Lifetime of Movie Glamour, Art, and High Fashion. The book covers the three … Continue reading Gowns By Adrian
Austen Goes To Amritsar
*opens book* We all know that of Jane Austen's six novels, Pride and Prejudice is probably the most frequently adapted (see some of the other versions here). And why not? It's got lots of intrigue, it's got love and the promise of love, it's got family drama, and it's got biting wit and intelligence. Oh, and it … Continue reading Austen Goes To Amritsar
Page To Screen: Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a very personal heroine who, once encountered, is hard to forget, and everyone has their own ideas as to how she should be portrayed. The proof is in the dozens of film and TV movies made about her over the past century (see a complete list here). For those who might not … Continue reading Page To Screen: Jane Eyre
Stage To Screen: Shadowlands
Although he was a literary powerhouse, C.S. Lewis has very seldom been portrayed on the screen as himself (Sorry, Treebeard, although you still kinda count). One of the most major works associated with him is Shadowlands, which mainly focuses on Lewis's life with his wife, Joy Davidman Gresham. For those who aren't familiar with Lewis … Continue reading Stage To Screen: Shadowlands
East Or West, Home Is Best
Lucy Maud Montgomery was no one-hit wonder, but she also had her share of under-the-radar characters, and one of these is Pat Gardiner of the 1933 novel, Pat of Silver Bush and its 1935 sequel, Mistress Pat. While they may not be as talked about nowadays as Montgomery's Anne and Emily series, these books were very personal … Continue reading East Or West, Home Is Best
Go West, Young Canadian
Janette Oke is one of the premier contemporary authors of Christian literature, and as her novels are mostly set on the Canadian prairies Laura Ingalls Wilder would be her closest comparison. Oke's eight-book Love Comes Softly series has sold millions of copies and continues to be discovered and re-discovered by enthusiastic readers. Six of the … Continue reading Go West, Young Canadian
Page To Screen: The Sarah, Plain and Tall Trilogy
Remember the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies? I used to watch those with my parents all the time, and I don't know about anyone else, but my favorites next to Harvest of Fire was the Sarah, Plain and Tall trilogy. Based on Patricia MacLachlan's novels of the same name, they are prime examples of how to … Continue reading Page To Screen: The Sarah, Plain and Tall Trilogy
Seven Years Later
Taking Up Room is seven years old...zoikes, that's scary. I can't believe how much time has gone by already and how much has happened in the past year. Does anyone else think 2022 felt like a long year? Yet here we are in December, and WordPress very kindly sent me this: Some of you later … Continue reading Seven Years Later
Taking Up Room 