Julia Child, snow, and a trip to Cambridge

As a New England girl, I truly love my 4 distinctive seasons, especially the start to them. Right now, I'm obsessed with snow (although, ask me again in March what I think about the fluffy white stuff and I guarantee you'll get a different answer). This weekend was spent cleaning, errand running, and of course, watching the snow fall during the first major blizzard of the year. (This weekend was also spent eating my fair share of leftover grilled cheeses and tomato soup. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it). Also, rather randomly, I came across some old reruns of Julia Child's cooking show from the 60's or 70's. Man, I love that old bird. As a cook, you have to admire a woman who stands at about 6 feet tall and has a deep, yet somehow still sing-songy voice and who absolutely loves food and teaching other's just how easy French cuisine can be. I couldn't help but laugh lovingly at her little corny jokes and admire her outlook on food. She was a pioneer in bringing ethnic cusine to our American pallets and made food that used to be thought of as impossible for the common home cook to make, easy. Armed with astonishing amounts of butter, she'd look into the camera and give a great laugh, proving to viewers that cooking even the most challenging of dishes can be really fun.

Aside from my impromptu Julia Childs marathon, on Saturday evening I actually left the city of Boston (gasp!), crossed that bridge, and found myself in Cambridge with some friends. I don't make it over to Cambridge often (it seems like it's easier to get to Mexico) but on this particular evening it was rather wonderful. Laughing and talking with friends, I spend the evening bar hopping around the Harvard Square area. It's funny, from watching shows like "The Phantom Gourmet", reading the Zagat guide and just by being an over zealous foodie, I know of a lot of the places that we passed. I found myself bummed that and already full stomach kept me from taking advantage of being on that side of the world and taking in cuisine from some of Cambridge's hot spots. Just another thing to add to my already long to do list, I guess. It just was a picture-perfect New England-around-Christmas-time evening, coming out of a bar and squealing with delight about the newly falling snow and shimmering Christmas lights hanging above desolate streets. Made you think George Bailey was going to come running out at any moment hollering "Merry Christmas" and reminding us that it truly is a wonderful life.