Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Upsides to the Down Economy/ Lessons from Julia Child


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm reading a biography of Julia Child, Appetite for Life. I was amazed to find out it took Julia ten years, from start to finish, to complete her masterpiece Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That was ten years of choosing recipes, trying them out (sometimes 40 times!), experimenting with different ingredients, typing, revising, consulting back and forth with her co-authors etc... The bulk of the work, however, fell on Julia and she took it on full steam because she was so passionate about wanting to teach Americans about french cooking and food. I have found this encouraging because, I too, have been working on a cookbook. A tennis friend whose son has autism, holds a tennis tournament (Food Autism Tennis F.A.T.) every year to raise money for Autism Speaks. She is a wonderful cook, especially a baker, so I suggested, a couple years ago, she put out a cookbook to raise money for the cause. She agreed and a year later (or more, I've lost track) we are ALMOST finished typing in recipes for the book. Although a couple people are helping, the bulk of the work (and typing) has fallen on moi. We had a professional photo shoot (thanks to someone on our team who is a food stylist) and asked people to send us their "tried and true", great recipes, especially if they can be served room temperature for a crowd (like we do at tennis matches). At times, it has been discouraging, but we have slogged through and now are close to the end.

So, what I've learned from Julia is Persistence! Just keep going... and love what you do. Sometimes, it is the process that gives us the most enjoyment and once the project is done, that is over. Luckily, for Julia, she was able to parlay her book into a T.V. show and a living that she loved. With the money she made from the cookbook, her and her husband Paul bought a little house in Provence where they lived part of the year. I will just be happy to sell enough cookbooks of Serve It Up! to make some money for autism.

No comments: