"That's for the cook!"

Last year I went through a Julia Child phase. I had never really watched Julia Child, nor did I know much about her. Over the course of a few months last year I learned. I watched all of her old TV shows on DVD. I read biographies, memoirs, and cookbooks. I love Julia. She taught me a lot about cooking. Thanks to Julia I know how to temper an egg, make melt-in-your-mouth meringue, how to melt chocolate, how to make french sauces and how to bake a perfect queen of sheeba cake. Julia further inspired my love of cooking, creating and EATING food!

One thing Julia did on her shows was to leave some of the batter at the bottom of the bowl, "THAT'S FOR THE COOK," she'd squeal/bellow and eat it up.

I'm going to be honest. It's been a hard few weeks. I've been up and down with this whole food allergies/restrictions thing. One minute I'm the queen of the world. The next I'm standing in the grocery store for over an hour reading labels and trying not to cry. I can think I'm fine and then see someone on TV eating a hot dog at a ball park and burst into tears.

I wrote a blog awhile back about when the worst possible thing happens to you. Losing food I love is one of those things that I felt that way about. But just as I wrote many months ago: one lovely thing about the worst possible things happening is that you are able to rise above and you learn that you are stronger than you thought. You learn that God is good. You learn that He sends people to help and love you through it. You learn that you will survive.

So guess what I learned this week? I learned how to bake without gluten. No, it's not the same. It's not. But it's good and it'll get better and better. I have a long way to go. I have to master dairy, refined sugars, eating out, social situations, etc. But Rome wasn't built in a day after all. And this new me that I'm building is going to be just as marvelous, let me assure you! Life isn't over. I'm still a cook, sans wheat.

As I type I'm scooping spoonfulls of GLUTEN FREE brownie batter into my mouth. "That's for the cook." I say and salute to Julia in the Heavens.