For the Love of Food

***to break the monotony between posts, this will be a brief departure from Winter Break***

I feel like the cool new thing is to be a foodie/gourmand and/or cook.

My interest mostly started this summer. A friend, (yes, you Cat) is a certified foodie and sparked my curiosity a bit this summer, but mostly I really started to feel it after watching Julie and Julia. I was thrilled when my aunt gave me a copy of My Life in France by Julia Child and I just devoured her memoir.

Sadly, I have an ill-equipped kitchen here in Nice and don't often feel inspired to try stove-top only recipes. I have tried a few, and remain proud of my turkey and how amazing that smelled on Thanksgiving, but I just cannot get into the cooking mood without an oven. Not to mention, I usually have to count my Euros and don't always have enough money to experiment a lot.

I still try to read articles/recipes and try new dishes (especially when traveling). I follow the foodie blog and am currently watching Top Chef in French-- the series takes place in France, not just dubbed, thank goodness!

I'm thinking that this summer, between finding a teaching job and many other things, I'd like to practice in the kitchen a lot more. You know, Julia Child was already pushing 40 when she enrolled in the Cordon Bleu, so if she can do it, I can too!

So, in the spirit of getting better...
a beginning to my birthday wish list
-a George Foreman Grill (I know, still kinda amateur, but I've really wanted one)
-a bread maker
-cookbooks! There's one specifically that my friend Oana has, but I can't remember the title now; its about French Cuisine