Today is the 5th day of Julia Child Week at Foodista! There are so many delicious recipes, we really could go on for months! Looking through Julia Child’s recipes and watching her episodes, it’s clear to me that she wanted to take the fear and intimidation out of cooking. Her explanations are clear and well described. She offers excellent substitutions and make-ahead suggestions to help the busy cook. I can imagine hundreds of women watching Julia effortlessly create Caneton a’ l’ Orange or cook live lobsters like it was an every day occurrence and surely thinking to themselves okay, I can handle this, or at least some of it!

Cooking can be incredibly nerve racking and awkward when you are first starting out, but instead of tackling live lobsters or roasting whole ducks right off the bat, Julia has several other recipes that are far less intimidating to start out with. For example, nothing could be more simple than making Julia’s Roquefort cheese balls. Elegant, rich and delicious, especially paired with a nice red wine, it’s a recipe that is perfect for a potluck or a party, and although easy to make, they look and taste like you slaved half your day in the kitchen!

Bon Appetite!

Other inspirational recipes for Roquefort cheese appetizers you may be interested in trying:

A Roquefort cheese roll by Homesick Texan, a leek and Roquefort tart from Too Many Chefs or some Roquefort and wine pairing tips from Rhino Wino with a scrumptious recipe for Roquefort gougeres.

Photo by Kaytethinks

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No, he’s not a famous chef. It’s Oscar night!!!

Which really has nothing to do with Bolognese, other than the fact that Barnaby created the most delicious sugo di carne today. In preparation for our comfy Oscar party with our dear friends, Barnaby started his all-day-simmer Bolognese sauce this morning at 8:30am. Then, we set out house hunting (arg!), picked up some fine Italian wine, a bubbly Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé and two fresh baguettes from Bakery Nouveau – hot from the oven to our bag! – and returned at 5:30.

More than ready for dinner we grabbed our herby green salads, poured ladles of creamy Bolognese goodness onto velvety pappardelle noodles and headed towards the big screen to watch the Oscars. Being film lovers, the Oscars is an annual event for us, with parties ranging from red carpet black tie events to cozy snuggle-up-in-your-PJs dinners.

We’ve attended the Sundance Film Festival every year for the last seven years. In January 2007’s festival, the first film we saw was the beautiful Irish indie musical “Once” which won Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly.” This year, we met Brad Bird, writer and director of “Ratatouille,” and cheered as he took one of the first statues of the night.

This year pajamas and pasta, next year black tie and caviar!

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