The Mallory Project

I don't remember the first time I ate boeuf bourguinon . My mom went through a "dinner party phase" when I was little, and she made it to impress her friends. As for the next time I ate it, I don't remember the dish as much as I remember the experience. This was the summer I graduated, before I began my love affair with cooking. I was in France with a school group, my mom, my grandma and my brother. We started with a few days in Paris, but I didn't have the same culinary experience that Julia Child did. I found the city just as delectable as she did, but I didn't have the same gastronomic opportunities that she did. Since I was there with a school group, we had certain places we had to go during our tour. One of these places was a Lebanese restaurant where we had to eat at least once a day. I have noting against Lebanese food. It's quite good. But when you're in Paris, you should be eating French food. Luckily, my grandma finds adventures in everyd...

My second foray into seafood since The Project began wasn't as successful as the first. One of our lovely volunteers at headquarters brought in a tuna casserole. Because tuna is the one fish that I hesitate least to eat, and it was mixed in with pasta, vegetables and an Alfredo sauce (and also because, if I ate it, I wouldn't have to buy lunch), I decided to try it. It wasn't bad, but...well, it could have been better. The sauce was a little too plain, and there should have been a wider variety of vegetables. So, with a little more flavor, a little more heat, I think I would have eaten a lot more. Now, yesterday, I had a delicious meal. I don't know if I've ever tried this particular dish before, but, even if I have, it was a revelation. Carol made Portuguese Bean Soup, which is a simple soup with sausage, beans, vegetables and spices. Carol promised to give me her "recipe" (in quotations, because, as she explains it, she only uses ingredients, not r...

Not just any boeuf bourguignon , but Julia Child's bouef bourguignon . It sounds a lot sexier in French. Just try it. Say it out loud, once or twice. " Boeuf bourguignon ." Hmmm...just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Like silky lingerie falling onto the floor on Valentine's Day. In English, it's simply "beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions and mushrooms." It doesn't sound remotely sexy. It doesn't even sound that delicious. But when Julia Child describes it...your mouth just can't help but water. Carefully done, and perfectly flavored, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man... The point to all this? My birthday is coming up. I requested the day off from work over a month ago, but I was still scheduled to work. I had a party all planned out (drinks and karaoke at a nice little place right on the beach) but I can't do that now. I mean, karaoke doesn't even start until 9:30 there, so do...

This, right here? Is why I don't drink very often. That's not to say that I didn't have fun last night. Because I definitely did. Some coworkers from headquarters and I went out for dinner and drinks. Megan, Jon and I started at Yardhouse, where I tried poke for the first time. People are always amazed when I tell them I don't eat sushi. They are even more amazed when I tell them I don't eat any seafood. I live on an island, after all, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But I've never liked seafood. At least, I don't recall ever liking it. My mom likes to tell stories of how she tricked me when I was younger, saying that the fish she cooked for dinner was really chicken. Well, that may be why I don't like chicken now! Anyway, I find the odor of seafood too pungent. The taste is not bad, depending on the preparation, but the texture is generally too gummy for my taste. I try to avoid seafood at all costs because of this. Unfortunately, for me, fi...

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." -Walt Disney Sometimes I wish I was more like Julia Child. Self-confident yet unassured. Bright, bubbly, energetic and effervescent. It took her a long time to find out what she wanted, but when she found it, she went after it. As she once said, “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.” When she moved to Paris in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was 10 years her senior, had traveled the world farther than she had and was quite the gourmand, Julia knew almost nothing of French cooking. But she enrolled at the Cordon Bleu, started a cooking school and, twenty years later, published Mastering the Art of French Cooking . She starred in her own TV show, The French Chef, and was even parodied on Saturday Night Live. She lived until the age of 92, never once slowing down. When asked how she lived so long, she said "Red meat and gin.” While I don't feel the way Julia does abou...