Eggs and Omelets

After reading a chapter about Julie cooking eggs, I was eventually getting nauseous. I don't like eggs very much and really not into eggs especially with cheese.

By the way, I started in the book I own from where I ended in the book I borrowed. It was in the middle of the egg chapter.

About the eggs, I'm surprised that Julie had a lot to say about them. I couldn't even say that much because I don't like them. I actually know a lot of people who don't like eggs. Some of them don't like them cooked a certain way liked scrambled or omelet, and some don't like the taste of them.

I once ordered a taco skillet at a small restaurant and I thought it was going to be meat and cheese and all the other taco fixings, but there was a scrambled egg on top. I know that the menu listed eggs in it, but I thought they would be on the side with my pancakes. I just ate the eggs anyway.

It's not that I don't like them, but I don't prefer them. I'll eat them scrambled. Sometimes I like eggs, and sometimes I don't.

Julie's Back!

I just went to Border today to go birthday shopping for my brother, and they had - on sale - lots of stuff for Julie & Julia possibly to promote the movie. They had Julia Child's My Life in France and they had Julie's book. They also had Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

And now that I had a chance to own it, I quickly got Julie's book and an Indiana Jones book for my brother. And now that I have it back, I am so going to continue from where I left off. I have it written down somewhere.

And what's cool about this book is that it's more modern-looking. Before it was just the cover with the egg beater tipped over, but now this is like a movie poster looking thing. It'd be easier to imagine Amy Adams being Julie.

I would also like to apologize for the gap in my posts. I know that were about three days apart, but this was a week of no Julie & Julia or Just Like Julia Child.

I still promise to keep posting JLJC updates, but now that I got the book back, there will be more about Julie.

Who could be Howard Gold?

As I write films, I tend to think of different kinds of actors that would be potentially good for the parts. As I write scenes, I imagine them like a movie as I'm writing. I'm sure many people do that with books and they see what's going on as they read it.

After having written enough scenes, I was seeing Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Gold. And Clive Owen as restaurateur Nathan Billiam.

The thing with Leonardo DiCaprio is that he plays characters that are going through struggles. I've seen part of Revolutionary Road and I know that that's about a married couple going through problems in their lives. And with Howard, he's struggling to earn a promotion. He has a degree in Photography and works part-time in a camera store with a photography studio upstairs. And he really wants to be a photographer. But as he works for the promotion, he learns more about cooking and eventually becomes talented and gets the job offer for Nathan's restaurant.

That's when Howard begins to think about his future. He only started the cooking thing because Joanne wanted meals to be ready when she gets home from work. Should Howard do what he cares about and is excited to do, like being a photographer? Or should he accept a great job and a start at a position in a new field where he skipped the first few entry-level positions? He would most likely be a busboy, then a host(ess), then a waiter, then head chef. But Nathan wants him to skip all that and be the head chef.

Howard was really working hard to be a photographer, but he never wanted to be a professional chef in the first place.

Because of this big decision, is why I see Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Gold. And I see Clive Owen as Nathan Billiam because Clive has some sort of ability to play the owner of a very classy restaurant or big business.

I just got an idea.

As I'm working on Just Like Julia Child, I had the to dedicated to someone. Two people actually. The main character is kind of based on me. As I'm writing my blog for Julie Powell, my main character is cooking Julia's recipes.

As a writer, you want the first 20-30 minutes to be about the characters and get to know them. And that's what I've done so far. Howard Gold works in a camera store under a photography studio and is working hard for a promotion. And the other people, like costars, are basically known for what they do. Joanne Gold just got a promotion and is working as an assistant to newspaper editor-in-chief Andrew Harding. Howard's friend, Ben Birch, likes to hang out with Howard and is sarcastic and a joker. After Joanne lets Howard know that she prefers home-cooked dinners, Howard buys as much as he can from Jewel Osco. And stock boy, Daniel Castro, befriends Howard and tells him stuff about cooking. Daniel is a culinary student at the French Pastry School in Chicago (which I already researched) and helps Howard out. One of Joanne's friends, Nathan Billiam, is a restaurateur in a classy - but fictional - restaurant in Chicago that was left to him by his father. More of Nathan will be explained later.

Now that the characters are known the plot can start.

And as I think more of what's going to happen, Howard is going to be a Julia Child follower as is Julie. He's not exactly like me, as I'm a Julie follower, but he cooks Julia Child meals for dinners and an upcoming dinner party that Joanne wants to host.

And my idea is that I think I want to dedicate my film - when it's ALL finished being written - to Julie. This sounds like something she would enjoy seeing (hypothetically) and can tell that someone - meaning me - had the knowledge to write something for her, like she writes for Julia.

I do plan to mention Julie once or twice about her blog, but it's basically about Howard cooking meals from a Julia Child cookbook. Not someone who dedicates things to Julia.

I'll post updates on JLJC. I just hope I can at least finish my book eventually.
-Cary

Problem with the book

Yesterday, I went to my old local library to renew the book because it was going to be due next week sometime. And the librarian said six other people requested it on hold. And that there are also three other copies. It was so unfair because other people want to read the book just because Julie & Julia is coming out this summer. And I was excited to be finished with the book before it's release in August.

If I want, I could attempt to finish the 200-something pages when I was only on page 58 within 3 days, and though that's not something I can do, I had to return it and request it on hold. And I have to look at the next 1 or 2 months before I get it back. If there's three copies and six people want it, then I'll get back by the time I already saw the film.

So to my readers (if any I hope), don't expect to see any posts about my responses to what I read.

But on the bright side, I will post some stuff about my film, Just Like Julia Child, but not as many as I would about the book.

If possibly, I could find my new library and cross my fingers that they have it, but I don't want to risk going there (even though I have no idea where I'd be going) and finding out it's not there.

Also, I hope that at least one of these six people are doing what I'm doing. Julie is following Julia's footsteps, and I'm following Julie's -- in a way. I wonder if any of the other people are reading for just because or for meaning. Me = meaning.

-Cary

Beffmarrow is something I don't want to think about.

One of the chapters I read was so disgusting to even visualize let alone read about. (no offense, Julie.) But it was basically about how she had to cook with bone marrow or beef marrow that she was incredibly disgusted with as well.

I often see pink flesh-y stuff on chicken so I don't eat that, but I never saw it on beef. But she was saying how she hated cookingh with the bone marrow and it looked like s***.

There was especially this one part she said that I wanted to get sick as Julie was. Apparently, this German guy cut off his friend's penis and cooked it, and even fed it to him. I actually clenched up my legs thinking about that. I have never heard of something like that before.

I just hope later in the book, Julie is going to talk about more pleasant and non-gaggy things to visualize.

Just Like Julia Child

Yesterday I started working on a new film. I had just finished My Fair Sadie, and began to work on Just Like Julia Child. I'm actually working on it this minute, and just finished the first scene where we find out that Howard Gold works in a camera store and wanting to earn a promotion to work in the photography studio. I'm not at the point where the plot starts just yet. Not even close enough to it.

I'm also still reading the second chapter of Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes in one Tiny Apartment Kitchen. I'm really excited for this book and I actually have to renew it soon.

I also plan to be working on Just Like Julia Child at the same time I read the book.

-Cary