Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

After a busy Holiday Season, I sat down with a good book.  My oldest son, David, gave me this book for Christmas.  I could not wait to read it.  This is most in depth biography about Julia Child I have read.  The author, Bob Spitz, writes about Julia's childhood, her college days, career days (before her cooking days), life with her husband Paul, cooking days, and her later years.  In the beginning, Julia did not like to cook but she loved eating.  It wasn't until she met Paul that she developed a love for great food and eventually cooking. When Julia set her mind to learn how to cook a dish she became obsessive.  She would research and try recipes over and over.  She was very exact.  This caused some friction between her and her cooking partner Simca. Julia and  Simca wrote two books together .  It wasn't an easy collaboration at times but luckily for us they made it work.  As time went, and the book "Mastering The Art of French Cooking" became a huge success,  Julia's next adventure was to have her own TV show "The French Chef".  It was interesting to read about the strong partnership Julia and her husband Paul had.  He had note cards and took care of various things on the set for her.  They were there for each other through thick and thin.  He was  very proud of her success.  After Paul died, Julia continued with her cooking shows and numerous other projects.  She had a cooking spot on "Good Morning America" and shows on Public Television.   Julia and Jacques Pepin hosted a television show together and she was a character.  On one episode, they were going to make a flaky dough for chicken pot pie and three minutes before the show she decided on a new plan.  She decided to use Crisco!  She had never used Crisco before.  Note, this was a show sponsored by Land O'Lakes.  In the end they reached a compromise of  half butter and half Crisco.  Julia continued to be active well into her eighties.  During the last couple of years of her life, her health deteriorated.  She was on dialysis and her doctors advised her to not eat so much butter.
Julia died two days before her ninety-second birthday.   It can be said that Julia Child lived life to its' fullest. I would recommend this book to those interested in an in-depth picture of the life of Julia Child.