Julia Child was my neighbor

It's true, in a way--Julia Child once lived on my street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I didn't live there at the time, but it’s still a delightful coincidence that feels more like fate. Her house at number 103 Irving Street near Harvard Square was the place where Paul Child designed a kitchen for his wife in 1961—-the same kitchen that was subsequently transplanted to the Smithsonian Museum of American History in 2001. This kitchen, where she cooked for family, friends and notable figures in the world of food, was also the set of her television shows. It had been designed precisely according to how she preferred to cook, after years of dealing with less-than-ideal kitchens. The countertops were about three inches higher than normal to suit her 6'3" frame.

I remember watching Julia on TV as a child with my mother (an inspired cook) and my father (a terrific eater), and eating her recipe for vichysoisse, which I always suspected contained some kind of fish because it sounded to me like “fishy-swa.” I am told that I was less than four years old at the time. According to my mother, Julia was always holding a glass of wine while she cooked--and adding the wine to her cooking, too. One of our favorite family stories about her was the time she appeared on the Dick Cavett Show and used a full-size blow torch to caramelize a crème brulee.

I think I liked that she was so tall, and so irreverent, and so unlike anyone else on TV. In many ways she reminded me of my grandmother. They were both a little cheeky. Par exemple, there’s a great story at the Smithsonian website about a waitress who had the honor of meeting Julia at a charity dinner.

“I’m such a fan of your work,” the waitress gushed, “You’re like a god to me.”

Julia put a hand on her shoulder and said: “Goddess, dear.”

In my family, we always called her “Julia,” even little me, and I think that’s the way she would have wanted it. We made her habit of saying bon apetit in that wonderful, tremulous voice a tradition at our dinner table.

But the best influence Julia had on me was the notion that I could make gourmet food in my own kitchen--and that by feeding people, I could make them happy.