Revisiting 2009 with Julie & Julia, Boeuf Bourguignon, and Brian's Blog

In Summer of 2009 I started my website, Brian’s Blog, and although I dabbled in Oscar talk, I wanted it to be a place where I could chat about anything…(funny…that’s exactly what this site has done, 10 years later)! I was also in the 2nd year of a mess of a relationship, and had just become a Dad. To Ellen Ripley, my cat.

I had also been doing my darndest not to take illegal drugs…but come 2009, I was failing. That Thanksgiving, I couldn’t wait for the guests to leave my house/pass out so I could get the heck out of dodge and get well….(That’s drug lingo for “use” for those of you simply following along.)

Around that time, my partner and I had gotten our first tree, Ellen had stopped her constant attacks (yes…she still attacks, but for those of you who didn’t know her back then, she has seriously mellowed!) and my guy had gotten me a brand new TV/bluray player. I decided the first thing I would watch on these new devices would be “Julie & Julia.”

Last night I revisited the film. Surely you have all seen it, right? If not - here’s a trailer to refresh your memory.

Then and now I feel that the critics were too harsh on the Julie section, but perhaps that is because I could relate so much to her.

I had started my own blog but didn’t have an identity for it yet. I also worried greatly about disappointing my readers, although I had no grasp back then how many or who they were. I had a habit then (and up until last year) of promising things I couldn’t deliver, and I was so afraid my readers would resent me for that.

I also considered lying many times, especially once I promised to watch every Oscar nominated film and year after year found it almost impossible to keep up…just as Julie’s husband suggests when she fails at her first aspic. “No one will know. Lie.”

I was also a home cook…cooking large Thanksgiving meals like the aforementioned, attempting to recreate meals from restaurants I worked and putting my own twist on Southern classics.

After watching “Julie & Julia” the first time I even considered doing the same thing she did, cooking through Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing about it…I was barely working at the time, and seemed like a good idea.

Shortly after watching the movie I did cook Boeuf Bourguignon and was completely mesmerized by the experience of reading along to the recipe, cooking the meal and eating this fantastic combination of simplicity. I also made Julia’s Coq au Vin as well as a few other things I can’t quite remember. Just as Julie says, it feels like Julia is there with you along the way.

Instead of becoming a carbon copy of Julie, I did manage to hang on and eventually rebranded Brian’s Blog as Awards Wiz. “Do one thing, and do it well.” That’s what Sasha Stone, my mentor at the time always said. Sasha may not have known, but just like Julie and many other inspirations, they were guiding me with their words, art, cinema and food.

Today, “Julie & Julia” still works for me. I think Meryl is better in this then many of her other Oscar nominated films of late (including “The Iron Lady”). It’s a fully realized character…almost void of her “bag of tricks” that any trained actor can spot…despite how incredibly she executes those tricks. Amy Adams is wonderful as Julie…and the way Nora Ephron parallels their two stories is simply remarkable, if a bit on the nose.

Today, I have achieved what I wanted to back in 2009 with this site…but only because I did Awards Wiz first for 10 years, contributed off and on to Awards Daily, and did one thing well. I was a positive voice in Oscar blogging. I never became a full time professional Oscar writer, and can’t predict for shit, but I am a damn good storyteller. Something I was afraid to say even last year.

Although I continue to cook, I will never make Boeuf Bourguignon again. Some of you normies (again, drug talk for Muggles aka: Non addicts/alcoholics) and many of you in recovery might be thinking…why not? The alcohol cooks off, right?

Well, yes...it does…especially when you are cooking for 2.5 hours! But there was a ritual that came along with making that dish…and that ritual included drinking a bottle (or 2) of red.

I love to cook alone…and did so with this dish. Today, I wouldn’t dare. But I’m glad to have had the 3 opportunities to make it. And I can always revisit it on film.