Last night, we went to Brasserie Jo, a local French bistro which is part of the considerable Lettuce Entertain You group of restaurants, after which we went to see JULIE AND JULIA, the film based on the book and blog of the same name, and Julia Child's autobiography. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food and beer. But it was a lovely evening, and the movie was really good! Meryl Streep!! I love her!! Go see it. It is a great movie for those of us who like food-related semi-nonfiction films. At Brasserie Jo, I had some kind of chicken dish off the special Julia Child menu called Poulet a le Diable, or something like that. It was a boneless butterflied chicken breast with lemon and herbs and breadcrumbs and was delicious! And we had some onion tart and beer croquettes, which were like light little beer cheese fried balls. They were great, like French bar food, I wanted a bucket of them to bring home.
The movie was really entertaining. Meryl Streep seems to be having such a good time. Amy Adams is not really like what I think the woman who wrote the blog and book is probably like, but she is cute and perky and you can't help but like her. I am almost finished with the book. After which I am going to read Ellen Burstyn's memoir (which I got at the sidewalk sale last week, if you will recall) and then I think I will read the Julia Child autobiography. Julia Child is a new heroine of mine, as I did not realize she did not discover her talent and passion for food and cooking until she was about the age I am now, and she was one of those people who saw the good in everybody and the best in any situation. I try to do that, but am not always successful. Oh -- BEER! I almost forgot to blog about beer! Last night, I drank a Domaine Du Page French Country Ale, brewed by the Two Brothers brewery out of local Noblesville, Illinois. I probably would have opted for a Belgian beer that I sell, except for the fact that it always seems silly to pay $12.00 for a Chimay Cinq Cents at a restaurant when I have one in my fridge. And the Domaine Du Page is a nice malty food beer. It went well with the chicken, but it went REALLY well with the fancy French fried cheese balls.
Tonight, I am enjoying the afterglow of a Saturday with nothing in particular to do. Had breakfast, tried unsuccessfully to buy Cubs tickets for next week, got Dairy Queen, watched a little of FINDING NEMO, watched the Cubs win (yeah!), and now am watching Mel Brooks' HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1. There is not a lot better than a Saturday with nothing to do. Now, I am drinking a GREAT LAKES GLOCKENSPIEL, which is a dunkel weizenbock style. What does this mean? It is a German-style dark wheat beer (so, a wheat beer brewed with dark roasty malts which produces a light in body, somewhat sweet and caramelly but has the banana and clove notes of a great German wheat beer) The most popular beer I know if this style is the Schneider AVENTINUS. It is a great strong (8%) dark but light in body and flavor, beer for the summertime. When I was a little child, one of my favorite books was entitled GORDON AND HIS GLOCKENSPIEL, so I was familiar with the term. The word is the German for "bells ringing". Gordon's Glockenspiel was one of those xylophone-looking things that marching band percussion sections have. This beer was named for a big cuckoo-clock type chimes and figurines thing in Munich.
What the hell? Why does AMC have so many male-enhancement drug commericals?
Really, go see the movie. And read the book. And eat the food.
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