Julia Child Night Through the Years

'Tis the eve of Julia Child Night #6!  This year, more than any year, I feel like Julia Child Night snuck up on me.  The celebration came fast, but we've actually been in the process of planning it since I arrived back in Minnesota in late May, so it has been in the works for many months.  I stayed with my Julia Child aunt and uncle for a couple of weeks before moving into my apartment so in the evenings we would page through recipes books and ponder the right combination of dishes.  I think we've got an excellent menu planned and tomorrow night is sure to be the most delicious night of the year!

I thought it would be fun to share photos from the last 5 Julia Child Nights!

Year 1

We made paella the first year which is obviously not French but it was a Julia Child recipe and it was delicious!

 

Voila!  You can see that apron-wearing was part of the tradition from year 1.

In the early years, the kids got pizza.  Now they (mostly) eat what the adults eat with the exception of maybe 1 course.  We are raising young foodies!

I can't get over how young my nephews look in these photos!  This is Matthew, who is now 6 but was about 18 months in this photo!

Year 2

Some of my favorite courses through the years have been the salad courses.  The salad from year 2 had roasted butternut squash on top!  Yum!

We made Beef Bourguignon that year.

The kids are cheersing with their milk.  Love it.

Year 3

My aunt and I

The year 3 salad featured a roasted pear.  It was so good!

The end-of-the-night apron photo started to occur during year 3.

Year 4

In year 4, we really elevated the meal by starting with an amuse bouche of ratatouille, which was so delicious!  We'll use these spoons again this year as we are bringing back the amuse bouche!

There is so much attention to detail, down to the garnish on the soup!

And the apron photo grows as now every lady comes in a pretty apron. I'm partial to ones from Anthropologie!

 Year 5

The year 5 entree was pot au feu which was also a pretty labor intensive but delicious.

We are an equal opportunity kitchen and accept help from the men, some of which don aprons!

The Nicoise salad was the perfect, light salad to offset the heavier main dish

The main course all plated up!  No one goes hungry on JC Night.

My nephews aren't so little anymore.  Soon enough Andrew will be taller than me!

Obligatory end-of-the-night apron photo!

It's crazy to think that all of this was born of a comment I made to my aunt about my desire to learn to cook more difficult recipes.  I love this tradition so much and am glad we've kept it going through the years.  The food is amazing but it's the people that really make the event.  I am extremely thankful for my aunt and uncle - they host it each year and do the heavy lifting and lots of behind the scenes work! 

I also have to pause and say how thankful I am that I am once again a local participant in this tradition instead of having to fly in from Charlotte.  The memories of returning to Charlotte last year after a fun and family-filled weekend are vivid as I had the hardest time and cried the entire flight home (all 2.5 hours)...  I'm so thankful that my life is so vastly different this year and that I'm back where I'm meant to be. 

I'll be back next week to share photos from Julia Child Night #6!!  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Also - on an unrelated note, I will be starting my 10 Days of Thanksgiving post series next week.  If you are looking for a structured way to practice more of an attitude of gratitude, I encourage you to play along!  This is my 7th consecutive year of doing this and I can't wait to kick it off next week!