Bonnie Carroll
Julia Child portrait by ©Lynn Gilbert, 1978
By Bonnie Carroll
Representatives of the Julia Child Foundation, Santa Barbara Culinary Experience staff & sponsors, City of Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo, food & beverage purveyors and a crowd of event sponsors, VIPs and invited guests filed the sunny party room overlooking the golf course at the Montecito Club on August 15th to celebrate the birthday of the late Julia Child and to announce an upcoming culinary event in Santa Barbara. The newly renovated interior of the Montecito Club, now magically Moroccan in style, was an exquisite venue for the gathering.
Julia Child was born in Pasadena on August 15, 1912, but was a resident of Santa Barbara for years before her death in 2004. She was known by every winemaker, baker, restauranteur, chef and countless fans who loved her internationally acclaimed book “Mastering The Art of French Cooking,” and her unforgettable television shows “Baking with Julia” and “In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs.”
Jamie West, Executive Chef at the Montecito Club proudly displayed photos of himself with Julia taken in years past near the beautiful party food tables where guests would see them.
Everyone was sharing stories on their own special moments with this amazing and talented woman. I was honored to meet her at a historic cookbook luncheon prepared by Executive Chef Conny Andersson at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel shortly before her death and it was such a thrill to photograph her with Chef Andersson. I learned to cook French food from her cookbook and so appreciated the opportunity she gave me and so many other ordinary people to learn the art of French cooking.
Gerd & Pete Jordano, Jordano, Inc. provided the food for the event that was paired with Margerum, Barden, Au Bon Climat and Grassini wines. Doug and Marni Margerum were chatting with renowned winemaker Richard Sanford, founder of Sanford Wines who was enjoying a glass of Barden Rose’ with Chef West. Hors d’ oeuvres of petit lamb chops, crab cakes and more were enjoyed with tables filled with delicious vegetables, cheese, fruits, nuts, olives, and bread.
The highlight of the evening was a gorgeous chocolate birthday cake decorated with Julia Child yellow roses. I recently saw a collection of beautiful Julia roses at Lotusland, and remembered yellow roses were her favorite. Everyone and I do mean everyone, was singing Happy Birthday to Julia Child before the cake was served.
The coordinators of the soon to be announced plans for the upcoming Santa Barbara Culinary Experience were all there and reported that in the coming months’ everyone could expect to learn about the sensational upcoming campaign promoting restaurants, vintners and Santa Barbara in general. I’m looking forward to learning all the details of the upcoming Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. Visit: sbce.events
What a woman! A friend took her miniature horse to visit Julia when she was in the infirmary at Casa Dorinda (where Julia lived her final years) and where I met her. The famous chef had a beautiful bouquet of roses at her bedside and she pulled all the petals off and fed them to the little horse, saying, “I just love feeding people”, lovely to consider the horse “people”.