EllynAnne Geisel in Montecito Journal - Article page 2

1. Life • Style the women of earlier, more tradi-
tional generations (yes, she does
wear pearls) through her apron
by Judy Foreman
project, while I was identifying with
Ms Foreman, a Santa Barbara freelance writer, has been covering fitness, beau- Gloria Steinem and subscribing to
ty, health, fashion, new businesses and lifestyle trends for the Journal since
1998. She blogs @ judyforemanknowssantabarbara.com Ms. magazine.
When she showed the apron proj-
Julia & Judy ect to those of us seated at the table,
Rise Delmar Ochsner and I knew
M
y mother was no Julia Child. sizing flavor and utilizing a fool- we were witnessing the beginnings
Like many women of her proof recipe, beef stew becomes of something important in the evolu-
generation, Mom cooked “boeuf bourguignon.” tion of women, and we immediately
for my siblings and me because it I hadn’t thought about my trans- thought of introducing EllynAnne
was her job as a homemaker to feed formation from lackadaisical eater to Ms Child, who would certainly
us, not because she derived joy in to caring cook, until the opening have an apron story to tell.
the preparation of a family meal. The last week of “Julie & Julia,” Nora In what EllynAnne defines as a life-
beef stew she served once a week – Ephron’s adaptation of blogger defining moment, she interviewed
a one-pot meal of cubed meat, cut- Julie Powell’s novel of the same The author with Julia at her home in Montecito. At
up carrots and diced potatoes that name. The movie jogged my mem- her Julia Child- the end of their visit, Julia posed for
signed apron,
simmered for hours in a Campbell’s ories of Julia Child, including how a photo in her pegboard pot and pan
which she bought
tomato soup base – was a tasteless this Chicago girl raised on goulash at a celebrity apron kitchen, then handed EllynAnne a
mishmash. But without food for ended up living in Santa Barbara auction to benefit denim apron made especially for
comparison, what did I know? and sharing the local turf with the SB Arts Council her tall figure, and autographed it.
As a college student, I began culinary icon. (photo by Eliot EllynAnne gave the apron to
Crowley)
cooking for myself, which at first Julia Child made herself at home Susan Keller, another Writers’
amounted to opening a can of soup here, and her highly visible 6’2” Conference friend, who was in
and grilling a cheese sandwich. figure seemed to be everywhere, charge of a celebrity apron auction
Then I began watching “The French from the Saturday Farmers Market, Story Farm, San Ysidro Ranch, to benefit the Santa Barbara Arts
Chef,” Julia Child’s famous cooking to D’ Angelo’s Bakery, In and Out Mousse Odile, and more. Council. Julia was still alive at the
show, and I learned that by empha- Burger, Dani and Bill Hahn’s Rose Julia was also a guest speak- time and her autographed apron
er at the Santa Barbara Writers’ was passed over, everyone seem-
Conference. EllynAnne Geisel, ingly more interested in the other
an aspiring author, arrived at that celebrity aprons. But I was drawn
LIVE THE LIFE SBWC with “Apron Memories,” a
project she’d been working on for
several years. We ended up at a
to Ms Child’s apron for several rea-
sons. One is that she taught me to
cook, and two, my eldest daughter ’s
lunch table together and although name is Julia, so I thought it would
Mitchell E. Morehart we could not have been less alike,
immediately hit it off. EllynAnne
lives in Colorado, but hails from
be a great keepsake.
As the lone bidder, the apron was
mine. I had it preserved by Ablitt’s
www.mitchellmorehart.com North Carolina, her Southern accent Dry Cleaning, as one would a wed-
cvrmitch@aol.com and mannerisms still very present,
her jargon filled with colloquialisms
ding or christening gown, and for
the past 7 years, it’s been on a shelf
(805)565-4546 that make whatever she says sound
so damn cute.
in my closet.
Two days before the release of
Although we are close in age, “Julie & Julia,” EllynAnne called.
EllynAnne defines herself as a mod- The movie had reminded her of the
ern-day Harriet Nelson, celebrating silent auction apron, and she won-
dered if I still had it. She wanted to
write about interviewing Julia and
the impact of that meeting, how
she came to have Julia’s apron, and
“You meet the world with your smile” how I then became its owner. I care-
fully unwrapped the box to find my
Julia Child heirloom looking brand
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24 MONTECITO JOURNAL • The Voice of the Village • 20 – 27 August 2009