"JulieAndJulia" news and stories

No, that claw is not a scary Halloween trick. Look closer; it's actually a very tasty treat.

Because the price of lobster is so low right now -- almost half of what it was more than a year ago -- the bloggers over at REC(cession)IPES were able to add a little luxury to this simple, creamy risotto, made with arborio rice, olive oil, butter, onions, shallots and white wine. Plus, the lobster adds a much-needed burst of color to what can often be a very monochromatic dish.

Come to think of it, should you want to try this at home, there may actually be a little trick to achieving these picturesque results. As REC(cession)IPES points out, it's only live lobster that's so cheap right now. So unless you can bring yourself to butcher your own crustacean (think Julie Powell in "Julie & Julia"), you may have to settle for just feasting only your eyes on this lovely lobster risotto.

Julia Child. Photo: John Dominis, Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Somewhere Julia's chuckling.

The Boston Globe reports Tuesday that the doyenne of French cuisine's Cambridge home is now occupied by a vegetarian animal-rights activist, who -- since the release of "Julie and Julia" -- has been besieged by tourists snapping photos of her home and leaving butter, yes butter, on the fence post.

"It's a bit ironic," Lisa Landsverk said of her place at Julia's kitchen.

Steaming a wriggly, live lobster is one pot and one colander away.

Photo: Knopf

In case you were wondering to what extent the mania for "Julie and Julia'" had gripped the nation, Sunday's New York Times delivered the answer.

This August 30, nearly half a century after the book was published in America, Child's classic tome "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" will be listed in the number one spot on the gray lady's bestseller list in the how-to category. The paper reports booksellers selling seven times as many copies in a month as they are accustomed to selling in a year.

This is not a small deal, particularly for the struggling publishing industry. Blogger Julie Powell is of course largely responsible for the surge of interest in the French Chef, and we wonder whether top Knopf execs have been bombarding her with flowers and thank-you notes.

More importantly, we are curious about how many of our own readers have invested in the book because of the blog or the movie. So spill it in our poll: Have you bought Child's cookbook? When? Tell us why in the comments.

'Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1'
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck
Illustrations by Sidonie Coryn
Knopf -- First published 1961
Buy it on Amazon

Julia would not have been our "French Chef," had she not collaborated with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle to transform their draft of a French cookbook into an essential guidebook to French food for American cooks.

Long before she showed television audiences that it was OK to screw up in the kitchen, Julia Child and the two other "Trois Gourmands" (Child, Beck and Bertholle ran a cooking school of sorts -- Ecole des Gourmands -- in Paris) were teaching the American cook the wonders that are beurre blanc, boeuf bourguignon and omelettes through "Mastering the Art."

"This is a book for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children's meals, the parent-chauffeur-den-mother syndrome or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat." With those words, Child inspired bloggers and chefs and turned French cuisine into something our nation's home cooks could do ... and well. Bon appetit!

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.