I took Morgan and Nicole to see Ratatouille on Saturday afternoon. Devon was still in California, Courtney left to go to Washington DC (more on that later) and my DH Alan was golfing!! So the two littles and I went to the movie. I love this movie!! It takes place in Paris and it involves a lot of cooking. Those of you who know me know that these are two of my favorite things. Even though it was a cartoon - the scenes of Paris were amazing and the scenes in the kitchen were just as amazing. I was a little grossed out when the whole rat colony came to help out though - it was just too realistic.
I know there were some less than desirable parts of the movie. The "bad guy" gets the hero drunk. But this scene had one of Nicoles favorite lines from the movie - the drunk boy says that ratatouille sounds like rat patootie- she has said that at least 100 times since hearing it. And the hero is the illegitimate son of the great chef that he is trying to emulate. Neither one of these aspects seemed to have caused my girls to ask any questions - so I am not too worried about it.
Paris is beautiful - it is the city of lights. I haven't spent much time there - but I have spent a lot of time with French people. I adore the Eiffel Tower - to me it is a symbol of all that is French. The French people definitely have an attitude of superiority - and especially when it comes to their food - but the Eiffel Tower is such an example of their snobbery. When Gustav Eiffel constructed the tower for the 1889 exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the French Resolution - people hated it. They thought it was a blight and an eyesore and a folly. In 1909 it was to be torn down but it held important military radar equipment that they could not find another elevated place to install. Then, the tourists started coming and loving the Eiffel tower and including it in great paintings of Paris, and making a big deal of it (it was the world's tallest building until 1930). Once the French realized that others liked it - they started to like it too! Now it is the symbol of France - they practically worship it.
Now to the cooking. I loved the cooking - it was very realistic. I read that the filmmakers from PIXAR went to San Francisco to spend time with Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is my 2nd favorite French chef - he is very successful and has made real french cuisine more approachable for Americans. He developed the special plate of ratatouille for the movie to make it look realistic bu
t fancy. Real ratatouille is a peasants dish in France. It really is just a thick vegetable stew made with tomatoes, eggplant and squash although the vegetables can vary according to region. When I was on my mission in the South of France, we ate this several times when members cooked it for us - the best part was sopping up the bowl with the wonderful french bread. It is a staple in so many homes.
t fancy. Real ratatouille is a peasants dish in France. It really is just a thick vegetable stew made with tomatoes, eggplant and squash although the vegetables can vary according to region. When I was on my mission in the South of France, we ate this several times when members cooked it for us - the best part was sopping up the bowl with the wonderful french bread. It is a staple in so many homes.
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We saw Ratouille on the 4th of July - I thought it was cute - but was soo grossed out by the cooking rats at the end - I wanted to throw up. You know my story of the violin teacher's human rat cages right? Well - those rats were so lifelike I couldn't bear it. But - I love your French history - you are very magical to me with your knowledge of the Eiffel Tower.
Nic
Jo - have you ever made Ratatouille? My kids want to eat it. I clicked on your link to the recipe - is that really all there is to it? It didn't seem so bad - except for the part that said cut eggplant into rondelles - since I don't know what that means and I don't want to be half-asked about it.hehe
Nic
Rondelles is just a fancy way of saying circles. For this recipe I would look for small zuchini shaped eggplant - but they are really hard to find. For some reason all of the eggplant I see in stores are huge and bloated - so I would just cut thick slices and then quarter them. I have made this before - from this recipe - it is very simple. I love that French recipe website - I get ideas from there all of the time. If you make it - you have to tell me how it turns out.
I forgot to tell you to peel the eggplant. Even though it doesn't say that in the recipe - but the skin is very bitter and will change the taste of the whole dish.
"...the drunk boy says that ratatouille sounds like rat patootie- she has said that at least 100 times since hearing it."
I especially had to laugh at the "rat-patootie" sequence, only because the night before we went to see "Ratatouille", my twelve-year-old son had been making endless pun-jokes about "rat-patooties", so when the term popped up in the movie like that, we just cracked up right there. :-)
thogek - I have no idea who you are but I am so excited that you read my blog. I thought I just had my one friend sassy momma reading!! I will say that it has been over a week since we saw the movie and the rat patootie is getting old.
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