Julie Powell first got her fifteen minutes of fame as the author of the Julie/Julia Project. She decided to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of one year, all 524 of them in 365 days in her little Queens kitchen, and to each day document the progress on a blog. The blog was so successful and received so much attention (even from our Gothamist friends), that she wrote a book about the whole experience, . Far from duplicating the blog, the book provides a different angle on the Project. While the blog was the blow-by-blow, the book is thoughtful, and puts her experience in perspective within the broader picture of her life. The book still delivers the lively, witty and sometimes vivid language of the blog.

We were pleased to meet Julie today for a short talk around her downtown hotel, as she is in town to give two readings of her book (see info at the bottom). She is a cute tall woman, wearing jeans and a wool sweater with a giraffe extending its neck to look inside her decolletage. The sweater receives flirtatious comments at the coffee-shop from another woman in line. Obviously Julie is easy to talk to.

Julie, how would you describe yourself?

I am 32 yo, I was born and raised in Austin, TX, with my husband. I moved to NY in 1995 after graduating from Amherst College, MA. I moved there having the idea of becoming an actor, but I mostly spent 7 years as a temp/secretary. Then I started the Project in August 2002.

Julie & Julia