Saturday afternoon on my way to the hairdresser's I passed Stephanie's embroidery shop and decided that Julia needed a present.  Stephanie embroiders all of our aprons, mongrammed bread bags and kitchen towels or torchons. I chose some lovely linen towels, Stephanie and I set about choosing a type face, and within 5 minutes I had several sturdy, natural linen torchons to grace Julia's newly youthful stove.

In Julia's memoir, "My Life in France," she talks about her farewell visit to France and about the last meal she prepared using the stove. This is an excerpt:

"On our last day at La Pitchoune, we invited a group of friends for dinner. I lit a match and turned on the four-burner cuisinière; the stove made a dramatic pouf! noise when the gas lit, which scared everyone but made me smile. Then I cooked a boeuf en daube à la provençale, a splendid braised pot roast with wine, tomatoes, and herbes de Provence. Yum! It was a jolly meal, and a fitting way to close the curtain."

Yesterday, in commemoration, I prepared a fragrant, moist, unforgettably tender beef daube, blending Julia's recipe and my own. Ours was a jolly meal, indeed, and a fitting way to open the curtain.