Julia Child

Julia Child would have been 100 years old today, but there's no doubt that this culinary and cultural legend has achieved immortality by the way the nation is celebrating her centennial birthday. To start with, #JuliaChild is trending on Twitter, and "Julia Child" is the single most searched-for term on Google on Wednesday morning. Then, there's the Google Doodle -- a technological nod to Child's lasting cultural significance. The Google Doodle shows her in her kitchen surrounded by many of the foods she taught Americans to cook without fear: whole chickens, fish, and chocolate layer cake, items that cleverly form the "Google" in the doodle.

Patina's black truffle dinners are back: Downtown L.A.'s Patina will be offering three-, five- and seven-course tasting menus during the restaurant's annual black truffle dinner series today through Friday. This year's menu will feature butternut squash velouté with black truffle brioche, a filet of John Dory with black truffle venoise , salsify and bitter greens; Scottish wood pigeon and black truffle roulé ; veal served with wild mushrooms; and for dessert, vanilla pain perdu with roasted pear and black truffle crème anglaise . The three-, five- and seven-course truffle tasting menus are priced at $85, $125 and $175 per person, respectively.

At a certain point in the wonderful new movie "Julie & Julia," there is a plot twist so shocking the audience gasps. Julia Child does something that seems so totally out of character that even on the way out, people were still shaking their heads. "How could she?" Well, that's one mystery I can solve. I was right there in the middle of it. Before I go any further, I have to warn you that this column is as full of spoilers as an unplugged refrigerator in August. If you haven't already seen the movie, you might want to wait to read this until after you have.

Julia Child, who would have turned 100 this year, found her life's calling only by leaving her hometown of Pasadena for China and France. Had the pioneering celebrity chef stayed in her "parochial" Pasadena, she once confided to a biographer, she might have "become an alcoholic. " Today, she would have been able to graduate from Le Cordon Bleu, the American version, without going all the way to Paris - or even leaving her hometown. In recent years, the famed culinary school has colonized more than 100,000 square feet near downtown Pasadena.

Did you know Julia Child could sing? Well, sort of. Wednesday would have been the beloved TV personality, chef and author's 100th birthday, and to celebrate PBS Digital has made a special Julia Child remix video. The video splices and mixes different Child soundbites with scenes of her cooking for a song that is fun and catchy. The music sounds a little techno and definitely pop. PHOTOS : Julia Child: Her life in pictures Some of the best lyrics from the video include: "You need some fat in your diet, or your body can't process your vitamins," she sings with a chuckle.  "Bring on the roasted potatoes, bring on the rosé, this is what good cooking is all about, this is what good cooking is all about.

It's the 100th anniversary of the birth of Julia Child, the American who learned how to cook like a French chef while living abroad and brought those skills home with "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," published in 1961. Later, Child became a wonderful, batty television host, cooking on the fly for PBS and sipping as much sherry as she liked. Child's cookbook was a success, of course, but it ran counter to midcentury America's enthusiasm for prepared, packaged foods. Boning a duck on your own was about as far as you could get from putting a TV dinner in the oven.

In her four decades as America's cooking teacher, Julia Child had a hard-and-fast rule about commercial endorsements: She didn't do them. It didn't matter whether it was the butter that made her beurre blanc sauce sing, the pot in which she slow-cooked her cassoulet or even the cookbooks penned by chef friends — her praise was not for sale. "It was sort of a life philosophy that she had," said her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, who recalled how she frequently remarked: "Your name is your most valuable asset and you should be very careful how it's used.

Celebrated TV chef Julia Child served retailers a healthy helping of business this weekend as moviegoers rushed to snatch up cookbooks, buy biographies and even sign up for French cooking classes. The surprise surge came as the Meryl Streep film "Julie & Julia," based in part on her life, opened in theaters over the weekend. It ranked No. 2 at the box office in the U.S. and Canada and pulled in $20 million. By Sunday, Pasadena bookstore Vroman's sold out of the first volume of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

Patina's black truffle dinners are back: Downtown L.A.'s Patina will be offering three-, five- and seven-course tasting menus during the restaurant's annual black truffle dinner series today through Friday. This year's menu will feature butternut squash velouté with black truffle brioche, a filet of John Dory with black truffle venoise , salsify and bitter greens; Scottish wood pigeon and black truffle roulé ; veal served with wild mushrooms; and for dessert, vanilla pain perdu with roasted pear and black truffle crème anglaise . The three-, five- and seven-course truffle tasting menus are priced at $85, $125 and $175 per person, respectively.

A legal battle pits Julia Child's heirs against the Irvine-based manufacturer of Thermador ovens over a marketing campaign, launched without the permission of the culinary icon's estate, that touts her use of its appliances. Child was adamant about not endorsing products and brands, ever. Not for butter, appliances or even the cookbooks of friends. “It was sort of a life philosophy that she had,” her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, told The Times, recalling how she frequently remarked, “Your name is your most valuable asset, and you should be very careful how it's used.” PHOTOS: Julia Child: Her life in pictures According to The Times: The campaign rolled out this year by Thermador ... ranged from a Facebook “like” of its products by “Julia Child, chef” to glossy magazine ads that showed photos of Child and two of the brand's ovens with the caption, “An American Icon and Her American Icons.” Both sides agree that there were Thermador appliances on the Boston set where Child filmed “The French Chef” in the 1960s and 1970s and that she had a Thermador oven in the kitchen of her Cambridge , Mass., residence -- a room now displayed as a national treasure at the Smithsonian Institution . But the sides part on whether Thermador required the approval of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, the Santa Barbara charitable foundation to which she left her intellectual property, including...

Poor Porker's beignets: Robyn Wilson and Jarrid Masse of the Poor Porker are hosting a complimentary pop-up at Espionage near The Grove. They'll be serving up beignets and chicory coffee. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. 7456 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. www.thepoorporker.com . Feria de los Moles' preview: At this weekend's Taste , Feria del Mole is hosting a preview of some of the moles that will be presented at La Feria de los Moles, a Mexican food fair Oct. 7 at Olvera Street.

In her four decades as America's cooking teacher, Julia Child had a hard-and-fast rule about commercial endorsements: She didn't do them. It didn't matter whether it was the butter that made her beurre blanc sauce sing, the pot in which she slow-cooked her cassoulet or even the cookbooks penned by chef friends — her praise was not for sale. "It was sort of a life philosophy that she had," said her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, who recalled how she frequently remarked: "Your name is your most valuable asset and you should be very careful how it's used.

A legal battle pits Julia Child's heirs against the Irvine-based manufacturer of Thermador ovens over a marketing campaign, launched without the permission of the culinary icon's estate, that touts her use of its appliances. Child was adamant about not endorsing products and brands, ever. Not for butter, appliances or even the cookbooks of friends. “It was sort of a life philosophy that she had,” her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, told The Times, recalling how she frequently remarked, “Your name is your most valuable asset, and you should be very careful how it's used.” PHOTOS: Julia Child: Her life in pictures According to The Times: The campaign rolled out this year by Thermador ... ranged from a Facebook “like” of its products by “Julia Child, chef” to glossy magazine ads that showed photos of Child and two of the brand's ovens with the caption, “An American Icon and Her American Icons.” Both sides agree that there were Thermador appliances on the Boston set where Child filmed “The French Chef” in the 1960s and 1970s and that she had a Thermador oven in the kitchen of her Cambridge , Mass., residence -- a room now displayed as a national treasure at the Smithsonian Institution . But the sides part on whether Thermador required the approval of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, the Santa Barbara charitable foundation to which she left her intellectual property, including...

I was elbow deep in poultry, sweating, anxious, peering at the dense page of instructions in the book laid out before me. It was the first duck I'd ever tried to bone, and I was stuck. I might have remained there indefinitely, fingers frozen and numb deep in the carcass, were it not for reading what came next: "By the time you have completed half of this, the carcass frame, dangling legs, wings, and skin will appear to be an unrecognizable mass of confusion and you will wonder how in the world any sense can be made of it all. But just continue cutting against the bone, and not slitting any skin, and all will come out as it should.

I am fortunate enough to have known the Great Julia for many years. She was always an inspiration to me. Not so much for her cookbooks - quite honestly, I came of culinary age at the tail end of the era of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and didn't cook from it all that much. What inspired me about Julia was the way she lived. And that's what I reflected on in my appreciation of her written right after she died on Aug. 13, 2004. I've been lucky enough to win more than my share of awards, but few things have meant as much as the fact that her family chose to have this piece read aloud at their private funeral service for her. It's as true now as it was then.

Julia Child would have been 100 years old today, but there's no doubt that this culinary and cultural legend has achieved immortality by the way the nation is celebrating her centennial birthday. To start with, #JuliaChild is trending on Twitter, and "Julia Child" is the single most searched-for term on Google on Wednesday morning. Then, there's the Google Doodle -- a technological nod to Child's lasting cultural significance. The Google Doodle shows her in her kitchen surrounded by many of the foods she taught Americans to cook without fear: whole chickens, fish, and chocolate layer cake, items that cleverly form the "Google" in the doodle.

Poor Porker's beignets: Robyn Wilson and Jarrid Masse of the Poor Porker are hosting a complimentary pop-up at Espionage near The Grove. They'll be serving up beignets and chicory coffee. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. 7456 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. www.thepoorporker.com . Feria de los Moles' preview: At this weekend's Taste , Feria del Mole is hosting a preview of some of the moles that will be presented at La Feria de los Moles, a Mexican food fair Oct. 7 at Olvera Street.

It's the 100th anniversary of the birth of Julia Child, the American who learned how to cook like a French chef while living abroad and brought those skills home with "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," published in 1961. Later, Child became a wonderful, batty television host, cooking on the fly for PBS and sipping as much sherry as she liked. Child's cookbook was a success, of course, but it ran counter to midcentury America's enthusiasm for prepared, packaged foods. Boning a duck on your own was about as far as you could get from putting a TV dinner in the oven.