As a moderator for the meet and greet session at Philadelphia’s Ritz Bourse Theatre for the upcoming movie, “Julie and Julia”, I was able to get a personal glimpse into this light-hearted film scheduled for release in early August. The film shows us that as women, we can do!

The movie is based on the intertwining lives of two women, Julie Powell and chef Julia Child, who never met and are both at loose ends; trying to find meaning in their married lives until they strike upon the indefatigable combination of passion, cooking, fearlessness and huge cubes of butter.

I hosted the question and answer session with Julie Powell, who was a New York City government worker who attempts to revitalize her life, her marriage and restore her soul by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a period of 365 days. Julie is so taken by Julia and her fearlessness and ability to wear pearls in the kitchen. She blogs about her experience; gains a huge following and becomes a published author. It goes bestseller. Then Nora Ephron turns it into a movie. Baaam! How is that for a transformational career changer, ladies? Amazon calls the book a “masterful melody of Bridget Jones’ Diary meets Like Water for Chocolate.”

In the movie, we also follow the education of Julia Child who is so brilliantly played by Madame Meryl Streep, who glows as a wife of an American diplomat who finds her way through cooking. Julia Child grew up during the conventional “marshmallows are a food” era, but her life was strikingly unconventional. She married late in life at 40, lived abroad, reportedly worked as a spy for the Americans, worked on her cookbook for 8 years before she was published, then went on to become a much loved TV star. We’ve got to admire her tenacity and her ability to transform herself, even in later age!