Today would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday.

I felt a stomach-churning mix of excitement, fear and lots of other emotions when I recently cracked the spine of her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" to throw a Julia-themed pot luck in honor of her centennial.

I figured if anyone should be by my side during an experiment in French cuisine, it's Julia. After all, her lasting legacy of joyously teaching even the most neophyte cooks to create fine French cuisine is undeniable. She lives on in our kitchens more than 50 years after her most famous cookbook was published in 1961.

With Julia's lilting voice in my mind, I started scouring recipes, reading books and watching online<B> </B>videos of her TV shows to figure out what to make.

Julia made me feel like I could do anything, even cook things I'd never even dreamed of cooking. It appeared that<B> </B>my pot luck friends felt the same way.