THE EXTENDED run of the movie Julie and Julia was continuing this week in Longview, Kilgore and Marshall. I saw it in Longview soon after it opened on Aug. 7, and was surprised to find the theater nearly full. Saturday matinees are a convenient time for me, and most often there will not be more than two or three others present.

When the lights went up I saw that the audience was made up mostly of not-young women, a few accompanied by husbands (or male escorts, of whatever type). I expect I was not the only one who had a Julia Child cookbook to dig out at home.

Mine is not Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the 1961 cookbook Mrs. Child co-authored with two French women, leading to her early fame as the host of a public television series. Rather, I have The French Chef Cookbook, which reproduces the 119 TV programs that aired in the 1960s and includes many of the recipes from Mastering.

THE MOVIE brought to the attention of new generations how Julia Child, born in 1911, joined the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA) in Asia and met and married Paul Child.

When they were transferred to Paris by the State Dept. after World War II she was looking for a way to fill her days when her husband was at work, so she enrolled in the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school. The rest, as they say, is history.

The funniest scene in the entertaining film shows a party at which the 6-foot, 2-inch Julia had meant to fix up her equally tall, single visiting sister with a tall single man who worked for the State Dept. When Julia and Paul arrived at the party the sister was already there, leaning over in conversation with a much shorter man. They were married three months later.

A SUBSEQUENT scene, not funny but poignant, showed Julia getting word that her sister had given birth to her first child, one accomplishment that evaded the Child couple. Julia was portrayed as happy for her younger sister but sad for herself.

The “Julie” of the other half of the film is Julie Powell, a Texan who grew up in Austin and now lives on Long Island, N.Y. She was in a dead-end secretarial job when she seized on the “Julia project” as a way to energize her life and pep up her marriage. The result was a memoir that documented her daily experiences over one year in which she cooked each of the 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Julia Child, we learned, was neither flattered nor pleased by Mrs. Powell’s project. Mrs. Child’s death on Aug. 13, 2004, two days short of her 92nd birthday, spared her the pain of seeing the movie. (Mrs. Child’s editor has been quoted as saying that Julia later changed her mind when she realized that Julie Powell was serious about the project. The two women never met.)

IF YOU HAVEN’T seen Julie and Julia, be advised that Meryl Streep does a fabulous job of recreating Mrs. Child, getting down her every mannerism and, most of all, her distinctive voice.

I remembered that Julia Child had visited Longview during the years when three Longview women operated The Stockpot, which offered cooking schools conducted by well-known chefs. On her Aug. 30 Best of East Texas program on KLTV-Channel 7, Joan Hallmark answered my question about the date. It was 1982, about a third of the way through the 1980-1986 period when the Stockpot operated.

After seeing the movie, I looked up my copy of The French Chef Cookbook, which looked like it had never been used. But when I turned to the recipe for Escalopes de Veau Sautees a L’Estragon (Sauteed Veal Scallops with Tarragon) i found telltale traces of food on facing pages.

TAKING THIS as a sign, I decided to try a 2009 version. Since real veal is not available in Gilmer, I had to use beef cutlets, which isn’t quite the same. The dish turned out all right, and to accompany it I made Navets a la Champenoise (Turnip and Onion Casserole). In peeling the turnips I managed to cut my left hand in three places.

I am totally impressed with Julie Powell’s project, based on this very limited experience.

Food experts say that France and China have produced the world’s two greatest cuisines. But to one accustomed to Tex-Mex and Cajun cookery, French recipes seem a little bland and overly complicated — except for Julia’s omelette, which is simplicity itself.

BON APPETIT to Julie and all Julia Child’s other followers, but I’m turning elsewhere in my cookbook collection to feed myself with fall coming on. The newest is a leaflet of okra recipes I picked up at the first James Cox Okra Festival held in Pritchett on Aug. 15.

My pickled okra turned out fine, and there are a lot more okra recipes I look forward to trying. I keep plenty of Tabasco sauce and red pepper flakes on hand to banish bland.