ok, finally!

hey y'all!

so, my brother fred was here for surprise visit that was the best of all best. he took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to come check on his big sis. after the last month or so i've had (surgery, the aftermath of it, and then my beloved malik) he said that he just had to check on me. look me in the eyes and know how i was. because he knows me. my god am i loved. yes.

he is a masterchef (formally trained) and is currently in management at a large grocery store chain. he LOVES it too! it was to be just a gig to help get him through school (culinary sociology degrees), and, what? 15 years later, he's still there, working like a hebrew slave, and loving it. i think it's a ministry for him really.

when i was pregnant with ladybug he flew out an average of every 2 months or so to help me keep my sanity, and help me be a bad girl, while i was on severe medical restriction. he shuttled me to the hospital everyday (for labs and tests, as i was very sick). actually, it was he who convinced me to deliver. every week my doc would plead with me to deliver. but i was in some major denial (hmmm is that when it started?). well, after the last visit with the doc, fred said in his quiet, gentle way, that it was time. i didn't even have to look at him.

and so his 'apple dumpling' (ladybug) was born. she took one look at fred and he of her. love at first sight. other than her daddy, he is the only man for her. and he is beyond crazy for her. once she came, he was here practically every month for the first 3 years!!

well, i suspect though that a big part of his coming had to do with apple dumpling as well. and that's fine. because is pleases me so very much to see the two of them together.

and have i mentioned how crazy we get about food??! OMG, when he comes out we go straight to whole foods with our menu list and loose our righteous minds after we cook up a storm. and when we're not cooking we're in 'the city' (sf) having dim sum, or berkeley's gourmet ghetto, or having local junk food like the famous 'giant burger' or zachary's pizza, or barney's burgers, or.... i could go on and on!! lol :) then we come back to my 'palace' and retire to my comfy blue sofa. he to his 'thrown away from home' which is the big chair.

most importantly, he lets me be me. and let me cook my ass off! juan has not let me set foot in my kitchen to do any serious damage for fear, his fear mind you, that i may hurt myself as i am still not quite better (that's another post). buy my fred got me proped up and turned me loose as soon as we saw juan turn the corner from the kitchen window!! i found some glorious collards, and some unique cheeses from the market and i went at it!! heaven i tell you! heaven!

i love this man who is my cousin, my brother. we have a connection that has no words to explain it. he is me, and i, he.

be well :)