What/Who I Love Most Today is My Best Friend Marie...

Marie has been on my mind because of all the cooking I did yesterday for the food class.  Whenever I teach about food, I think of her because she taught me about food.  Marie is my #1.  She holds a very dear place in my heart, and I suspect she always will.  Let me tell you a little about Marie...

Kirk and I moved into the Cherry Garden Apartments when our first son, Kalen was a baby.  Marie lived in these same apartments with her family.  Her first daughter Emry was about the same age as Kalen.   I can't remember if I saw her at church first or if she made a visit to my apartment first but I remember her coming over.  

It was cloudy and about to rain and there she was with her big "ol" fat baby, Emry, at my door.  I invited her in and the rest is history. 

 The best memories I have of her in the "apartments" are Kirk and I waking up to her knocking early Saturday morning with fresh, out of the oven Cinnamon Buns.  Yep, she's the bomb and so is her food, I'm only getting started.  

For my birthday she showed up with this chocolate, mouse, fudge, ganache (to tell the truth not sure exactly what it was, but I can tell you for sure that it was decadent) cake that was a personal size, like a personal pizza.  Keep in mind that I didn't really know her super well at this point. So I finally turned to my husband and said, "I want to be just like her."  To which his reply was, I want you to be like her too, if it involves chocolate cake and cinnamon buns."  

So as you can guess she's great with food.  She is a good cook, but I will say probably an even better baker.  I always say she has magic hands.  I've watched her make homemade bread, muffins, buns, rolls, many "a time" and it's like watching magic.  She says some of her baking doesn't turn out, I've never seen it but will take her word for it.  

Well, about nine months after we moved into the apartments, we moved out.  And eventually Marie and her family moved to Temcula, California.  It was sad and hard but hasn't stopped us from maintaining our friendship.  In fact, we have only become closer.  

After she moved we devoted ourselves to writing back and forth once a month with a homemade recipe included.  This is obviously before food blogs, or before she discovered them.  :)  Here are my many dozens of letters, cards, which the yummy recipes came in, from Marie.  I cherish them and will always look back on them with fond memories.  

I read some of them today.  Some were about the hot summers in Temcula, others were about her children.  Marie is not just a cook and a baker she's a mom and wonderfully suited at it.  

This is her and Ethan her third child and only boy.  A good friend of ours flew down with me to surprise her for her birthday in 2007.  This was a labor day party we all went to.   Kirk took this picture of Marie and Ethan, she's probably never even seen it until now.

If I were to describe Marie and her motherhood in one word it would be devoted.  She is devoted through and through, always has been and always will be.  I love to watch her with her children.   It's just a healthy, happy dynamic, really refreshing.

Remember I said I want to be just like her, well I'm sure she senses that and takes pitty upon me. :) This is one of her dresses that I told her I loved.  So what did she do, she gave it to me.  To me this is such a sweet sentiment, because whenever I wear it I only think of her.

I am trying to get some detailed pictures so she can revisit her dress to remember what it was like...:)

Here is another dress that I adore.  She knew I loved this one too, so being the best friend that she is, she brought it to me as soon as she was done with it.   Actually, I think of Marie all the time because there are hints of her everywhere in my home.

All of these great kitchen tools were given to me by Marie as gifts.  I love the pepper grinder.  I would have to say out of all shown here the knives are what I love the most.  They are the best!!!  And when you cook a lot, good knives are key.  Thank you Marie, not a day goes by without thoughts of you with all of this stuff around....:)

She knows me very well, pink is my favorite color.  I just love these because they're pink.  I love when she comes to visit because she can see what I am lacking in my kitchen, which means I might end up with something new and useful!

There has been gift giving and receiving which keeps a friendship fun. But what keeps us close is simply our continued effort to be close and connected.  What more can I say we love each other as best friends should.

  We put sweet time and positive energy into our friendship.  What I love about Marie is her honesty, sometimes it can be really honest but I admire it still.  She is real.  She cracks me up.  She doesn't like to wear makeup because she doesn't want to be bothered by having to take it off at night.   I finally told her not to bother to start wearing it at all because she doesn't look any different without it.


We've had so many good times together.  We've been on girls trips together, I have gone to visit her, she has come to visit me.  We've stayed up all night, we've danced all night (remember at Jen's? That was so fun.)  We've cooked together, we've shopped together, we have run together, she's done my hair, the list goes on.

Here we are on one of our girl trips.

Marie and I aren't exactly alike, why would we want to be?  This is what I admire most about her, she is:

 Patient, Honest, Funny, Real, Healthy, Intelligent, Logical, Down to Earth, Fashionable, Reliable and Punctual.

I am always learning something from Marie and because of this What/Who I love the most today is my best friend, Marie Wallwork.