a mixed bag of emotions

saturday was my aunt's memorial service.  saturday also happened to be the day of the all star chef classic little masters cooking class that i had signed the bean up for, along with mini cee and mini DG.  i was a little torn between the two for her, knowing that the class would be awesome and a lot of fun...but that she would also want to be at the service for her cousins and the lola she never really got to know.  in the end, the hub helped me make the decision and with lilcee and dailygluttony's help, we sent her to the class to spend some quality time with her friends.

the service was heartbreaking and beautiful and sad, as one would expect.  there were a lot of tears, but smiles and laughter too.  and it was a gorgeous southern california day, sunny and bright and warm.  we sat in the chapel and listened to stories i'd not heard before, tales of her generosity and kindness and patience.  we saw a slideshow of photos that spanned her 65 years of life, from baby photos to school pictures, weddings and the births of her two beloved sons plus both of her granddaughters.  and afterwards we gathered at the gravesite, atop a hill where there was a slight breeze that gave us a bit of a break from the unrelentingly warm sun.  we placed flowers on top of the casket, some chose to drop a handful of dirt onto it once it was lowered, and then we watched as a tractor drove up and dragged the dirt over to cover it completely.  it was a sight i'd never personally witnessed before, and watching it gave me a sense of closure that i hadn't realized i needed.  

as for the bean, she was about 25 miles away having a very different experience that i was happy she didn't end up missing out on.  my friends took care of everything and sent me a bunch of pictures of the day.

the cooking part looked super fun:

chef sherry yard, who was leading the class, came over at one point during the demonstration.

and i'm not sure if this was a break, or maybe after they'd completed the task at hand.  either way, they looked pretty excited to see themselves up on the big screen.

the fruits of their labor - a raspberry crumble made entirely from scratch.

and a photo with the chef!

they got to take home a bunch of swag - a sturdy metal bowl, a professional-level whisk, the le creuset bowl the crumble was assembled in, plus a recipe card so they can recreate the crumble at home.  the old lady scooped up a serving of the crumble for herself and gave it her stamp of approval, even going back for seconds.

my little chef.  she's now inspired to take more cooking classes and learn even more skills.  maybe we'll find a spot in the schedule over the summer...it'd be kinda cool to have her make dinner for us one day.  we'll see.