A personal note

A little over a year ago, my cousin, James, unexpectedly passed away. It was sudden and very painful for our family. He was a giant bear of a guy, always quick with a joke, a story, and a big huge hug. Before he passed, he was looking forward to turning 30 and getting married to his fiancé. Instead, our family ended up holding a memorial service for him. It was a simply amazing event, to be honest. He was a sales manager at Google and it seemed that everyone knew who he was. His managers at Google were incredibly generous and offered one of their cafés for the remembrance. The place was packed. The impact he made on everyone was evident. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know my cousin very well. Even though we were only a year apart in age, we led very different lives. I learned a lot about him at his memorial, which, had I the choice, I would've not wanted. I would've wanted to opportunity to get to know him from him. One thing that I had only partially known was his love of food and his passion for cooking. Our grandma once said when my cousin and I were both young that we should open our own restaurant: Micky and Jim's. We laughed about it, but obviously nothing happened. We lived our own separate lives and it wasn't until a year before he died that we attempted to get together as friends. Our schedules never meshed, unfortunately. We did end up running into each other at our local Pizza Antica one night, while looking for a place to take some friends of ours who were in the area. I will say that, for how brief that run-in was with him, it has made a lasting impact. Whenever I pass by that Pizza Antica or go there for dinner, I'm half-expecting my cousin to pop up out of nowhere, yell my name, and pick me up into a big hug.

My uncle (his father) and James' mom got together with Sprouts Cooking Club and started the James Cole Sprouts Scholarship Fund. Sprouts is a cooking club whose purpose is to promote cooking and healthy eating to children of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. They host hands-on cooking classes with professional chefs for children in the San Francisco Bay Area in the hopes the next generation knows how to eat and how to cook good ingredients. The scholarship fund started in memory of my cousin helps fund classes and events to foster the passion for cooking my cousin had in all children.

Being my cousin's birthday today, I thought I'd use my cooking blog to plug Sprouts and, in particular, the James Cole Sprouts Scholarship Fund. If you feel like donating, please feel free. Do not feel you are under any obligation whatsoever.

I miss you, James.