In loving memory of Julian Michael Cerrato

On January 19, 2011 our baby Julian died in my arms. It was the very last time I ever held him, that I ever kissed his soft face, that I ever saw life in his gorgeous eyes. I held him so close that day and wanted him to live so badly but he couldn’t, his little body couldn’t do it, not even in his most favorite place. There are so many sad memories from that day. I remember holding him for hours, while the doctors and nurses called the funeral home and made their arrangements. I couldn’t let him go. I held him and held him, hoping he would wake up, hoping his heart would start up again, hoping he would look up at me with those gorgeous, special eyes and smile, but he didn’t.

At the end of that terrible day, I had to turn him over to the man from the funeral home. I will NEVER forget that moment, handing my sweet little baby boy, that I had just given birth to a few short weeks before, to a complete stranger! Just a few weeks back, I was at the hospital, filled with excitement, waiting to meet my third beautiful baby and now I was back in a hospital, saying good bye to him. It’s just not right.

The nurse wheeled me outside with Julian in my arms, because I had to meet this man that was taking him from me, I had to see where he was going, and it was so un-bearable to hand him over and watch him leave me, forever, in the back of some strange sedan. I can’t even express my heartfelt pain and sorrow that day. It is something, among many things, that will live with me forever, all those times at home and all those times at the hospital, the good days and the bad days and the very, very bad days. It all changed my life, forever. It changed all of our lives, forever.

There are still days when I wake up and hope this was all a terrible nightmare but it’s not, it’s my life, this is all real and it all just really sucks! There is no better way to put it. Losing a child is by far the worst pain that I have ever, ever felt. It is life-changing… I am living in this nightmare and I can’t get out, my days haven’t been the same ever since he left us and they never will be the same.

Sure, I can “cope” as best as I can, I still play and love my children, I go on dates with my husband, I created Food Jules. I’ve done all that I can to be “strong” but through all of this exterior, inside, I am weak, I am sad, I am angry, I am lost, for this is truly the worst pain that anyone can ever live. This hole in my heart will never be healed, I will never stop missing him and hoping that I can one day see him again. We all need something to look forward to and that is mine… to one day, be together with him again, to one day be happy that we are together again! We miss you, Julian.

“Each life is a miracle that changes the world and leaves it a better place than it was before.” Today and every day, we are honoring the life of someone very special who will always be remembered with love. Julian has truly changed our lives and the lives of many, those that were blessed to meet him in person and those who he has touched through our stories and pictures of him.

We will always talk about him and we will always remember his beautiful, sweet, loving, special person that he was. He was amazing, he was special, he was a gift to us and he will be always be in our hearts, in my minds and in our souls. Until one day…. we will be together again and I will say once again, “hello, my handsome man”.

My New Best Friends!

It was love at first sight. Yeah, I know, I’m a little dramatic sometimes, but when I set my sights on these beautiful looking pans, I just had to have one (or two) for myself! They are so versatile, easy to clean and they cook food evenly, besides they are so darn pretty. I just love my new Le Creuset pans! (Hey, retail therapy never hurt anyone…. well, except my pocket)

Le Creuset Oval French Oven

I started my Le Creuset collection with two pans; one large frying pan and one large oval french oven pan, both red. I have been using them almost every day since I got them the week after Christmas. They were my gift to me and I am getting my money’s worth! I got them at the Le Creuset Outlet in Clinton. They had some great sales for the holidays and the prices were un-beatable, better then amazon and same as the prices you find at Marshalls and Home Goods. Trust me, I looked everywhere for months, in search of the best deal. Since the prices were on par to my local Home Goods, I thought the outlet would give me the variety that I wanted since I was looking for some specific sizes/color. (oh yeah, I also own a few Le Creuset casserole dishes that I picked up over the years at TJMaxx and Home Goods. They are so easy to clean and they were dirt cheap!)

Beef and Vegetable Stew in the Le Creuset

So far, I’ve cooked Vegetarian Chili, Risotto and Beef Stew in my risotto pan and the pan has so much space, it’s great for making these hearty meals. I highly recommend that you add one of these beauties to your kitchen!

 

Back to Business

Well, the holidays are over (phew) but the emotional trials continue as our family has suffered another major loss with the death of my sweet, Godfather To-Manuel, who joined Julian on Monday morning after a short battle against cancer. It is truly a tragedy for this world to lose such a loving, caring soul. He was a great man and an important part of my childhood and of my parent’s life so we all are going to miss him, greatly!

Manuel Pedreira

It is heartbreaking to see others suffering such a loss. Seeing him in the hospital bed all hooked up to IVs and a respirator brought back so many memories of this same time last year at Yale with our baby Julian. I can’t believe that one year ago, I was in the hospital room with him, taking care of him, holding him, comforting him. I was with him and now I am not. It really is so strange how things change so quickly in life. One minute, everything is good, life is good, everyone is happy and then the next, your entire world is overturned. That’s what happened to us and now that’s what has happened to my cousins, my Godmother, my aunt, my family.

All we can do is move forward and remember all of our loved ones, remember all of our memories with them, trying to stay connected to them, somehow. That’s all we can do. The journey isn’t easy, there will be very sad and difficult days but hopefully, as time passes, those days will be fewer. Hopefully.

As life continues to happen all around us, Food Jules has been in a hiatus over the last couple weeks, taking a step back to get through the emotional and physical battles of the holidays. However, now that the holiday season has ended, our classes will start up again soon. Here is a quick sneak peak at our upcoming classes.

  • Fri, January 13th – Teen cooking class, Monroe Library
  • Sat, January 14th – Kids cooking class, Monroe Library
  • w/o January 28th – Arts & Imagination cooking classes, Fawn Hollow Elementary and Stepney Elementary Schools

Food Jules continues to provide fresh baked goodies to Food Works every Friday morning. Tomorrow, we’ll have Organic Blueberry Crumb and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins as well as Cranberry Orange Scones. So stop over at Food Works for your healthy, sweet treat!

Cranberry Orange Scones

 

Our Memory

Ah, the sweet smell of Tide and Julian…

The other day, I bought the original powder laundry detergent by Tide. While I was at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital with Julian, the nurses gave me this soap to do laundry. The smell of it brings me back to those last days of being with him and I want so much to be with him, especially right now. He was here with us at this time last year. He was here in this house and I was holding him, the kids were holding him… we were enjoying him being with us and not knowing that he would be leaving us in such a short time.

I think back to opening gifts on Christmas morning with all my three children. In our pajamas, while I held Julian in my arms, Lilliana and Lucas opened their gifts. It was such a special moment and is such a beautiful memory. It makes me so very sad to think that he isn’t here with us this year, that I can’t hold him on Christmas morning, that we’ll be less one. I am trying to make sure he is involved in Christmas this year… buying angel ornaments for all the cousins, getting special mugs with his photo for the grandparents, getting gifts for him from Santa and from us. I know that many of you would like to see some snow on Christmas but I would rather have his place without snow, so we could bring him his gifts.

My handsome little man

I don’t know if these little things will help me feel closer to him at this time, but I am trying, I am trying so hard! But you know, this is not easy. It is so difficult watching people smiling during this time, listening to holiday music on the radio, watching all the kids full of excitement. I know, I should feel happy that everyone is happy, it’s good to be happy, you should be happy… but on some days, it is really sad to see people so damn happy and unfortunately, that is just the plain truth.

Christmas is still a few days away, but I am already looking forward until this is all over… I want to bring in 2012 and hope that it brings better days.

I apologize for being such a Grinch. What I want all of you to learn from this is that we need to appreciate all that we have. We were lucky to have Julian, he taught us so much but most of all, he taught us to really be appreciative of each other. Yes, there will be many times of sadness and tears, but there are also days when I give extra hugs and kisses to my kids and appreciate that they are here with us, there are days when instead of continuing a disagreement with loved ones, I just hug them instead, because it’s really not worth it. We are more important then anything else. So what Julian and I want you to do this holiday season, is to show everyone you love just how much you love them… with kind words and small gestures. There are no need for expensive gifts, haven’t you ever heard of “it’s the little things that matter the most” and just a hug and kiss (or a “thinking of you” text as we are in the new age) is what really does matter the most!

Sending you all a virtual HUG and KISS from Julian, Lucas, Lilliana, Michael and me!

This Week’s Specials

Today, at Food Works in Monroe you’ll find lots of freshly baked, delicious Food Jules goodies.

We have Banana Blueberry Bread, Cranberry Orange Scones, Morning Glory Muffins and Pumpkin Muffins… as well as some Chocolate Rugelach and Holiday Biscotti, dipped in Food Jules Hot Fudge Sauce… all organic and made with natural, whole grain ingredients!

Cranberry Orange Scones

Go there to pick up your yummy sweet treats!

Chocolate Rugelach

Busy Bee

Oh yes, I know and I apologize… it’s been pretty quiet here on the blog but I’ve been a very, very busy bee and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas, as I am trying to avoid thinking too much about it!

Instead, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking! This past weekend’s classes were great, the kids on Saturday at Minds in Motion were wonderful and it was another successful class. On Sunday, I taught my first adult class and the ladies were amazing and so much fun! We made a lot of yummy food and some Apple Cider Sangria (without the wine, unfortunately). In any case, you should know that Food Jules was in the news again…. there is a short clip on the Monroe Patch about the Minds in Motion workshops where you’ll see me working with the kids in the cooking workshop and you’ll see Lilliana enjoying her Wild Weather workshop. We were also featured in today’s Monroe Courier, you’ll find a large unpleasant photo of me on page 8 and you’ll see Lilliana digging for archeological artifacts on the front page! The only one that wasn’t in the news was Lucas 😦 but maybe next time.

Well, I should tell you that there will be some delicious treats at Food Works tomorrow (Fri, Dec 9th), starting with these melt in your mouth, Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Pie Crumb Muffins, Pumpkin Pie Muffins and Cranberry Orange Scones, all organic and made with whole grain ingredients! So, stop in tomorrow to pick up all your yummy goodies for the weekend.