"I know what you ordered last night"

To an unknowing person--
they would NOT assume that my oldest brother and i are indeed siblings.
I don't think we look that much alike
--he is blond and i am brunette.
He's a boy/man
and i am indeed a girl.
{big differences there}
We joke around and give each other a bad time
and when we see the eyebrows rising on an unknowing person
we explain to them that we are indeed siblings--
to which the response is--
"Oh i would have never guessed."
He is six years my elder--
{I like to remind him of that fact often}
We were not close growing up,
in fact
when he left home for college and then a mission
I was only 12.
It wasn't until he came home from his mission
and we moved to AZ that we started to form a bond.
I remember going to singles dances together,
and having girls give me the evil eye
until they found out i was his sister,
and then they wanted to be my best friend--
like that would give them an in
on the fast track to my brother heart.
I knew what they were up to--
the games they wanted to play---
{not my style.}
In fact the girl he did end up marrying was my friend (still is).
Our relationship has grown over the years,
and i really do enjoy the time i can spend with him,
just hanging out or whatever.
Since his wife is at camp along with my hubby and such,
My mom (OUR mom) took pity on us both
and had us over for dinner.
It was a great evening--
hanging out and watching
"The Great Escape"
and on commercials
"The Food Network".
One thing about my siblings,
we do love to
cook, eat and talk about food.
(one night i could not sleep and stayed up late
watching a show on PBS about "hot dog stands"
only to later find out that he also had watched the same show.)
So in the course of the evening
I mentioned that I had gone to "Aloha Kitchen" Friday night
(a local Hawaiian place that has been open as long as we have both been married)
He asked me what i had ordered--to which i responded.
{It was not my normal order}--
I ventured out and got the special--
only i changed it up to fit my exact taste.
{instead of the chicken i went with the beef}
He had gone there Saturday night and
In talking with him---
he had ordered the same exact thing--
right down to the extra side of potato mac and less rice--
just like me.
TOO BIZARRE. What are the odds?
And we both felt the shrimp was a let down--not enough flavor.
i also found out tonight,
that we both also have a general dislike for green peppers.
I guess GOOD TASTE does run in the family.

Food

was always a conduit in our family

for storytelling,

and it was a way for us

to keep in touch and remember things.

We're people that use food

to keep each other together

and to always cheer us up

and make all of our days better.

-----

RACHEL RAY