Dear Baby Brother

I miss you so so much.

Please come live here.

I'll let you paint our living room black and build yourself a fort on the roof.

I'll even share my Marshmallow Fluff with you.

Deal ?

Three Letters & One Recipe.

Dear Baby Brother,

I'm so happy that you came to spend the week end with us.
I miss you tons and I'm always sooo ecstatic when we get to spend time together.
I loved every second of our time together and it was really cool to work on our secret project and to cook with you.

Seeing how great our project / recipe turned out, I'd say that we really are an awesome team.

I love you so, so much.

Big Sister

Dear Cilantro,

You are so glorious.
Thank you so much for making every one of my recipes better.
Scratch that, thank you for making EVERYHTING better.

You ROCK.

K.

Dear Bourek,

You're the food version of my ideal man : you're juicy, meaty, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

And you're stuffed up to your eyeballs with cilantro.

So hot.

We shall meet again very soon.

x, K.

How to make Bourek

* Take a phyllo sheet and put some olive oil on it so that your creation gets out of the oven with a nice golden tan.

* Mix together ground turkey, red onions, cilantro and tiny tomato pieces and cook until the turkey is nice and brown

* Stuff that phyllo sheet like your life depends on it and fold it however your little heart desires.

* Put the final product in the oven and cook until the outside is golden and crispy

* DEVOUR !

19 going on 10.

Yesterday was my little brother's birthday.
There were presents, key lime pie, hugs and (a lot of) sushis.

It seems like just yesterday that he was that nerdy kid, taking his gameboy everywhere but somehow, he turned into that giant doing backflips in the pool.
Unbelievable.
We got to spend his birthday together which meant the world to me, especially since we now live in different cities and are both very busy with school.

As he blew his candles, I realized that he might be one year short of being in his twenties, but to me, he'll always be my 10 year old P.I.C.

I don't know how he liked his presents and I don't know if key lime pie is supposed to look like the one we made him, but I do know thatI personally consider him my best present ever and couldn't dream of having a cooler, wittier, smarter baby brother.

Joyeux anniversaire Nounou !
Moi plus INFINI !

x, K.

It's hard to tell at first glance, but we really are siamese twins.

NICO & NOË

There was a time when I could legitimately call N. my baby brother.

Not that I don't do it anymore (ah!) but it sounded more accurate when he was actually smaller than me and wasn't drinking his weight in coffee every day.

Back then, he would mostly give me a hug or a drawing for my birthday.

I cherish those.

Now that he towers above me and that his knack for amassing money makes me look like a hobo, he has upped his game though.

Not a day goes by that I don't go out with some lovely bauble that he's gifted me, but this year, he wanted to go another road.

I will admit it, I was a bit surprised when he said that he had picked a pair of shoes for my birthday.

I'm not gonna lie, a bit scared too.

Did he know that I didn't really have a need for pink fluffy slippers ? Was he aware that while I love Dr. Martens on skinny girls in frilly dresses, they were likely to make my legs look like tree trunks ?

Nothing could have prepared me for the stunt he pulled.

Turns out, my brother might not talk much, but he listens.

A lot.

And so, for my birthday, he gave me the most beautiful pumps ever, a pair of natural leather Noë pumps.

See Noë shoes are my dream come true.

Their heel is high enough that you look like a vixen when you wear them, but not so high that you can't wear them when you have to walk more than around your apartment.

Their tip is pointy enough that you look like a rock chick, but not so pointy that you look like Paris Hilton.

The best thing about them though, is that they come in 50 colors, all of them prettier than the other.

A great shoe that comes in virtually every color ? HELL YEAH !

Sunday, there was a family event for Mr K.'s grandma.

I couldn't resist wearing my new Noë pumps there for the first time, excited to show them off to everyone, but also ready for the excruciating pain that would come with wearing new shoes for a long period of time.

That pain never came and I spent the day feeling like a million bucks.

Merci bébé frère !

x, K.

If you want your own pair, here's where N. found them : Vitrines Parisiennes

With Sprinkles On Top.

Next to my parent's place, there is an ice cream parlor.
It is close enough that you can walk there, but far enough that you feel like you deserved your ice cream cone once you get there.

For years, me and my brother have had a tradition.
As soon as it's warm enough to ditch our coats, we walk to Vittorio's and savour the first ice cream of the year on our way back.

Over the years, many things have changed.
I went from being a chocolate kinda girl to enjoying weirder flavors like violet.
My brother grew (way) taller than me and we're now accompanied by his dog, my Mister K. and our dog.

Thankfully, some things never change.
Me and my brother are still like two peas in a pod.
That first ice cream of the year is still the one that tastes the best.

And more importantly, we still order our cones with rainbow sprinkles on top.

x, K.

My darling brother in full ice cream season.