My Baby Brother has a Masters Degree

Alternate Post Title: When Did We Grow Up?

With 26 years under his belt and now a masters degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, my brother is not exactly a baby anymore. BUT, he will always be younger than me, is forever subject to endearing nicknames that embarrass him to no end, and will never lose his ability to bug me just by breathing. For these reasons, he is and will always be my baby brother, and I one proud big sister. Did I mention that his undergraduate degree is in engineering? The built environment is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

View from our hotel window

The graduate!

Commencement speaker John Legend processing

Necessary afternoon pick-me-up

Grandma and Grandpa came too!

April Showers

Kim is the loving mother to my favorite pooch in the world, Milton, and when I found out that she was going to be a mother to a human baby too I immediately volunteered to (and by "volunteered to" I mean "begged her to let me") throw her a baby shower. Kim is an Australian expat living here in New York City, so with her relatives living on the other side of the world, it wasn't too hard to convince her to let me play hostess.

How cute is this invitation by Red Stamp?!

Thumb print guest book by Say Anything Design

Exploring Andalucía

The purpose of our mother-daughter trip to Spain was official wedding business, but that didn't stop us from taking some leisurely detours of our own. We flew to Seville (as opposed to the usual Jerez), and to be honest, we thought we would regret it upon realizing the intensity of our itinerary. On the contrary, we found ourselves immediately reenergized upon landing and spent a wonderful day exploring the city. We then took the train to Jerez where we went to an amazing flamenco performance before finally "calling it". And that was only day 1.

Gardens at the Alcázar in Seville

Stonework detail (Alcazar of Seville)

Not the worst place to work remotely (from our apartment in Jerez de la Frontera)

Visiting Arcos de la Frontera

View from the top of Arcos de la Frontera 

Zahara de la Sierra

Ronda

The oldest bullfighting ring in the world (in Ronda) 

Important meeting with the florist to discuss centerpieces 

The best part of wedding planning: tastings!

Sedona

Visited Sam at school in Arizona and this time took a little road trip to Sedona. We went hiking, ate great food, took in the spectacular scenery, and even survived mountain biking…which I do not have any pictures of because I was too busy concentrating on not falling off a cliff.

The famous Chapel of the Holy Cross, nestled spectacularly inside of a red rock mountain

For the Soul

It is cold in New York City. Cold and gloomy and just plain miserable. The only thing I can think to do is to make chicken soup from scratch, which is what my father always did when things were really depressing. He has a special family recipe, but I have found that this one from New York's famed 2nd Avenue Deli, courtesy of Epicurious, works just as well. Note that I use a whole chicken because I like to save the unused parts to make chicken salad, burritos, and other things.

Painted Desert

Visiting Sam at school slash Arizona road tripping and taking in some pretty spectacular sights along the way.

Joshua trees are apparently real 

Passing the time in the passenger seat 

There is no iPhone that can capture the true depth and beauty of the Grand Canyon

But at least my iPhone was able to capture the 

Hoover Dam

Photographing the Hoover Dam

The Food of Spain

The title of this post is also the title of my new favorite cookbook by Claudia Roden, which I recently received as an engagement gift (reminder: my wedding will take place in Spain).

Normally, I'm not a baker; I'm a stovetop chef. I like the hustle of the chop and the bustle of the sauté and I spend very little time inside the oven. When I flipped through the pages of The Food of Spain my inspiration was piqued time and time again, but for reasons that I simply cannot explain, the recipe I couldn't resist above all the others was for something baked: lemony almond cupcakes…and thank goodness because these tasty treats were absolutely divine.