I love my brother: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that [adapted from 'A Christmas Carol']. Jeff and his otherwise lovely family had adopted the theme of 'Dinner & a Movie' as gifts for us adults, and as I curiously unwrapped the package presented to me by the self-proclaimed gourmand (that I often have friendly 'competitions' with), can you imagine my surprise at the first thing I saw?!!?

Look closely... YEP – my 'special' gift, at least the first presented, was packet flavored RAMEN NOODLE kits?!?!!?!? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but... The entire family had a good laugh as they saw Jeff's 'burn', and heard 'the voice of Cookingskewl' berating her very tall little brother To be fair, there's a whole bunch of good food stuff below that I will most certainly use, plus a DVD for a movie revolving around football (YAY!), and of course, popcorn.

Jeff tried to smooth things over by explaining that if you make the 'high class' RAMEN as instructed, and then add 'precisely' 10 dashes of your favorite hot sauce, a splash of vinegar (preferably Asian, but not critical), and soy sauce to taste, you can make a super simple and quick hot and sour soup.

I haven't done it yet, and I sincerely doubt that I will anytime soon (SO many leftovers)... but hey, it's worth trying! Jeff's not that bad a cook...

And to my dear Brother - no more truffles for YOU!

ps. I hope that you realize that this is all in fun... I must confess that Jeff is quite accomplished in the kitchen; but as his big Sister, it is my responsibility to at least TRY to keep his ego in check. And trust me, he ALWAYS does his best to return the favor....