Cranberry Almond Cake

Testing recipes for Christmas is a full time job, but worthwhile when you come into a recipe like this Cranberry Almond Cake, special enough for Christmas morning. This recipe usurps the place of my previous cranberry cake, which is still good, but not THIS good. File away for next month! Cranberry Almond Cake Almond Topping:…

Les Parisiens- Paris

If you can’t have turkey, may as well go for a French feast! After learning about the cocktail bar, James Joyce, then realizing it was attached to a really great looking resto, Les Parisiens, I knew this had to be our Thanksgiving dinner. After a glass of bubbly for me and a smoky cocktail under…

Hotel Spinerola- Moncalvo

My first thought when writing this post is that I don’t want to. This place is so special, I almost hate to let this little secret out of the bag… but I will. Looking for a wine themed long weekend in driving distance of Geneva, we stumbled upon Hotel Spinerola in Moncalvo. This only three…

Figgy Goat Cheese

If your figgy pudding is a labor of love for the holidays, let your figgy appetizer treat you easily! This is really a no-recipe recipe, just perfect in a crunch (and it even has a crunch!) Flag this one for the holidays. Figgy Goat Cheese One log of goat cheese (even better if it’s goat…

Thanksgiving Salad- An Ina Specialty

Recipe from Ina’s “Cooking for Jeffrey,” a favorite cookbook. Ina claims this may be her favorite salad ever. While, I won’t disagree, it’s a bit different than the standard salad and was a nice change, something about it just screamed “Flag this for Thanksgiving!” so let’s go ahead and do just that. Ina’s Maple-Roasted Carrot…

Spinach Ricotta Brunch Bake

Family Christmas typically comes with a plate of infamous egg casserole, some love it, others, not so much. This year, our lean squad was traumatized by an abundance of croutons thanks to some belated Thanksgiving stuffing and decided to forgo the bread laden egg casserole. So, we tried a new, but still not-so-light breakfast bake…

Hotel Montana- Luzern

All this Airbnb bouncing apparently was embedded in me deep as I recently took a few days in Luzern, which conveniently is not part of the lock down. Little did I know I’d be shopping for house stuff most of the holiday, when I’d planned to play tourist in the town where my grandfather visited…

Shallot and Prosciutto Pinwheels

What’s an appetizer you can grocery shop for in advance when you don’t have a car because you’re supposed to be moving to Europe in two weeks- Shallot and Prosciutto Pinwheels! Three of us devoured the entire batch of this easy, make-ahead tread on Easter. They were also enhanced with a mustard-horseradish sauce intended for…

Beso at ME Sitges Terramar

ME Sitges Terramar had a lovely restaurant, Besos, situated with beachfront views. There was also a small oyster bar in the lobby and rooftop bar that was quite the hot spot one evening and then completely closed for the season with no warning the next. As I saved it for my last night I was…