‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the night…

In keeping with the Portuguese/French tradition, we had our Christmas dinner the night before, on Christmas Eve. Despite recent challenges, we decided to host a dinner party chez nous, for which (as is often the case at our parties) the invitation list kept getting longer and longer. 6, 8, 10…16 at the end of the day! Some of our classic holiday dishes were on the menu, including my spinach & artichoke dip (aka crack!) and macaroni & cheese (this time, I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe) and Luis’s bacalhau com natas (codfish and potato casserole in cream sauce) and Azorean Christmas fruitcake, while friends and family contributed some of their own specialties.

The Top 10 Dishes of 2014

2014. I can say without question that it’s been a pretty awful year. Not that there haven't been several lovely highlights (among them: travel around Thailand and to Cambodia, South Korea, France, Portugal and the U.S., professional accomplishments and of course seeing our little man grow - he turned a year old in October!). But seriously, this last part of the year has been pretty horrible, with family illness and other stress. This coupled with grim news every time we scroll our Facebook and Twitter feeds or turn on the TV (police shootings, beheadings, Ebola, kidnappings, terrorist attacks in schools...I mean what is this world coming to?!?) has me feeling pretty blue all around. However, it definitely HASN’T been an awful year food-wise. Even though you might think otherwise from the lack of activity around here (I’ll blame it on a combination of the circumstances noted above, my busy life as a working mom as well as a lack of organization on my part), trust me I’ve made lots of tasty dishes this year! Here are my top 10 (things I’ve cooked as well as eaten)…in no particular order…