Talida Bakes

We always make such a big deal about Thanksgiving leftovers, but what about Christmas leftovers? Every Christmas dinner I’ve ever been to has ended with plenty of leftovers, but I don’t see nearly as many recipes or posts dedicated to Christmas leftovers like we usually do with Thanksgiving leftovers. Perhaps ham is easier to re-purpose than turkey is?

[continue reading Panettone Bread Pudding]

This past New Year’s Eve was a quiet dinner at home spent with my husband’s family to celebrate the life we shared in 2011. We live many miles apart from both sets of our parents, so it’s always a treat to have them visit. We invited my sister-in-law, her husband and their dog over to join us in this celebratory feast. To thank our family for their love and countless prayers for our lives, we wanted to indulge them with a meal featuring a variety of Champagne and caviar. The stars of the dinner were hackleback caviar, paddlefish caviar, tobiko and homemade mango-passionfruit caviar. These caviars were paired with bottles of Blanquette de Limoux, Cava, Asti, and Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider.

[continue reading Foodbuzz 24x24: Ringing in the New Year with Champagne and Caviar]

I dearly love this time of year. There is always an abundance of food and drink at hand, and it’s a huge blessing to be surrounded by loved ones. This year my side of the family came to the Northern Virginia area to spend time with my brother’s family which now includes my super adorable 3-week-old nephew! It’s wonderful making these memories as our family is growing, though the little guy is probably too small to remember this year.

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For those of you who regularly bake, how much more baking do you around the holidays? Do you use tried and true recipes or do you like to explore new recipes? I usually turn it up a notch or two for Christmas since I tend to give baked goods for hostess gifts. And I’m not shy with experimenting with recipes, even for gifts, simply because I never seem to have time for a trial run.

[continue reading Pear Apple Plum Cake]

Last week I posted about the cashew shortbread cookies that I sent out for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, and now I’d like to share about the lovely batches of cookies I received from my cookie swap partners! All three dozen cookies were some variation of a chocolate chip cookie, and you gals couldn’t have planned it better.

[continue reading The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap]