Flan

Happy Three Kings Day! If you’re not familiar with Three Kings Day, it’s also called the Epiphany and you can read about it here. To summarize though, Three Kings Day is the 12th day of Christmas and it’s when the three kings (or wise men) found Jesus and brought him the gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It’s a holiday celebrated by lots of different cultures, especially in Latin America.

To celebrate this year, I decided to have a dinner party for 10 people in our tiny apartment. I invited three of my former coworkers, their significant others, my parents, and my brother. It was a tight fit (Charlotte and Craig had to bring chairs and a table), it was a little hot (I had to open the sliding door), and we used every single dish we own – but it was a blast and I’m so glad to have thrown a little party to catch up with friends and family.

Whole Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving is a week away, and I’m sure many of you are planning your menus or debating what to make. Me too. I still don’t know what I want to contribute, although my mom has requested last week’s key lime pie. But, if you’re  looking for something a bit simple that will also be a crowd favorite, might I suggest you consider homemade cranberry sauce?

Now, some of you might be saying, “Mariel are you crazy?! I love canned cranberry sauce and it is a Thanksgiving staple.” And I hear you. Canned cranberry sauces is sweet, predictable, and tastes pretty good. But let me give you four reasons to consider making it yourself.

Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

It’s October! And I know it’s too early to go crazy over Halloween, but I can’t help myself. October means that I can put up my holiday decorations without feeling like it’s too early.

I love holiday decorations. From October to February you can be sure there is some sort of decoration in our apartment.  Holiday decorations make me feel happy and festive. Why treat holidays like any other day when there’s the opportunity to make things look colorful and special?I have things to hang on the door, towels to go in the bathroom, centerpieces for the kitchen table and much much more. And of course, I also have things for baking (Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter cookie cutters). A few weeks ago I added to the collection while I was shopping with two college friends. I found a four-pack container of Halloween sprinkles.