Welcome everyone.

[fionda]

Hi everybody,

Welcome to the group!

I am so excited about this group; I'm so looking forward to having fun
sharing our ideas and write about anything and everything about
cooking. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and I hope you all
write about it here. I'm really interested to know that everybody had
a great time getting together with their loved ones and eating a lot
of good food.

Well, I'm very happy because I'm cooking Christmas Eve. I honestly
love to make some of the stuff I grew up with especially because they
became traditions with my children. My boys seem to be looking forward
to it as much as I am.

I already have a menu because I took requests from the most important
people. Alexander requested the fennel platter; he said Christmas Eve
wouldn't be the same without it. Nicholas requested the baked trout;
Alexander agreed wholeheartedly. It's definitely a favorite of ours.

We are all looking forward to the spaghetti with anchovy sauce,
although the boys said that my sauce is *just about* as good as
grandma's. We spent the Holidays in Italy two years ago, that's when
they got to try grandma's sauce.

When my kids were little I always took off the week between Christmas
and New Years. I treasured that time then and I treasure the memories
now because they were some of the best times we had together. This
year I have requested that we spend one afternoon making cookie. As a
result I have a date with my sons the afternoon of the 22nd in my
kitchen.

Again, thank you for joining me.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!