Holidayz.

Greetings from Slovakia where I have spent the last 5 days shopping, drinking and eating.  Above, the latest accomplishment of my mom: caramel wafer torte.  Every bite shortens your life by at least 13 minutes.  Finally, she agreed to start compiling her recipes and photos and I need to teach her how to blog it all.  Until then, I will gladly serve as her proxy.

And This Is Why I Love My Mother.

Or: Why I was an obese child.

And this is just the beginning.  Every year, she makes roughly 30 different varieties of cookies and cakes.  Last year I dodged the Christmas bullet by avoiding dairy and eggs.  This year I am considerably more lax and - more importantly - she has figured out the wonders of vegan baking.  Between that and my dad's wine-tasting plans, the only thing I can do is bring my running shoes and pray that it doesn't snow.