And it’s the end of the year again! I don’t know about you, but for me, 2014 just flew by. Maybe because it was one event after the other, maybe because I experienced so many amazing things, worked incredibly hard and enjoyed a ton of unforgettable, happy and funny moments – but 2014 was definitely my year.

For pasta of all shapes and sizes, for vegetables, for pizza, as a dip, as a present…. I am of course talking about pesto. An extremely versatile indulgence, in my humble opinion, you can make it with leftover seeds and herbs (provided they were fresh in the first place) and it’ll improve many different dishes. You can even dress it up nicely and give it away as a gift.

It’s the big question, isn’t it: what do you serve at Christmas? In Austria, sausages and fish dishes are apparently highly popular. In Salzburg it’s the traditional Würstelsuppe, a soup made of Mettwurst or, for the classic version, of Vienna Sausages prepared to be eaten on Christmas Eve. In Carinthia, it’s sausage with cabbage. In Lower and Upper Austria the fried carp is traditionally eaten and in Burgenland it’s either that or goose or even smoked salmon. In the Ländle on Christmas Eve, it’s the traditional veal sausages with sauerkraut and an Italian salad. In the Tyrol, people don’t have a go-to dish and might eat anything from game to fish or other types of meat. In my house, we always eat a meaty fondue. Here are a few of my Granny’s fondue dip recipes – hands down “the best in town”.