Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year to everyone.  I have not been at home for most of November and December.  In November I was on the road for work–worked extra so that I could take time off in December for traveling and fun.  My husband and I started our travels in New Orleans and then took off for Europe.  Our vacations tend to be food centric.  It consisted of great dining, wine tasting and cooking classes.  I took lots of photos and videos to share with you in future blog posts.  I have posted some of my photos on Instagram at cookingwithloveandspices if you would like to see a preview.

Here are a few photos of holiday decorations in Europe.  The feature photo is from a small town in southeastern France called Bormes-les-Mimosas.  We went wine tasting in the area.

We went around the Mediterranean on a medium sized cruise ship.  I like small to medium cruise ships because it is like having a floating hotel.  I don’t have to pack and unpack as I go from place to place.  Here are a few holiday decorations on the ship.

They also had a few ginger bread displays.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of the best food destinations on the trip was in France.  We were supposed to stop in Marseille, but were detoured to Sete because of riots in Marseille.  This was a lucky detour.  Sete is known for its oysters.  They were amazing.  Here is a pastry case in Sete filled with holiday treats.  YUM!!! So much to choose.

Here are a couple of unique Christmas Trees in Spain.  The first one is made of wine bottles.

The second one was in a beautiful Andalusian restaurant where I participated in a Master Chef Class cooking with a variety local sherry wines. 

Will share my Sherry tasting experience and the dishes we cooked in a future post.

Again, Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!!! 🙂