My Dear Friends from around the world,

Another year spent together has gone by. Your presence constantly motivates me to be active and write more texts. I hope that you will be with me in the future, and that ahead of us there are many more articles in the virtual world to come.

I wish for you to keep on dreaming and that your dreams will come true, and when they are reality, you will find new dreams. Thanks to dreams our life is more colourful and the world around us easier to accept.

I wish you a new year that will be better than the passing one, the people good and warm, and the world surrounding us will become more predictable and friendly.

I wish the same for myself...

Happy New Year!

Today I would like to share with you a recipe for a dessert which your children can help with. Even pre-schoolers (with a little support) can make them. From experience I know that it is great for children's parties. Every child likes jelly, and it is a good way to sneak in some fruit for reluctant fruit eaters.

For the light version you should use natural yoghurt. I like this dessert best with vanilla fromage frais. My dessert had only two layers: cheese and jelly, but what it looks like depends on your invention and time, because each layer has to set before you add the next one. You may use your favourite fruits, but you should remember that the jelly won't set if you use kiwi or pineapple.

Ingredients (for 5 people)
300g of vanilla fromage frais
2 jellies
pieces of fruit

New Year's Eve is approaching fast. Today I have a recipe for people who are going to spend this night at crazy parties and balls. Small snacks will appear on the party tables. These should not threaten to spoil our evening dresses and should be easy to grab between dances. We will not have to guard our plate, and during standing parties it is difficult to use knives and forks. The best option will be canapés, rolls and the other bite-sized snacks.

I would like to share with you a recipe for biscuits with two kinds of filling. The first one is a salad with smoked salmon and shrimps with a bit of mayonnaise, and the second is an avocado paste with feta cheese. Put into small biscuits, they look beautiful and taste excellent. You can prepare the biscuits yourself. However, if the preparations for the New Year's Eve party run on longer than planned, you can use ready-made biscuits from the shop.

Ingredients (for 24 mini biscuits)
Filling 1
100g of smoked salmon
100g of shrimps
half a sweet red pepper
8 pickled mushrooms
a fistful of minced chives
half a teaspoon of mustard
1 teaspoon of mayonnaise

A few years ago we discovered salty caramel ice cream. It was excellent, less sweet than traditional caramel ice cream and very tasty indeed. When I came across the recipe in Lidl's online cookery book, prepared and presented by master Paweł Małecki, it took me back to that carefree holiday. Apart from salty caramel, the primary ingredient is puffed rice, which I remember from childhood. Preparing this dessert is so easy that I thought my children would be able to do it.

Apparently, children can eat any possible amount of sweets. Anything which an adult couldn't manage to eat is just an appetizer for kids. This time it so happened that we reached the breaking point of my children. After this dessert my small stuffed creatures slapped their bellies and said "It was tasty, but so ... sweet.

Though the dessert was excellent, it was really very sweet. An obligatory adjunct should be strong, bitter tea or fragrant, black coffee, and...you won't want to try a second helping .

Maybe you have some ideas on how to prepare this excellent dessert so it is a bit less sweet?

Ingredients (for 6 people):
50g of puffed rice
1 tin of dulce de leche
250g of mascarpone cheese
200ml of 30% sweet cream
0.5 teaspoon of sea salt
75 g of peeled almonds

You can argue about the relative importance of Christmas and Easter, and you can discuss which festival carries the most meaning, but nobody can deny that in Christian culture there is no day that is as cheerful and beautiful as Christmas Eve. No other day awakens so many feelings in people; it can open even the hardest of hearts and encourage us to share with others.

On this amazing day I would like to wish you health, love and time with family and friends. After a busy day preparing 12 traditional dishes, find the time for rest, conversation and playing with children. Enjoy a moment of respite by the glittery Christmas tree, candles and home-made gingerbread.

Merry Christmas!