First and foremost, a belated merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you had a super day in spite of all the restrictions. Fingers crossed that 2021 will be better for all. For the sweet toothed among you, here’s a recipe that will guarantee you a mouth full of fillings!!!

Eierlikör is German egg liqueur, which is similar to eggnog, but so much better! Thick, creamy, and perfect for Christmas or Easter. Eierlikör, to you probably known as Advocaat, is a rich, creamy liqueur with a custard-like flavor. In Germany, it is mostly consumed during Easter and Christmas, but available year-round. Eierlikör is supposedly derived from “Abacate”, a drink that European explorers discovered from the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest in the 17th century. (https://www.texanerin.com/eierlikoer-german-egg-liqueur/ )

My beloved Mother passed away a year ago this week and I still miss her every single day. This is one of her recipes and I have made it hundreds of times throughout my life and it always tastes great. It’s easy and deeelicious – what more could you want?!

Yup, you read right. A cake with beetroot. And let me tell you, it is awesome! You can’t taste the beetroot at all, but what it does is make the cake so moist, a bit like a brownie cake. Try it – I promise you’ll love it!

We had heard about Nazaré from a friend of ours, Bob, whose son is Tom Butler a professional big wave surfer. In fact, just a few days ago on the 18th of December, he surfed the biggest wave ever at 30.8m (100 ft). I mean like the biggest wave ever surfed in the world!! And we know his Dad! I think this is called glowing in someone else’s shine or something like that!

This is a low-carb banana bread recipe that has no bananas in it. Huh? What are you saying there, crazy woman! It does have banana essence (see it’s all becoming clear now right), but tastes somehow banany even without it…

This is another recipe from our lovely friend Anja ( www.reisenundspeisen.com ) and she made it for her wonderful hubby, Micha, for his 60th birthday. Chila (or Gila) is Portuguese for fig-leaf gourd/pumpkin and gets used a lot in Portuguese desserts and jams.

This deevine cake, recipe and photo are all from my mate Anouschka. She is an awesome baker and I unashamedly am posting her recipe and photo here today.

My mate Anouschka baked this deevine cake for us and was kind enough to give me the recipe. I have taken the liberty of translating it from German into English.

(Recipe for Churros at the end of the post)

Olhão is another beautiful market town on our Portuguese adventure route. It has stunning market buildings and a great market. The inside market is open every day, but the outside market is only there on Saturdays. Both are well worth visiting.