Nothing quite like a raclette dinner—all the melted cheese and potatoes and cornichons and other grilled goodies. It’s convivial and delicious and over the years has become one of my favourite holiday traditions.

We had planned to do a raclette dinner with Amy and Carol for Christmas but got derailed when Carol received inconclusive results from a covid test and had to quarantine. We tried again for New Year’s but Carol’s retest came back squarely positive. So we gave up on holidays and just waited out the quarantine.

Finally this week we were past the quarantine and ready to go. It was as delicious as ever and all the more fun for being Amy’s and Carol’s first time. We are until late and covered everything from roses to grandkids to politics to Bundt cakes—ending with a toast to 2021 and friendship, and to many more dinners like this to come.