I love lists and favorites, so I’m going to share a few which have caught my eye now in January. Are you a subscriber to my newsletter? There will be a few favorites in there which aren’t in this post, along with other content (and giveaways!), so sign up now! I’m also on Twitter @rosso. 

Favorite on-the-go snack: Endurance crackers. I’ve made these a few times – all seeds. Really. No extra binding needed other than water, and spreading them very, very thin gives you a great cracker. via Oh She Glows.

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January is probably my least-favorite month.

For the productivity freak inside me, it’s great because I’m full of ideas, lists, and empty notebooks. But for the animal being inside, I’m longing for sun, and not gray, or rain, or even snow. Since I moved to Milan, I have grown to dread January – all of the cold of December, none of the fun holiday flash! I know that winter in Milan isn’t as bad in comparison with some places (I just read a book about Russia during World War II, so I know when to shut up, believe me) but I also can’t help but be affected by it. I often shut my window shutters and then turn on all the lights in my house, pretending it’s most likely sunny outside. When you work from home, you do things like this, and play with lighting in your house, too (on Instagram? I’m rossosara).

One of the things that keeps me going in January is making a big pot or two of soup every week. I LOVE SOUP. I love it. I love that you can make a big pot of it and eat it for 2-3 days. I “rejuvenate” the soup by adding a new ingredient the next night when I heat it up. And of course, shaving some parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano on top with a little extra virgin olive oil makes everything better.

I celebrate the passing of the days of January by reaching the bottom of a soup bowl. An accomplishment, of sorts.

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I started my Year in Review in Pictures in 2009 (2011‘s review, 2010‘s review, 2009‘s review) as a complement to my stats-heavy Year in Review full of tools, sites, and statistics I started in 2006 (here’s 2011 – 2012′s coming soon). I used to review what happened on this site in the calendar year but I find more and more those posts don’t always line up with where I’m at physically, so let’s delve a little more into my actual 2012 mixed in with posts from my sites.

You can also follow more of my pictures as they happen on Instagram @rossosara or my my mobile photoblog.

A hint: click on any image to get a full-screen look at the photo. These tiled galleries were brought to you by Jetpack, a WordPress plugin my company released which gives you a lot of WordPress.com features for your self-hosted site! Love it.

In January, I spent some time in Puglia, then soldered through one of my un-favorite months (which was surprisingly mild in Milan) and headed to Miami at the end of the month for work. The day I left Milan, a crazy snowstorm arrived and blanketed the city. I can’t say that didn’t make my runs on the beach that much sweeter.

Most popular post published in 2012 on this site: The Expat Life: Those Lucky Bastards….right?

Running on Miami Beach

Milan’s Duomo in January

Artichokes in Puglia

A car full of artichokes in Puglia

After a great run on Miami beach

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I’m back from a trip to Morocco (a few photos from that trip already online on my mobile photo blog, or rossosara on Instagram - add me!) and I’m now in Puglia for New Year’s.

Some of the scenes lighting up my last days of 2012:

Yummy pettole, fried golden dough

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I love lists and favorites, so I’m going to share a few which have caught my eye now in November. Are you a subscriber to my newsletter? There will be a few favorites in there which aren’t in this post, along with other content (and giveaways!), so sign up now! I’m also on Twitter @rosso. See past favorites.

I’m a big fan of Cookie Swaps and a few years ago I published a guide How to Host a Cookie Swap Exchange with some recipes from my site and around the web. First go read that and then come back here. Back? Ok. So now I’m going to add even more recipes to your Cookie Swap recipe arsenal!

Here are some great recipes you should think about making and sharing for your cookie swap. I won’t tell you which ones I’m making so my cookie swap attendees this year will be surprised. ;)

Ina Garten did her first-ever Cookie Swap (welcome to the club, Ina!) with some bloggers. You can see all the cookie recipes they shared here, but here are two of my favorites:

Chocolate Caramel Matzo from Zoe Bakes

Raspberry Crumble Bars from Ina Garten

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