Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheese

Marcella Hazan's 3-ingredient pasta sauce has been blogged about, pinned, and shared on Facebook dozens of times. While it's delicious and incredibly simple, the sauce is a bit to thin for my taste. It does, however, make for the perfect tomato soup.

When the sauce is done, remove the onion and use an immersion blender to smooth it out. Top with a tablespoon of shredded cheese (I used cheddar, but with a bit of basil and a slice of bread, Parmesan would be perfection). Place under the broiler until it's melted and bubbly.

The original recipe calls for salt, but I never add it. I find that the canned tomatoes are salty enough.

Jamestown Revival

A few years ago, my sister and I went to visit my Mom and Dad in Russia. While we were there, some of their friends had kids visiting as well- one of whom is in the band Jamestown Revival. Since then, I've loosely followed their stuff, seeing updates here and there. They were in the same Rolling Stone cover competition that the Sheepdogs eventually went on to win, they released a few songs and toured around the states a bit. Now they've got a full blown North American tour planned and they've recently released their California EP. It's been on heavy rotation around these parts. You can listen to it in it's entirety here and/or download it on iTunes (it's currently #9 on the iTunes charts!). I can't wait to hear the full album that's slated for release early this year.

You can also check them out on Conan Monday night!

Hot Toddy

We, like pretty much everyone we know, got sick over the holidays. It seems the incurable cold is going around. Just when you think you've beat it, it comes back in full force. Good times.

The only good thing about colds- and cold weather- are hot toddies. It doesn't take much for me to find an excuse to put on my slippers, a movie, and make a couple of these.

Hot Toddy
Makes 2
3 oz rum
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
boiling water

Mix the honey, lemon juice and spices in a bowl. Split the honey mixture and the rum between two mugs. Fill each mug with boiling water. Enjoy!

Resolutions

The Christmas break is over so I suppose it's time to get working on those 2014 resolutions. Here are a few of mine:

No cell phone after dinner- I am completely addicted to my phone and the Christmas break has only made it worse. From now on in the evenings, the phone stays upstairs. No social media, no games. Be present. Read more.
Make fewer plans- We had plans every weekend from August-December last year and it was complete mayhem. This year, I'm trying to contain my inner planner and keep some weekends free. The second part of this is to not feel guilty about saying no to events. sometimes, it's ok to stay home and trade socializing for slippers and Homeland. Just be honest and let it go.
Eat more dinners at the table- I'm a bit embarrassed to say that we eat in front of the TV every night. A couple nights a week- dinner off of the table- not our laps.

All of my resolutions are things that result in being more present and spending quality time with the people I love. Each one is simple, but achievable. Happy 2014!

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