Happy new year! Like a miracle, the sun came out on January 1 and we welcomed 2023 with sunshine and delicious, homemade pizza made by Patrick. 

By Monday, though, we were back in winter mode, with rain and heavy fog, the kind of weather that makes you want to stay in your sweatpants all day reading books under the covers. 

The office was super quiet (I think some people thought Monday was a holiday, as it was for many), so I came home a bit early to make myself something warm to eat. I was craving potato leek soup, and was too hungry to look up a recipe, so I just made it up as I went.

My goal was to make a hearty soup, with chunks of potato and bits of leeks you could actually see, not like my last attempt when I used the immersion blender before I served it and accidentally ended up with a gooey mess. This time I loved the result. 

This is the simplest potato soup you will ever make. The best part (because our daughter doesn’t eat dairy) is that it’s made without any cream, but if you like cream in your soup, you can simply add a tablespoon of sour cream to your bowl — like I did!

Super Easy Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. butter or good olive oil
1 small onion chopped (about 1 cup)
1-3 leeks, depending on size (3 cups, white and light green parts only, chopped)
6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes ( approx. 2 pounds)
2 quarts of chicken broth 
3 thyme sprigs
Salt and pepper to taste
*Sour cream and arugula leaves for garnish (optional)

Method

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and leeks and cook until soft, but not browned. In the meantime, peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes, about 1⁄2 inch thick. Add them to the pot. Follow by adding most of the broth (6-7 cups) and the thyme sprigs. Let this cook for 20-25 minutes on medium heat, until the potatoes easily break when pierced with a fork. Add more broth if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the potatoes are soft, use a wooden spoon to press some of them against the sides of the pot. This will add some more texture to the soup. Serve right away. 

Optional: Top each bowl with a few arugula leaves and 1 tablespoon of sour cream.

January Plans

It’s supposed to rain even more this week, a good time to sit and reflect on what I would like to do more of in the new year. Last year I felt like I was stuck in quicksand, which was a shame, because I feel like it was a lost year. I spent too much time thinking and worrying about things and not enough making. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. One thing that really helped me other years was keeping a paper journal. I am going to do that again, I just need to decide which of the many notebooks I have I will use.

Here are some of the things I’m planning to do in January:

1. Join and complete the Yoga With Adrienne 30 days of yoga challenge. I completed day 3! Let’s see how long I can keep this up.
2. Continue doing a 30-minute workout video at least three times/week. I discovered Pop-Sugar over the holidays after briefly looking into gym membership options nearby that were way overpriced. I am so glad I didn’t sign up for the gym. This channel has so many 30-minute workout options to choose from — all free! Knowing how unlikely it is I will actually drive somewhere just to exercise, this is probably my best discovery of 2022.
3. Finish the book “Lessons in Chemistry” (This is part of my Goodreads challenge for 2023.) I’m half-way through and enjoying it so far.
4. Continue practicing French on Duolingo daily. I took French in high school and at the university, but I have forgotten most of it. I still dream of speaking French all the time! So, this year I’m going to focus on moving past my very basic skills. I’ve been using Duolingo as a first step to accomplish my goal of being fluent some day. I got placed in the intermediate level after my initial assessment. (I remembered something!) My favorite part is listening to the stories on their podcast during my walks. 
5. Knit another “Droplets” hat by Nora Gaughan with the Donegal yarn I bought and add some additional rows to the first section so that it’s not as short as the first one I made. 
6. If I find the time, finish the Dreng scarf I started last fall.
7. Do something nice to celebrate my birthday.
8. Start planning our summer vacation.
9. Cook dinner once a week. I was thinking of making Wednesdays my day to fix dinner. I’d like to start with some of the recipes from the beautiful book I got for Christmas, Dinner: Changing the Game, by Melissa Clark, one of my favorite NYTimes food writers. 
10. Resume blogging at least once a week.
    

There are many other things I want to do this month — and this year! But one of my goals is to keep my lists short, so I don’t get overwhelmed and actually get something done.  

How about you, do you have some goals/plans for the first month of 2023? 

Let me know in the comments. 

Gabi