Nathan's on the Internet!

Oh My Goodness Gracious TOMATO SAUCE!

Some of you may already be privy to the fact that Nathan and I eat a mostly plant based vegan diet. We aren't crazy strict about it, so we don't limit ourselves by saying that "I'll never eat cheese again" or "a burger will never again grace my lips". We just don't take it to extremes. On a day to day basis we only buy and eat vegan, but when we are invited to a friend's for dinner or go out to a restaurant, we allow ourselves to splurge a bit. And once in a while we will make something decadent.

I recently made something very decadent. You may not think of tomato sauce as decadent, but believe me, five tablespoons of butter later - it's way decadent for Nathan and I. I love cooking and trying new recipes. I have several food blogs that I follow regularly and pick out something new to try from them once in a while.

I was reading the Smitten Kitchen blog recently when I came across Deb's recipe for tomato sauce with butter and onions. Her description of this tomato sauce was too enticing, I had to try it. Note the following from her blog:

I could no longer resist this sauce, and frankly, I don’t know why I even tried to: food bloggers obsess over it, and they’re not a bad lot to base a recipe selection upon. Adam of Amateur Gourmet fell for it five years ago. Molly at Orangette raved about it over two years ago, with a bonus approval marking from Luisa at Wednesday Chef. Then Rachel Eats fawned over it too, and Rachel, you see, she lives in Rome right now — I want to be in Rome right now — Rome, where you can get authentic, perfect tomato sauce a zillion places every single day. And yet she stayed in and made this one. That sealed the deal.

The crazy thing about this sauce is the simplicity of the ingredients. Canned tomatoes, one onion, and 70 grams of butter. How simple, right? It's perfection. The flavor was amazing. You don't need cheese on it, or herbs and spices - nada. Nathan and I finished the whole pot. We even used the cool spiraly pasta noodles in her photograph. Get those, they're great.

Read her whole post here to get the recipe. Make this tonight. You will not regret it.

I am going to try this with vegan butter just to see how it is. I'm not sure about how it'll go, but if it's great I will let you know, then I will be eating this a lot more often.

En guete!

Must Read!

Wow, I am on a roll, huh? Posting again, I know, I just can't be stopped.

Well, I just finished reading a FANTASTIC book and I wanted to recommend it. It is the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The story takes place immediately following WWII on the British Island of Guernsey. The book concentrates on events that happened during the German occupation of the Island during the war and after. This book is historical fiction, so you learn a lot about actual events that took place and the characters in the book are funny, witty and the writing is just completely delightful. You will want to curl up next to a warm fire with hot cocoa and not stop reading.

Anyway, so that is my book recommend.

Anyone have one for me?

Just a note - I don't recommend books too lightly. This one is really quality, and there is nothing in here you would uncomfortable reading out loud to your mother. :).

Update on Life, Christmas etc.

Okay, it's been a really long time since I've blogged. It's not that my life isn't totally exciting (haha), I am just lazy...what can I say.

Well. In October I went back to America for a few months. I stayed with my parents in Missouri. Worked a bit there. Then I went to my dear friends wedding in Utah. It was so fun. I got together with my college roommates, Lisse, Becca and Ashley for the event. We spent a couple days together. It was a great reunion. Then went and saw my big sister in Arizona. Then back to Switzerland. Just in time to be with my Nate for the holidays.

I am still here in Zurich with Nate. We had a great holiday, and then he hit the books hard to get ready for his exams. He just passed his first one today. Nathan, if you don't already know, is working on his masters in Architecture at the ETH here in Zurich. He's a smart kid, I'll tell you what.

I am enjoying being back here in Switzerland. The scenery is beautiful, the chocolate is good, and most of all I like being with Nate.

While Nathan studies, I read, write articles, crochet, research good recipes on the internet. I just made some really yummy whole wheat bread. The recipe is HUGE, it made about 5 loaves. We have been enjoying eating that, especially for toast. The Swiss have good bread, especially pastry, but they don't have really good bread for toasting and sandwiches. It's strange, they sell "American Toast" - the only sliced somewhat dense bread. I'll take a picture to show you all sometime.

Here are some photos

Ashley and Spencer (snuck these from her FB page - thanks ash)

The next day the girls and I went to lunch at the Lion House, then saw the Temple Square lights, followed by a viewing of the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theatre. And to top it off, we went to the Pie for the BEST pizza in Utah (our college favorite, always worth the trip to SLC).

Back home for Christmas. My leprechaun/Amish husband and I decorated a tree. A family in the ward was kind enough to lend us this little one.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Ringger family in Basel. They use REAL lights on the tree. It was amazing. Marcus is holding a giant torch thing that lights the candles. Christmas Eve is the big event in Switzerland. It is the night they have their big dinner, singing, and open gifts. We had so much fun at their house. They prepared an exquisite 5 course dinner, we sang traditional Christmas hymns (in German of course) and then we went to a Christmas Mass to hear choir music. Nathan and I headed back to Zurich that night to spend Christmas day at our own home.

Us on Christmas morning. Looking really good.

Nathan in Basel. I love the street decorations here during the holidays. This old street had trees lining both sides of the street. So lovely.

Nathan painting my nails. He got me polish for Christmas. Have I mentioned he is the best husband?

We had a serious Skip-Bo tournament. Lasted days. We still need to finish. Thanks to Nathan's mom and family for sending this card game along with many other gifts in the mail.