Happy New Year, invisible friends! I hope you all had a sloppy evening full of delicious appetizers and cheap champagne. I know I did.

What does the new year mean? Well, for starters, I’ll still be dating everything 2012 until at least February which is super annoying. 2013 will be the year that the classiest and trashiest babies are born (to Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian, respectively). It will be the year that Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler host the Golden Globes. 2013 means all those people who thought the world was ending 2 weeks ago have to go around and apologize for their actions. It’s shaping up to be a damn good 365 days.

One of the great things about January 1st is that everyone announces their New Year’s resolutions. I personally don’t have any, because I’m perfect.

Just kidding.

Most people have some variation about working out more and eating better. I can’t really sign on for one of these because I have a semi-crippling addiction to exercise and I compulsively eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. I do, however, hope to mix things up a little bit more for dinner for my benefit and for yours. Resolution #1.

I would also like to re-organize my life, starting with re-decorating my bedroom because the lavender paint and Kelly’s comforter from 8th grade are no longer working for me. I need a serious trip to HomeGoods and a binder/folder shopping spree at Target. Resolution #2.

The main one I would like to work on is patience. I don’t usually like obscure goals because I can’t measure whether or not I’ve succeeded which means no winning or losing. However, I realize that I need to settle down sometimes. Getting exceedingly annoyed with (admittedly annoying) people. Speeding by slow walkers and making it obvious that they were being slow. Eating cookies half raw because I can’t wait for them to cool down and/or bake completely. I will make an effort to go with the flow. Resolution #3.

This one applies to this soup, which I technically made in 2012. It takes probably an hour and it’s a lot of waiting around. Caramelizing onions is rough- I just wanted to turn the stove off and go at them with a fork. But I’m glad I held out because the soup was amazing, much better than the Panera variety I had had a few days before. Spring for the Gruyere, too. It really makes a difference.

I used Tyler Florence’s recipe which I don’t need to repeat.

Start a brand of cooking liquid with my and Sheila’s faces on the box. Resolution #4.