Happy Sunday. Welcome to The Skinny Mini, which will take you 2 minutes to breeze through (or less). We designed these lighter editions to help enhance your Sunday with ideas and inspiration for activities that make you feel good. As one of our subscribers told us: “You’re like my favorite magazine, just without all the annoying pop-up ads.” 

(And for anyone new here, this is The Skinny, a free newsletter designed to entertain and save you time, which is everyone’s most valuable resource.)

First, four links If you’re looking to help/donate to those affected by the devastating LA fires. 

1. World Central Kitchen has the ability to rally quickly and has activated several food trucks to help first responders and communities affected. Donate here

2. A list of GoFundMe campaigns that you can browse/support, and one for a friend of a friend in Altadena

3. Thanks to our friends at Cool Stuff (a recommended NYC newsletter!), we learned about a Santa Monica restaurant where you can buy a firefighter a meal

4. Jill’s local (Telluride) boutique Two Skirts is having a store-wide 25% sale with proceeds sent with love to help CA and relief efforts

What we’re covering: 

• What do eat and drink for the best night’s sleep ever

• For the sober curious during dry/damp January: expert tips & how to stock your dry bar cart

• Cooking with The Skinny: grilled cheese tips from the pros (aka Nicole’s parents, and Jill) and the best canned tomato soups

• Plus: indie magazines, thermal getaways, two-ingredient playoff nachos & a ‘breakfast salad’ 

💡Did you know: all The Skinny editions are online and searchable—so you can easily find topics/links/recipes/items to shop that we have written about in the past. Bookmark this link for easy reference.

🔗If someone already in the know sent this, you can subscribe here.

Good night

Protein, it’s what’s for bedtime

The Skinny: Instead of three meals a day, make it four: Breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. But what should you consume before going to bed? According to Eat This, Not That! the answer, emphatically, is protein. And yes, that includes a study on cottage cheese. Reason being, according to dieticians quoted in the story, the benefits include the ability to restore muscle mass, a temporary boost in metabolism, and better sleep.

We personally can attest that a glass of milk will put us into the deepest, weirdest dream sleep ever. Have you heard of golden milk, with turmeric? That, and other delicious-sounding bedtime milk recipes, are here. If milk isn’t your thing, check out Outside’s list of night snack ideas for alternatives.

Staying dry

Tips and tricks for the sober curious  

The Skinny: Author Hilary Sheinbaum, the “MVP of Dry January” is here for a three-part series this month. Each week, we’ll see what’s in her bar cart, and she’ll be providing actionable tips for anyone sober curious or who is already aboard the Dry January train. 

So Hilary, what are you drinking this month? Any inspiration for Sunday sips that are a no-brainer as I ease into this? 

Yes! Free Spirits nonalcoholic canned cocktails are easy to pop open and enjoy immediately! I find their convenience and flavor to be unmatched. Some of their tasty offerings include Kentucky Mule, Negroni and Margarita—truly something for everyone, and you can find one to match all types of cuisines.

If I’m thinking of reducing alcohol this month, where do I start? It feels overwhelming. 

Recruit a friend. There's strength, support and success in numbers. You'll have someone who is cheering you on (and you'll be cheering them on too)! This person will not only uplift you and keep you accountable but you can also vent to each other if things get tough, and you can make plans with each other when your friends/family/loved ones are opting for boozy escapades. 

Thanks, Hilary! For more inspiration and a how-to, you can pick up her latest book, Going Dry: A Workbook: A Practical Guide to Drinking Less and Living.

Yes, chef

Sunday cooking with The Skinny: classic grilled cheese

The Skinny: It’s Sunday, the day for comfort food, and one of the absolute finest winter lunches is the classic tomato soup + grilled cheese combo. For some of the best, old-school grilled cheeses around, we hit up Nicole’s parents (who both make equally good grilled cheese).

While this simple sandwich might seem easy, it takes patience and the proper technique for a five-star result that is crispy and buttery on the outside, with melted goodness inside. As for what’s the best cheese overall? Subjective of course, but while chefs weigh in here, most lists are topped with American or cheddar. 

Grill pan version (from Nicole’s mom)

The trick is to use a panini pan, she says, which creates an optimal texture where the dark stripes are crunchy and the white stripes are soft. 

Ingredients: white Italian bread (she uses Publix 5-grain); several slices of your favorite cheese (or, mix two different varieties); room temperature butter

• Preheat grill pan to medium high

• Put cheese in between bread, butter both sides of bread

• Cook on medium, to medium high. Keep a close eye on it for burning—you want the grill lines to be dark brown, but not burnt. Peek under periodically to check 

• Flip and do the other side until the cheese is melted

• Do not use/press with the panini pan top as the cheese will squish out 

• Put on cutting board and wait a minute or two before cutting in half (cheese will squish out if it’s too hot to cut

Regular pan version (from Nicole’s Dad) 

Ingredients: regular sliced white bread; several slices of your favorite cheese; ham or tomato (optional); room temperature butter

• Preheat the pan on medium heat only; not higher, or it will burn

• Place two slices of cheese in between the bread. Optional: add a couple thin tomato slice, or a slice of ham

• Do not, he repeats, do NOT butter the pan directly. Only butter the top and bottom of the bread

• Keep an eye on it, flipped when one side gets a little crispy

• Cut in triangle halves, then enjoy “the best grilled cheese you’ve ever had”

(Jill’s note to Paul: try covering the pan for the last minute of cooking. Oozy goodness!)

Grilled cheese lore, from Jill: The year was 1994, and the setting is my awesome job at Bart & Yetis in Vail. For my shift meal, I always ordered their grilled cheese. But when I tried to make my own, it never came even close, so I asked the cook what I was doing wrong. He simply said “well, you’re probably not using 5 slices of cheese or a big paintbrush to apply the butter.“ Noted, and put into action ever since.  

Also, hallelujah, Jill was looking for an excuse to purchase this Cheesus grilled sandwich maker, since a little help from above can’t hurt if you’re GC challenged.

For the final act, dip your grilled cheese masterpiece in tomato soup. A taste test revealing the tangiest and most flavorful canned varieties, here.

Last licks

Sunday reads

• While we are pledging to read more books this year, for us—as news and newsstand junkies—that also includes indie magazines. Three to check out: The Skirt Chronicles, for the fashion-minded, Cherry Bombe, for “creatives in the world of food & drink,” and either OPEN or Racquet magazine for tennis culture (and there seems to be some backstory here with these two pubs that we need to look into).

• From Oyster Stew to Scotch Broth, a fascinating historical read/ranking of discontinued Campbell’s soups. See if you can guess which one we’d love to stage a comeback…

• Say oui to breakfast salad: we’ve been fans since Nicole’s birthday breakfast in Chamonix, where she was served scrambled eggs with a candle, a side salad, and a celebratory glass of “breakfast wine.” In homage to the a.m. salad, here’s an artfully arranged option—featuring smoked salmon, poached eggs and radicchio—that we’d love to try.

• For your lazy NFL playoff snack, this writer claims to have cracked the code on two-ingredient microwave nachos. 

• Inspired by an article about “Thermatourism” in the Telegraph (which also mentioned “extreme daytrippers” in the UK who fly to Bucharest for the day to enjoy the city’s affordable thermal spas, which we kind of love), we suggest dipping into this: The Best Hot Spings Resorts in the U.S.

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