Broccoli Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl

I thought a perfect end to a cool, fall weekend would be to try this recipe for copy-cat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup. I have to say, I was right! Kyle and I picked up some groceries earlier in the day; I had planned to just get some nice bread to go on the side, but Kyle found these perfect little loaves that would (hopefully) make great bread bowls. And, he was right.

They only take ten minutes in the oven and they were very tasty; perfect for holding the soup! I didn't have chicken stock (because I didn't pay attention when looking at the recipe in the first place), so I used chicken broth, and 2% milk, and didn't measure the veggies or spices, and din't put the soup in a blender, and it still turned out really well. Thanks to Kyle for hollowing out the bread! 

- Mrs. M

Week in Photos

 genogram hw, sleepy D, Chili's to Go, dotty

 kiwi and grapes, Huxley, wedding photos, October!

 celebratory dinner, pumpkin cheesecake, I was weirded out by the cats just sitting, head in a mug

 this cider is really good, box kitty, Halloween, Saturday morning outside

pile o' Bones, fall outfit, Saturday pumpkins, free beer! (more on this tomorrow!)

D sleeping, candle lit dinner, pumpkin spice

his and hers tea time, seasonal straws, D waiting for me to cook dinner, broccoli cheese soup bread bowls (yum)

- Mrs. M

On Connection

"In order for connection to happen we have to allow ourselves to be seen. Really seen."

In my field of study and work, we talk about taboos. People don't like to talk about taboos, because they are awkward, hard to admit, and difficult to really think about the implications and what the taboos mean about us and human kind. It is hard because we feel shame. It's hard to look at a child and say, "tell me why you molested your cousin." It's hard to walk into a room full of black women and say, "I don't know what it's like to be you, but why don't you tell me." It's hard to ask someone about when they were raped, their PTSD, their religion, their sexual orientation, the color of their skin. Heck, it's hard to ask someone why they cut their hair that way; why they got that weird tattoo; why they wear their clothes like that. You know what's harder? To be the one answering those questions.  And so instead we don't talk about it. But it's still in our heads; we're still wondering. And so we let our assumptions take over. We dig through our experiences and what society tells us we're supposed to think about it, what we see in TV, what we do or don't hear about in the daily news. Our brains need to compartmentalize, generalize, and categorize, and it's easier and necessary for us to assign someone to a folder in our heads and let it be done. We don't even have to open our mouths.

But what does that do? What does not talking do? Not taking the risk of being wrong. To avoid feeling awkward. To save us the embarrassment of saying the wrong thing. Not taking the opportunity to learn and expand the capacity of your mental file folders. What does it do to say I can't talk about race because I'm white, and stop there. I can't relate to a gay man because I'm straight, and so I'm not going to even try. I have nothing to contribute because I am not like you, so let's just not. People say ignorance is bliss but I think it is just ignorance, avoidance, a defense mechanism. We ascribe ignorance to children, a fantasized quality of our younger years of innocence, but I can tell you that a five year old child who wants to kill themselves is not so simply ignorant.

There's no connection to be had from not talking about taboo topics. Yet what people really are all about is connecting. But unfortunately, we stop ourselves from connecting because we are afraid of the potential for disconnect. We're afraid of something being taken away that we never even had to begin with.

We are all limited by our capabilities and enriched by our unique experiences. We shouldn't be afraid to share the latter to expand the former. It's OK to be vulnerable.

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-Mrs. M

A Wedding in June

Remember when I used to blog about our wedding all the time, and then the wedding happened in June? Well, the photos are all ready, so prepare yourselves for the return of weekly wedding posts! I've got six weeks worth planned for now: this intro, Details, Dance, Surprises, Attire, Ceremony (remember, where we didn't get married). So stay tuned! Here's a look at some of my favorite shots to give you a pretty good idea of how the day (and into the night) looked. :) All photos by the lovely and talented Jana Scott Photography.

What a great day.

- Mrs. M