Curried Lentil and Brown Rice Soup

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Snow Day

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i have kind of a backlog of posts to write up, thoughts i've wanted to write out but havn't felt like i've had the chance. things seem so busy because work is so draining, so when it's over i just feel the need to relax with alissa. and although absolutely no one reads this, i think it would still be good for me to write them out to help in processing. perhaps i can encourage myself to do that soon. also, cooking has continued to become a larger and larger part of who i am. it's replaced art and music in a way since it's necessary, i can use my creativity, and i get to share what i have done with the people i love. so, i've been thinking about posting recipes as a way to express myself and also not forget what i did, because it's usually on the fly. i suppose all i'm saying is there might be a lot of posts in rapid succession, but they didn't all happen at the same time. i don't know why i that's important to have made known. i guess i'm just a fan of full disclosure?

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i've been at the orange grove center for a while, and i know it's not the place for me. i've decided it's time to do something about that. i've needed to look hard at what it is i want to do for a while but it's really hard to pin something down, and after sending out all those resumes last winter with no response, it's pretty daunting to prepare myself to do it again. for now, i think i've decided to look for a way to mentor as a profession.  i love students and it would be awesome to get paid to care for them. there are many ways to do this i'm sure, but i've been especially interested in the opportunities teaching would afford me lately. so, i filled out an application with an organization called teach/here. through them, i would be able to get a master's in education from the university of tennessee, knoxville while staying in chattanooga and after teaching for four years, the tuition would be completely forgiven. in addition, i would be an apprentice teacher, so to speak, and would have access to lots of help as i started my teaching career. it's a wonderful opportunity, but only 18 will get in between both knoxville and chattanooga, so we'll see what happens.

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Creamy Potato Soup

i love soup. it's by far my favorite non-bread type of food to cook, because it is so improvisational. you can make soup from just about anything, and it's a great way to use random things that are just lying around your kitchen. this soup of course, is not full of random things, but rather pretty ordinary ingredients. in fact, you could probably make this soup right now if you substituted regular milk (or almond milk, or rice milk, or goat milk, you could even use cream or half & half... you get the idea, just keep it unflavored!) for soymilk. that just happens to be what we had on hand.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

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Into the Chasm

a couple of weeks ago at our neighborhood small group we spent some time in guided prayer. as i sat there with my eyes closed the flat pixelated plane of my eyelids gave way to an endless black void. the darkness instantaneously went from two dimensions to three. a deep, ebony chasm unknowable for it's value and it's depth. as i witnessed this change, i knew the emptiness was God. the curtain of my eyelids was torn in two and i was confronted with the knowledge that i was staring directly into the Unknowable Core of the Creator. the same Dark Nothingness that was over the face of the deep and filled everything before the creation of the universe. the eternally-mysterious, unknowable God who pieced me together and chooses to make His home inside me. for a short while there was no distance between us - no facade, no make-up, no elderly white-haired man with a beard. just the intimacy of me and the truest analog of God i can imagine.

so i sat there - staring into the chasm, comforted by the mystery.

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