This inaugural episode hits on change and the transitions that occur as we move from chapter to chapter in our lives and how we can help support the people we love as they endure change. In this episode, we'll talk about navigating change and gain inspiration from my sister Corinne and Josh, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma two weeks after they moved in together, while we prepare their favorite soup together to ship to them.
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Episode Transcript:
Feed Your Fire, is a podcast from Kim Baker Studios that dives into self-discovery and personal fulfillment through the shared experience of food. It’s a bit of a mashup discussion about life topics and food. Sometimes we cook, other times, we’ll just eat, but in each episode, we share stories and have a conversation that pushes us further in our relationship with ourselves and other people. To us, food is the connective tissue in life, and it’s so much fun.
This is our first FYF podcast. Naturally based on the calendar, January sets us on path of change. It’s a time of recommitment, resolution, its clarifying, and often when work towards a vision. With that in mind, this inaugural episode hits on change and the transitions that occur as we move from chapter to chapter in our lives and how we can help support the people we love as they endure change.
Some changes are mountains and others just a small step. Some changes are proactive and others unforeseen based on a response to our environment. Even positive changes are often catalyzed by something that we had to leave behind because it no longer served us with aspects of hope and loss tied up together. The discomfort of change is real and its pretty universal.
Navigating change is a practice. In popular culture we often hear about gratitude practice and intentionality, but we don’t usually hear about change management and how that too is a practice. I like to think of life as a series of bridges strung together. Some bridges are long and windy, others very scenic and beautiful, but each one is just a passage that ends and a new one begins. When you think of life this way, the transitions don’t surprise you and you can practice being in the now each and every day enjoying the passage that youre on.
As I was thinking about recording this podcast, I was gathering the ingredients to make soup that I shipped to my sister Corinne and her boyfriend Josh and then it hit me - that is what we’re going to do together. That is the very essence of what I hope to share with you all through this podcast – the connective tissue and how it weaves its way through our life and our growth. So today were going to prepare Corinne and Josh their favorite creamy vegan mushroom soup together as we have this discussion.
I can only share their story as a witness to it. I don’t presume to know their feelings or thoughts. But what I have seen in their ability to navigate change and disruption is nothing short of awe inspiring.
This past April, two weeks as they moved in together to begin their life as a couple, Josh was diagnosed with glioblastoma. You can learn more about their story on Instagram if you follow them at modeljoshowns and Corinne.Croce. Needless to say, brain cancer was a radical detour from the story they had in their minds as they started a life together.
What I’ve been particularly struck by is their courage, positivity, and presence throughout this process. Every day is an “in between” of scans and treatments and appointments, that are filled with emotion and physical symptoms, and yet they laugh, they keep with their traditions, and they face each day bravely soaking in all that is good. Being beside them during this time has really demonstrated the power of choice in how we approach each challenge, and how the pain of a struggle can be offset when its diffused by love. Sharing an experience almost creates space for air to get through.
Though this contributions of soup may seem small, it will be a moment that lifts them, and for every moment they spend lifted, the next moment begins on slightly higher ground. I feel very lucky to be able to offer them something that helps lessen the load and creates a moment of brightness. My culinary training feels like it’s put to the best of use. And today we’re doing that together.
Josh is vegan, corinne half vegan and so this “creamy” soup will not actually have any cream. The potato in this soup is what and it will give the soup a creamy texture when its blended and pureed.
Ive made an easy vegetable stock because Im a nerd but you can absolutely use store bought. If youre interested in making a stock, check out what you already have in your fridge – it’s a great way to use what you might have laying around. This one has onion, carrot, celery, radishes, a parsnip, some cabbage, bay leaves, parsley and peppercorns.
We’re going to use a variety of mushrooms in this soup including cremini, shitake, and Lion’s Mane. Lions Mane is particularly good for brain health, which is great way to bolster his recovery but its really good for all of us, too. I bought these mushrooms at the Farmer’s market and have also gotten them at a local independent grocer. If you make this at home you can also use any mushrooms that are convenient for you.
I start by sauteing the mushrooms in batches with olive oil and then I add shallots and thyme and remove them from the pan and set aside. In that same pan, I add a bit more olive oil and then sautee onion, and when that’s translucent, I add garlic really quickly and add them add back about ¾ of the mushrooms – keeping the rest set aside. I pour in the stock, a diced potato, bay leaves, salt and pepper and I just let that cook till the potatoes are fork tender and the mushroom flavor has really been absorbed into the liquid. Let this cook for a while.
I remembered when my dad passed away and my friend Emilie showed up at my doorstep with a big pot of soup – lentils in fact. It’s still a clear memory in my mind and I remember feeling grateful that food was one less thing I needed to work about. She might not have been able to lessen my actual grief, BUT not having something as simple as dinner to worry about gave me a little extra mental bandwidth to process everything else.
My mom used to say you need to preserve your strength and I didn’t really understand that until I reached a point of my life where I felt so depleted, I knew I had to be more thoughtful about building my reserves. This includes eating well, maintaining physical wellbeing, managing the energy I allowed myself to expend each day and how I responded to circumstance and challenges, and thoughtfully nurturing the circle of people I shared life with. These create the scaffolding under the bridges in life as you manage change.
Today we’re helping to buttress the scaffolding for Corinne and Josh and as it happens, being a part of that actually lifts us. Even though Im standing in an adjacent lane, where they’re doing the heavy lifting each day and Im not able to help carry the load directly, I know that simply by rising along beside them makes the road less scary. It’s like we are an adjacent car in a caravan sharing a playlist.
Ok, our soup has been cooking for about 15 minutes and the potatoes are tender. Pick out those bay leaves and then carefully blend it. I blend it in batches putting a towel over top of the blender each time so the hot soup doesn’t blast onto me. Put the blended soup back into a pot. If its thin, you can let it cook longer to reduce down andits its too think, feel free to add a little water. Then sprinkle it with lemon zest and parsley for some brightness.
I like top the soup with crunchy lentils and serve it with crusty bread, but that’s totally optional.
Making this soup is reminder that we’re not intended to stay still. We need to continuously nurture the foundation that we travel on because each road ends and a new one will begin. When you near the ending of a bridge or find yourself on a new one, think of Josh and Corinne, and how they courageously step forward despite the fear of what’s ahead and how they focus the ground and scaffolding of the ground beneath them. Soaking in the goodness like this piece of crunchy bread being dipped into this soup. And with this bite, I’ll say so long until our next episode.
Feed Your Fire, where food nurtures growth.