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Food for the Soul: Compassion Bloggers

06.19.13

Last week I told you I would be traveling to Nicaragua. This week, I am here.

Actually, yesterday was my first day. And I’m positive I walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Trash dump in Nicaragua

And I found treasure.

treasue in a Nicaragua dump

I wrote about it over here. It’s food for your soul. The best kind of food.

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Chris GiovagnoniJune 24, 2013 - 5:47 pm
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Welcome! I'm Bri! Accidental home cook. Lover of gathering people around a table over a meal. Author of Come & Eat (September 2017). What I really want is to pull out a chair for you at my table. But until then, I hope you stay awhile and enjoy my stories + recipes!

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Forever putting leftover veggies and meat (turkey

Forever putting leftover veggies and meat (turkey this time!) into my soup. No apologies, only vibes✌️

I hope you were fed in more ways than one this Thanksgiving. And if you are still hungry, eat. If you are happy, hold it. If you are sad, name it. If you are overworked, sleep. If you’re wondering if you are loved, you are. More than you could know. Tomorrow is a new day. You’ll wake up known. No one can take that from you💛

Thanksgiving leftovers but on a charcuterie board

Thanksgiving leftovers but on a charcuterie board 🤩😋 Complete with leftover turkey, crescent rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce on top of baked Brie - what have you!! Load it up, carry it around with you 😂

This is our guest room💛 It’s the room where m

This is our guest room💛 It’s the room where my people come to stay and they are seen. This guest room is in my home my friend lovingly dubbed the B&B(ri).

This is what I always want when people come to our home, to be seen✨To be fed. And for time to become the assistant not the boss.

This week as people come into your home, or as you enter the homes of others, I hope you are seen✨ I hope you are the kind of person who makes people feel seen wherever you go. This is an actual art. To take up space in a way that makes room for your light and the light of others. That your light actually calls out the light of others✨✨

As we enter this week we might be tender : we have felt what it is like to not be seen, how it can almost feel like a betrayal. How you will later wonder if you weren’t seen or accepted because you have no sparkle or the wrong kind of sparkle. But that is not true. Who you are is not wrong. What you bring, your slightly burnt rolls, the sparkle that makes up your DNA, can be a bounty.

I want for you to been seen around the table this week, and if you aren’t, I hope your sparkle so powerfully calls out the light of those around you that they will be drawn to you and wonder how it is they burn brighter when they are next to you✨ That the things they think are wrong about you will make them pause and say, “Wait, is that the thing that makes her sparkle?!”

Normalize eating your favorite, very extra meal wh

Normalize eating your favorite, very extra meal whenever you want. It doesn’t have to be a holiday or a celebration or a gathering. It can just be a Tuesday. It can be just for you. You are worth it. You are worth a ribeye basted in butter and garlic. Throw your own party. On a Tuesday. What is your favorite, very extra meal?!

Not all heroes wear capes 🥲 Petition to make a

Not all heroes wear capes 🥲 Petition to make a cape for soup?! I mean soup will always be there when someone has a cold🤒Or on a cold day🥶 Or when someone is just draaaaaaging (it me 🙃). I took two bites of this white chicken chili and I literally felt brightness re-enter my being. Here’s to you, soup! The unsung hero of the times. We see you 😉 (What soup restores your soul?!)

The first photo is a picture of Jeremy and me shor

The first photo is a picture of Jeremy and me shortly after he returned from his most recent deployment (2019). The second photo is baby Bri and baby Jeremy SKYPING (circa 2010) during his very first deployment and we had just started dating. Look how bright and unknowing we look🥲I don’t even have bangs. You all, do I have bangs because of trauma? We don’t know.

The first photo was taken after 9 years of marriage, 5 deployments and three re-locations. Listen, we’ve seen some things. We’ve walked through some things.

🤩We’v done some things really well (like keep our marriage engaging and uplifting over long-distance for months on end when loneliness and the fear of serious injury is always looming).

😵‍💫We’ve done some things really poorly (we are the worst at handling re-entry. We are. And we discovered that very quickly).

🤩We are really good at moving and planting roots immediately and saying hello.

😵We are really bad at saying goodbye (ask all my friends in different states who had to throw together emergency goodbye parties because they realized we were about to just slip out into the night without saying anything).

Being in the military takes a village. It takes a neighbor. It takes resilience and hope and a lot of goodbyes and a lot of hellos. But most of all, it takes the men and women who step up to serve our country. Who laid down a lot of their own freedoms so others can live in the land of the free. Happy Veterans Day to our vets today. Thank you to Jeremy who has somehow continued to make me feel like the most important thing in his life even when he is fighting for and tirelessly serving his country.

Sheet pan nachos are my pivot meal🥑 PIVOT! Ton

Sheet pan nachos are my pivot meal🥑 PIVOT!

Tonight I planned to make homemade Crunchwrap supremes for taco Tuesday but I got into the kitchen later than I planned. I had leftover chicken and just threw what else
I had onto the tortilla chips. 10 minutes in my new favorite appliance, the toaster oven, and here we are! What is your pivot meal?!

#onedayhh also please note we are eating right off the sheet tray right in front of the TV 😁 also stout is in this photo ☺️

I always like to say I have a @jamiebgolden on my

I always like to say I have a @jamiebgolden on my shoulder! She is funny and the life of the party and everyone is drawn in by her wit and light and laughter✨

But she is also incredibly, insanely smart. She’s really good at the maths which eludes me. Her business advice is gold. PURE GOLD. The reason I say I have a @jamiebgolden on my shoulder is because I always have her voice in my ear when I am creating and making business decisions. It helps that we are in a mastermind together with @thelazygenius and @laura.tremaine 🤓

Furthermore, @jamiebgolden has changed the trajectory of my skin forever and ever. My skin knows two points of reference BJBG (before Jamie B Golden) and AJBG (after Jamie B Golden). We only talk about AJBG. Thank you for understanding.

Today is Jamie’s birthday and I am just so grateful I exist in a world where there is a @jamiebgolden. She cheers me on wildly and her love for God has brought me closer to Him. My hope is that you all have a @jamiebgolden in your life. Put her on your shoulder💛💛💛

A few weeks ago a friend text me and reminded me t

A few weeks ago a friend text me and reminded me that 5 years ago I left my job at Compassion to start writing and food blogging full time. An hour later my assistant Emelie text me and reminded me that one year ago I hired her.

It was a very surreal day.

Five years ago was a very intense time for me. I was scared and brave. I was unsure and also full of miraculous resolution. I was crying at night from all the unknown. And then I was showing up in the morning to create recipes that would land in the world … maybe.

Uncertainty is the author of the book of “What Ifs.” It can be a tragedy or it can be a comedy. Most likely it will be both these things but it will also be a mystery. The kind that makes you shocked at all the twists and turns. The kind that makes you get to the end and stand there, jaw opened and eyes brimming, “So it was true. She did have wings. She did take flight.”

I don’t know where you are at in your Book of Uncertainty but I hope you are still moving thru it. I hope with the tears there is strong resolution deep in your soul. I hope with the fear there is wide-eyed curiosity. I hope with the insecurity you know you are so securely held. You are called Beloved every morning. Every. Morning.

I hope for you this, “Their eyes haven’t opened yet. They know nothing about the sky that’s waiting. Or the thousands, the millions of trees. They don’t even know they have wings…And just like that, a miracle is taking place.” -Mary Oliver

Look what I made! It was meh🥲 Is there somethin

Look what I made! It was meh🥲 Is there something you love eating but not cooking?!

For me, it’s fried chicken.

Listen, it’s not the chicken. It’s me. And it’s probably also the flour. I just never got into flour with cooking 😅 Also, I know too many people who make phenomenal fried chicken and I’d just rather keep letting them feed me.

I have a list of meals that I love eating but don’t love cooking. And I have no shame about it. Other restaurants or friends do it better and more proper than I can.

You can love something and not need to be the best at it all the time. I love cooking so much. And I’m really good at it. But not fried chicken. Although I will bring the best creamy mascarpone mashed potatoes when you invite me over for fried chicken. But not the dessert. I don’t bring dessert. And I don’t make fried chicken. But I love cooking. And all of these things can be true at once.

Jeremy and I passed the Level 2 Wine & Spirits Edu

Jeremy and I passed the Level 2 Wine & Spirits Education Trust exam🤩🍷Our lapel pins are being “flown in directly from London” and I will wear it for always. On everything.

Bathing suit: lapel pin. Cocktail dress: lapel pin. Pajamas: lapel pin.

Maybe you’re like, it’s only Level 2? But you weren’t there. You didn’t see the maps. Maps for every variety of grape. Maps to explain the maps. More maps than wine.

In college I took a maps class because I thought it was an easy A. And this is when I learned I am very bad with maps. For the final exam we were dropped off in the middle of a large forest and given a map. To pass the class we had to get out of the forest using only the map.

I prayed to God the night before for the knowledge and spatial understanding to not only pass the test but to also not get forever lost in the forest. The Lord Himself was like, “How we gonna save her?!” And so that night it SNOWED in JUNE in Colorado. And as my instructor dropped me off on the trail the next morning I noticed a set of footprints. These footprints belonged to the classmate who headed out 10 minutes before I did. I didn’t even look at the map. I followed those footprints to the other side. And I passed. The Lord really will be using that second set of footprints.

All this to say, I can’t believe I passed a class (with merit) that was disguised as a wine course but actually was an INTENSIVE MAPS CLASS. But here we are.

What is your favorite soup?! 🥣🥣🥣 I want t

What is your favorite soup?! 🥣🥣🥣 I want to know. I’m v into soup these days in case you missed it 🥲

My favorite : any soup I can load up with toppings because more is more🥣This is my chicken salsa verde soup and it’s so easy but satisfying and also, toppings 🥑 Your turn. Favorite soup?! Overcomplicated answers like mine are accepted and have already been approved by management🙃

We made it to California 🌴 ☀️ We got in at

We made it to California 🌴 ☀️ We got in at 1am PT 🥲 so this morning it’s all leggings and coffee. LOOK AT THIS COFFEE 🤩 This is very low key extra coffee🙃

We’re headed to NoCal today. I’m going to be in my stories sharing my favorite places to visit and eat all over California. And then one day I’m bringing you all with me on a trip. Ok?!

Hi, hello and happy Saturday! A quick life update:

Hi, hello and happy Saturday! A quick life update: I’ve been turned yellow by @turnedyellow 😂😍 I think we all saw this coming 😅

It’s the attention to detail for me:

🔪 The knife (is this a cute little drawing or the cover of a crime podcast TO BE DETERMINED)
🧄 the whole tray of garlic just waiting to go on a ride in my garlic roller 😁
💁🏼‍♀️ the messy bun and bangs which I will never quit

Second photo is me in real life and I just wanted to come wish you a happy weekend! I hope you find yellow and joy and rest🍋

While hand washing a glass pitcher, it slipped and

While hand washing a glass pitcher, it slipped and broke in my sink. What I noticed immediately was how relived I was. That this carafe broke. That I could throw it away.

It was a very awful pitcher. It would leak when I poured from it. It did not hold as much liquid as I calculated it could. It took up too much space. But I purchased it on a whim and now I was stuck with it.

So I kept using it.

And then the problem was solved immediately when it broke. There was no other option but to throw it away. And in this way brokenness was an illuminator, revealing how much I love or do not cherish something. If I really loved it, I would have found a way to fix it. I would have examined the brokenness.

And now I’m wondering what other things in my life l’m holding onto, not sure what to do with, secretly hoping it just breaks. Breaks away from me before it breaks me. Or breaks before I have to make a decision about it. I made a list actually, the things that feel so overwhelming or weighty that I’ve been putting off not realizing I would rejoice if it just broke.

I always thought brokenness was a negative term. Something isn’t right. Something isn’t working correctly. And then that ugly pitcher shattered in my sink and I realized, breaking can be a liberator. Brokenness can be the key that unlocks the cage, and then there is freedom.

I hope you find freedom today to exist amongst brokenness. May you know which broken things to attend to and which to let slip away. May you understand that a decision has already been made about your own brokenness, it is fully seen and held and your are still wildly accepted and loved.

Four years ago today my book Come & Eat was releas

Four years ago today my book Come & Eat was released into the world! What a journey we’ve been on. From burnt whole roasted chicken to naked garlic to naming our pizza dough to Black Lives Matter to affirming the LGBTQ+ community to appearing in lemon form 😅🍋 and let’s not forget, to being stalked by a cow 🐄 We truly have gotten right up to our elbows in it all.

I am so grateful to those of you who have been here from the beginning and to those of you that have joined along the way. The girl in this photo did not know how bright and full and kind and fierce this community would become. Thank you for all the ways you’ve made showing up here worth it. Thank you for all the ways you keep feeding your people💛

New recipe for you! Homemade Banh Mi’s with coco

New recipe for you! Homemade Banh Mi’s with coconut marinated chicken. I have been eating this sandwich from our local Vietnamese restaurant this whole summer. Going on a picnic, I grab this sandwich. Going to the pool, I grab this sandwich. Road trip, grab this sandwich. Existing, grab this sandwich. I promise you it is what your sandwich dreams are made of.

I finally decided to recreate them at home because the shop is only open on weekends and I apparently have very high banh mi needs.

This sandwich has the most perfectly marinated, juicy chicken with a tangy sauce, quick pickled vegetables and fresh cilantro and mint. It is the most delicious pairing of flavors and I could cry about it. Truly. Now tell me, what is your favorite sandwich?!

When I was a child I used to play in the streets o

When I was a child I used to play in the streets of our neighborhood with the other kids. We’d play Red Light Green Light which I now understand to be an infuriating and inefficient game. Here we are, trying to make it from point A to B and it’s just one straight shot. 20 maybe 30 seconds on foot but someone keeps yelling Red light! and we have to abruptly stop.

So the 20 second journey turns into several minutes. And if you are not at all times insanely alert, if you do not hear the cue to stop, you must turn back and start from the beginning.

And this morning as I was trying to name why I feel off-balance, why my prayer life holds the cadence of someone slipping in and out of a dream, why I am both alert but slow to process, this game came to me.

This summer has been a flurry of green lights and red lights. Go now. Wait, wait, stop now. Stop exactly right now. Ok, now proceed. Wait, proceed with caution.

Some of the things in my life that I thought would be a straight shot, a quick dash from A to B, are taking much longer. Are seeming less straight. I would say this seems bizarre but when I think on it, it seems exactly and fully what it is to be human. Starts and re-starts. Also messy, confusing, bright, stunning, and, if I’m being honest, a little weird.

Here’s to Monday. To August. To this exact day, exactly where you are. You have not lost the plot. You are not alone. Most importantly, you are still in the story.

Do you love leftovers?! Leftovers for brunch is my

Do you love leftovers?! Leftovers for brunch is my absolute favorite thing for weekdays! Friday Bri is v grateful that Wednesday night Bri made homemade crunchwrap supremes 😋😋 (Full method and tips on my site 🌮)

More importantly, thank you to everyone who helped me navigate my next book selection! It’s captured here in the photo 🤩 (I will read all the books in the stack I posted but People We Meet on Vacation is up first 🥳) ok, now tell me about your love/hate for leftovers🤓

Which book do I read next?! 🥲 Now that I am no

Which book do I read next?! 🥲

Now that I am not reading maps for a living I can read for fun again! Please, tell me which one is a must read right now!

1. The Book of Longings
2. People We Meet On Vacation
3. Verity
4. The Midnight Library
5. The Sweetness of Water
6. Once There Were Wolves

Cast your votes! I’m going to start the one with the highest votes tomorrow🤓

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Forever putting leftover veggies and meat (turkey

Forever putting leftover veggies and meat (turkey this time!) into my soup. No apologies, only vibes✌️

I hope you were fed in more ways than one this Thanksgiving. And if you are still hungry, eat. If you are happy, hold it. If you are sad, name it. If you are overworked, sleep. If you’re wondering if you are loved, you are. More than you could know. Tomorrow is a new day. You’ll wake up known. No one can take that from you💛

Thanksgiving leftovers but on a charcuterie board

Thanksgiving leftovers but on a charcuterie board 🤩😋 Complete with leftover turkey, crescent rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce on top of baked Brie - what have you!! Load it up, carry it around with you 😂

This is our guest room💛 It’s the room where m

This is our guest room💛 It’s the room where my people come to stay and they are seen. This guest room is in my home my friend lovingly dubbed the B&B(ri).

This is what I always want when people come to our home, to be seen✨To be fed. And for time to become the assistant not the boss.

This week as people come into your home, or as you enter the homes of others, I hope you are seen✨ I hope you are the kind of person who makes people feel seen wherever you go. This is an actual art. To take up space in a way that makes room for your light and the light of others. That your light actually calls out the light of others✨✨

As we enter this week we might be tender : we have felt what it is like to not be seen, how it can almost feel like a betrayal. How you will later wonder if you weren’t seen or accepted because you have no sparkle or the wrong kind of sparkle. But that is not true. Who you are is not wrong. What you bring, your slightly burnt rolls, the sparkle that makes up your DNA, can be a bounty.

I want for you to been seen around the table this week, and if you aren’t, I hope your sparkle so powerfully calls out the light of those around you that they will be drawn to you and wonder how it is they burn brighter when they are next to you✨ That the things they think are wrong about you will make them pause and say, “Wait, is that the thing that makes her sparkle?!”

Normalize eating your favorite, very extra meal wh

Normalize eating your favorite, very extra meal whenever you want. It doesn’t have to be a holiday or a celebration or a gathering. It can just be a Tuesday. It can be just for you. You are worth it. You are worth a ribeye basted in butter and garlic. Throw your own party. On a Tuesday. What is your favorite, very extra meal?!

Not all heroes wear capes 🥲 Petition to make a

Not all heroes wear capes 🥲 Petition to make a cape for soup?! I mean soup will always be there when someone has a cold🤒Or on a cold day🥶 Or when someone is just draaaaaaging (it me 🙃). I took two bites of this white chicken chili and I literally felt brightness re-enter my being. Here’s to you, soup! The unsung hero of the times. We see you 😉 (What soup restores your soul?!)

The first photo is a picture of Jeremy and me shor

The first photo is a picture of Jeremy and me shortly after he returned from his most recent deployment (2019). The second photo is baby Bri and baby Jeremy SKYPING (circa 2010) during his very first deployment and we had just started dating. Look how bright and unknowing we look🥲I don’t even have bangs. You all, do I have bangs because of trauma? We don’t know.

The first photo was taken after 9 years of marriage, 5 deployments and three re-locations. Listen, we’ve seen some things. We’ve walked through some things.

🤩We’v done some things really well (like keep our marriage engaging and uplifting over long-distance for months on end when loneliness and the fear of serious injury is always looming).

😵‍💫We’ve done some things really poorly (we are the worst at handling re-entry. We are. And we discovered that very quickly).

🤩We are really good at moving and planting roots immediately and saying hello.

😵We are really bad at saying goodbye (ask all my friends in different states who had to throw together emergency goodbye parties because they realized we were about to just slip out into the night without saying anything).

Being in the military takes a village. It takes a neighbor. It takes resilience and hope and a lot of goodbyes and a lot of hellos. But most of all, it takes the men and women who step up to serve our country. Who laid down a lot of their own freedoms so others can live in the land of the free. Happy Veterans Day to our vets today. Thank you to Jeremy who has somehow continued to make me feel like the most important thing in his life even when he is fighting for and tirelessly serving his country.

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