Love and Potato Soup

A few days ago, I was perusing this awe-inspiring blog over at Thistlewood Farms.  Karianne was telling the story of baking her then-boyfriend, now husband, pancakes.  It was like deja vu, I'm telling you.  So when I got an email from the lovely Karianne asking me to share my story, I happily complied.

It all started in the fall of 2003.  I was living in a townhouse in Birmingham and attending the University of Montevallo.  Justin and I had been dating a little less than two months, and he was coming down to visit me for the weekend.  It's very important to mention that he'd had his wisdom teeth removed on Thursday morning, and drove the 2 hours to Birmingham on Friday afternoon.

Being the amazing, thoughtful girlfriend that I was, I decided to make him potato soup.  Because, you know, dental surgery and potato soup go hand in hand.  Did I consider the fact that I had never made potato soup?  Of course not.  Did I for one second take into consideration that I had never really cooked anything in all of my 18 years? Never!  I did wait for Justin to arrive and asked him if he even liked potato soup.  Of course he did.  So then I called my Aunt Robin for an ingredient list, wrote them down in a loose short-hand, and we headed to the grocery store. 

To give credit where credit is due, Justin did question the supplies I was putting into the basket.  An entire bag of potatoes for one potato soup recipe?  A gallon of milk?  But I was a woman on a mission-- a woman about to cook for her man, and I would not be daunted.  I gathered all I needed, paid for my groceries, and back to the house we went.

Being the amazing, thoughtful girlfriend that I was, I sat Justin down in front of the TV the minute we got home.  Then I went to the kitchen to work.  I peeled and chopped 12 potatoes.  I poured in about 6 cups of milk.  Added an entire block of Velveeta cheese.  Various other extremely large amounts of ingredients went into the pot.

In the end, the potato soup was edible, barely.  But I had enough of it to feed the entire subdivision in which I lived.  Now, anytime I mention cooking potato soup, Justin asks if I want him to call and invite the church!! :)