magicalthinklet

this past weekend, Dan and i flew to florida for his cousin Derek’s wedding. we had tons of fun – so much, in fact, that i think i’m still recovering!

one of the highlights was meeting the girl of my dreams… Jillian. sigh. she’s one of the bride’s good friends; more importantly, ahem, she works in marketing for CAMPBELL’S SOUP. double sigh.

Amber told Jillian about my soup obsession, so she wasn’t at all weirded-out by my fan girl enthusiasm – and frankly, my total lack of dignity when i found out she worked for Campbell’s (i practically threw myself at her).

i lobbied to become Campbell’s spokeswoman, but i doubt my crazy eyes helped promote the cause. if it doesn’t happen, that’s ok, i can console myself by reminiscing about this celebrity sighting.

Jillian kept referring to the picture above as “Ketchup and Mustard.” but i prefer to think of it as “Campbell’s Tomato Soup and The Girl Who Loved Her.”

Happy Belated National Soup Week!*

as you know, i love soup. it is the ultimate comfort food. it warms the belly, cures the common cold, stops world wars, pairs well with Gilmore Girls and a hangover, heals heartache, ends world hunger, grows unicorn horns, and is generally amazing in every way.

did you know (and this part is cribbed from my site) that the word, restaurant, was first used to describe a soup? yep, in 16th century France, street vendors called restaurers sold a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup that was billed as an antidote to physical exhaustion. in 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in restaurers, and thus the modern word restaurant was born. so, restaurants and restaurateurs and eaters everywhere – you owe everything to soup. respect!

in honor of National Soup Week coming to a close, here is a list of my top five** most memorable soups (in no particular order):

1. bouillabaisse
devotay, 117 north linn street, iowa city, ia
yeah… this was pretty much the best soup i’ve ever had. HUGE bowl of seafood bouillabaisse for only 5 bucks. i love devotay’s food, but their soup is cosmically good.

2. hot & sour
china star, 201 south clinton street, iowa city, ia
hands down, my favorite hot & sour soup. i don’t care if you take me to the best chinatown in the world – iowa city’s china star does NOT dilly dally around when it comes to sticking crazy amounts of hot and crazy amounts of sour into the hot & sour. you’ve not have hot & sour until you’ve had china star’s hot & sour.

3. tamarack
grandma & grandpa’s house, 3002 s kinnickinnic ave, milwaukee, wi
my grandma beckwith made this soup. she was so super sweet, and would try to make this every time i visited. it’s a simple, brothy soup with frozen veggies and ground beef – which doesn’t actually sound good on paper, but i always went back for 5th’s. because it tasted awesome. and because my grandma infused everything with love.

4. Campbell’s vegetarian “ABC” vegetable
childhood home, 6 russet way, palatine, il
i used to walk home from elementary school for lunch, and my mom always had soup on the stove when i got home. i asked for a Campbell’s Classic: simple, salty, with fun alphabet shapes, what could be better than “ABC soup?” especially in winter?

5. beet
hot chocolate, 1747 north damen avenue, chicago, il
sometimes i like Hot Chocolate’s atmosphere even more than the food, but they always make a great soup. a beautiful fuchsia, a hint of sweet and a vinegar-y sizzle, their beet soup was no exception – and a perfect anecdote to the winter blues.

*i feel guilty for being completely oblivious that this week was National Soup Week until wednesday (thanks for the heads up, Ka). you should have been reading this post on monday…

** i might turn this into a top ten list, but for now, you’ve gotta deal with only five.