Soupervan Relief!

Words cannot describe how awesome Soupervan is (it is easily one of the things I miss most from New Jersey). If I could recreate the food they make so that I could enjoy it here, I totally would, because it’s been months since I’ve had anything from them, but alas! :'(! I’ve been toying with the idea of making a “favorites” page for all my favorite places around the country/globe, and this would definitely be on my list. <3

Of the causes I support, theirs is definitely one of my top ones, just because they’re honestly such wonderful people and because I love their philosophy. Since they’ve opened, they’ve donated more than 7400 meals filled with healthy goodness to the local soup kitchen (Elijah’s Promise).

Recently, with all that’s happened because of Hurricane Sandy, they’ve extended their efforts past donating a meal for every meal that someone purchases, and have actually been traveling to the places in NJ that were hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy to provide free meals to the emergency responders and victims there. However, food and gas (especially gas) is insanely costly, and the expenses add up, so any help that you could give them would definitely be awesome!

Read more about their efforts and what they’ve done thus far in the link below!

Soupervan Hurricane Sandy Outreach
(I stole this picture from their facebook page. :x )

I know times are hard right now, but if you could spare anything at all, it would be greatly appreciated!

Here are my previous posts about Soupervan!:
Soupervan (My First Encounter)
Soupervan’s Disappearance
Soupervan’s Return
Why I’d Be A Cheap Date
Food Pictures

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spoils of war

Soupervan’s last day on the Rutgers campus is tomorrow (for this semester, anyway). Sadly, this means it’s probably the last time I’ll be able to go, unless I manage to find them at their summer location (on route 18 by PNC & Hilton!) before I move across the country again.

That said, you should definitely make your way out to the Douglass campus by the student center and get your Soupervan fix on! :D

If you need an incentive, look at these:

 Acapulco Press: queso oaxaca and pablano pepper blend double folded in a multigrain wrap with ancho black bean spread. Mango salsa and crisp greens with halal chicken. (Also has an organic tempeh option.)

Smoked Gouda Broccolini Soup: Smoked gouda cheese, broccolini, kale and onions soup. Comes with a whole wheat roll. The soup is gluten-free.

Hungry Bunny: za’atar hummus, marinated organic dark greens, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, shredded carrots, cucumbers and crisp romaine with a roasted garlic tahini dressing in a multigrain wrap. (halal chicken or tempeh option. went with the chicken in this one.)

Cannoli!

 The wraps come with a drink! I went with the agua fresca as usual. They had the Scarletberry Agua Fresca, which is a blend of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, if I remember correctly.

soupervan’s return (take 2)

Soupervan has returned (again)!  They’ve actually been back for a while, but unfortunately for me, their location for the rest of the semester happens to be the only one I can’t get to. (Or rather, it’s located on the only campus I don’t ever have an excuse/reason to be on, unless I somehow find the time to start freelancing as an accompanist again.) The people on Cook/Douglass are super lucky.

It’s okay though. On Thursday of last week, we made a trip out there between classes because most of us needed a break (a 2 hour lecture covering 19 slides and an extra 15 minutes to cover the other 30 slides will do that to you ._.). There’s just something about that yellow van that puts a smile on your face. :D (Read their website. *-* I can’t do it without salivating.)

Buddhist Caballero Chili! It’s vegan and gluten-free! There’s a soy substitute(?) for chorizo in it, which I can normally never have since it’s usually pork, and there are black beans, tomatoes, poblanos, sweet potatoes, corn, onions, kidney beans, apples, red peppers and all kinds of awesomeness. The one wrapped in foil is half of a Fiji BBQ because those are delicious (first thing I ever tried at Soupervan <3).

I’m kindasorta looking for a roommate right now to share my apartment in West Virginia because the prospect of paying ~$300/month for my own room in an apartment (including all utilities/internet) is just too difficult to pass up. However, I’ve been pretty lucky in terms of the whole roommate/housemate thing in the past several years and I can’t help thinking that mayhaps my luck is about to run out. My roommates/housemates in undergrad were/became my best friends, and the ones I’m living with now are also pretty awesome. I think I generally get along with people pretty well, and the fact that she likes Soupervan should be an indicator that she has to be pretty cool? :D? We shall see.

So glad you’re back again, Soupervan! :]

soupervan’s return + money challenge progress

My favorite food truck has returned to my [and y’know, everyone else’s] life[/lives]! To say that I was thrilled about this would be an understatement. However, it posed a slight problem for me because they returned right in the middle of my money ban. :/

But! Fear not! I have a provisional clause dedicated towards my Soupervan fund, so it is a-okay. :O I enacted it last Friday and Luke joined me there. I had their newest sandwich (Tuscan Mushroom with Chicken — roasted garlic cannellini spread, grilled portabella slices, cherry tomatoes, white truffle oil, mesclun greens with balsamic reduction in a whole wheat wrap). We had to wait through an entire bus ride and a long walk around the entire building to find a room to sit in to eat (first world problems, I know), but it was delicious and well worth the wait. :]

They also have a new chili (ancho turkey chili) and two new soups (tomato basil bisque + creamy mushroom soup) that I’m looking forward to trying! <3 I’m so glad that they’re back! :D! Dominic also made me/Luke cannolis because he’s full of awesome.

I’m kinda sad that the apple nachos are gone, but they’re working on a new dessert with some kind of winter fruit soon. <3

Here’s a super random and simple tip for if you…
a) …bought 2 loaves of bread because it was cheaper than getting just one/you can’t get to supermarkets very often
b) …can’t finish 2 loaves of bread before one of them loaves starts to spoil ._.

You will need…
-sandwich bags
-a toaster

I usually keep one loaf out and freeze the other loaf (stick a couple pieces of bread into each bag) and when you’ve finished off your first loaf, just toast the slices you want and you’re good to go! Hooray for food not going to waste!

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In other news (if you’re at all interested in how my non-spending is going), I still have:
-2 boxes of cereal, 36 flour tortillas, 1 loaf of bread (currently frozen), 1 bag of quinoa, -1/2 bag oatmeal, 30 lb. rice, 6 packages of pasta
-1 family-sized can of diced tomatoes, 14 cans of corn, 6 cans of green beans (if anyone could tell me a recipe using canned green beans that’s not a casserole, I’d be wildly grateful)
-1.6 containers of soy milk (nooooo ;_; )
-4 cans of salmon, 8 cans of chicken, 1 family-sized can of garbanzo beans, 2 cans black beans
-2 lbs. frozen strawberries, small bag of frozen veggies, 3 packages frozen dumplings
~5 servings of ground beef (currently frozen), 3 servings of chicken (currently frozen)
-lots of random protein/energy/power bars, chocolate, bags of peanuts, snacks from all the plane rides last semester, giant bag of trail mix
-15 cans of soup
-3 cans of pineapples, 1 giant jar of applesauce
-various baking supplies

This, my friends, is why I should not be spending money until I finish it all. I’ve found that my baking/food projects garner a lot of interest from friends in my program and introduces variety in my life because I can trade my creations for other people’s foods. Several have also told me that they will totally buy the ingredients for whatever I want to make, so long as they get to have some. This is pretty effing awesome news to me. :O

I will be trading my strawberry swirl cheesecake bars (recipe coming soon!) for BBQ fall-off-the-bone beef ribs next week!

a cheap date

I was recently called a cheap date by one of my friends, not in the urbandictionary sense that it takes very little alcohol to get me intoxicated enough to do things (#1: I dislike drinking/the taste of alcohol and I believe there are better ways to spend my money, and #2: let’s not even get into the second part, because that’s really just not me), but in the sense that it really doesn’t take much to make me happy.

We somehow veered to this topic because a mutual friend of ours was “possibly going on a date” with someone and was trying to figure out where to go.

Of course, being me, my suggestion was, “Soupervan!”

(Soupervan recently came back into existence, but they chose to go to Cook/Douglass first, which I have no reasonable way of getting to, so I will have to wait until they decide to grace College Ave or Busch with their lovely presence. :[ )

T: What?! You don’t go to Soupervan for a first date.
F: But why not? You get awesome and healthy food, provide a hungry person with a meal, and you can take the food you get from there anywhere! What’s not to like? If someone took me on a date to Soupervan, I’d be sold!*
T: Wow, Farrah.
*This is not entirely true. I’d have to actually be interested in the person, but I do admit that I would feel more kindly toward a person if they took me there to eat. >_>

This is probably why my friends think I work there undercover.

But on a more serious note, I’m not understanding why this “being a cheap date” thing is so terrible.

If I were to go on a hypothetical date with someone to get food, what’s so wrong about spending it where you can feed yourselves and help out other people too? I realize that I am nicknamed “Black Hole” and it has been said that I regularly eat enough to feed a family of four, but it isn’t actually necessary to blow your whole bank account to impress me on a date. (I’d prefer that he didn’t, actually, because I always offer to split, and I would cry/die a little on the inside if we went somewhere really expensive.) If I like you, I honestly don’t give much of a crap about what we do; it’s the time that I get to spend with you that matters. We could lounge around all day being hermits and playing video games for all I care (that would be really fun, actually :O ).

That’s a pretty big if though, because I’m super picky, but I still stand firmly by my conclusion that Soupervan would be a perfectly awesome option for a first date venue. >:O