Skip to main content

Amerisleep AS3 Reviews

  My Amerisleep AS3 Unboxing Video (Surprise, my voice is ridiculous!) If I can (just barely) do it, you can totally tackle a bed-in-a-box by yourself. Updated 10/15/22 Amerisleep's AS5 was recently featured as the 'Best Soft Mattress in a Box' by Good Housekeeping , with the panel of reviewers noting: Pressure relief for side sleepers Taller than other boxed mattresses Good customer service    Amerisleep Mattress Reviews  We've been happy Amerisleep customers since purchasing our first AS3 mattress more than 9 years ago. Now we also have an AS2 and an AS4 (the AS3 is still our favorite). Born with chronic insomnia  (even as a baby - my family insists I was a nightmare), the struggle to improve my sleep is my life. My husband, the overly-analytical mechanical engineer, was initially skeptical of a mail-order mattress, but he was quickly won over. 2012: Wine glass test, sans wine. I was fairly confident our brand-new mattress would pass with f

Getting Greedy in Santa Fe With the BEST Soups Ever at the SOUPER Bowl

After a 3 year hiatus, the beloved Souper Bowl charity fundraiser finally returned to Santa Fe, NM. Time to get excited!
Whoa, maybe not that excited, crazy eyes.

That's better.
(Spoiler alert - totally posing in front of one of my favorite soups.)

Food Depot Souper Bowl in Santa Fe, NM

It was a chilly 39 degrees when Sexy Nerd and I arrived in Santa Fe. Luckily there was no need to walk in the cold because tickets included validated parking at the Convention Center...except you-know-who refused to park there.

"That's where everyone is going to park," he said. It seemed we were in agreement - everyone was going to park there because that's where everyone is supposed to park. "This other place is just a 5 minute walk."

As we strolled for almost 10 minutes, teeth chattering, Sexy Nerd claimed this was part of his clever plan. By freezing ourselves beforehand, we would surely enjoy the soups that much more.

He wasn't wrong. Don't tell him that though.

Santa Fe Restaurants

Where can you taste the hottest Santa Fe restaurants, all under one roof? At the Souper Bowl, of course!

In New Mexico, we're a community of friendly people. We look out for each other. Although being a chef is a time consuming job, often requiring 60+ hour workweeks, our local chefs donated their time and skills to make the 2023 Souper Bowl a success.

How many individual soup cups did each chef (and their amazing helpers!) spoon out? Attendance sold out this year, with nearly 1,500 soupies clamoring for more. And you know we all went back for seconds...and thirds...fourths. Hey, this article is titled 'Getting Greedy in Santa Fe' for a reason. More soup, please!

(Side note: 'Soupies' sounded like such a perfect name for a group of soup enthusiasts, didn't it? Google has burst my (soup) bubble, as it turns out I just called us all a bunch of cured pork.)

Kingston Residence of Santa Fe

Nath's Inspired Khmer Cuisine from CHOMP Food Hall

Cowgirl BBQ

I'll admit I was initially disappointed Cowgirl's offering contained no BBQ. Their roasted golden beet soup quickly changed my mind though.

Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen

Cake's Cafe

Jambo Cafe (recently featured on Guy Fieri’s ‘Triple D Nation’)

Tibet Kitchen

Cafe Bon Appétit at the Institute of American Indian Arts

Also participating:
El Nido
Escondido
Rowley Farmhouse Ales
Poki Tako
Izanami
La Montanita Co-op
Red Sage at Buffalo Thunder
Wild Leaven Bakery
Cafecito
Brochacho's Food Cart

The SOUPER Soups

Side note: Writing this Souper Bowl article is making me hungry! Can we make this event a weekly occurrence?

Grab a spoon! Bonus points if your outfit has a spoon pocket.

This creamy poblano pepper soup from Kingston Residence of Santa Fe had a masterful blend of flavors. Forget Saltines. Here in NM, we garnish our soup with tortilla strips.

Sexy Nerd was reluctant to make the drive to Santa Fe, preferring to spend his day off painting our bedroom instead. "I don't really like soup," he complained, having clearly forgotten how much he enjoyed attending the previous Souper Bowl. As you can see, that was nonsense and he found his red lentil soup from Cafecito thoroughly delicious.

Don't let this corn chowder fool you. It's actually Red Sage's Gramitas de Calabacita, one of our favorite contenders in the Vegetarian category.

The previous Souper Bowl's winner had featured chocolate and cherry. Continuing the 'dessert soup' tradition, we were excited when Brochacho's Food Cart offered a warm serving of biscochito to drink. Our state cookie, in a cup!

I'm usually wary of anything that tastes "of the ocean" but even I enjoyed all 5 soups competing in the Seafood category. This crab bisque from Jambo Cafe featured the fresh flavors of basil and coconut.

Already surprised with myself for enjoying the fishy options, I went back for seconds of this provençale seafood bisque. Cafe Bon Appétit has won me over.

Soup's Fun...But Wait, There's More!

It's difficult to think of a dish more comforting than a hot bowl of soup on a cold, winter day, but The Food Depot came up with exactly that - fresh bread to dip into your soup! Mmmm, it turns out that a crusty rye makes an excellent pairing for Escondido's smoked tortilla soup with shrimp and avocado.

One of the highlights of the Souper Bowl was the sense of community. Food brings everyone together. I even made a new friend, a woman who complimented my orange jacket as being well planned, as it's easy to spot in the crowd and not get lost. I lamented to her that my husband had taken the opposite approach to his ensemble, preferring to blend in.

Sexy Nerd wore a flannel shirt, the camouflage of half the men in the crowd. Such a punk, that guy. I finally caught up to him at the Starbucks booth, which served complimentary coffee and tea.

Sexy Nerd pointed out that I need to pay attention, as I'd accidentally taken a photo of someone's feet. So silly - intentional photo because these boots are fabulous!

Something I enjoyed almost as much as the flavorful soups (and free Starbucks and...plentiful restrooms, because let's face it, this event is nonstop hydration) was the catered desserts. Thank you, What The Truck, for satisfying my sweet tooth.

This lemon tart had fresh berries, so it was technically a healthy choice, right?

The Food Depot

You vote with your dollars and a dollar given to The Food Depot says you care. Sadly, New Mexico ranks 3rd worst in the USA for poverty. This includes a whopping 25% of our state's children.

The Food Depot fights food insecurity, reducing the need for families to decide between paying for expenses, such as housing and medical emergencies, and going hungry.

A team of volunteers and a network of partner nonprofits provide hunger relief throughout 9 counties.

The Food Depot consistently receives a 4-star Charity Navigator rating, making them one of the most efficient and effective organizations. If you would like to donate to help end hunger in New Mexico, you can be confident the dollars you give to The Food Depot make a difference. With $75,000, The Food Depot can provide an incredible 300,000 nutritious meals - that's only $0.25 per meal!

I double checked my math on that last part, as it seemed too good to be true. The math checks out.

Is love the secret ingredient? Knowing every Souper Bowl ticket purchased will create 100 meals makes the soups taste even better.

Souper Bowl Winners

At The Food Depot's Souper Bowl, everyone's a winner! Oh, you want to know which soups are the winners? I can help with that.

As votes were made, an enormous digital board updated throughout the event.

All of the teams had brought their A-game.

WINNER: Dr. Field Goods' Truffled Cauliflower (Best Cream Soup and Best Overall)

WINNER: El Nido's Coconut Green Curry (Best Seafood)

WINNER: Nath's Inspired Khmer Cuisine's Chicken Tom Yum (Best Savory)

2024 Souper Bowl

I'll see you next year and will be sure to book our tickets early, as the 2023 Souper Bowl sold out well before the event.

No need to switch up your recipes for the next round, chefs, as I would gladly consume a gallon of each of the winning soups!

Popular posts from this blog

Cake Mix Pancakes

This reader-favorite recipe is *almost* as popular as my Cake Mix Cookie Bars recipe .  When making Cake Mix pancakes , the scrumptious possibilities are endless. Red Velvet cake mix pancakes. Chocolate cake mix pancakes. Butter Pecan cake mix pancakes. Funfetti cake mix pancakes. (Yes, Funfetti cake mix pancakes!) With this 2-ingredient recipe, you can turn your favorite cake mix into your favorite pancakes. Pancake making at its finest. Cake Mix Pancakes Personally, I think my funny napkin is the icing on the (pan)cake. It's Sunday morning and you're planning to do all the things today - scrub those grody baseboards, polish your quartz countertop that was supposed to be low maintenance but actually isn't at all, sort through the disaster that is the freezer.  While on your superhuman kick, you think I'm going to make my family pancakes for breakfast. Not just any pancakes - the best pancakes ever. I may even serve them as breakfast in bed! You pu

10 Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks

You're in for a treat. Today I'm sharing my best canned cinnamon roll hacks and improvements for turning store-bought cinnamon rolls, like the Pillsbury Grands ones or even the store brand, into something special.  Dry cinnamon rolls? No thank you. They need to be OOEY and GOOEY. That's just Cinnamon Roll 101. All of these ideas keep Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls soft, company-worthy, and delicious. These are also great for taking homemade cinnamon rolls up a notch, but what a pain that is. With these better-than-homemade canned cinnamon roll hacks, you'll never bother to bake them from scratch again. Test out some of these ideas tomorrow. Won't it be nice to dig into a mouthwatering cinnamon roll for breakfast? You can't get a better start to your day than that. Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks Actually, make that 11 easy ways to improve store-bought cinnamon rolls: you can top them with homemade coffee whipped cream . Yum! Nope, make that 12 canned cinnam

Chemical Peel Before & After

This article has been updated! My new chemical peel post, which includes pricing, Jessner peel before and after photos, product recommendations, and a helpful timeline for scheduling your treatments, is at the bottom. My original Jessner peel post (one of the most popular on my site of all time) is at the beginning. Original Chemical Peel Article Considering a chemical peel? I recently underwent my first Jessner peel and thought I'd share my results, post a Jessner peel review, and answer some frequently asked chemical peel questions. (I'm guessing that "Does a chemical peel hurt?" is a biggie!) I'd been planning to order an over-the-counter peel when we were in Iceland , but my computer led me a different direction. I decided to do this on a whim after Groupon greeted me one morning with a great $40 chemical peel deal. Now, I can read your mind. You just gasped in horror and thought  You trusted your face to a  discount  chemical peel?!  You're wondering w

Sharing Funny Memes

Funny Memes Post 2 of 3:  kittydeschanel.com/2021/05/funny-dog-memes.html Funny Memes Post 3 of 3:  https://www.kittydeschanel.com/2021/12/christmas-memes.html You know those people who have nothing better to do than browse through memes for hours at a time, many of which are in poor taste? Yeah, I'm one of them. Oh, except I actually do have so much to do and absolutely should not be scrolling through memes. Just try and stop me. Covering everything from cute dogs to COVID, here are my Top 20 Funny Memes from the last week: Funny Memes Post 2 of 3:  kittydeschanel.com/2021/05/funny-dog-memes.html Funny Memes Post 3 of 3:  kittydeschanel.com/2021/12/christmas-memes.html

Hello Fresh Complaints

Hello, my bloggy friends. I have a HelloFresh complaint and believe they are pulling a scam. Yours truly came *this close* to falling for it.  Maybe scam is too harsh of a word. Sneaky? You can decide for yourself. The fact that there are so many Hello Fresh complaints online does seem suspicious. Update:  Google is totally filling my site with Hello Fresh ads now, ugh. Also, since posting this  Hello Fresh complaints  article yesterday, I've already received this message from a reader: "I did order from Hello Fresh previously and was not charged what I was originally told (or thought I was told). Also, the food from them was anything but fresh and they refused to do a refund, only doing credit - even for the overcharges! So basically I ended up being out of money thanks to them." My main complaint about Hello Fresh has to do with their promotional rate, which seems like it is set up to be intentionally misleading (more on this below). Despite so many people complainin

Christmas Memes and More

Inspired by the popularity of my other memes posts, Funny Memes and Dog Memes , I have a new collection of memes for you to enjoy. I waste my life on the internet so you don't have to. Bookmark this post because I'll be adding to it as I find new memes for Xmas. Christmas Memes and More Fair warning that some of these are in poor taste. Isn't that usually the funniest meme?

My Instant Pot Explosion!

Like many new Instant Pot owners, I've wondered, How many Instant Pots have exploded?  (Eeek!) I'm happy to report that my research on Snopes and other sites has shown that these do not explode, at least not when used properly. There is a lawsuit between a woman in Texas and the Instant Pot manufacturer, but she admits she had thrown a towel over the steam vent. Do NOT do this.  Still concerned? Consider that on Prime Day of 2018, Amazon sold more than 300,000 Instant Pots. That's more than a quarter of a million sales in only 1 day! If these things were not safe, you would see news stories every day about someone being injured. Still, things can go wrong. We love our Instant Pot, the digital pressure cooker that seems to suddenly be in every home. You can't mess up - just throw in random ingredients and you'll get something yummy every time. It's foolproof. At least, that's how I used to feel about our Instant Pot, until the explosion... Inst

Window Seat Ideas

Sexy Nerd and I are planning to build a window seat beneath the windows in our dining room. Well, really Sexy Nerd is going to build it while I blog in my pajamas, but I'm still planning to take 98% of the credit. I love all the possibilities offered by a new window seat - extra storage, a reading nook, and even a place to stretch out and take a nap. Here are some photos I've gathered from various sites for the best window seat ideas . There's something for every style, from a traditional all-white farmhouse to a cozy mountain hideaway. Update: This post has been so popular that I've added more window seat ideas . Enjoy! Window Seat Ideas My original  window seat ideas   post was written in February, 2011, when we were planning to add a window seat to our home. Two+ years later, how is that window seat coming along? To quote Christmas Vacation, I can picture it in my mind and it's breathtaking. Sexy Nerd has been too busy to build my window seat. Between organizin