Dear Blaze Babes, happy June! The month for weddings and brides and when a man’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of love. Or knowing men, to thoughts of getting some. Spring turned me into a raging lunatic who signed up on a dating site. Oh the stories! This being Wisconsin, I get sent pictures of men with animals they’ve just killed. Is this some cave-man thing, “Me can provide woman meat?” Have they not heard of supermarkets?
I’m being horribly snarky—it just seemed an odd form of courtship to me. Look! Dead things! But they tell me women send men pictures of their gardens. Hello? Ladies? What are you thinking? These are men. They want to see your tomatoes, not your petunias.
Okay, enough of that ranting. I have a non-romance book out this month from Avon/HarperCollins called Knit in Comfort, about a group of women in modern-day North Carolina brought together by lace-knitting, secrets, and old legends from the Shetland Islands in the 1920s. I’m really excited about this one. Check it out!
Okay, on to food. This month we’re going to put together a seductively good casual summer dinner for that “special someone” (if I read that phrase one more time in an man’s online profile I’ll hurl). We’re starting with a cold soup, very easy but elegant, which is, as you have probably guessed by now, my favorite way to cook. It’s from the “blue” volume of the New York Times Cookbook series by Craig Claiborne. Chilled creamy tomato soup with a tiny hint of curry powder, which adds depth and interest to the flavor without being an obvious ingredient. If you don’t have a microplane zester for grating citrus rind, get one (I linked to the company site, but you can find them all over). It makes the odious job a total snap, and is great for removing the tough brown skin from a fresh coconut, too. (I feel like that woman who gives household tips, what’s her name? Heloise?)
Cold Tomato Soup
3 cups tomato juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 scallions, minced
½ tsp. curry powder
Pepper
Grated rind of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sour cream
Here are the very complicated instructions:
Mix. Chill.
Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
Have a wonderful June! See you in July.
Isabel
www.IsabelSharpe.com
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Nice easy recipe for those really hot summer days. Thanks for sharing it!
You’re welcome, Nicole! We’re having really odd weather here. The other day weather people predicted a high of 85 and it never got much over 50. Go figure.
Isabel
I didn’t know Craig had a “blue volume” of the NYT cookbook. I feel like such a cooking neophyte!!! And while the hunting photos can be scary, wouldn’t it be comforting to know your man has an accurate aim if you have- say- a serial killer after you? This is why they send the photos. To reassure you of their protective capabilities… from serial killers and homicidal bucks.
Knit in Comfort sounds wonderful.
LOL, Joanne. Maybe they should send pictures of themselves with dead serial killers!
No, I understood the message they want to send. I’m just the type who’d rather see intelligent eyes in a photo and hear about the books they’re reading. Call me a geek!
Isabel
Geek! Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Curry powder, who’da thunk it? (Y)
LOL! I am a geek! The macho thing is great to look at, but I’ll take a brain any day. Of course if you offer me both . . .
But let’s not get greedy.
And yes, the curry makes it. People can’t figure out what they’re tasting.
Isabel