Chill Out

It's gettin' hot in herrrrre! Africa hot. That's the problem with a south facing apartment. The light is great but it's a freakin' oven! What's that you say? Turn on the A/C? Oh, silly. I'm holding out until August. Why? Because I like to suffer! And my Con Ed bills go completely out of control the minute I turn it on. (I swear I'm paying for someone else's too!) Plus, it's been a relatively cool summer so far, so I'm just trying to make it...A. Few. More. Days. But feel free to slap me when I start complaining about how tired I am because I'm too uncomfortable to sleep, or that I wake up in a puddle of sweat. On the plus side, it makes me want to spend ALOT of time in the very air conditioned gym.

What does any of this have to do with anything? Well, I won't cook when it's hot, so it's either a bowl of cereal, frozen yogurt, or Rosé for dinner. Except that I still have that yellow watermelon kicking around. Another no-cook savory solution for that lovely piece of produce is to make a soup. (Thanks for the idea, Wendy!) But not a sweet dessert soup. A cold, gazpacho type soup. I basically used the same ingredients that I used in the salad (with a few tomatoes thrown in) and just threw it all in a food processor. Voilà! (Ain't it purdy?)



Yellow Watermelon Gazpacho

3 cups cubed yellow watermelon (seeded and rind removed), plus 2 tablespoons diced
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered
1 small shallot (peeled and halved)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red (or white) wine vinegar
1 small jalapeño, diced (stemmed and seeded)
Crumbled feta (optional)
Fresh chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Puree the 3 cups of watermelon, tomatoes, shallot, lemon juice, and vinegar in the bowl of a food processor (or blender) until smooth. Add the jalapeño and pulse once. Divide the soup into bowls and top with the feta, cilantro, and reserved diced watermelon, if desired. Serves 4 as an appetizer.