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Cold Soups
Each time we think of something cold to eat, like a soup or a main dish, we say "Yes, I will make it in the summer!". And suddenly it is the middle of July and it IS summer! Happens every year! Maybe mentally we are just not ready for it and we push it away as much as we can, but facts are here; when I saw the list of cold soups in one of the English newspapers, I said "they will make a great Column for the summer"... Right!

I used to make two cold soups quite often: a cucumber and a yoghurt soup. But, not lately; I remember in my childhood, there were only hot soups! I do remember one cold soup - borscht! And, I think it was considered a "jewish soup" and made only by jews! Today borscht is served as a hot soup, cooked with a dozen ingredients... Actually all the soups in that article are with a dozen or more ingredients! Who has all that stuff in their kitchen? I have not made cold soups for so long that I do not remember how I used to make them! But borscht was made out of beets, water and another couple of ingredients! And we have progressed and here it is no longer called by its lowly name! It is Beet Gazpacho, see? And I just counted the ingredients: fifteen!

So, let me mention some of the soups they listed, and give you just the ingredients I would use if I made them;

- Cucumber and avocado soap; why the avocado? That can make another soup! Also 15 ingredients... I would just use the cucumbers, spring onions, lemon juice, salt-pepper, water! They not only add the avocado, but mango (!) corn kernels and my favourite, coriander! Mango?... Corn?... In a cucumber soup?

- Their Beet Gazpacho is with red peppers, while onions, goat cheese (!) garlic, horseradish, wholegrain mustard and a dozen other things!...OY! I wish I could tell you how we used to make borshch; it was simple, easy and delicious and we all loved it! But, I can not remember, and there is nobody to ask! I thought that my uncle , who still cooks!...would remember, but he does not and claims that he never made it. Any of you-ALL maybe remember?

- Next on the list, is Spiced Watercress yoghurt soup: but its not! Its a green veggie soup decorated with a spoon of yoghurt on top. Yoghurt soup? I take yoghurt and add a finely grated garlic to it, diced cucumber, some lemon juice, lots of salt-pepper and any other veggie you fancy as a decoration.... just chop it up and mix it in! Yoghurt should be the base, the actual soup, as it is what cools you off in the summer!

- Creamy Carrot Soup is next, but I never made a cold carrot soup and they added an awful lot of cream to it! An easy soup if you-ALL want to try it: half a kilo carrots, an onion, 4 cloves of garlic, any stock, salt-pepper and 215 ml. of thick cream.

- They do have an Andalusian Tomato Soup, but its got ham in it, so we will ignore that!... Although it should be easy to make without it! They thicken the soup with 2 slices of bread, which they soak in 100ml of water, and bake a kilo of halved tomatoes for 15 minutes in the oven. Then blend that with 2 cloves of garlic some sherry vinegar and olive oil, salt-pepper, and you have a Royal tomato soup! I would omit the bread, decorate it with chopped scallion?... Chopped peanuts?...And, why bake the tomatoes?...

I never enjoyed fruit soups, but a lot of people love them in the summer. They make a strange melon soup by peeling the melon, chopping it up into a processor, puree it well, and hey presto! Soup! Oh yes; decorate it with fresh mint and chopped roasted cashews!

Send your questions to The Wacky Cook: email: debbiemorgenshtern@gmail.com      

Debbie Morgenstern is the author of "My Life in Israel" and other short stories.
"My Life in Israel" can be purchased by accessing this link: "My Life in Israel"