What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? A Burst of Flavor: Giddyup Gazpacho! Yee-haw! Get set to gather the bounty of your garden because this dish has quite a variety of appetizing vegetables! You’ll experience an explosion of flavor in every mouthful. Gazpacho is one of those mysterious soups that is meant to be eaten COLD. Sound bizarre? I know, right! Trust me, the fusion of wholesome produce is unsurpassed. And the temperature is perfectly refreshing this time of year.

GIDDYUP GAZPACHO

Ingredients:

4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 small sweet onion, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 small green pepper, diced

1/2 cup baby carrots, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic vinegar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon sriracha hot chili sauce (optional)

2 cups 100% vegetable juice, low sodium

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Fab Foodstuff: Yesterday’s Cucumber Soup. Here we go again with another cold soup option. It may sound like an oxymoron, but actually if I called it a Cucumber Smoothie, would you drink it? Perhaps. Tell me this, how many times have you been served ice water with a cucumber slice in it? Or grabbed a hydrating plant-based juice beverage at the corner convenience store? Get the picture. It’s all about the perspective. If you find it challenging to eat cold soup, or just plain WRONG…by all means, pour it into a glass and slurp away. To quote William Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Carry on.

YESTERDAY’S CUCUMBER SOUP

Ingredients:

4 mini seedless cucumbers, peeled and chopped

1 gala apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 green onion, chopped

2-3 basil leaves

1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

I am vexed…

It’s a word you don’t hear much, now. Old English, I believe. It describes an agitated state of mind – and possibly body – when something nagging can’t be solved.

What I’m vexed about is the entrenchment of nationalistic opinion across the world, in the face of much more important issues – like the world’s climate problems and the undermining of democracy as a new type of war carried out by authoritarian regimes.

I’m vexed because I think I’ve seen beneath this to the psychological mechanics of something that has the potential to kill the world.

In Britain, with Brexit, we are marching, like lemmings, towards a clifftop that will bring chaos and self-inflicted harm to not only this generation of voters, but our children and their children. They will look back at the devastation and ask why somebody didn’t do something to avert it.

Friends in…

Pretty and I love nothing more than taking our dogs for unleashed adventures, and the farm off Backswamp Road in Hopkins, South Carolina has always been one of our favorite stomping grounds. The farm owned by our good friends Dick and Curtis has a lovely old  house that’s tucked off the country road that leads us there from Columbia. Their home has been the site of countless fundraisers for the LGBTQ community and other local charities over the past 30 years because its owners are generous, ready to share their southern hospitality for a good cause or just a dinner for a few friends.

But it is the acreage surrounding the home that has been a favorite spot for our dogs to run until their tongues hang out with joy and weariness. So in October of 2014 Pretty and I took our three dogs, The Red Man (rescued Welsh terrier)…

Thank you, for your Attitude of Gratitude:

Everyone is doing their best to do their best, even if their best isn’t your best.

Affirmation: I accept that not everyone will do things my way!

I love you, Annette Rochelle Aben