Unloved Appliances and Cold Soup

I started looking into some recipes for chilled soups, a personal summertime favorite when the days are sweltering, just to be prepared ya know, and chatting with a few friends about nothing in particular while listening to some good ol' GT... and bam. That strange spring melancholy just melted away. Food and friends and good music... the combination never fails as a perfect pick-me-up. 

The perfect accompaniment to soup is an excellent immersion blender. This I do not have...

So I begin making lists (call me crazy but I just adore making lists) of all the soups I want to make again, or soups I want to test out. Just like pesto there seem to be endless combinations of chilled soups I can't wait to try once the weather takes a turn for the worst in terms of scorching heat. And then I added a little post script to my list: buy a new immersion blender.

Despite the fact that it's an unappetizing pepto pink I can't get enough of cold borscht. And maybe it's my Texas roots but in the hottest days of summer there's nothing better than a chilled cup of gazpacho. Last year my littlest sister, another talented Texas beauty who can hold her own in the kitchen, introduced my family to the wonders of watermelon soup, as well as ways to fix up avocado soup without it seeming like watery guacamole. There's something lately that's gotten me in an obsessive mood for asparagus, and then I spied this recipe from my beloved Tasting Table that I want to see if it will translate well chilled.

Oh hi there wasted space

While most chilled soups can be made with a blender, if you're making a large batch or making what will eventually be a chilled soup over the stove (i.e. a messy transfer to a blender) an immersion blender is the way to go. So an immersion blender was what I got... and unfortunately chose poorly. The Breville 9.6 v Cordless Hand Blender= do not buy. It's annoying to use and heavy. It requires some fancy finger work to stay consistently blending and seems to get clogged up often. Also, despite being constantly charged, seems to run out of juice very quickly, as in faster than it takes to blend a pot of soup. And I've used some ones with cords and the power displayed is substantially different, plus the cord really doesn't get in the way. So forget the silly cordless with the $100+ sticker price. Do some research and ask some friends and find the perfect one, because trust me, these things can end up being very important in your life, especially in the hottest days of summer or the coldest days of winter.