I bought a cauliflower recently with good intentions. I’ve been doing a little a lot of anxiety eating lately as I sit here in California in Covid19 lockdown. My scale tells me I need to up my nutrition game. I know cruciferous vegetables are super foods. I like cauliflower. I was confident that I could find a unique recipe.

But then I got buried in the possibilities. Whole roasted cauliflower? Ottolenghi’s amazing cauliflower cake? Indian Aloo Gobi? Stir fried Cauliflower Rice? The possibilities were endless and I was like a deer in the headlights–stalled by too many choices. Then, the idea of a creamy and spicy cauliflower soup beckoned. Soup always calms me and feeds both my body and my soul.

And why not a creamy cauliflower soup? Doesn’t the healthy cauliflower compensate for the cream part? Sure it does.

This simple little soup has it all–spice, creaminess, and lots of cauliflower. It was love at first bite (err…slurp).

Here is the recipe.

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There is something truly wonderful about photographing ice cream–or, in this case, sherbet. It melts.

Oh, you know, there is the interminable fiddling around with the food styling. Gotta try a gazillion angles and backgrounds. White bowl? Green bowl? Mint sprig?

This is a hard job, people! It takes time that a frozen dessert just doesn’t have.

Then, there are the lights. They’re hot.

And…you can’t just take one shot. Your inner Annie Leibovitz takes over and each shot yields to another and another and another until you get your “hero shot.” (That’s photography lingo for the perfect shot. My ever-patient photography teacher, Al Nomura, would be proud to know that I actually listened during classes. )

Through it all, the sweet little sherbet just sits there.   And melts.

So…do I take photographs of a puddle of melted sherbet?

Not on your life! Blue Cayenne has high standards. I’d get angry letters and I’d catch hell from Blue Cayenne’s Chief Quality Officer, Juliet.

So Juliet and I slurp the bowl of tart sweet melted sherbet. Then, Juliet drifts off for a belly-up nap in the California summer sun while I set up another shot and possibly (I hope. I hope.) watch that one melt, too.

Fortunately, this sherbet contains yogurt and a lot of vitamin C. That makes it a health food. Right?

Here’s the recipe.

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This recipe is adapted from one that appears on the site 101 Cookbooks. You can find the original recipe here.

I’m a gadget girl.

I have drawers and drawers (and drawers!) of cooking tools–some whose function I no longer remember.

So, like most of the rest of the cooks in America right now, I’ve been doing some pandemic kitchen cleaning and organizing. I’ve put off the gadget drawers until last. Their day has now come.

But it is hard. Really hard.

Do I keep the decorative radish slicer or toss it? You never know when something like that would come in handy. (The directions are in German or some other language but still.) And the cute little plastic momo (Tibetan dumpling) press?  Surely, I might need that. And the citrus zester that looks like a smiley face…

Did I mention that I bought a “Be The Bee Pollinator” from Aero Garden. If there is a honey bee shortage, I’m covered.

Which brings me to my beloved spiralizer. It turns vegetables like zucchini and cucumbers into noodles. It makes curly fries. It makes margaritas.  (OK. I made that last one up.) Get rid of it? How could I?

So, to assuage my clutter conscience, here is a Spiralized Vietnamese Cucumber Salad. It’s delicious. Perfect for your summer table.

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This recipe is adapted from on that appeared in Eating Well Magazine. You can find the original recipe here.