Gazpacho

It was hot today - 96, felt like 100, at lunch - which made me not want to eat anything other than popsicles (happy about the Clinique-Sweetery promotion), ice, cucumbers, and gazpacho.  I went from place to place, looking at lunch options, going into 4 or 5 different places, but nothing was appealing.  Everything looked and felt so heavy in that heat.  Apparently my brain was also working really slowly because it took awhile before I realized that I could go to Hale & Hearty for some soup, since they would probably have cold soups... like gazpacho.

Before going for the gazpacho, I decided to try the chilled carrot ginger soup.  I have had the hot carrot ginger soup before, which is especially good in the winter.  It has a warm, comforting flavor and the spice is really tasty.  But I couldn't finish the sample of this soup.  It had no ginger flavor, tasted completely like carrots, and somehow, even though dairy-free, was really rich and creamy.  Not for me.

The gazpacho, on the other hand, was light, full of flavor and refreshing crunchy vegetables, and perfect for the hot weather.

The gazpacho had tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, roasted red peppers, celery, red onions and a mix of herbs.  It was perfect and the H&H version was so tasty.  I wished I had an extra-large container of just gazpacho (and oyster crackers), as the light, clean flavors are exactly what you need in this weather.  I'm thankful to Spain for coming up with gazpacho.  It's no wonder why they did it.  The south of Spain gets much, much hotter than the heat we're suffering through now and gazpacho is a healthy and cooling dish.

I also picked up a half sandwich - my usual and favorite one, the chicken, sundried tomato and mozzarella sandwich - which was just as good as always, but a bit oily today.

 

It was a successful lunch, even if it was the 5th or 6th choice on my mental list.  I think when I was younger I had some not very good gazpacho so before our Spain trip, I didn't love it.  But now I'm 100% on the gazpacho train!