Don't Judge A Soup By Its Photo

Some of my friends ask me how I come up with recipes for this blog, and most times I'm playing around with things I've made before and switching out ingredients, or I'll get inspired by something I see in another cookbook and take it in another direction. So the weekends at my place is pretty much "test kitchen" central.

Well, I regularly post my recipes but rarely do I post the duds in the test kitchen, until now. The above is a photo of my chilled cantaloupe soup. I know, sounds great, huh? Looked even better after I photographed it. But when I tasted...eh. It was just OK. It lacked another depth in flavor. There was a very subtle cantaloupe sweetness, and I barely made out the leeks and fennel that I boiled and pureed with the cantaloupe. I had made it without any broth because I thought the sweetness of the cantaloupe would be enough. And don't get me wrong, it smelled fantastic as I was boiling the cantaloupe to soften it so I can puree it with my hand blender.

So you see, sometimes The Single Guy Chef test kitchen works. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm going to have to keep testing this chilled cantaloupe recipe. Maybe one hot summer I'll get it right. Anywho, it was just soooo pretty that I didn't want to waste this photo. If you can't taste it, at least it can maybe make you feel relaxed. That's how I feel when I look at it. Now isn't that a nice way to start the weekend? :)