Chilled Mango and Cucumber Soup

This will be my last post for the next week since I'm off to San Francisco. I've never been so I'm extremely excited to take a culinary tour of the city. We'll be stopping at my parents' house (they just moved to beautiful Santa Barbara) on the way up and back so hopefully they'll have internet by next weekend so I can post some of my San Fran findings. I'm praying that I don't forget to take pictures while I'm there. I used to be notorious for not taking pictures on vacations.

So, last night I made Chilled Mango and Cucumber Soup for the second time this month. The first time it was fabulous. My one change to it was that I did not add the cup of water to the gazpacho the first time I made it. I like my gazpachos with a lot of substance. This time I did add the water because I'm taking it up to my parents' house tomorrow and I think they'd like it a little more watered down. Hopefully it's still to my liking. Actually, I love spicy food so if I made it for just me I'd add some jalapeno.

Note: I didn't add the cilantro to the soup yet because it says to salt and add the cilantro right before serving.

By the way, I just wanted to comment that I don't ALWAYS make food network recipes. It's just that the food network is on my tv a LOT (even though I spend most of my time making fun of the chefs like Emeril and Giada..and don't get me started on the oh-so-revolting concoctions by Sandra Lee. I will NOT watch that show.). So I tend to get inspired on dinner ideas from the tv but most often times I don't follow their recipes very closely. Or, I'll follow their recipes the first time and change them completely the following times I make the dish.

Oh, I just tried it after taking a picture---so good! It's actually better with the extra cup of water. I also let it sit for ten hours and the flavors have melded nicely. This would be a great soup for company. It's pretty and so easy to make.

I also recommend serving brie with this soup (on crostini or in a quesadilla). The idea came from Rorie at Milk and Honey when she made mango and brie quesadillas. They are to-die-for. I've made them at least three times since she posted the recipe. You can make them so many different ways too. Since I still can't find the kaffir lime leaves in my neck of the woods (next time I'm near a Whole Foods I'll pick them up) I just use some scallions and lime zest with brie on Trader Joe's homemade tortillas (the sun-dried tomato tortillas actually work fine). They would be perfect with this soup (as long as you don't over-do the mango).

Well, I'm off to bed. Wish me luck that it doesn't rain all week on my vacation! Hopefully I'll be back with great stories of San Francisco delights!