Chilled Avocado Basil Soup

We made this chilled avocado basil soup with a languishing avocado that was lying around getting squishy and all the overgrowth from our huge basil plant.

Um, just for future reference, it was yucko. Admittedly, I've never been a real big avocado fan (although I don't hate them or anything), and also, I used green beans instead of radishes. But still, I could barely choke down a few bites before I was done. Michael finished his bowl, but he agreed that it was not very good. It probably would have been a lot yummier to make a quick basil dressing to go over cubed avocado or something. Alas.

Grilled Pizza And Stroobaroo Sundaes

I just wanted to say that grilled pizza is a lot harder than it looks. It took a long time and got a lot of stuff burned, and despite what all the blogs say about how the bottom cooks too fast to stick to the grill grates or drip down through them--lies! It totally sticks and drips. Granted, everything ended up tasting pretty good (that delicious charcoal flavor that gets into grilled foods is just so tasty), but it just took a long time and was a little frustrating. Next time I think we'll stick to grilled veggie kebabs (they are seriously delicious and much, much easier).

Dessert was much yummier (and simpler). We had some vanilla ice cream topped with homemade strawberry sauce (takes about ten minutes to cook up and is extremely forgiving) and homemade whipped cream (takes about one minute). I really need to remember that simpler is almost always better.

Red Grape Pizza

I have a weakness. I see recipes that look crazy and think, "Wow, why haven't I ever thought of that?" But guys: recipes and flavor combinations that look crazy...well, let's just say they usually taste crazy too.






















From Ezra Pound Cake.

I was intrigued when I saw this recipe for a grape pizza: you use a batch of pizza dough, divide it into 4 mini-pizzas, then brush each one with rosemary and olive oil, add some halved red grapes, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with grated pecorino.

There are just...a lot of flavors going on! The grapes get really sweet and juicy as they cook, and the honey gets all caramely and bubbly with the cheese. The first couple bites of this, I was like, "Wow! What are all these...wow!" The combination of fruit and honey with the herby rosemary and the strong cheese was really good and new for the first few bites. But by the end, we were less "wow" and more "what...what is this bizarre mix of flavors? Whose idea was this?"

So, I wouldn't call it a swing and a miss. It wasn't horrible. It might be good as a two-bite appetizer, but the flavors were way too strong and crazy for a full meal. We also said that all the sweetness from the grapes and honey was probably just too much with the rosemary and the powerful cheese, and if we were to make something like this again, we'd probably swap out the grapes and honey for some nice browned onions.

Verdict: B+, then D (but with the possibility of a higher grade with some substitutions)