It might finally be too hot to cook now that it's stopped raining. Mark Bittman's 2007 article on summer cooking (or not cooking) has tons of great ideas and I went with gazpacho, a chilled tomato soup that makes me nostalgic for Spain (fun fact, Spanish McDonald's serves a pre-packaged gazpacho. Also beer.)It can be made with no heat, very little effort and few ingredients. Chop 3 or 4 tomatoes and one cucumber into large chunks, tear a couple slices of stale bread into small pieces(you can create stale bread by baking the slices at very low heat for 10 minutes of so), add a clove of garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, a bit of sherry vinegar and a couple ice cubes and combine in a blender or food processor, adding water as needed to facilitate blending. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold, leftovers keep well in fridge.
