Today is another TomatoMania Monday. My tomatoes are at their height of production. My five pots have brought me quite a bounty.

Of course the irony is that I still can’t eat them. Because if I have not mentioned it lately, I still have a broken jaw. 

I say I can't eat them, but I should say I can't eat them in their solid form.

I know I declared with exhaustion that Sup! can't soup no more. But here I am bringing back another great summer soup.

This is a Cold Tomato Soup with Cucumber and Cantaloupe. This is a spectacularly good soup. Especially when you have impeccable tomatoes as most of us do this time of year.

I make this soup every summer. I look forward to this soup. I discovered it while staying out in Palm Springs for the weekend at a friend's house a few years ago.

Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!

I think I’ll get t-shirt proclaiming that exact sentiment.

Sure I broke my jaw. Sure my mouth is wired shut. Sure I can’t eat “real” food. And yes it is true that eating is a recreational activity to me. And it’s also true that my days stretch out long, dull and formless now that my muse has flown the coop.

But you really, gotta draw the line somewhere. Here is what I mean:

We are going to the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow with friends to see Ray LaMontagne – that folk, soul, rock genius from Maine! I predict a very special evening.

We have a tradition at the bowl. A long and glorious tradition. I make the dinner and whomever we invite to share our box with us brings wine and dessert.

All of our friends know these “rules”.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was not a huge kale fan. That’s not a crime. I am soooo glad to hear there are sooo many wonderful qualities to kale. I am soooo glad to hear sooo many of those uses from sooo many chatty people out there. To set the record straight, I did not say kale was the scourge of the planet. I merely said it had a certain “raw greeny-ness” that makes my teeth squeak when I eat it. No I don’t wear dentures, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did.

Please give me some credit for taking a veggie I merely feel lukewarm about and building (what I believe) to be a terrific soup around it. This shows “tolerance” on my part. It requires a certain “pioneer spirit” and proves once and for all that I am “fair and balanced”. Notice I am quoting from several of you jokers out there! Besides. I am a bit proud of what I came up with.

I devised a White Bean and Red Kale Soup with Italian Sausage. Now I admit I used some rather “rudimentary“ soup making techniques. I did not bust down any walls in making this soup. But, it is my own making. Still, that doesn’t mean I did not have certain gastronomic inspirations when I set forth my culinary ambitions on that pretty red kale.