I have got to snap out of it! It's the eleventh day of the New Year and I have yet to really cook! I mean turn the oven on cook! I mean use my brain cook! I mean the kind of cooking that puts the neighbors to shame!

The cold poached Asian pears from yesterday are fabulous, I am not saying they are not. In fact we are enjoying them over vanilla ice cream tonight. But as delicious as they are, they are not really cooking. I am a tough judge and even tougher on myself than I am on other people.

So I gotta admit, tonight I am not really cooking– again! Yep, it's default pasta night at Sups! house. And though it is one of my favorite nights of the week I am not really burning any barns here. No wheels are being re-invented.

Still, I promise you it's going to be tasty. Afterall the popularity of default pasta night lies in the fact that it's a sure fire shortcut to success.

I was at Tangled Noodle recently.  She was posting about having a bit of the blog blues. She took a trip through her local Farmers Market and brought away a few lessons she could use to re-invigorate, re-examine, and even re-flect a bit about why she keeps a blog in the first place. 

Which was a very timely bit of writing for me. Because SippitySup turns nine months old this week, and I am surprised what I have learned in the past nine months.

As is my way, whenever I decide to do something I always jump in with both feet. It’s just the way I am. Especially with something I love whole-heartedly and unabashedly.

But the things and people I love are very carefully chosen. Oftentimes people find me hard to get to know when we first meet. I have been accused of being standoffish and snobbish in my life. I prefer to think I am prudent and purposeful (and maybe a little shy). But that just may be semantics…who knows.

But my point is, my enthusiasm for SippitySup sorta surprised me. It came upon me very quickly. So, once I decided to love SippitySup I knew I would make sacrifices to keep it happy and well fed. I am also a natural caregiver...

They are not around very long so if you want to have squash blossoms. Have them now.

But I can’t be expected to end my week of basil recipes just because a finicky bunch of squash blossoms won’t wait around for me to finish up with basil. And squash blossoms will not wait.

Which means I am going to have to combine them this week with the basil I am committed to. So my usual trip to the Hollywood Farmers Market for this week's Market Matters will have to be a squash blossom recipe that highlights the big bold flavor of basil.

Which is no easy feat. I have had squash blossoms many ways. A light touch is usually best.

I have had them deep-fried in a beer batter with chili powder. Which was delicious of course, but It could have been fried anything and still tasted just as good. The batter was a bit too aggressive for something so etheral. I say you should save that batter for onions or at least something with more heft on the palate.

 It's summer. It's hot. You may not feel like cooking. Especially in the heat of the day.

But people are still going to stop by aren't they? I have friends coming by this afternoon. We plan to beat the heat by laying low by the pool. I would not really call this sort of event entertaining because everybody will probably have his or her noses tucked inside a book. But I am still going to have to feed them aren't I?

You betcha.

So this morning I walked down to the Hollywood Farmers Market. I needed to do Market Matters post and I needed to put together a light lunch for my friends.

I picked up these sweet little summer squash. They are a bit bigger than a golf ball. But not quite as big as a tennis ball. Look how round and perfect they are.  They are a great jumping off place for the light poolside lunch I have planned. Stuffed Summer Squash di Alici.

But just because my lunch needs to be light and easy to make ahead does not mean it can't be big on flavor.

I may be forced into eating soups due to my broken jaw situation. But I am not going to let that stop me from enjoying the best of the summer season.

And, of course, sweet summer corn is among the best of the best of the summer season.

So it did not take a lot of effort on my part to decide to do a summer corn soup. A Creamed Corn Soup with Chili Ricotta.

This corn soup is very corn-centric too. I have made every effort I could to keep the corn front and center here. So the flavors I have chosen to accentuate the corn are exactly that--- accents. Accents of flavor.

Cream, chili powder, milky sweet ricotta and just a bit of lime. Plus, all three of these companions are handled with a very light touch. So it’s the corn you taste and the corn you remember.

As well as I believe these companion ingredients have been chosen, the primary credit for keeping this corn soup super corny goes to the preparation.

I think we have come full circle.

This whole rhubarb obsession started with a rhubarb (she says stewed I say compôte) recipe from The Daily Spud. But to end all this squabbling I think we’ll just call it a sauce. Everybody loves a sauce.

Although, on second thought, since this is my sauce (and my blog), I am going to go ahead and call it a compôte. And if that is not fancy enough I think I’ll take this a step further and call this an Orange Scented Rhubarb Compôte. It tastes better already!

Although in Spud's hands it would be a mighty delicious Stewed Oranges and Rhubarb… you say toe-MAY-toe, I say toe-MAH-toe.

Speaking of which I spent the day at the L.A. Garden Show handing out toe-MAH-toe recipes for TomatoMania. We had a blast! But more on that Monday.

But briefly while we are on tomatoes. Tangled Noodle may have figured out where I was going with this whole TomatoMania/Rhubarb Madness. She correctly pointed out that “rhubarb is a vegetable used like a fruit while a tomato is a fruit that is regarded as a vegetable”.