Move aside quiche there a a new super food in town and men love it.

Real men like Napoleon Bonaparte and (yep) Sippity Sup! And we're not the only super-dudes in love with this peppery green bite. It’s said that Hippocrates, the father of medicine, built an entire hospital next to a patch of the stuff because he recognized early on the health benefits it could provide to his patients. Gruff Greek soldiers ate watercress to increase their masculine vigor. Even Roman Emperors said it enabled them to make “bold decisions”. I can vouch for that. I ate Creamy Watercress Soup with Sage and decided to write this super-charged tribute.

In Victorian times elegant ladies jumped on the watercress bandwagon too. It could be purchased in parks and street corners, gathered into posey-style bundles. These daintly little nosegays could be nibbled upon, like an ice cream cone while strolling.

And what a nibble watercress seems to be. It's said to have more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more folate than bananas, and more iron than spinach.

But its real attribute is that manly men like it. The Romans even believed it could prevent baldness. Now I ask you what man wouldn't eat watercress with that kind of information available to him? Still, even if you have a full head of hair (or are in fact a lady) eating watercress still has delicious benefits. Most notably it has a peppery crunch that elivens this vibrantly colored creamy soup made with leeks, and potatoes called potage au cresson. My version is a simple (but manly) take on the classic. GREG

Sometimes I get into trouble with you my gentle readers because I don’t always do “wow” recipes. What I mean is– seared scallops can knock it out of the park and many people are cruising the blogs looking for those iconic images to satisfy their tastiest food fantasies. So in my heart, I know today’s Avocado Watercress Salad with Green Beans will surely be a disappointment for those of you looking for truly inspired, gastro-molecular–gravity-defying-stacks of food. But my wallet (and my blood sugar) can’t afford to enjoy these treats on a daily basis.

I also know that several of you nice folks are gonna leave me sweet messages saying how you think all my recipes are “wow”.  To those of you so inclined, I’ll say “Thank You” in advance for those kind words, but there’s really no need to pat my ego this way. Because, as much as I love bringing on the wow-factor every once and again, I honestly enjoy real food and real life here just as much as anything.

That is why Sippity Sup is often about fresh takes on the familiar. My recipes tend to be simple, modern and colorful, though they have their roots in traditional styles. I find myself attracted to presentations that highlight some aspect of cooking, or perhaps a particular flavor or an ingredient that I love. I am drawn to simple pairings of diverse flavors. I draw on other cultures, but I am a slave to none. I think we should eat healthy, but I prefer classic techniques using real ingredients. Including real fats. I think that a bold hand and a deft palate allow the simple beauty of food to shine. Sometimes what’s not in a recipe can be every bit as important as what is.

Carrots are a year 'round item at the Hollywood Farmers Market. But this time of year particularly beautiful carrots can be found in an array of colors, sizes and shapes. I love the little round French carrots; so sweet and carroty. They are the perfect size to pop in your mouth like a little carrot bon-bon, and that’s exactly what I do with them.

So this week I chose carrots for my Market Matters post. Not just any carrot however, I chose a variety of the most unusually colored carrots I could find. Because once you get out of the PigglyWiggly you will discover that there is way more to a carrot than orange. There are red carrots, purple ones, even yellow, white, and two-toned varieties.

You needn’t be frightened of these carrots. They are not some mutinized hybrid with a lot of genetic hanky-panky going on. Nope, most of these carrots are heirlooms.