Julia wrote:

> Perhaps a quinoa salad? I could put in minced carrot, celery, cilantro,
> snow peas, cucumber and zucchini with a sesame dressing. Normally I'd
> put a little scallions and red bell pepper in it too, but I could leave
> them out.

Personally, I think couscous, millet, or bulgur would work better than
quinoa as a salad. (That's just my personal preference.)

I'd also want to ensure that the salad matched with the soup. Since you like
the idea of a cold soup, maybe you can find one which has some Asian or
Middle-Eastern flavor notes which could play off well against the sesame
dressing you contemplate for the salad. Or you could choose a soup recipe
first, and then tailor the salad flavors to complement the soup flavors.


> I need ideas for a main course too. I don't want to cook out barbecue
> style. Maybe I could broil marinated chicken, serve corn on the cob and
> put some marinated mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini on skewers
> and broil them too. Thoughts?

Hrm. This seems like a good time for teriyaki chicken, pork, or beef: Then
you could have a grain salad as mentioned above, or any of the cold Asian
noodle salads discussed here in the past. Teriyaki vegetable skewers are
usually a hit, provided you've got a good teriyaki sauce. Finally, and I
admit that I'm improvising wildly here, for a cold soup, how about cold
consommé with enoki mushrooms and a few drops of soy and lemon juice?

There are half-a-dozen menus clamoring for attention in my head, but I
*have* to go to bed now. So here's an Iron-Chef kind of exercise: Think of
the following cuisines, and how your menu template (cold soup, salad, main
dish, side dish, and dessert) can be met using elements either from one
cuisine at a time, or how to harmoniously fuse more than one cuisine:

Spanish, Moroccan, Lebanese, Italian, Neo-Scandinavian, New American,
Indian, Japanese


Bob sleep now. *thud*nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnn.....