Besides avocado and salads, we’re also missing the food of Spain and Portugal. In addition, Larry and I are both nursing colds we brought back with us. This soup is the perfect remedy. I picked up this book from the library, and the recipes look surprisingly good (I suppose I didn’t have high hopes given the celebrity angle to the book). We loved this soup, thickened with bread and traditionally served with a poached egg.

The cupcakes mostly went to work, where everyone devoured them. Lots of comments on how good these cupcakes are. I overfilled the pans a bit so they’re kind of unwieldy. And not very red – I’m experimenting with natural food colorings but haven’t found one that works particularly well.

• Sopa de Ajo (Spain…A Culinary Road Trip, p. 206)
• Red Velvet Cupcakes (DamGoodSweet, p. 57)