Working title: “How to eat well using only one burner of your stove.”

Right now there is gazpacho chilling in the fridge. I make gazpacho — either with or without avocado — about twice a week in the spring and summer months. I assembled and blended it earlier this afternoon.

That’s one of my key cooking skills: assemblage. This technique works best — in my case — without heat. (My other key skill involves throwing things in my crockpot, but that’s resting — cowering? — in the back of the cupboard until fall.)

Well, there are my soba noodle salads, which do involve boiling noodles for 4 minutes. So many salads can be assembled with this one staple. Soba noodles and avocado. Soba noodles and cucumber and pepper. Soba noodles and shrimp and mango. Soba noodles with salmon and asparagus. Good thing I like soba noodles.

The above salads can also be made with quinoa. Quinoa — if you don’t know it — is a magic grain (I think) that is very, very good for you. It tastes okay if you use it with more tasty ingredients. It tastes (far less) less okay by itself.

The other thing I like to make — and this is a lot less healthy — is the cold plate. All you need for this are a few picked things. I like picked peppers myself, but pretty much anything can be picked. (Not that I do my own pickling.) Beets are not bad either. Then add some pieces of cheese, a few olives and some sliced meats. Dinner is ready.

I am thinking of writing a cookbook.

Working title: “How to eat well using only one burner of your stove.”
Subtitle: “Never clean your oven again!”