A Zucchini by any other name is a Courgette

A while back, The Fix-it Guy asked me what soup I was making next. I had just made Curried Zucchini and I told him that since we had the squash coming out of our ears, I had decided to make a month (at least) of soups featuring the gorgeous green vegetable. He sort of grimaced like he thought that was a bad idea, but I would not be stopped (much like the zucchini plant in our garden).

Last week our pesto based vegetable soup featured an abundance of diced zucchini. I have carried on with my plan this week, and today we had a lovely Shredded Courgettes with Orzo Soup. Even though you hear that the French are rivals of the British, for some reason the British like to use some of their words...like courgettes for zucchini, and the Canadians have joined them. While everyone I know around here says zucchini, my Canadian cookbook called this soup Courgettes and Pasta (pronounced paaaasta - like "at" or "cat" - I have no idea why, but also a British pronounciation - or travesty if you're The Southerner!).

I was hoping that by calling it Courgettes and Pasta Soup, I could trick The Fix-it Guy into eating it, but guess what? He hasn't shown up in in a month of Sundays. Three weeks ago, we were on hiatus, then last week he was supposedly too tired. And this week, I've heard he's "off island," but I think maybe he's just afraid of my outstanding cooking abilities, because if he tasted Courgettes & Pasta Soup, then he would have to admit that it IS possible to make a month's worth of yummy zucchini soups (or three weeks, at least).

The Farmers gave me the onions, and I had everything else on hand, so all I had to buy was some gorgeous flat leaf parsley at the market yesterday. With the aid of my thirty year old food processor (it was my mother-in-law's), I made short work of that five pound zucchini that nearly got away from us (FYI, in spite of the fact that everyone tells you to "eat the small ones," there's nothing wrong with huge zukes, just cut them up and remove the seeds and they're fine for company for soup. ).

We had a very nice, somewhat small gathering today - Me, The Southerner, The Neighbour, The Musician, and The Boaters. One of The Boaters has been here before, but today the whole Boating Family came, which was really nice. The Southerner had picked a load of blackberries, so I made a blackberry chipotle sauce (which I KNOW The Fix-it Guy would've loved) and served it over cream cheese with crackers, just for fun and variety. Total Yum. I'm just sayin'.

Nice day, great company, and delish food. Wish y'all were here. Maybe next week, when we'll be having...how do you say zucchini in German?