As I often do on a hot day, today I bought ingredients for a big salad: tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Together with a bit of cheese and some bread, the salad serves as both lunch and dinner. On a sweltering day, this is plenty for me. But today I realized I could use the same ingredients to make a gazpacho instead. And this is what I did as soon as I came home. First I cut all the vegetables as though I was making a salad, and then I minced them with a hand-held mixer. Together with some olive oil and a bit of my hot sauce, the cold soup was simply delicious. And there will be enough of it for dinner, too. But the reason for going on about gazpacho is elsewhere: the sudden switch from salad to cold soup made me so happy that I surprised even myself. How little it takes!