Celebrating Summer...

This may come a day late and a dollar short to most of you fine folks out there, but here in the Pacific Northwest it's finally (dare I say it?) Summer!  The sun is out.  It's slightly warmish.  Some days it's downright, nearly, almost hot!  Time for some cucumber soup!  I got this recipe from a friend of mine who asked me to make it for a Ladies' Tea.  I was relatively new to cooking and decided to punch it up a little with curry powder.  I loved it.  But let's just say there were several ladies who were less than impressed...  Something about curry not quite complimenting clotted cream...  If you like a little curry and you're not trying to impress the Ladies Tea Society, go for it.  It's fantastic.  If not, make it like this, it's still great.  It originally came from Gourmet Magazine, apparently.

Chilled Cucumber Soup
3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped, plus 1 C peeled, seeded, and finely diced
1 1/2 C plain yogurt
1/4 C sour cream
1/2 tsp English-style dry mustard, or to taste
Salt and Pepper
1/4 C chopped fresh dill
Fresh lemon juice, taste
Cucumber slices, dill sprigs, for garnish

In a blender, puree chopped cucumbers, yogurt, sour cream, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a bowl.  Chill soup until ready to eat.  Before serving, stir in finely diced cucumber, dill and lemon juice.  Garnish soup with cucumber slices and dill sprigs.
Yield: 4 1/2 C Prep time: 20 minutes

Notes:
I used the juice of one whole lemon, but I was using my own homemade yogurt, so it was pretty mild.  Using store bought, you could probably get away with half a lemon.

Review:
One of my crumbs loved it, the other wouldn't touch it, but what else is new?  Hubby and I thought it was great.  It's great as a first course, or even a whole meal if it's really unbearable outside, though you might want to double it up.  I served this with some sauteed shrimp and garlic on a bed of rice and parsley (fake chicken chunks for myself...)  Very nice.