French. Macrobiotic. Vegetarian.

Last night, Emily came over to cook dinner. As she pulled out the ingredients from a big paper bag, I told her that I didn’t want to know what we were making until she was finished cooking. I happily chopped onions and parsley, seeded cucumbers and peeled carrots, and watched her pour a bottle of beet juice into a simmering pan of fennel and garlic in sweet oblivion.

Turns out she was preparing a carefully curated meal of two hot and cold soups — cucumber-yogurt and beet-fennel — with a lively salad of frisee, potato crisps, asparagus and a poached egg. She was mindful of color, season and health. “The meal is mostly macrobiotic,” she told me, explaining that the food was as close to being alive as possible. The dishes were also deconstructed versions of classically French foods.

Here are some pictures of our evening:

All the ingredients

Shaving the fennel

Sauteeing the fennel

Finished soups

Preparing the garnishes

Salads before they are topped with poached eggs

Beet soup and bran bread

Salad frisee with poached egg.

Beet soup recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Beet-and-Fennel-Soup-with-Kefir-362869. Yogurt soup recipe: kefir, red onions, olive oil, cilantro, cukes and salt. Frisee salad: Frisee, grilled asparagus, potato chips, lemon, poached egg.

Thank you, Emily!

-Malaka