Creamy zucchini soup - and many thanks.

As you might have noticed in the righthand upper corner of the page, I have added a link to Instituto Orbitato, which has been supporting me in a few ways.

The first one, super important for me, was the redesign of the page's layout. As I've said before, this was developed by Flávia Vanelli, who works as a graphic designer at the institute.

In this whole redesign story, the illustration is by Celaine Refosco.

[It's not a coincidence we have the same last name, she's my mother.]

Another way I've received support was the opportunity to choose a few pieces of tableware that have been developed by Orbitato to the company Copa e Cia, to become part of my collection of objects used in the pictures.

The first one to be photographed is the placemat you see today, and it will soon be available to purchase in the shop recently launched by Orbitato.

For these things, and so many others, I'd like to say here how much I am grateful.

All of you people interested in design, fashion and architecture, take a look at Orbitato's website, since teaching in these three fields is their biggest strength (besides consultancy and product development). Even if you live far from Brazil, do take a look. They have quite a few foreign students that opted to come and study in here.

Now, to the soup!

1 very large zucchini

3 taros

2 tiny onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons coconut oil (or butter, or olive oil, or any fat you prefer to use, why!)

Salt to taste

Water, as needed

Powdered cumin seeds to taste

I peeled the onions and cut them in halves, then in strips. I cut out the bottom of the garlic cloves, smashed them against the cutting board using a knife to help, them removed the peel with mi hands.

I sauteed the onions and garlic in the oil over low heat in large pan.

Meanwhile, I peeled and chopped the taros in kind-of-small pieces.

When the onions turned transparent (a little more then 5 minutes) I threw the taros in and let them sauté too, raising the heat to maximum.

I let it sauté, stirring every now and then, until the taro lost the raw aspect (again, about 5 minutes).

I used this time to wash and chop the zucchini in small cubes. I have used a variety of zucchini that we have here, named "Brazilian zucchini". The difference is in color (it's lighter) and in texture (it's firmer), but the rest is the same.

So, any kind of zucchini you have on hand should work fine.

When I was done chopping, I added the zucchini to the pan and let it quickly sauté (2 minutes), keeping up the high heat, and still stirring.

I seasoned with salt and a pinch of powdered cumin seeds, stirred well, added water - just enough to cover the vegetables -, lowered the heat, and let it cook until the zucchini's outsides got a bright green color. It will vary according to the judgment of the cook, as well as from one stove to another, so there's no indication I can give here in minutes.