One of the nice things about writing a food blog, it turns out, is that you meet other people who like food. And in this networked world, you soon meet their friends, and friends-of-friends, and so it goes until you find yourself, as I often do, surrounded by people who love food, eating good food, talking about food. 
Sometimes those people even cook for you.
On one such recent occasion, a new friend made this soup. Oh, this soup.
Make this soup in secret, if you can. Hide the evidence before you serve it and watch people’s reactions. To a one, each taster will slurp a sip, stop, and tip her head to the side. Narrow his eyes at the bowl. Taste another spoonful. And then start guessing: “Tomato?” “Carrot?” “I love this. What is it?”
It’s sweet. It’s spicy. It’s cool. It’s refreshing. It’s a little addictive. It’s watermelon. 
The complex, intense flavors here will make this soup the star of the meal, so keep the rest simple. We served it with grilled salmon and rice, a lemony garlic-ginger sauce, and a green salad. And also, of course, cucumber mint sorbet for dessert.
Chilled Watermelon Soup with Thai Flavors (adapted from Gourmet): Puree 6 c. watermelon chunks in a blender after removing any black seeds (the little white ones you’ll strain out later); transfer puree to a bowl. Finely chop the bottom 6″ of a stalk of lemongrass (discard the outermost leaf or two first), a shallot, a garlic clove, and a thumb-size piece of peeled ginger.
Saute the lemongrass, shallot, garlic, and ginger in oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add 1/3 of the watermelon puree to the pot and continue cooking, stirring often, for 5 more minutes. Scrape this mixture from the pot back into your blender and add a minced serrano chile (seeds and all), 3/4 tsp. salt, and 2 Tb. lime juice. Blend until smooth, then add the remaining watermelon puree and pulse a few more times to combine. Taste and adjust flavors with more lime, chile, or salt if desired.
Strain the soup through a fine-meshed strainer, stirring and pressing on the solids to extract as much juice as possible. Refrigerate the soup until thoroughly chilled, at least two hours.
Just before serving, chop an avocado and sprinkle it with plenty of lime juice and salt. Chop a good handful of cilantro. Serve the chilled soup with the avocado, cilantro, and more lime wedges.
Emmy Cooks 
haha, I love it! I’ve had watermelon salad before but never soup. So inspiring!
oh, this is my kind of soup! can’t wait to try this one.
This sounds lovely with a nice bit of heat! Will have to try it!
Ooh I can’t wait to make this soup! Sounds amazing :) And the color from the watermelon, marvelous!
Ooh…I’ve had cold fruit soups before, but never with these kinds of flavors. Sounds delicious!
Oh, I must try this one! Sounds so unique and tasty.
I am WAY intrigued.
This looks amazing- we will try this!
Wow–I would never have thought of this combination! Super intriguing. I also love getting so many new ideas from everyone on the foodblog circuit–thanks for this great one. :)
I love lemongrass and I rarely use it in my cooking. I like the combination of flavors for this soup. Plenty of more hot days here…I will definitely try this recipe. By the way, beautiful photo of the finished soup.
This looks so so so delicious!!
Yum. Double yum. Loved this one.
Wow! How interesting and unique! It looks so refreshing, too.
daisy
Love the flavors here! I need to do this before summer is over.
Too good! We are so trying this :) thanks for posting.
Dear Emmy, we are on the same food wave! I have been experimenting with watermelon and thought a soup would be nice and then POW! Here it is. This sounds like the perfect summer soup, the flavour of watermelon works surprisingly well for something so dang sweet on its own. Thank you for the inspiration (always). Peace and falafels, lee
Wow- I must try this!
Oh, yum.
What a gorgeous soup! My lemongrass is is completely taking over the garden, so this would be a nice use for it–now if I could only get my watermelon plant to cooperate!
I am now tipping my head while I’m wondering what this will taste like ;-) Something to try!
Oo yum, this looks like the perfect use for lots of watermelon at once for when I make a renewed attempt (haven’t posted about my first one…) at pickled watermelon rind!
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OMG!! I so can’t wait for our watermelon season to start!! Yum!
I’m a soup lover, so I can’t wait to give this a try