The culinary verdict is in

If you drew a face on this fennel, you could cast it in a John Waters movie. Seriously, is this an awesome beehive, or what?

I think I learned something about fennel this week. The bulb I bought was larger than the ones I've bought before, and the anise flavor was much more intense. Too intense for me. I like fennel if the flavor is subtle, but this was over the top. I will shop for a smaller bulb next time to put this theory to the test.

As for the weekend's culinary efforts, I made three out of the four planned dishes (saved Creamy Celery Soup for later). Of those, the Cucumber Soup with Smoked Salmon and Dill is a sure-fire keeper and the two salads probably won't make a repeat appearance.

The Quinoa-Couscous Tabouli had great flavors, but I have to give it up and accept that I am not crazy about quinoa. It has this squiggle in the grain that is just weird. The Beet, Orange & Fennel salad was pretty good, but somehow the ingredients didn't work together well enough to justify the fairly labor-intensive recipe. The too-intense flavor of the fennel, previously noted, didn't help.

But that cucumber soup...mmmm, good. Now there's a combination that worked: the earthy smoked salmon, cool cucumber, and pungent dill. I confess that I had never bought smoked salmon, although I've had it in restaurants. Wow. Trader Joe's smoked sockeye: I think I'm in love.

I also learned that you don't always need dairy products to make a soup thick and creamy if you throw in a diced Russet potato. I realized later that I left out the creme fraiche called for in the recipe, but I didn't miss it at all.

I wonder what else I can do with smoked salmon?