Cold beet soup with potatoes, cucumbers, herbs & buttermilk

Oh, beets, how I love thee! In cold months of winter, roasted in the oven, sliced and topped with goat cheese, you are divine.

In the fall, mixed in with citrus, blue cheese and toasted nuts, you warm me up.

In the summer, peeled and shredded with carrots, daikon radish and mixed in with sesame oil, cilantro and soy sauce, you invigorate me.

And you make me jealous when you appear in the kitchen of my parents and are made into a cold summer soup and eaten by everyone in my family but me.
I don't mind that my fingers turn pink when I touch you, or when you accidentally stain my favorite tshirt. I can deal with it!

Last weekend I picked up a bunch of beets and decided to make a version of a cold Russian beet soup I absolutely love and crave often in the summer. 

{Note: don't throw away the green leaves: instead, make this lovely Swiss Chard & Beet Greens with Sour Cream Dressing dish.}

Ingredients

3 medium sized potatoes, cooked till tender in salted water, cooled, peeled, cubed
3 beets, scrubbed, peeled, cubed, cooked in salted water, cooled {do not discard the water!}
to taste:
cucumbers, chopped
chives, chopped
dill, chopped
buttermilk

optional
radishes, hard boiled eggs, parsley

Directions
1. Add potatoes, beets, cucumbers, and chives to the bottom of a soup bowl.

2. Ladle the cooled cooking liquid fro beets.

3. Add in buttermilk. Mix.

I've had this soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What can I say? I absolutely LOVE it. It's best when it's absolutely and utterly cold. The buttermilk make the soup a gorgeous maroon color. Please make this and let me know what you think!