cold pink borscht

I ate a lot of borscht when I was a kid; I just didn't know it had such a fancy name. We called it "vegetable soup" and my mom and grandma pulled it out often in the dead of winter. At Grandma's house we ate it with heavy whipping cream, but my mom could never seem to remember to buy such an unhealthy condiment when she made it.
Alas, fond memories persist and to this day I can't think of a better use for a bunch of beets. I found this recipe in the New York Times Magazine last week and made it tonight for friends.

A few things if you decide to try it yourself:
1.) We don't own a kitchen scale, so either my oh-so-reliable arm scale was off on the beet measurement or 8 cups of water is WAY too much for this recipe. (Either way, the excess is in the freezer- a tasty broth for later!)
2.) I used half golden and half regular old red beets hoping for an orange-y color. Unsurprisingly (and a bit disappointingly) it's just pink.
The title links to the recipe online.