Summer Salmon Salad

It has been so hot in Atlanta that I hardly feel like cooking. I basically baked a piece of salmon fillet seasoned with freshly grounded pepper in the toaster oven for a few minutes and topped it on my bed of greens, green beans, bell peppers, and tomatoes. It was a satisfying meal, especially with a Japanese miso dressing. Yum.

A Perfect Summer Evening

Summers on the East Coast can be hot and humid. For some reason, the weather was perfect this past Saturday in Baltimore. At evening, there was a gentle breeze as we grilled and dined on a friend's rooftop with a view of the harbor. Good friends, good juicy rib eye steaks, good weather... I couldn't have asked for more.

Japanese Confectionery from Minamoto Kitchoan

A friend recently introduced me to wagashi from Minamoto Kitchoan. I must say, Japanese know how to package everything so beautifully. The sweets came in this pretty box. As with most Asian desserts, these are suppose to be "healthy" and not so heavy.


Everything inside were beautifully wrapped. I almost felt bad eating them. The one on the left is a lightly-sweetened jelly with a cherry in the middle. The one on the right is strawberry/red bean jelly.

This is what the cherry jelly looked like when you open up the pretty packaging:


And finally, there were some chocolate mochi in the box...


This is probably the best east-meets-west dessert I have had recently. I savored every single one of them. The mochi "skin" was soft while the chocolate filling inside melt slowly in the mouth, sort of like a chocolate truffle. This is a perfect solution to when I desperately need a chocolate fix.

Frozen Yogurt

I was introduced on a recent to trip to L.A. to the new frozen yogurt fad. It has this tart yogurtie taste has a frozen smooth consistency, often served with toppings to your desire (like fresh berries and fruit). They advertise that 1 ounce serving has only 25 calories. This is too good to be true for someone like me who loves ice cream or basically anything like that consistency! I didn't think it was THAT great at first, but now that I am back in Atlanta, I find myself craving for this low-calorie frozen goodness. I guess it grows on you.

Pinkberry
At Pinkberry, I had a plain frozen yogurt topped with fresh rasberries and blackberries. The combination was refreshing and guilt-free. It wasn't overly-sweet. I thought their green tea flavor yogurt was pretty tasteless. I couldn't really taste the green tea in it. The frozen yogurt consistency was a little bit on the icy side.

Ce Fiore
Personally, I liked it better at Ce Fiore (located in Japantown). I had a swirl of blackberry yogurt together with green tea yogurt. They offer a little more variety in their yogurt flavors. I found their consistency to be a little smoother, less icy. Supposedly, they will be opening soon here in Atlanta!

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of talk to what the actual ingredients to this kind of frozen yogurt. It has been speculated that this stuff comes from a powder, not real yogurt. Until they can prove that this stuff is really bad for you, I think I'll still like this stuff.

Honeydew Granita

I was disappointed by the honeydew I had bought yesterday from an un-named ethnic supermarket. It was very fragrant and felt really heavy when I picked it up at the store. But when I opened it up, it was not as sweet and juicy as I expected it. Inspired by recipes for honeydew granita from Williams-Sonoma's Ice Cream and David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, I decided to save this not-so-good honeydew. To my surprise, the fragrance of the honeydew could still be appreciated in every spoonful of this granita. It was perfect in this hot Atlanta weather. I think I will try other flavors next time (maybe watermelon).

Honeydew Granita
(recipe adapted from books mentioned above)

1 honey dew (about 2 pounds), chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Puree all ingredients together in a blender. Pour mixture in a 9x13 inch pan and place in freezer. Remove from freezer after 1 hour and break up the ice on top/edges with a fork. Return to freezer. Repeat every 30 minutes until the ice becomes fine.