WYSIWYG

...o rly?

With the humidity over 85% and temperatures hovering in the low 80s, we were in a daze strolling with Akemi before dinner.

Dinner tonight had to be cool and crisp.

While I was busy skimming through web pages online, the chopping of cucumbers in the kitchen perked my ears. As I got up from my computer, Bug whizzed by with his delicious smelling bowl of salad -- chopped iceberg lettuce and cucumbers with miso dressing from my aunt, Mae. I ninja'ed a cucumber slice just before he sat at his computer.

Inspired, I chopped, sliced, and mixed some items from the fridge. Since we didn't have peppers, tomatoes, eggs, or carrots, I came up with this concoction.

Refreshing salad on a hot, humid afternoon

I rummaged out of the fridge:
- takuan -- yellow pickled daikon
- fukujinzuke -- red pickled daikon and other vegetables
- pickled gobo -- orange burdock root
- cucumbers
- iceberg lettuce

After arranging the salad, I had a hankering for something creamy.

I was supposed to make kimbap last weekend, but didn't out of laziness, so we had a large packet of imitation crab meat sitting in the fridge. Ooh!

I picked apart 2 sticks of surimi so they were in loose strands and cut them in thirds; threw in slender sticks of cucumber; squeezed some Kewpie mayonnaise; and mixed the ingredients in a bowl. Surimi and cucumber salad in under 2 minutes.

+ surimi and cucumber salad

When I put the rest of the surimi back into the fridge, I spotted a container of little fishies that I bought at a Korean grocery store 2 weekends ago.

Korean fish

A pinch would add a firm yet chewy texture, along with a sweet and spicy kick of the sesame laden smokey fish.

++ Korean fishies

Finally, the dressing.

Pietro sesame and miso dressing

Angelo Pietro's sesame and miso dressing is my hands down absolute favorite dressing. As with some dressings like Italian, this is versatile as a marinade for all types of meat, land and sea, and tofu, stir fry base, and a salad dressing, balancing sesame, miso, rice vinegar, and soy sauce, neither overpowering the other.

+++ Pietro dressing

The salad turned out better than I had expected, with the crunchy and salty tsukemono (takuan and fukujinzuke), earthy, tangy, and crunchy pickled gobo, soothing creamy surimi salad, spicy and sweet fish, crisp cucumbers and lettuce, and a dressing that rounded everything out. And it took under 10 minutes to prepare.

I will definitely make this again! Perhaps for dinner tomorrow night?

- Cassaendra