Monthly Archives: July 2008

A Taste of Summer

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Edamame shiso salad with yuzu vinaigrette

Bright, fresh, and a snap to make, this salad is the perfect starter or side for the lazy days of summer.

If you keep a bag of frozen edamame in your freezer and grow your own shiso plant in your garden as I do, you can put this dish together anytime the mood strikes. I love this floral , tangy, crisp vinaigrette also on chilled green beans, fava beans, peas, asparagus, or salad greens. I think you’ll find it’s definitely a keeper to add to your culinary repertoire.

This wonderful recipe is from The Breakaway Cook by San Franciscan Eric Gower, who has a knack for using Japanese ingredients in clever, yet simple ways.

Edamame shiso salad with yuzu vinaigrette

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A New Kind of Drinkable Chocolate

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Cabaret Brewed Chocolate

It’s not like hot cocoa. It’s not like hot chocolate. And it’s definitely not at all like chocolate milk.

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate is all together different. Rob Polevoi’s Oakland company brews whole cacao beans in water to extract every last bit of flavor. It’s similar to the way coffee is brewed from coffee beans, only this takes much longer.

The resulting liquid is mixed with just a bit of organic sugar, then reduced down to a concentrated syrup. Stir a teaspoon into a small cup of hot water and — voila! — you have brewed chocolate to enjoy. Each teaspoon weighs in at only 24 calories, too.

Mixed with hot water, it creates a relaxing beverage.The beverage is light in body, akin to coffee. The taste isn’t heavy and super rich like that of hot chocolate. Instead, it is delicate, refreshing, and a little like chocolate-covered toffee in liquid form. It’s a very soothing drink to sip.

A 6-ounce jar is $14.95 and available online at the link above.

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