Jessica's Dinner Party

by jessica yoon

summer

A Summer Soiree

a summer soiree | jessica's dinner party

Another summer season has kicked off with my mom’s annual backyard barbecue.  Every year the guest list seems to get a little bigger and along with that an even better menu.  My mom outdid herself again with plenty of classic as well as inventive appetizers: cocktail shrimp, perilla salad, fried chicken..my only regret is that I didn’t take enough pictures of all her beautiful dishes! Oh, and did I mention that there was 13+ kilos worth of T-bone steaks??!  Amahz!  To end, I put together a little ice cream bar with fruit and a few cakes to match!  It was such a lovely evening and because almost all my desserts could be made in advance I was able to enjoy the night without any fuss! I’ll share a few ice cream recipes in coming weeks, but for now here a few photos from the night!

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Summer of Pavlovas

Summer of Pavlovas, Jessica's Dinner Party

Summer quietly whizzed past me, leaving me a bit out of sorts and unprepared for fall. I’m usually looking forward to this time of year, when the hot weather slowly turns cool, but this year I’m wanting to hold on a little bit before jumping into sweaters, pumpkins, and pie. I haven’t had the chance to properly introduce my new job, but if you follow me on instagram or twitter you will have noticed that I’m still working in the food industry. I’m constantly looking at food, reading about food, tasting food, but rarely for me, mostly for my job that I haven’t really had time or rather the energy to try out new recipes and experiment, thus the “Summer of Pavlovas.”

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Cantaloupe Granita

 

I’ve kind of been obsessed with cantaloupe lately.  I eat it during breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday and still don’t get tired of it!  I think it’s the most perfect out of all the melons.  It’s sweet, but not as piercingly sweet as honeydew.  It’s refreshing and juicy in a more substantial way than watermelon.  And it’s just has a very calming quality to it.  It’s pleasant and soothing like dawn during summertime.

 

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Cold Black Bean Soup With Noodles

 

Korean summers are excruciatingly humid and hot.  Temperatures will rise above the 90s and for a few weeks monsoon season hits so it rains cats and dogs.  Fortunately, throughout my life I have only spent a handful of summers there. I love being there and it’s where I call home, but summer is just not its best season.

 

One great thing about summer in Korea though is the cold noodle soups.  They’re cool, refreshing, and very flavorful.  The most common and popular cold noodle soup is probably, naengmyun, 냉면.  It is made with buckwheat noodles and a cold broth garnished with julienned cucumbers, asian pear slices, half a hard boiled egg, and pieces of steamed pork belly.  It’s a bit complicated to make naengmyun from scratch, which is why they sell packages of naengmyun “kits” in Korean/Asian supermarkets. Everything is included, so all you have to do is boil the noodles and pick your garnishes.

  

  

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