Salad Days

Just when we are entering into the Autumn months, we've been hit with a heat wave.  I'm talking in the low 90s.  I'm not complaining or anything (kind of).  This is soba salad weather!

2 bunches of soba noodles 

3 cups of arugula

1 cup of romaine lettuce

1/4 of a red onion

1 tomato

Sauce:

3 T. soy sauce

1 T. sesame seed oil

2 T. agave nectar

3 T. grapeseed oil

4 scallions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1.  Boil soba per instruction.  Drain and set in a colander full of ice.

2.  Chop up all the vegetables.

3.  Make sauce by mixing ingredients.  Taste and feel free to add any one of the ingredients to taste.  When I make this kind of sauce, I usually wing it.  It takes too much effort to measure everything.  Experiment, eyeball the ingredients.  

4.  Pour sauce over soba and vegetables.  Enjoy!

Then I did something totally illogical.  I baked!  


It might be because I wanted to use my cute ceramic egg holder.

The key to a good mochi cake is Mochiko.  

There is no substitute - so don't even try.


Mochi Cake (adapted from week of menus)
1 box of Mochiko (sold virtually everywhere.  usually in the 'oriental' food aisle.)
1 1/2 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 can of evaporated milk
4 eggs
2 t. baking powder
2 t. vanilla


1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Melt butter in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
3.  In a bowl, combine sugar and butter.  Whisk until the sugar is pretty much dissolved.
4.  Add milk and vanilla.  Whisk some more.
5.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Whisk after each addition of egg.
6   Add Mochiko and baking powder.  Whisk.
7.  Bake for approximately 45 minutes.  

I added fresh raspberries.  Your cake should be springy and dense at the same time.