Anyone living on the east coast knows how damn hot it has been this summer. And when it’s this hot, I don’t ever want to cook, let alone cook anything warm. But you know, a girl’s gotta eat. So on one of these scorching days, I whipped up the easiest cold soba dish known to man. So here’s how easy it is. You cook some soba noodles, per the directions. After draining, rinse them well with cold water, and add a few ice cubes to help them cool down right away. If you have a cucumber, julienne that up and toss that in with the noodles. Then it’s sauce time.

Ok, so I cheated. I didn’t even make the sauce. I used some existing packets of sauce that come with mul naengmyun. Here’s the thing. If you go to a korean market and buy frozen mul naengmyun kits, they come with the naengmyun noodles, packets of the cold broth, and also packets of spicy dressing. I buy these kits strictly to make the mul naengmyun, so I only use the broth packets. So I had all these spicy dressing packets left over and didn’t really know what to do with them, but kept them in the freezer. So I just decided to use those. And you know what? It was amazing. It’s a teeny bit on the spicy side, but it works perfectly with the soba noodles. The dressing is spicy, sweet, and a little bit savory. I told you this was easy! All I had to do was boil some noodles and cut some cucumbers. Seriously. And then I had to cut the spicy packet open. Even I am capable of performing these rudimentary tasks.

This is a total hot day lazyman dish, and I love it. Why slave in a hot kitchen? These are the brand of soba noodles I used. They claim to be No. 1 in Japan. But if you look at the packet, they’re made in Australia. It would surprise me that an Australian made noodle would be tops in Japan, but I guess I have to believe the package! But I really like these. And they are a bit on the pricier side, but hey, it’s organic, and you don’t want to skimp on soba noodles!

Sampan is Philadelphia’s latest entry into the celebrity chef dining scene, with Michael Schulson at the helm. It’s a modern asian tapas type of joint, with asian inspired small plates. The place is pretty cool looking even from the outside. Look at those crazy wooden slats, they totally draw you in!

It is a small plates place, and they recommend 3-5 plates per person. And each plate is not cheap. So get ready to spend! Here we have the edamame dumplings. These little translucent pockets are filled with a puree of edamame. The consistency is very creamy and ricotta cheese-like. It is served with a very mild sake based broth. These are very different and delicious! Don’t expect tons of flavor, as these are quite subtle.
Here are the kobe beef satays, with apricot, soy, and mirin. These were pretty good, but I don’t know man, they’re awfully expensive for two teeny little skewers of meat. I realize that the kobe cows are massaged daily by their individual handlers and pampered and such, but I’m just not sure that’s worth it when you just put hunks of their meat on sticks.
Here are some more meats on sticks that I can get a bit more excited about. These are the korean BBQ beef satays. They’ve basically taken bulgogi, rolled them and stuck them on sticks, and topped them with kimchi. Yes sir, these were fantastic!
Here we have something with slightly more heft, the pork banh mi, or at least Sampan’s take on the banh mi. It has berkshire pork belly as the main ingredient, with the standard carrot, cucumber, and cilantro as fixins. This is not nearly like the banh mi you will find at your neighborhood vietnamese sandwich joint, but these are definitely yummy. They do not have the shredded daikon, which I love, so that kind of bummed me out a little bit. And there’s a sauce in there that’s not typically found in other banh mi. It’s also pricey for a banh mi, that’s for damn sure, but for Sampan, it’s one of their tastiest bargains. E was absolutely crazy about this, and this was probably her favorite dish of the night.
Here is Sampan’s version of the “Philly Cheese Steak”. It’s got shredded beef plopped on little toasted buns, and are topped with shallot, cheese, and sriracha. These are a bit on the salty side, but I really enjoyed them anyway. The strong smell of the cheese threw me off initially, but then once my nose got used to it, I really found these to be quite delicious. I think this was probably my favorite of the night, along with the korean bbq satays. They don’t really taste anything like philly cheesesteaks at all, but I think that’s a good thing.We topped off the evening with a visit to Capogiro, my first all summer. I got half blackberry and half yellow plum sorbetto. Jimminy christmas trees, was this yellow plum some of the most fantastic frozen treats I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten yellow plums, but if they taste like this, then sign me up! The blackberry was delicious as well, and really tasted intensely like blackberries, but the yellow plum just blew me away. Definitely thumbs up on both the dinner and the dessert!

On the hottest darn day of the summer in 2010, I had the privilege of attending a lovely wedding for J & S. Like the priest said during the ceremony, J & S are ‘dunkin’ people, but the reception surely was not. It was luxuriously fancy! Held at the Down Town Club, right next to Independence Hall, it was down right swank.
Before dinner, we had cocktail hour with booze and food. We may have been at the down town club, but they had no qualms about serving meats on sticks.
There was sushi too!
Some sliced meats, perhaps?
These were just about the cutest things ever. It was pulled pork on top of chips that were shaped like little spoons!
Fresh fruit?  Yes. Cheese? Yes!
There were some sweet things during cocktail hour as well. They also passed around some veggie spring rolls, sliders, bacon wrapped something on skewers, and other delicious treats. And the booze was a-flowin.
Ok, onto the formal reception! The room was beautiful with incredible high ceilings. We were on top of this high rise building and there were incredible views of Philadelphia. We started with a salad of greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was great as is, but it was even better once you realized there was asparagus hidden underneath!
There were two entree selections. The first was the crabcake. Looks good. And man, they have broccolini as a side! I love broccolini!
I picked the turbinado of beef. It was great! I even enjoyed the veggies, although I avoided the shredded carrots. Let me just say something. I have to hand it to caterers. Seriously though. I have no idea how you bring out food for 200 people, at essentially the same time, and everything is hot and delicious and nicely presented. This is why I am in the eating business and you are in the cooking business. I’m very happy just doing the eating, thank you very much.
You probably thought I was going to talk next about the wedding cake. Or perhaps wedding pie? No way, jose. I’m next going to talk about the Room of Desserts! Yes, you heard it right. This wedding reception had a room solely dedicated to desserts. This lovely plate is what I decided to have. Starting from the top and going clockwise we have a cream puff (meh), chocolate dipped strawberry (yums), red velvet cupcake (my favorite!), fruit tart (ok), and a lemon tart in the middle (good). I really enjoyed this room of desserts because you could get what you wanted and didn’t have to just be forced into eating wedding cake. Even though I’m sure that wedding cake was probably quite good. And the cake was in the room of desserts as well, of course!
What else was in this room of desserts? Well, for one, fire! Fire, from the cherries jubilee. There was also a whole side of the room solely dedicated to coffees and teas.
Little mini cannolis, and lots of other mini sweet treats. There were tons of chocolate based treats.
Ice cream too!
Pies, cupcakes, and of course, wedding cake, which I totally forgot to take a picture of. Wedding cake capture fail! It was a great ceremony, fantastic cocktail hour, delicious dinner, even more delicious desserts, and a fun and dance-filled reception. Here’s to wishing J & S a happy life together!