korean melon and an indepth analysis of why i adore mochi

recently i've been obsessed with korean food. i attribute my obsession to a korean soap opera named "dae jang geum" or "jewel in the palace." the soap opera is about a talented orphan girl who grows up to dominate the kitchen in the palace (which seems to the highest honor a woman can get in those days) and eventually becomes the first and only female doctor in the korean palace. i don't know much more than those details because i love the show so much that i'm watching it at the pace of a glacier melting. anyway, in the show, you can see the women competing against each other with their cooking competitions -- much of the food preparation shown on tv was too time consuming for me, but the devotion that they put into food have occasionally inspired me to cook elaborate dinners. that is, elaborate by my standards.

anyway, so we made a trip to the korean supermarket -- zion, this weekend because i wanted to pick up more korean seaweed, fermented soybean for tofu stew and korean pepper for simple kimchee dishes. in the produce section, i picked up a korean melon -- it's shaped like a papaya, has white stripes and looked like the picture on the right. my curiousity is also piqued by the fact that my dad was a produce worker at a supermarket, and he loves to bring home ripe fruits for us to eat. i don't think he has ever seen this melon before, so in the interest of discovering new melons that i can introduce to him if he ever visits san diego -- i figured i'd give it a try.

when you cut inside the melon, there are a lot of tiny seeds. the seeds are hard, and so i removed them and then took a bite out of its flesh. i don't think the melon was ripe enough, but the texture and taste reminded me a lot of honeydew melon that's not ripe yet. so there you have it, if you ever wondered what a korean melon tastes like, it tastes like honeydew, and it's probably best to let it sit on the counter a few days before cutting it open!

on sunday, we decided to check out the japanese mochi bakery, hogestsu in chula vista, thanks to the recommendation of mmm-yoso! in hawaii, or maybe it's just my workplace, people tend to bring snacks or tasty goodies to share with everyone at work. it's great because you get to find out where people buy some of the best stuff to eat. one afternoon, someone brought in a box of mochi from a los angeles japanese bakery. i can't for the life of me, remember what the name of the mochi bakeries were, but there were two of them located next to each other in gardena, los angeles. the mochi, made fresh, were the best things i've ever tasted.

what i love about fresh mochi is the way it melts in your mouth. it's also nowhere as fattening as some of my other delicious things in life, such as creme brulee, ice cream, creme brulee, chocolate chip cookies, creme brulee, haupia, liliha bakery cream puffs and creme brulee. but there's also a very "clean" taste to mochi -- i love mochi for the same reason i love fruits-- there's no overwhelming taste of sweet mushiness that comes with eating rich things like chocolate, but rather a clean cut taste of simple sweetness. in the throes of mental bliss after eating five mochis at once, i turned to my significant other (hereinafter, known as oo) and said that i'd take five mochis over a treat at extraordinary dessert anytime. i am truly a simple girl at heart!

the first mochi i tried was the atom-shaped green mochi -- i'm not sure how to describe it since i don't really know what it's made of, but it's super sweet and gooey in the middle. the green "atoms" has a firm bite -- it was sort of like biting into candied fruit. i didn't like this too much.

the pink mochi with the yellow dot was a cake mochi-- i wasn't very fond of it because i don't like cake in general. the cakes at extraordinary desserts is the only exception to my dislikes for cakes. the interior of the cake mochi contained an azuki bean filling. i like the filling a lot, but i didn't think the smooth texture went well with the crumbly, dry cake texture.

the pink mochi with the brown filling is my absolute favorite. i loved the way this mochi melts in my mouth. the filling is sweet but not too sweet. it was a bite out of this particular mochi that led me to declare mochi "king" over any treat at extraordinary desserts. it's simple to look at but so very tasty.

next, i tried the green tea mochi with azuki red bean filling. i like this mochi a lot because the mochi covering distinctly tastes like green tea. it's also really pretty to look at. but i though the mochi was a bit on the dry side compared ot the above pink mochi with brown filling. maybe it was an older mochi.

this last mochi is my favorite. it's covered with a brown dusty powder that tastes like peanut butter. the inside is filled with a smooth azuki filling which i liked better than the chunky filling in the green tea mochi. this mochi also melted in my mouth. i love eating fresh mochi!!

in conclusion, i was extremely happy that i got my fill of really good mochi. i think that i will probably stick to the traditional mochi since i love the way it melts in my mouth. i am also extremely happy that we won't have to drive to LA every time we have a craving for mochi!!