Today’s a hot and hazy day. I’d been lulled by the fabulous June we experienced here in Toronto, but lately the weather’s definitely been saying to me, “Summer’s here!”.

Me? I grew up on the West Coast, and I miss the bright, cool, sparkly days of summer there (well, okay, the almost-all-the-time drizzle, THAT I don’t miss all that much). Not to mention the mountains and the salt smell of the ocean.

Beach house for me, one day.

But back to the hot and hazy days of a Toronto summer. I’ve been finding myself eating salad, salad and then maybe a little bit of salad to top things off. It’s really only when it gets so hot and sticky that I remember how GOOD a nice, cool salad can taste.

And since I usually feel quite lazy when it’s hot, one of my favorite salad dishes to prepare is Asian Cucumber Salad. That is my name for it. My mother, who made this all the time when I was growing up, just called it “cucumbers”. There’s a simplicity to that, too, that fits the dish quite well.

You can use seedless English cukes for this, but to get the best cucumber-y taste, the cheaper, regular cucumbers are best.

It’s so easy to make, there’s really no need to write it out recipe-style.

All you need are cucumbers, as many or few as you’d like, soy sauce and pure sesame oil. This is an excellent dish to keep in the fridge, to be served cold, so I always like to whip up a big batch.

Peel the cucumbers, half them and slice out the seed part. Cut your halves into quarters, and then slice into little half-half moons.

Put them in a bowl, throw in soy sauce to taste and sesame oil to scent. Mix it all up, and then stick it in the fridge to marinate the cucumbers. Every now and then, stir things up.

That’s all there is to it. Eat cold, on a hot, hot day. Especially a hot and hazy one like today’s hot and hazy day in Toronto.

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