Persian Sweets II and Yeh Yeh’s

The same trip that I discovered Faloudeh from the Persian market, I also bought Sesame Pashmak — another traditional Iranian dessert made of sesame, sugar, pistachio and vanillin.

I loved the prominent sesame flavor in this dessert; and it was the texture that was really fun.

It reminded me of a traditional Chinese candy that I used to enjoy growing up called dragon beard candy, 龍鬚糖.

Dragon beard candy looked like a cocoon made of pulled super fine sugar strands.

Inside the candy, one would find finely chopped peanuts and sometimes coconut.

Having dragon beard candy was a textural journey of its own; and it was considered a culinary art of China.

Pashmak was very similar to dragon beard candy.

The strands were coarser than dragon bear candy, and it looked like sesame was blended with sugar.

It was not formed like a cocoon and with no stuffing inside.

The initial sensation was a huge hit of vanillin flavor in the mouth; then I could feel the texture of many threads, which disappear relatively quickly — similar to melting cotton candy in the mouth, created this silky and velvety sensation.

Very shortly as the interest in texture faded away, a huge wave of roasted sesame, nutty flavor surged right up.

Pistachio were sparsely interlaced among the strands and gave a crunchy texture to an otherwise soft and delicate texture.

All these sensorial experience happened in manner of seconds — making Pashmak a unique tasting experience.

As a dessert with sugar as one of the primary ingredients,  I was surprised to find it not too sweet.

Pashmak was such a treat!

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This tiny shop, Yeh Yeh’s, in Bellevue specialized in Vietnamese sandwiches, salads and beef stew only.

A cheap(er), dependable, good-eat spot.

I liked their Vietnamese sandwiches especially when it was consumed right after they were ordered — warm and toasty with large amount of well-pickled and sweet carrots and radishes.

Layered with jalapenos and cilantro, the sandwich was aromatic and fresh.

There was many choices of meats: beef, pork, chicken, tofu, brisket, ham and BBQ pork.

I usually stayed with the delicious and traditional soy-garlic marinated pork.

The only potentially inauthentic part was the existence of a tasty mayo-like spread in the sandwich.

I loved the simple noodle salad, Bun.

It was extremely refreshing with the traditional lime dressing and the addition of mint leaves – a very nice touch that gave a simple twist to the flavor dimension.

Under category salad, one could pick either noodles or green papaya.

Each order came with 2 choices of proteins (pork, beef, chicken, tofu) including Vietnamese eggroll as one of the options.

The rice vermicelli was always well cooked and never stuck together.

Mixing each bite of the cold noodle with the pickled root vegetables and cucumbers was of the most soothing experience in hot summer days.

Yeh Yeh’s definitely was not the cheapest (still east side price) in the Greater Seattle area, but it was a great place as an eastside option.