Makes 4 servings

2 medium cucumbers
½ a sweet onion
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

Watermelon Gelée, recipe follows

1. Peel the cucumbers and cut each one in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to carve out the seedy center section of each half cucumber. Discard the seeds and cut the cucumbers into 1-inch pieces. Pile the pieces into a blender.

2. Peel the half onion and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put the onion into the blender with the cucumber pieces and pour in the vinegar, salt and white pepper. Purée the cucumber soup and chill it.

3. To serve, invert one watermelon gelée into the center of four wide-rimmed soup bowls, then ladle about 3/4 cup of the cucumber soup around each watermelon gelée. Serve cold.

Watermelon Gelée

Makes 4 servings

3 cups seedless watermelon chunks, packed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 (1/4-ounce) envelope gelatin
4 pinches black sesame seeds

1. Put the watermelon chunks in a blender with the sugar and lemon juice and purée. Strain the purée to yield 2 cups watermelon juice.

2. Put 1/2 cup of the juice in a saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Allow the gelatin to soften for 5 minutes, then put the saucepan over high heat and stir until the gelatin is dissolved and the juice is beginning to boil.

3. Put a pinch of sesame seeds into each of four paper cups. Stir the hot gelatin mixture into the remaining juice and distribute the mixture evenly between the four cups, pouring the mixture over the sesame seeds.

4. Chill the gelée in the paper cups until it is firmly set, about an hour. To remove the gelée from the cups, dip the cups one at a time in hot water and then invert them into a serving bowl.