Sushi Night

The night before last, Jodi and I invited Cheryl and RJ over for a fun night of sushi rolling. We wound up with a pretty decent mix of sushi and definitely too much. We wound up eating the left-overs for dinner last night and it was plenty even then. And during dinner, Jodi said that she had eaten it for breakfast and lunch as well. So, now we have a pretty good idea about how much rice to make for the specified number of people. We made nigiri-zushi (tightly pressed oval balls of rice with thinly sliced sashimi (raw fish) draped over them) , futomaki (large rolls), and seaweed salad. For the sashimi, we used Atlantic salmon, unagi (freshwater eel), and butterflied shrimp. The eel came pre-grilled and we bought the shrimp frozen and pre-cooked so I'm thinking that they may not technically qualify as sashimi, but I could be wrong. We purchased a rice cooker for this time and I think that it was a good investment. It's nice that you can put in the amount you need and hit a button and it times it and shuts off automatically and everything. We've never burnt the rice before, but now we are sure not to. And, it's nice not having to watch the clock while you prepare all the other ingredients.

Another plus this time around was that we found frozen prepared individual servings of seaweed salad that are actually good like the restaurants we go to. It was disappointing the first time we bought seaweed salad and were not happy with the flavor. So, this is great because it makes for such a good "in-between" between sushi bites. Our ability to make sushi is getting better and better with each time. We're getting a little more experimental each time, too. Before too long, we'll have the techniques down well enough to make it much faster. That's my goal now. We're good at the preparation, but we're slow about it. I'd like to be able to decide to have sushi one day after work and grab some meat on the way home and have it all done within 45 minutes. I wouldn't think that this is too much to ask, especially since you don't have to take the time to cook anything but the rice. It should, therefore, be a fast food. Well, actually, on second thought the rice then has to cool. That's how it gets sticky. So, maybe we could still do it that way, but Jodi would have to throw the rice in the cooker an hour or so before I got home. Yeah, that would work.

Anyway, when deciding to write a blog about the evening's food arrangement, I was reminded of a cartoon that I saw a couple months ago on a Saturday morning. Jacob was watching cartoons and when I heard the announcement "Sushi Pack is coming up next so don't go away!" I admit that I sat down to see what it was all about. It was a cute little cartoon of tiny little superheroes that fight ridiculous-looking villains that threaten their "owner's" sushi restaurant. I just found it funny that "Japanimation" is now animating their food. Of course, that's not really any different than Veggie Tales, I suppose. Anyway, I thought that I'd give the show mention as it fits within the parameters of my blog subject.

Posted in: food,friends