around the world with Jesus

I love sushi.

I suppose it was my friend Danny Goodin who turned me on to sushi.  We’d eat at that cheap all-you-can-eat sushi place in Pompano.  He’d throw it down.  I was impressed.  Lots of great times with Joe and Mishael, Jason and many other friends at that spot during those years. 

Here’s a plate full I enjoyed in those days…

During that time, my friends Ryan and Jen bought me a sushi preparation book/kit.  I put it on a shelf for display…it looked neat.  Then I moved.  Last week I was cleaning the garage (fun vacation day) and found it.  It got me thinking…

I read the book, went to that asian store in Springfield, asked a lot of questions, bought the right stuff and came home to give preparing sushi a try.

Not ready for raw stuff…they say the hardest part is the rice.  I can see why. I figured I’d make that my first focus, and not waste good fish stuff on it yet. Worked on it both last night and tonight.  Last night’s was better.  It’s trickier than I thought and at the same time the process was much more approachable in terms of a non-cook like me accomplishing anything.

Making sushi may come second hand to some of you, but to me, it seemed like something that can only be purchased in nice expensive restaurants or from food bars where it’s been sitting out for what appears to be days.  I guess there’s those guys behind the counter that put it together, but…a guy like me couldn’t do it.

I made my first California rolls tonight…figured that was a good place to start.

It tasted good.  Almost like what you get at that sushi joint.  Another angle of the treat…

Not pretty…gotta work on presentation, I know.

Next…we’ll add some actual fish, smoked eel (it’s in the freezer just waiting), masago (the little orange fish eggs) and who knows what else.  I’ll try hand rolls, the (harder to make) rolls with rice on the outside, then maybe even the normal fish on a ball of rice stuff.

Not sure I’ll be the guy to use much raw stuff though.  We shall see.

It was fun.  Thought I’d share. 

PS:  The team is on a plane heading to mainland Asia now.  They amaze me.  That’s much more important than my sushi story…