Sloppy Sushi leaves no room for Sloppy Seconds

Sushi

So last night I decided to embark on a new adventure. Without assistance from my wife (who is a master chef in her own right, at least according to me) I decided to make sushi for the two of us.

During the process, I learned a few things and was reminded of a few more.

First, I learned that if you use quality ingredients, even a novice can make tasty sushi. At first I was worried about screwing up dinner and being left with nothing to eat. No such problems, my friend!

Next I learned how important the rice is. When I started asking around about sushi prep, EVERYBODY kept stressing this point. So many horror stories. So many good tips too - like keep a little extra rice wine vinegar to dip your fingers in when working the rice. It helps to prevent the rice from sticking to you. I'm sure that some of you are saying 'well yeah, of course!' but for me, this tip was the difference between eating a sushi roll, or eating a pile of rice and fish on a seaweed wrapper. Here is the recipie I used for the rice, and as you can see in the picture, my first rolls were made with too much rice. Still tasty though.

Me cutting the fish

I must have asked a hundred questions about the fish. I already knew (roughly) what kinds I wanted, but wasn't sure on how to properly thaw it out, or of any special technique for cutting it. Luckily for me, the guy I bought the fish from was super helpful and gave me all the answers I would need. Memo to self: our kitchen knives really do need sharpening.

Best of all, my wife was pleased to not only get some sushi, but to also have a night off from cooking. Well that, and she was thoroughly entertained by watching me prep the food.

Sushi on Valentine's day is starting to become something of a tradition for us. It's partly because Sophie's birthday is on that day, and we indulge the pets with a little taste of the raw fish as a birthday treat. Sorry, we were planning on taking pictures but some of the pets were so quick at eating the food that there was no time to get the camera ready. I won't mention any names.