寿司 （すし）

When I started with this whole idea of 'one food adventure a week' thing, I immediately knew I was going to do sushi at some point. It is just everywhere here, and my view of it has changed from 'high-class fancy' to 'everyday food'. So, I had to try to make it myself.


Alright- sushi history lesson, Tiffany-style! Which means only marginally accurate, with changes to the truth flippantly made if I think it would be funny enough.

Basically, back in the day there was no real refrigeration, without all the electricity and whatnot. So the Asian folk had to preserve their food somehow, and what they had on hand was a shitload of rice. So, they would soak the rice in vinegar, and then pack a ton of it around each fish. Later, they would break open the rice shells and eat the fish, which I suppose had been preserved by the vinegar. Although, there had to be some spoilage, at least in the rice. The smell must have been…potent. Who would want to eat that? Maybe it's the real reason Asians are so damn skinny.

Anyway, for this reason, I'm amazed that sushi was born when someone who must have had way too much saki decided to eat the rice with the fish. Viola! Sushi. And probably some kind of dysentery.

Today, the name 'sushi' means 'it's sour', and actually refers to the rice, not the fish. You learn something new every day.


I had visions of going to Chinatown and buying fresh fish and produce for my rolls. Chinatown has all kinds of awesome stuff, usually pretty cheap (for out here). Open markets, produce stalls, actual butchers, and noodle shops, which are my favorite. I really want to buy some fresh noodles at some point, but I'm not sure how to order, and not looking like an idiot is pretty high on my list of daily to-do's. I'll get over it and go in there sometime soon.

Did you guys watch Sesame Street when you were a kid? Do you remember that song, 'One of these things is not like the other; one of these things does not belong…'? well, whenever I'm in Chinatown, that song plays cheerfully through my head on an endless loop while I hunch down and try to look inconspicuous.

Anyway, reality set in, and I realized that it was kind of scary buying fish I wasn't going to cook out of stalls and the back of vans. So I chickened out and went to Whole Foods. Don't judge me.




The rest of the stuff I just got at the regular market. Many things were labelled with Japanese script, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was buying, but it made me feel cool.

'Massaging' the rice. Apparently I shouldn't quit my day job

The part that scared me the most about making this was the rice. Rice is integral! And me and starch don't have that good a history. I'm always overcooking pasta into a glutenous mass.

Rice isn't very far behind in that regard.

So I bought a rice cooker. The ease of stress alone was worth it, since it was only like $10, a bit of the bottom burned. I chose to think of the burned layer as a protective barrier for the rest of the rice.

Spreading sticky rice - harder than it looks. Also, I have man hands.

I have a little book on how to make sushi, and it came with a DVD (!) so the whole time I was watching the thing in sporadic bursts on the XBOX. Hence the controller above. There was lots of rice washing and specific ways you can touch the rice - I apparently screwed it up, because my rice was a bit too clumpy. I blame the rice cooker.

Ready for some 魚 (fishies)

After the rice was all vinegared up, I started in on slicing fish, which ended up being harder than I thought it would. I kind of mangled some very nice, expensive fish. It's hard, ok!? There was sadness.

After this it was time to put everything together, and again, I got too excited to take pictures. Plus this was taking WAYY longer than I thought it would, and I had a husband in danger of going into a Hunger Coma on my hands. I also scrapped the miso soup idea, which is usually kind of a must with sushi, really. Love it.

David took over for a second with the camera. As you can see, he can hardly stand upright to snap a photo. This man needs food, quick!

Being a dork in our hallway kitchen

Rolling up the sushi with my nifty mat! The level of difficulty of getting the rice out of the mat later was pretty high - less nifty.

Sushi = seaweed square + rice + random fish bits/avocado. Roll and slice. The rolls were generally pretty until my knife got a hold of it. Apparently, they are really dull, because there was more squishing than actual cutting. Kind of pissed.

Sushi Feast. Sort of.

Anyway, this was my final product. I made a Rainbow Roll, various nigiri sushi, a maki roll, -something random in the middle because I forgot to use my sesame seeds, and by god, I was going to -and finally, a hand roll. Cuz I think they're pretty, but annoying to actually eat (too much seaweed at once). I think we ended up throwing it out.

How do you like that presentation? I know all the cool chefs use overturned Pyrex for their presentation.

I don't have any platters, ok!? They are probably in a box in Corene's garage.

David, overjoyed to finally being allowed to eat.

The nigiri sushi! Salmon, Ahi, and shrimp.

Extreme closeup of Rainbow roll. Supposed to be a California roll with slices of fish and avocado on top. My roll is looking a little anemic.

Salmon avocado roll. Sesame seed usage! ah ha ha ha!

I like a lot of avocado on my rolls.

The photogenic but never eaten hand roll.

Maki rolls! Love the simplicity. I made Ahi and Salmon ones.

All in all, a fun venture. But, a pain in the butt. I don't know if I'll ever do it again. It is hard to get the rice seasoned just right, and it ends up being time-consuming. I think I'll hit up the grocery store and get my California roll for $6 in the future.

Sushi smile! Because I'm a big dork. Not like this is news to anyone.

*My thanks to Josh Whetstone, Japanese speaker extraordinaire, who provided all the translations for this post.*