Here I include sushi restaurant reviews and book reviews, as well as anything else that doesn’t fit into any other category.

Every year, food bloggers around the world donate bid items in an effort to raise money to benefit the UN World Food Programme. (You can read more about it here.) For every $10 you donate, you get to bid on one of many fantastic items. This year, I’ve decided to donate a bid item as well.

As many of you know, I cannot rave enough about Mashiko Sushi Restaurant in Seattle, WA, nor can I stop talking about Casson Trenor and his book, Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time.

Casson has been amazing enough to donate a signed copy of his book, and even better, I’m also throwing in a gift certificate to Mashiko.

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Choose a bid item or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list. If you want a chance at Casson’s book and a Mashiko gift certificate, our bid item code is UW42.
2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation.
3. Please specify which bid item you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code.
   Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02 – 2xEU01, 3xEU02.
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back at Chez Pim on Monday, January 18 for the results of the raffle.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!

South Wedge Roll – smoked salmon, cucumber, bacon, wasabi mayonnaise

Uninspired. That’s how I’ve felt lately, when it comes to sushi. Or, more specifically, when it comes to writing about sushi. My love of sushi is no less, nor has my desire to share this love with all of you diminished any. But it’s been months since I’ve brought you a recipe here on Sushi Day, and even then posting has been sporadic for nearly a year now.

Spicy Tuna Roll – mayonnaise, hot chile paste, hot chile oil, toasted sesame oil, tuna, wasabi paste, green onion, toasted black sesame seeds, in rice paper wrappers

It’s not for lack of material – I have pictures of sushi that I made all the way back in March that I never wrote about. Nor is it for lack of time – though I’m incredibly busy with work and play, I could have easily made time to put up a short post. And it certainly isn’t a loss of interest in my blog or my readers – there has been an immense amount of guilt as days turned into weeks without a post, which turned into months of near silence here on Sushi Day.

Pacific Ocean Roll- smoked salmon, avocado, bacon

What it all comes down to is that the sushi I had made just didn’t excite me. Oh yay, another spicy tuna roll. Whoopidee do dah, more shrimp tempura. Everything felt like something I’d done before – after nearly three years of sushi recipes, another California roll spin-off starts to get pretty damn boring.

Pink Panther Roll – salmon, avocado, tamago, wrapped in rice paper

So I would procrastinate. I don’t want to put you asleep while reading my posts, I want you to hang onto my every word like I do with Shauna’s posts, or Keri’s, or Helen’s. I know, I know, I have a long way to go. But I can’t stand blogs that only give you a recipe without any interesting descriptions or anecdotes… and since I couldn’t come up with any for sushi that bored me half to death, I just kept putting it off.

Too Crazy Roll – tuna, pesto

Then I was invited up to Seattle to go to the Sustainable Sushi Dinner at Mashiko. Oh, Mashiko. Did I mention that Hajime and I exchanged shirts (no, not like that!)? I sent him a Sushi Day shirt, and he sent me a sushiwhore.com (Mashiko’s website) shirt. Fits perfectly. Anyways. Son and I got to go to this dinner, where we got to meet the very awesome Hajime Sato and the very cool Casson Trenor, and learn all sorts of things that I never knew at all about sushi and sustainability and seafood. Obviously, I loved the trip.

Unicorn Roll – tempura shrimp, cucumber, imitation crab, topped with spicy tuna

But then I come back home, all excited about sustainability and trying all these new types of seafood, and look at the pictures of sushi that I have yet to post. Tuna – not bluefin, of course, but still. Imitation crab – once a great choice, now not so much. *sigh* I just couldn’t, in my good conscience, continue a series of posts that used some ingredients that, in terms of sustainability, aren’t things I should promote.

Bam Roll – tempura shrimp, mayonnaise, green onions, tomato, hot chile oil topped with spicy tuna, eel sauce, sesame seeds.

But… I feel terrible depriving you all of the remaining sushi that I’ve made. Which is why I’ve posted all the pictures in this post, along with the ingredients that go into each roll. I’ve told you hundreds of times how to put together a roll of sushi… I’m sure you can figure it out from ingredient lists by now. I’ve also put up a separate post for each of these rolls with just the recipes (click the pictures to get to the posts), because Son insisted so you could see all the extra beautiful photographs he put so much work into for each roll.

TNT Roll – tuna, tomato, Tabasco sauce

So. What do I intend to do now, since I no longer have a queue of rolls lined up for me to post about? Make more sushi, of course. This time trying to be more sustainable, more inventive, more fun. Will the occasional tuna roll sneak in? My apologies in advance, I’m not (quite!) perfect. Might you see a California roll knock off or two? Perhaps, but they’ll have to be really freaking amazing California rolls. But most importantly, what you’ll see is me. Having fun. Doing what I do best as a food blogger… bringing you tons of sushi.

So hopefully you haven’t gone too far away, because… the sushi girl is back, and ready to roll!

Bling-Bling Roll – imitation crab, mayonnaise, spicy tuna, avocado, drizzled with eel sauce.

After my interview with Hajime, I got to sit down for a few minutes with Casson Trenor, sustainability expert and author of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time.

Allison: So how did you get into the business of sustainability with seafood… how did you get started with that?

Casson: I get asked that question a lot and I just don’t know the answer. It’s just something that happened… it’s just something I knew I needed to do. Sometimes I say it’s because I grew up on the beach, and I think that’s partially true. And sometimes I say it’s because I used to be in a lot of restaurants and I saw a lot of waste and it really bothered me, and I think that’s true too. And sometimes I say it’s just because I really like sushi, and I want it to be around, and I think that’s definitely true… I don’t know, I just… I just knew it was something that I was gonna do, that I had to do and it just evolved into what it is, and that’s a terrible answer, I know.

Allison: That’s fine. What do you think is very important for people to know, regarding sustainability?

Casson: That it is incredibly important. That our lives in these next years are going to change drastically, due to how many people are on this planet, and the way that we’ve been managing it – and that’s not something that we can do anything about. Those changes are real, and they are coming, and they’re already here, in a lot of ways. And it’s not about trying to resist the changes, it’s about trying to adapt and to move fluidly through them. Sustainability is a way of life. It’s a mantra, for business and just… if we are to continue to exist and be happy in this changing planet, we have to learn how to live with our eyes open, and balance our resources.

Allison: How did you help Hajime revamp the menu and everything, to make it more sustainable?

Casson: That might be a better question for him. I can give you my answer… I think that maybe… I think the thing that I’m proud to say that I was really able to do for this restaurant and for him is to give him the impetus to do what he already knew what he wanted to do. I didn’t really have to convince Hajime that sustainability made sense. I didn’t have to convince him that he didn’t really have to use hamachi, or that these fish were really good also, I mean, I just had to show him that he wasn’t alone in thinking the way that he already was. ‘Cause his heart was in this stuff long ago, you know? But he was, I think maybe a bit shackled by the fact that there was no one else in the sushi industry that was expressing these ideas, and um, you know it’s not surprising. As you know, the sushi industry is extremely ritualized, and very regimented and hierarchical. And it’s tough to break the mold, you need a rabble-rouser, and most sushi chefs are not rabble-rousers. Most sushi chefs- ’cause you know, during the development of a sushi chef, that kind of innovation… sure, I mean, innovation is encouraged, but in certain ways, you know what I mean? In other ways it’s discouraged. I think… I guess I think I’m… I’m just proud to have helped him be himself.

Allison: What kind of advice can you give to people who really can’t imagine giving up all their favorite types of sushi which might not be sustainable?

Casson: First of all, I understand. There are things that I really thought I would miss when I realized I probably shouldn’t be eating them as much or at all. My advice I guess would be to, and I talk about this in my book, I’ve got a few points that I give people when they’re trying to make these changes, and the one that I really feel strongly about, well I feel strongly about all of them, but one in particular is… if you do it… if you just go out there and you try to live your values, sometimes you’ll find yourself struggling but at the end of the meal, you’ll really feel good about it. And if you do it in a group, it makes it much easier to just kind of have that camaraderie, so when you go in there and are like, “alright, we’re going to try to have a sustainable meal,” then you can help each other do it. ‘Cause it’s not always easy. Also try not to… I would say don’t necessarily try to do it all at once. If you love your bluefin, and your farmed salmon and your eel and your hamachi… go in and replace two out of five the first time. And see, you know, try some new things. Then the next time, replace a different two. And then eventually, after three or four visits try to work your way off of all of them. But explore the menu – don’t go in and be like, “I can’t eat anything, I hate this”… that’s not gonna work.

Allison: Anything else you’d like to say?

Casson: So many things. [laughs] I do this for a lot of reasons. You know, I do this because I believe in it. I do this because it’s becoming financially viable. I do this because I see it’s a change that needs to be made. I do this because I am very passionate about the ocean. I do this because I’m an environmental activist. But I don’t want people to ever get the idea that one of the very most essential primary reasons I do this is not simply that I love sushi. That is so important. And the fact of the matter is that a healthy ocean is what gave birth to this art form. And without a healthy ocean, this art form will die. If we do not steward our resources properly, and this is a critical, critical stage… I cannot over-stress the kind of peril our oceans are in right now. The reasons that these fish… these fish aren’t sustainable for very good reasons. You know? Crashing populations, horrible pollution problems, by-catch that you would not believe – millions and millions of tons every year thrown over the side. Horrible. I want my children to be able to eat like this, because it meant so much to me and has formed so much of what I am, and I would really be heartbroken if I knew that it was my generation that stole that from my children, and that cost us this beautiful art form that so many people have put so many years into developing. So sustainable sushi, for the love of sushi.

Wednesday I’ll wrap this all up with a few extra thoughts that both men had about sustainability and the sushi business. Do you have a question about sustainability? Ask in the comments or email me, and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

The day after the dinner at Mashiko, I was scheduled to be back at Mashiko in the afternoon, to interview Hajime and Casson.

First, Son and I sat down with Hajime and Casson – Son took pictures, I asked questions, and Hajime and Casson discussed my questions to the music of the kitchen prepping for the first evening of service with a completely sustainable menu. Though this was supposed to be Hajime’s interview (Casson’s will be posted in a few days), Casson was happy to interject his thoughts as well.

Allison: How did you get into the sushi business?

Hajime: How did I get into the sushi business? Well, twenty years ago I was here, and my parents wanted me to go to college and study business, same as any other Asian parents. [Son]’s laughing, he knows. [laughs] “Camera guy? God! Get a real job!”

Son: Exactly.

Hajime: Exactly! And I did get a stupid two year thing, small business management, but I was working at a restaurant and I really liked it. Most of the people were doing it just to make money, but I actually really liked it. So after that, I kind of kept going, and was looking for different restaurants who could teach me, and just, I guess, kept going for twenty years now.

Allison: Now that you have Mashiko, what prompted the decision to make it sustainable?

Hajime: Sustainability… I did kind of think about it for a while, but what made it certain is when I went to Diane’s Kitchen… she has this kind of kitchen for catering, kind of fancy dinners, stuff like that. She called me because she knew somebody I knew and told me that Casson’s coming, and I was kind of skeptical about it… not about him, but… somebody called me and said “Can you come down here, we’re doing something.” And I was like, “Hmmm, whatever.” Actually I Googled it, like, who is this guy? It sounded legit and I went there, and he actually started talking about it, and he convinced me that this is good, this is possible, and it can be done. Of course, I didn’t know that much about it at the moment, but I promised everybody at that moment that I’m going to be sustainable in three months. If I say something, I’ll do it, no matter what.

Allison: Once you made the decision, what sorts of challenges did you face in making it sustainable?

Hajime: I guess the challenges… like, okay you cannot use this and this and this, right? But… distributors don’t know. And most of the distributors for sushi bars, they don’t care about sustainability. And the people who care about sustainable fish, they’ve never served sushi bars before, so they don’t know what kind of quality or what kind of cut that I want. So I have to kind of gather information and say for the sushi bar people, “I cannot use this, this, this,” and they’re like, “Why?” Then I’m dealing with the American distributers and say, “I need those fish that you have,” but they’re like… one girl actually told me like, “Well, I have this fish that’s a week old, can you use that? You’re gonna cook it anyways, right?” I’m like, “No!” [laughs] “Would you eat it raw? Come on.” So that kind of a challenge, I guess, of explaining to people what sustainability is. Like even yesterday [at the dinner], most of the people kind of think that it’s a good thing, but don’t know exactly what it is. I guess the challenge is that. The menu making was actually kind of fun for me, a good kind of challenge and that kind of stuff, so that was not that hard compared to distribution.

Allison: So with your new menu, do you feel in any way like you’re depriving your customers of anything?

Hajime: Meaning… what do you mean?

Allison: Meaning… probably most people who go to sushi bars are going to go expecting tuna, and unagi, and all the stuff that we’re saying “No way, no how.” Do you feel like with the new menu, that you’re keeping them from getting anything they should be getting, or do you think that it’s… sufficient, with the new menu?

Hajime: I mean, well… that’s a kind of multi-layered question. Regular customers, they’re going to be fine. I’m going to just tell them to eat, and they’re going to eat it, so I don’t have a problem with it. But non-regular customers come in, expecting to have those things, and this is the first day that I don’t have any of those things. They might freak out, like, “What kind of sushi bar is this?” And see how that’s going to affect… I don’t know if you can answer it Casson, but…

Casson: Um… “depriving” is a funny word. I… I don’t think that we’re depriving our customers of anything. I think that we’re showing them that there’re so many other ways to use and to think about sushi conceptually, and we’re actually offering them new opportunities to experience things that they’ve probably never tried before. Not only that, if we’re depriving them of anything, we’re depriving them of choices that they don’t want to make, choices that they would make unwittingly, that would harm the planet or that would harm their health and helping them get out of this very small, very very small box that is the kind of standard, run of the mill US sushi industry. So I mean, I think yeah, at first glance people could say, “Yeah I’m depriving my customers of being able to have unagi.” Why not? I mean, if they want unagi they can go down the street, no problem. What I’m doing is I’m offering them an alternative to it. They can still eat unagi if they want, just not at my restaurant. Because I won’t be a part of it.

Hajime: Yeah, I mean… some people are going to be pissed off no matter what. I mean, you can look at… like I was actually on Yelp this morning, and some people were complaining about my attitude, and my signs, and like… okay? [laughs]

Casson: Yeah, you just gotta do your thing.

Hajime: Exactly. To the point, even my reviews… either they hate me or they love me. I’m going to have to accept that. And from that point of view, even this menu’s going to be the same thing too. And… I’m going to kind of say this in a weird way, meaning… Even what people are used to, in the US at sushi bars, those items are not necessarily traditional in any way, or what you get in Japan. So… you know, it’s all about marketing or what people are used to. So changing from that to that, it can just be a switch… you know, it can be just I don’t know, new marketing of this fish, or… you know what I mean? Changing is all in your mind. That’s what you’re used to. It doesn’t mean that that’s… it’s supposed to be. Does that make sense? Yeah, it’s kind of vague, but I guess that’s kind of how I would put it.

Allison: So obviously you’ve determined that this is going to be a very different dining experience here, from what it used to be or from other sushi bars. Are there any new delicacies or new types of seafood that you think your diners may not have heard about, but that they should look out for?

Casson: It’s a slam dunk question, come on!

Hajime: What…

Casson: He’s got all sorts of things.

Hajime: Well, [Casson] has the black cod, so we have the black cod, we had that yesterday. We have the Hawaiian albacore that you should definitely start using, it is so not that expensive, dude… it’s awesome, and I don’t know why people don’t use it. We have ono, we have hebi – hebi, that’s a kind of cool thing too. Hebi is the spearfish, and I was in the Honolulu fish market about three months ago, and spearfish is not considered good fish at all. They even kind of say it’s a trash fish, they’re gonna make a fish cake out of it. Sometimes they’re even bycatch because they don’t look for it. I said, “Have you ever eaten it raw?” And they’re like, “No, it’s gross!” “Have you eaten it raw before?” “No…” So I ate it. So freakin’ good. So that… that is really good. I don’t know, even the catfish I was doing that’s really good… it’s not about just one or two fish, but just searching for different things. We have this small shiny fish called kibinago that we get from Japan that’s a really small fish, it’s like this big. And nobody uses it. It’s available, and I get it, but I don’t know. Anything that’s new.

Monday I’ll post the interview with Casson, then next Wednesday I’ll wrap it up with a few extra thoughts that both men had about sustainability and the sushi business. Do you have a question about sustainability? Ask in the comments or email me, and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

About a month ago, I was hanging out on twitter, and got a tweet from Casson Trenor (you may remember I’ve written about him when I had a contest to give away several copies of his book and wrote about some bluefin tuna protests happening in Los Angeles): “any chance you can be in seattle mid-aug? Opening a new sustainable sushi restaurant, would lovelovelove to have you there.”

Ordinarily, I’m not one to make spur of the moment plans, especially when they involve significant travel (as in, more than an hour away from me). But a new sustainable sushi restaurant… how could I resist? I just had to see how a restaurant would ditch all the non-sustainable fish (No bluefin tuna! No unagi! No tako (octopus)! No ankimo (monkfish liver)!). Luckily it didn’t take too much to convince Son that we had to go to Seattle for this (we were due for a vacation anyways), so within a few days we had our plane tickets and our hotel room booked.

The weeks seemed to fly by, until finally we were in Seattle! (And subsequently getting lost in Seattle. Let me say, never have I been more thankful for Son’s iPhone…) It wasn’t long before we were walking through the front door of Mashiko – the established Seattle sushi restaurant making a complete change to only serve sustainable sushi. Soon after arriving we were greeted by Casson and Hajime Sato, the sushi chef, both of whom are a pleasure to know. Traca Savadogo came and introduced herself to me (she’s a very sweet woman who seems to know everybody!), then took me around the restaurant, introducing me to everyone else – including, but not limited to, Jon Rowley and Viv. Soon I went back to my seat between Son and a very nice couple (whose names I unfortunately do not remember). From our seats at the sushi bar, we had an excellent view of the two sushi chefs, Mariah and John, creating the dishes we were to eat that evening, and of the rest of the small restaurant (almost everyone else sat at tables.)

Then, time to eat. We each got a menu that listed each of the nine courses, as well as a sheet of paper describing the sake pairings (neither Son nor I drink alcohol, so we did not partake). For each course, Hajime would explain what we were eating, Casson would discuss the sustainability of the seafood, and Eric Verne, the sake specialist, would talk about the sake he paired with each dish.

First, oysters on the half shell. There were two oysters – a grilled small Pacific oyster with sake butter (above picture) and a kumamoto oyster with yuzu ponzu (below picture). Both were farmed in Washington state.

Believe it or not… this was my first time eating oysters. Ever. The verdict? I enjoyed them both. The small Pacific oyster was slightly chewy and a little fishy – a taste I’m still getting used to. (Two years ago I would barely eat fish at all, so I’m getting there.) But that kumamoto oyster… I absolutely loved that one. It was quite tender, and very buttery. Delicious.

The next course was rainbow trout with sunomono, ponzu shoyu, and shiso infused grapeseed oil. Mashiko gets the rainbow trout from Select Fish – the supplier for and owned by Whole Foods. The trout was farm raised in Idaho, in a way that produces very clean trout that is up to health and sustainability standards.

Though I’m not sure whether I’ve eaten cooked rainbow trout or not, I’m absolutely certain I’ve never had rainbow trout sashimi before. But I’m positive I’ll be looking to have it again. Rich, decadent, with a flavor reminiscent of pork fat, it melted in my mouth and left me wishing I could have more. The tart sunomono accompanying it was just like the one my grandmother makes – thinly sliced cucumbers, with a slightly sour vinegar taste to them. A perfect complement to the sumptuous rainbow trout.

Next, Tombo poki with roasted macadamia nuts – Hajime’s interpretation of the traditional Hawaiian fish salad. The albacore was hand line caught in Hawaii. Hajime commented that he’s been using this albacore for several years now – it’s quite delicious indeed – but somehow it hasn’t yet caught on in the sushi industry. But the really great thing about the albacore is that unlike some of the larger, more popular tunas, this is sustainable. Casson went on to explain that sustainability encompasses much more than how the fish are caught or whether they’re overfished, though that’s certainly a significant part of it. If a fish makes you sick, it is not sustainable. But so many of the larger carnivorous fish, like bluefin, yellowfin, or bigeye, have such high levels of mercury in their bodies that has built up over their lifetime – not good for us humans eating them. Albacore, on the other hand, is a small tuna… therefore has a low level of mercury in its body.

I have tried poke several times in the past year – at a restaurant when we visited Hawaii last year, and a recipe that a reader emailed to me. Maybe not enough to say I know poke, but I’m not completely ignorant when it comes to poke either. The one I had in Hawaii… meh, it was alright. Not my favorite. The one I made at home… really freaking good, although a little spicy for my tastes. The one I had at Mashiko… perfect. Just enough sauce to flavor the seared albacore without being overwhelming or drowning the rest of the ingredients. A beautiful crunch from the macadamia nuts and wakame seaweed. Perfectly seared albacore that simply melted in your mouth. Delicious. Absolutely delicious.

The fourth course (out of nine!) was a scallop and Dungeness crab salad wrapped in prosciutto with lumpfish caviar and avocado. This has been a signature item at Mashiko for quite a while – and once you try it, it’s obvious why. The scallops are farm raised in Hokkaido, a northern island in Japan. The prosciutto is from Italy (I agree with what Hajime said – “I don’t even know if it’s sustainable or not, actually, but it tastes good.”) Inside is the Dungeness crab which was grown locally, with a little garlic mayo mixed in. On top is lumpfish caviar which is definitely more sustainable than beluga caviar, a more popular alternative.

Then Casson took the floor, and explained how sustainability relates to seasonality. These days, so many people are trying to eat local and seasonal produce by frequenting their local farmer’s markets. So why wouldn’t you do the same for seafood? Traditionally, you can’t have every fish any time you want it – in Japan there are even holidays celebrating the arrival of certain fish. It makes so much more sense to only eat certain seafood – like the Dungeness crab – when it’s naturally available. The practice of trying to grow or import fish so they’re available year-round is a large part of why we have these sustainability issues today.

Out of all nine courses, this was by far my absolute favorite. The slightly spicy Dungeness crab salad was sandwiched between two slices of creamy scallop, then wrapped in a thin slice of salty prosciutto. All the different flavors played wonderfully off of each other, topped with the smooth avocado and salty lumpfish caviar. This is one of those dishes that the moment you bite into it, you just know you’re going to have to find some way make something similar on your own… because sadly for me, Seattle is quite far away. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

The next course was something called “Charlie’s Angel” – a roll of salmon, grilled asparagus, shiso, and masago, all tempura fried and accompanied by some buckwheat soba noodles. Believe it or not, we were eating farmed salmon. Now, anyone who knows enough about sustainability of seafood is probably thinking, “Bad! Bad! Bad!” And ordinarily, Casson and Hajime would have agreed with you. But if you’ll let me quote Casson for a moment…

“This is a big moment for me. If you would have told me two years ago, two months ago, two weeks ago… that I was gonna be standing up in front of a crowd and telling you to eat farmed salmon… I would have told you you were absolutely crazy. I have spent years fighting farmed salmon. I have given so many speeches against it. I don’t like farmed salmon. I don’t like what they’re doing to the salmon … I don’t like the human rights issues, I don’t like all the nonsense, branding going on… I don’t. Like. Farmed. Salmon. So I’m gonna tell you guys all to eat it.“

The reason why Casson and Hajime can, in good faith, tell us to eat this farmed salmon they were feeding us is because this is very different from the normal farmed salmon you hear about. This salmon comes from a company called SweetSpring – a salmon farm in Rochester, Washington, about 80 miles south of Seattle. If you look at Rochester on a map, you’ll notice that it’s not a beach city – it’s actually inland. This is a huge part of what makes the farms sustainable. They took the salmon farm out of the ocean, and put it on land. To quote Casson once again (because he says it far better than I ever could), “All the problems with salmon farms – parasite issues, genetic pervertation of local stocks, waste going up and down and around, seals getting their brains blown out by people who don’t want them in the salmon farms… all these horrible problems, they don’t exist with this. This is a closed, contained salmon farm – salmon farming on land… This is innovation. And this is the way to sustainability.”

As for the dish itself… delicious, of course. By now I wouldn’t expect anything less from Hajime. The salmon was silky, with a crunch from the asparagus and the tempura. Perfectly fried, and not too oily or heavy. The soba noodles… there was something very familiar about them. Although the noodle used was different, it tasted very similar to the somen salad that my family has made for as long as I can remember. The soba noodles went very well with the salmon roll.

Then came the sautéed Geoduck with mushrooms, sautéed with aonori butter and bonito flakes. Geoduck is caught or dug up along the Washington coast, so something very local to Mashiko. Casson discussed “edomae” sushi – a term often taken to mean “traditional sushi”, but that actually translates to “in front of Tokyo”… meaning it’s made from the fish that came from the waters in front of Tokyo. So it’s actually silly for us to use most of the seafood that we eat in sushi here… they’re natural to Tokyo, not to Seattle or Los Angeles or cities elsewhere. It makes much more sense to use that seafood which is local – which for Seattle, includes geoduck.

Son loved this dish. I, sadly, was not a fan, though I found the mushrooms to be delicious. The problem for me wasn’t with the taste, but more with the texture of the geoduck. It was chewy, similar to octopus… which, surprise surprise, I don’t particularly like and Son absolutely loves. So I suppose it comes down to this – if you like octopus or other similarly chewy seafood, you’ll love this. Because aside from the texture, I found the dish to be fantastic. (I know, I know… I’m working on getting over my texture issues. In a year, maybe, I’ll have no problem eating it.)

After the geoduck were two rolls. The first was namagi, tempura sweet potato, and avocado, rolled maki style in a white soy paper speckled with black sesame seeds and drizzled with a sweet sauce. The second was tempura onion rolled uramaki style, topped with black cod and tarako infused aioli then seared with a blowtorch. Unagi is not sustainable – but an American favorite. Unfortunately, it’s one of the absolute worst things you can eat, in terms of sustainability. So these two rolls were conceived as a sustainable way to mimic the dark, sultry, sweet unagi experience that the American palate has fallen in love with. The black cod is from a farm in British Columbia, on the northwest side of Vancouver Island… a more sustainable alternative to wild black cod. (Speaking of sustainable alternatives, don’t let me forget to tell you about the black cod liver we got to try when I later interviewed Hajime and Casson… both interviews will be posted in the upcoming days.)

The other roll uses namagi as a replacement – catfish. Although I’ve never understood it (and never had a problem eating and enjoying catfish), it seems that a lot of people have a huge aversion to catfish because of the muddy flavor and the texture. And because it’s a “bottom feeder”, which some people seem to find disgusting (though really, unagi – eel – is just the same, is it not?) This catfish comes from a North Carolina-based producer called Carolina Classics Catfish. It’s farm-raised with no herbicides, hormones, or antibiotics, and the water that they grow in is managed to the point that the catfish doesn’t eat any algae or anything to give it that muddy taste people normally associate with it. Then to get the sweet sauce that gives it a taste more like unagi… in the spirit of using every part of the fish, Hajime made a stock out of the remainder of the black cod, simmered it for a week, and ended up with this very rich sauce that he used for the namagi roll.

I found both rolls to be absolutely delicious, though the namagi roll pulled ahead as my favorite. The sauce on the namagi roll seemed very familiar – almost like something my mother used to make when I was younger. Although I could see how they taste similar to unagi, the replacement seemed unnecessary to me – while I do enjoy unagi and have used it quite often in my own sushi making in the past, I don’t feel a need to try to mimic it. I would rather have the fish shine on its own rather than trying to be something else, and I felt that both rolls did just that.

The eighth course was a sanma oshizushi topped with fresh ikura. Samna are pacific saury – a small, silver fish related to the mackerel and the sardine. The great thing about these fish is that they are small – far less mercury – and at the bottom of the food chain. It takes 25 pounds of sardines to get one pound of bluefin tuna… so Casson argues, why not just eat these and feed twenty-five times more common people, rather than feeding just a few very rich who can actually afford bluefin tuna?

The small silver fish was very… fishy. It tasted much more of the sea than any of the other seafood we ate that evening. For that reason, (and yes, this is another one of those things that I’m working to learn to enjoy) I wasn’t so fond of it. But Son loved it.

The last course was a small bowl of organic jasmine pearl crème brulée. This dessert involved no seafood, so there was no discussion of sustainability with it. It was delicious, though it did have a strong jasmine flavor – so if you’re not a fan of jasmine, it’s probably better to try a different dessert.

So after that meal of only sustainable seafood, did I feel like I was missing out on anything? Not at all. In fact, that was easily among the most enjoyable sushi meals I have ever eaten. Not once did I find myself pining for bluefin tuna, or hamachi, or unagi, or any of the less sustainable sushi that you would normally find at a sushi restaurant.

So what can you do if you want to be sustainable? Keep an open mind. Be willing to try all sorts of new seafood that you might not normally find at a sushi bar. Ask your sushi chef, your fishmonger where the fish comes from, if it’s sustainable. Educate yourself and your friends about the issue. Keep these “Four S’s” in mind when you’re choosing seafood to eat: small, seasonal, silver, and shellfish. And stay tuned for my next two posts, where I have an opportunity to interview both Hajime and Casson about sustainability and the process of changing Mashiko into a sustainable sushi restaurant.

In the world of sushi, a big issue these days is sustainability. The way certain fish and other seafood are caught is harmful to the environment, and depleting the limited numbers of fish in the ocean.

One of the most widely-known endangered fish is bluefin tuna. More people who frequently eat sushi know that bluefin is endangered, and may be gone within a few years at the rate we consume them, than any other type of seafood.

Some people who feel strongly about this issue have decided to take action. To help broaden public awareness about the issues concerning bluefin tuna, they are bringing attention to the fact that popular, well-known sushi restaurant Nobu offers bluefin tuna on it’s menu. (Many top sushi restaurants no longer serve bluefin tune, opting for the more sustainable yellowfin tuna.)

In recent attempt, many celebrities signed a petition in an attempt to convince the Nobu restaurant in London to remove bluefin from it’s offerings, and have threatened to boycott. (See articles here, here, here, and here for more details regarding the petition and boycott.) Alton Brown (of Iron Chef fame) just announced live that he “won’t set foot in Nobu until it stops selling bluefin tuna.”

Just a week ago there was another such event at the Nobu in TriBeCa, New York, where Greenpeace organized a dine-in. Participants including Casson Trenor, the author of Sustainable Sushi, attempted to replace menus and business cards at Nobu with their own that pointed out Nobu’s practice of serving the endangered bluefin tuna, and tried to ask the waitstaff about the sustainability of the sushi they serve. (See articles here, here, and here for more details regarding the dine-in.) It is reported that the participants did tip the waiters that evening, because Nobu’s practices are not the responsibility of the waitstaff.

Another such event has been scheduled for tonight at the Nobu in West Hollywood, California.

So I want to know: what do you think about this? Do you think the tactics of Greenpeace were effective? Do you believe Nobu and other restaurants should be left alone to serve whatever they wish? How do you feel about the issue of sustainability as it applies to seafood?

Note: I have never used bluefin tuna on Sushi Day. When I use tuna, I always make a point to use the more sustainable, less endangered yellowfin tuna.

Another note: I really want to hear your opinions, everyone. But please keep it polite and civil – it helps no one if this degenerates into a flame war, and I really don’t want to have to butt in and moderate you guys.

Last note, I promise: Don’t worry, Sushi Day won’t turn into a news-centric site. I’ll be back with another sushi recipe within a couple of days, promise.

So. Much. Good. Food. More than anything, that is the thing that stands out the most about the Japanese Food and Sake Festival presented by the Japanese Food Culture Association and the Japan America Society of Southern California. The festival was held yesterday afternoon at the Hyatt Regency in Orange County, and because we have some awesome friends, we were able to get into the invite-only section of the festival for a couple of hours before it opened to the general public.

We were happy to find Todd from the White on Rice Couple there, and hang out with him a little bit. (Diane wasn’t there… she ditched us to go party in the Bahamas. )

The moment we got there, we were overwhelmed by all the booths serving a wide variety of Japanese food and sake. We wandered around a little bit, trying to get our bearings, but it didn’t take long to get used to all the food being given to us from the different booths.

First we tried some miso soup. Of course I love miso soup, and this was delicious, but not really anything special. Soon after we were each given a little Japanese pancake (or Japanese “Pizza” as they were calling it) which was a delicious little pancake of cabbage, egg, and something else. We were also given a little brochure with a recipe for the pancakes, so I just might try making them sometime soon so the rest of you can try it.

Next we tried a bowl of ramen, which was good and had some delicious, tender pork in it, but there would be better ramen in our future.

We tried a tea-flavored rice ball wrapped in a piece of nori. This was interesting – not something I would go out of my way for, but still something that I enjoyed.

There was also a stand handing out bento boxes with a piece of melon, edamame, green beans, and pickled Japanese vegetables. These were alright, but not really anything special.

Next we tried some sushi – scallops, and a couple of other types of fish that I didn’t quite catch the names of. (I’m a bad sushi blogger, I know.) I had these as sashimi, while Son had them as nigiri. We both enjoyed the fish quite a bit.

Yakult (the yogurt drink) had a booth at the festival, where they were handing out their product (I didn’t have any, because I don’t particularly like the taste, but Son enjoyed his) and big blue Yakult tote bags, like you might use for groceries. Of course I grabbed a bag… one can never have too many tote bags.

A little while after we arrived, there was a cooking demonstration on the stage by Chef Hiroshi Shima from Sushi Roku. The sushi he made on stage looked delicious, however the anchovy hand rolls and shrimp shooters that were offered at the Sushi Roku booth? Not so much.

The Japanese restaurant Gyu Kaku (which I’ve been to and enjoyed) had a booth at the festival, where they were handing out bowls of beef and rice. These were good, just what you might expect if you visited their restaurant.

There was a booth serving wagyu shabu shabu – wagyu beef cooked in boiling water, served with shrimp, green onion, and your choice of sauces. This was very delicious, although my palate isn’t quite sophisticated enough to discern the difference between wagyu beef and regular beef.

From the same company (Cool Japan) there was also a tea ceremony presentation.

Although we didn’t get to participate (all the seats were full by the time we got there) it was very interesting to watch several Japanese women perform a full traditional tea ceremony.

Now normally I’m not a huge fan of green tea, or any kind of tea for that matter. I’ll generally take hot chocolate or coffee over tea any day. But the YamaMotoYama sweetened iced green tea was right up my alley… I loved it so much that not only did I go back for seconds, I’m also planning to see if I can find somewhere that sells it. It’s good stuff.

However the soy wrappers from the same company… yeah, not so much. I’ve seen these in the store, and thought they might be interesting for sushi, but they’re always ridiculously overpriced so I never actually bought them. They served chicken and lettuce hand rolls using them, which were incredibly bland. Although colorful, they don’t add much else to the rolls. However they did let me take a package of the soy wrappers, so it’s possible that I might use them for some of my own sushi, and see how they come out.

Of course, we already knew I love mochi ice cream, especially considering I love darn near anything mochi-related. I tried the vanilla and Son tried the green tea mochi ice cream, and of course they were delicious. Yum.

There was a booth handing out little cups of udon, which was… meh. I’ve had better.

We also got to try some gyoza. It was good, but nothing special. Really no better than the bag of gyoza that you can get from Costco or any regular grocery store.

One table was handing out little cups of “Japanese-style Ceviche”. Oh man, was this stuff good! It really wasn’t anything that exotic – just shrimp, avocado, tomato, cilantro, and maybe some miso (and wasabi?) but something about it was just amazing. This was among our favorite dishes of the festival.

The soft tofu with maple syrup was another of our favorites. Now, I was not a big tofu fan growing up. I couldn’t stand the stuff. These days I’ve found some tofu recipes that I actually enjoy, but never did I think that I’d fall for plain, soft tofu. With maple syrup. Handed to us by the president of the company, who is really the most adorable little Japanese man ever. Not to mention, the little flyer he handed us explaining the company included a cartoon explaining why he named the company “Otokomae”, which means “Handsome”! Yep, I could go for some more of that handsome tofu right about now. Did I mention the tofu was delicious?

There were also some delicious little tuna “tapas” from Ronin Izakaya Bistro. These were delicious – seared sashimi-grade tuna, avocado, and shiitake mushroom relish on a cajun-flavored tortilla chip, topped with wasabi mayonnaise.

There were also some salmon and avocado rolls at a booth promoting pre-made sushi vinegar, that you just mix into rice. While it tasted like normal sushi rice, I personally wouldn’t buy the pre-made sushi vinegar when I can make my own quite easily.

We got to try some shrimp from Oki Doki… which tasted very familiar. It was delicious, but actually tasted more like the Shrimp with Mayonnaise and Walnuts that you find at many Chinese restaurants, than any Japanese dish.

Another booth was handing out Tofu Shirataki noodles. These were alright, something I’d enjoy if given to me, but nothing to call home about. I probably won’t ever be buying these to make them for myself.

One of the last booths we visited was one from Musha Izakaya. Wait… doesn’t that sound familiar? If you’ve been reading Sushi Day for more than a few months, then it should – Son took me there for my birthday last year. They were offering some sort of vegetarian “meat” that looked and tasted like chicken, and the kakuni pork belly that Son and I ate when we visited the restaurant last year. Yum.

We also got to try some yakitori chicken skewers. I didn’t particularly like these, but Son seemed to enjoy them.

Now this ramen was the good stuff. It had a juicy little strip of tender pork, the noodles were cooked just right, and the broth was nice and hot. Unfortunately, we were pretty full by the time we got to this booth, so I couldn’t quite manage to finish the ramen. *sigh*

There were also some yakisoba noodles, possibly by the same company that served up the fresh ramen. The contrast was day and night. While the ramen was hot and made right in front of you, the yakisoba was lukewarm and seemed like it might have been sitting out for a while. While the ramen was incredibly delicious, the yakisoba was… not. Ick. We definitely could have done without it.

And then, there was the sake/alcohol part of the festival.

Some of the sake booths had some pretty amusing mascots.

As you may know, neither Son nor I drink alcohol, so we can’t really comment on this part of the festival.

But what we can say is that there were some really beautiful sake bottles.

Even though I have no desire whatsoever to start drinking alcohol, sometimes I wish I did just to have a good excuse to collect all these gorgeous bottles!

But then, I’ve already got a sushi habit to fund. No sense in adding a sake habit on top of that…

Since we got in during the invite-only section of the festival, we had seen all the booths and were about to leave by the time the festival opened up to the general public. Just then, the taiko drummers began their performance, so we stayed a little while longer to watch them. It was incredible how much energy these people had, especially the older man who seemed to be the main focus much of the time. I really enjoyed seeing them play.

We got some little Japanese donuts that we ate when we got home after the festival. These were very dense, and very… Japanese. I don’t really know how to describe it, but the taste of the bread was a taste that I associate with Japanese pastries, like the little bird-shaped mochi, or the bean filled an-pan that you can get at Japanese supermarkets or bakeries.

The very last booth we visited was one giving away packets Japanese sea salt and cups of Shikawasa juice. The juice was pretty tasty – like lemonade, but not so tart.

Overall, we really enjoyed the Japanese Food Festival. Although it was unfortunately only held on one day, and a Thursday at that, if you’re in the area next year (and like sake, because I’m not sure the $50 entrance fee is worth it if you don’t want to try any of the alcohol) then check it out!

Don’t forget to enter our contest for a chance to win a copy of the book, Sustainable Sushi, by Casson Trenor! The contest ends on March 7th at 11:59pm, so get your entries in!

These days, everyone is doing what they can to go green and be better for the environment. We use energy-saving light bulbs and appliances, drive cars that waste less gas, and recycle or reuse more of our resources. Going green has become the latest fad, the coolest thing to do. Just like everyone else, I do my part – but as a sushi lover, there’s a heck of a lot more that I can do.

For those of you like me who love sushi, the most well-known way to save the environment is to stop eating bluefin tuna. Everyone knows the beloved fish is slowly nearing extinction, mostly because it has become so popular with us sushi fanatics. I do have to admit eating bluefin tuna, though only one or two times, but I do try to choose a different type of tuna whenever I make sushi at home. But did you know that there are many more types of fish and seafood that are just as unsustainable as bluefin tuna?

Recently, I was given a copy of Sustainable Sushi by Casson Trenor to review. I was shocked to see just how many different types of fish and other seafood were included in the book, and it was fascinating to see how my favorites stacked up in terms of sustainability.

For each type of seafood, Trenor gives a full description of the seafood and how it is caught. There are beautiful colorful drawings and photographs of the seafood and how it’s often eaten on every page. He gives the English name, Japanese name, and Japanese symbols for each type of seafood. Finally, not only does he give separate ratings of sustainability for the different ways and locations in which the seafood is caught or farmed, he also gives a rating for the danger of the mercury level that can be found in the seafood. It really is a great book, quite helpful for those of us who love seafood but want to minimize our negative impact on the environment.

Win the Book!

Curious about whether your favorite fish or seafood is sustainable or not? Well, you’re in luck! I’ve also been given five extra copies of the book, to be given away to five lucky Sushi Day readers. All you have to do to win is comment on this post and tell me what your favorite sashimi or seafood is. (Vegetarian? Tell me what your favorite sushi consists of!) Make sure you enter a valid email address in the email field so I can contact you if you win.

The contest ends on Saturday, March 7th, at 11:59pm PST. Five lucky winners will be announced on Monday, March 9th.

Bonus Entry: Write about this contest on Twitter! Just leave another comment here with a link to your tweet to get a second entry into the contest!

Like I mentioned two weeks ago, it has been two wonderful years of sushi since I launched Sushi Day. However, in those two years I’ve rarely, except in passing, told you anything about my dear boyfriend, Son. Unfair, really, because without him Sushi Day would have never come into existence. I’ve mentioned many times that the amazing design and coding for Sushi Day were all done by Son. What you didn’t know is that the entire idea for Sushi Day was his as well.

Son and I met in January, 2005, when we both were accepted onto a ballroom dance team at our university. He was in his first year of grad school for his Master’s in Computer Science; I was a freshman dance major. Very handsome and obviously far too cool for dorky, nerdy little me, I always saw him as out of my league. Still, I made an effort to dance with him as much as I could – possibly as a subconscious effort to flirt with him, but mostly because he was the best male dancer there. I never imagined he would be interested in me – not until several months later, when we began chatting frequently both online and on the phone. On May 15, 2005, we went on our first date.

Now, exactly three and a half years later, we’re still as enamored with each other as we were when we first started dating. Sure, we’ve matured quite a bit and gotten to know each other incredibly well – he can predict my actions and reactions perfectly almost 100% of the time, and I can do the same for him. Though we no longer take dance lessons together, we’ve found we share other passions – we both love programming and food.

This led to the creation of Sushi Day. Back in 2006, Son decided we should create a blog for me. Of course, we didn’t want to be just another blog in a sea of sameness – we wanted to be unique. He came up with the idea to blog about sushi – at the time, there were several sushi websites, but no sushi blogs. Thanks to Son being the absolute best designer and programmer I know, (Me? Biased? Of course not!) I was lucky enough to get this beautiful blog you now read.

Almost everything I do nowadays, I do because of him. I cook because of him, I blog because of him, I code because of him. I’ve found you, all my wonderful friends all over the world, because of him. The best part is when I do something great, and he gives me that special smile – that smile that shows me just how proud of me he is, and how incredibly much he loves me. I’d do darn near anything for that smile.

So today, on the 15th day of November, 2008, my dearest turns 27 years old. Happy birthday, my love, and here’s to so many more.

Don’t worry, I got all the sappy love story out of my system for now. Sushi will be back tomorrow, I promise! Be sure to subscribe to the feed so you don’t miss a single sushi recipe.