Maki sushi is probably the most well known type of sushi in the U.S. It consists of a layer of nori surrounding a layer of rice surrounding the fillings in the middle, all rolled into a cylinder and then cut into several smaller slices. The most well known type of maki sushi is the California Roll.

Back when I was still living at my parents’ house, my sister decided she liked hummus. So, of course, she had my parents go to Trader Joe’s and buy her some. At the time I tried some, and I hated it. I thought that was it for me and hummus.

A few months ago, Son and I went to Costco. Now, everyone knows that the best part about Costco (aside from the great prices and $1.50 hot dog and drink combo) are the samples! One of the samples they were offering that day was hummus. On a whim, I tried some, and it was really good! We ended up not buying any that day, which was disappointing.

Later that week, I went to my local farmer’s market. It’s a five-minute walk from my apartment, so it’s super easy for me to get there, as long as I can get up before noon on a Saturday morning! (Which, for me, is quite a feat indeed!) As I explored the different offerings, lo and behold, they had not one, but two hummus stands there! I tried a sample from one of the stands, and I was sold. Almost every week since then, I have been buying their garlic and chives hummus, along with some garlic and herb pita chips to go along with them. (Can you tell we like garlic? )

Okay, so technically this isn’t a very *Mexican* roll. But work with me here - it does use red pepper powder, and technically yellowtail is mostly found in Baja California (at least in North America), which is part of Mexico! Plus it’s all pretty and colorful, and today is May 5th! So there.

Once again, it’s time for Taste and Create. This month, I was paired up with Finger Licking Food. Last week, I made her Macaroni and Cheese with a Twist for the A Taste of Yellow event, (which, by the way, is so good I made it three times in a week! I never make a dish that often. Seriously, it’s amazing!). Anyways, I decided to make her Banana Latte Smoothie for Taste and Create.

It’s 1999. I’m 12 years old. Just like every other morning, I get up and pour myself a bowl of cereal, before heading to another day of 7th grade. But this morning is not like every other morning. I’m sitting at the dining-room table with my little sister eating breakfast. My dad isn’t there, but he usually goes to work pretty early. My brother isn’t there, but he’s a “late-bird” in his first-grade class, so he doesn’t have to be up for another hour. There was no way to know that this wasn’t another normal day in the life of a twelve-year old.

Unfortunately, it’s not like any other day. My mom comes and sits at the table. “You might have noticed that your brother and dad aren’t here. The doctor called last night and told us that your brother’s blood tests came back, and he had to go to the hospital right away. They think he might have leukemia.” Wow. What do you do when you hear that sort of news?

Yeah, I know… don’t ask. I have absolutely no clue why this is called the New York Roll! If anyone has any idea of the origin of the name, or any suggestions for a roll better desering of the name, please share!

Hot hot hot! This is another spicy tuna roll, but it gets it’s heat from a completely different source. Instead of the Sriracha sauce that is in normal spicy tuna rolls, this one has a jalapeno as one of it’s fillings. Even though it has cream cheese to soothe your taste buds… it really doesn’t help much. Or so I hear. To be honest, I made Son try this one, and I didn’t even have a bite! If I had, I guarantee I would have been running around the kitchen with tears running down my face. Those of you who are like me and not huge spicy fans… yeah you, you know who you are!… this one isn’t for you. However the rest of you who adore spicy foods… yes I know you know who you are too!… you will love this!

Tuna tuna tuna… so many tuna sushi recipes lately! What? I’m catching up for the entire year that I didn’t use any sashimi at all! A quick break though… it’s an unagi recipe today, and then it’s back to tuna! Mmmmm…

Time has just been flying by lately. I posted The Red Violin on February 20th, then the Taste and Create 5 post three days later, and vowed that I would have a more regular posting schedule, instead of just once post per week! Crudmonkeys. I realized today that it has been two weeks since I last posted. With a big paper due earlier this week, I seem to have lost track of time. I know, excuses, excuses. I can’t guarantee I’ll be on a regular schedule in the next couple of weeks either, because finals are coming up.

If you haven’t already seen it, go check out our Sushi Day store over in the left-hand navigation! So far we only have the Sushi Day shirts, but we may be adding more stuff later depending on how well the shirts do.