Other sushi includes types of sushi that don’t quite fit in so well to the other categories. This includes inari-zushi and sumeshi, the sushi rice.

Three years. 200 posts. 2000+ comments. 500,000 visitors. 1.5 million pageviews. It’s been quite a ride, here on Sushi Day. There have been some great posts and some complete and total flops (that still get angry comments!), we’ve all learned a lot and there have been some amazing opportunities that have come from this blog. Such as that dinner at Mashiko, where this creation comes from. Technically it’s not sushi, as there’s no sumeshi involved… but it’s easily one of my favorite sashimi creations I’ve ever had. Obviously, I had to share it with you.

But when it all comes down to it, it’s really you guys who make Sushi Day what it is. I could post every day, but if nobody read, nobody commented… I’d be nowhere. So today, on Sushi Day’s third birthday, I want to give back to you guys, with a contest.

I’m giving away 3 sushi kits – each includes a rolling mat, a package of nori, a bottle of sushi vinegar, a bottle of shoyu, and a tube of wasabi. (Actual items may be slightly different from those pictured.) Everything you need to make sushi at home… all you need to provide is the rice, the fillings, and a few sushi lovers. And heck, I’ll even throw in a Sushi Day shirt – any size you want – for the winners.

All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm PST on November 7th, 2009. That’s a week from now. And if you want a second entry, just tweet about this contest with a link to this post, then come back here and leave a link to your tweet in a second comment. Then I’ll randomly pick the winners, and announce them a week from today.

And if you don’t win? I’ll put the sushi kits in our store a week from today, so you can purchase one for yourself.

Congratulations to Friar, Michelle, Elin, Lila L. Bayer, and Sarah Evenson. Thanks to a random number generator, they have been selected as the five winners of the Sustainable Sushi Contest!

As a last-minute bonus, I also decided to throw in a Sushi Day shirt for the winners as well. If you didn’t win and would like to purchase one of our awesome shirts, just head on over to the Sushi Day store to buy one.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and if you didn’t win this time don’t worry, there will be other contests in the future.

Alex’s Dakine Poke Gunkan Maki

As we all know, I’ve got some awesome readers. Often I get emails from readers, telling me about their favorite roll from a sushi restaurant, or a new idea they had for sushi they make at home. This is one such sushi recipe, from a reader named Alex Viera.

The tuna poke mixture used in this gunkan maki has a very complex yet addictive flavor. It is both sweet and spicy, but still the clean tuna flavor is allowed to shine through. This has a heat that slowly builds until it fills your mouth with fire. At the same time, it is so flavorful that you can’t help but want more. This recipe has definitely earned a place on the list of sushi that I make over and over again – it’s just that good.

I’ve gotten tagged with another “random things” meme, this time by Nicole from For the Love of Food. Of course, if you don’t want to know more randomness about me, you can always skip to the yummy Hotate Special recipes and pictures at the end of this post.

1. Up until nine months ago, I had never tried sashimi. My mother is allergic to fish, so it was rare that we ate fish at our house. Of course, now that I’ve tried sashimi, it’s pretty obvious I’m in love (as can be seen in all the sushi I make with sashimi these days!)
2. I performed in the Nutcracker ballet for eight consecutive years. I’ve danced nearly every role… from a little boy in the party scene (we had a huge shortage of boys, so the smaller girls always played the boy parts before getting to be a girl in the party scene), to a Spanish (chocolate) dancer, to the Arabian (coffee) pas de deux, to Dew Drop Fairy. Fourteen roles in all. My favorite of all was easily the Arabian pas de deux… it’s a sensual dance with several amazing lifts, and lifts were always my favorite part of a pas de deux.
3. In eighth grade, I came in first place for the Reach for the Stars (astronomy) event at our regional Science Olympiad. At the time I was really passionate about astronomy… my dad had has a pretty nice telescope, and at the time I knew just about every constellation in the sky.
4. I’m half Japanese, a quarter Swedish, and one eighth Irish. The other eighth is comprised of German, English, and other European randomness. Unfortunately, I speak very little Japanese, and even less Swedish or Irish. (I’ve got English down though! ) I figure I’ll start with Japanese, then try to learn Vietnamese (since it would be *really* nice to be able to understand Son’s family all the time) and then move on to the other languages.
5. I used to dance with an awesome band called One World. They sing latin-style music written by Frank Unzueta, the leader of the band. I always had so much fun rehearsing and working with the band and my dance partner… I really miss the rehearsals and performances! Most recently, I did a music video with them last Super Bowl Sunday, so I’m hoping I’ll get another opportunity to work with them soon!
6. I am an RPG player. However I’m pretty new at it, so nobody’s allowed to throw things at me if I get something wrong. I consider myself to be very lucky to have gotten involved with the Escaping Reality RPG, run by Harry and James of Men with Pens. We’ve got the most awesome group of players there, and I’m having so much fun developing my character and writing with them. Also, have you noticed any improvement in my writing over the past three months? It’s all thanks to those two and their RPG.

For the six people I tag, I’m taking it out of the food blogging community this time, to recognize a few of my favorite non-food bloggers. I tag:

Harry of Men with Pens and Capturing Fantasy.

James of Men with Pens and Capturing Fantasy.

Edit: There’s a new Pen Man! Couldn’t possibly leave him out. Therefore, I also tag Charlie of Men with Pens and Charfish Design.

Brett of 6 Weeks.

Tei of Rogue Ink.

Amy of Write From Home.

Writer Dad of Writer Dad.

*******

And now, for the sushi.

The Hotate (scallop) Special is a type of sushi I first had about a month or so ago, when I went up to Sunnyvale with Son on a business trip. We went to a sushi restaurant called Seto Japanese cuisine, where Son and I decided we wanted to try something new. As I wrote in my review of the restaurant, I loved the Hotate Special so much, that I just had to try to replicate it at home.

Have I mentioned scallops are my new favorite sashimi? They’re so soft and delicious, it’s hard not to like them. One thing though… when you get the scallops, there’s a little piece on the side of them, as if you had rolled a ball of dough and then stuck another piece of dough to the side of it. Personally, I prefer to discard this piece. I find that it is tough and chewy, not at all like the rest of the scallop. Luckily, it’s only a very small piece, so I don’t feel as if I’m wasting too much of it.

This month, for Taste and Create, I am paired up with Equal Opportunity Kitchen. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to figure out what I want to make from my partner’s blog, but this month it was a no brainer. The moment I saw her Pecan Pie Muffins, I knew I had to make them. Son has been a huge fan of my mother’s Pecan Pie and Pecan Tassies (little mini pecan tarts) since he first tried them, so it was obvious that I would have to make these for him.

The verdict? Everyone should make these. Took me maybe thirty minutes (including cooking time!) to whip them up, and had I allowed Son to eat them all, they would have been gone just as quickly. In fact, due to the demands of Son’s co-workers and my family, I’m going to make another batch very soon! They are sized perfectly for good portion control… that is, assuming you can eat just one. These mini treats go great with a big glass of milk.

Yay for parties!

Last night, I was very lucky to meet some of the most awesome SoCal (and Seattle!) bloggers out there. I was invited to a party hosted by Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple, just for us food bloggers. The food was amazing, of course. I couldn’t get enough of their pork sliders, egg rolls, flatbread pizzas, several different types of salads, and ohmygod the fish! (Although no fish eyes for me. ) Not to mention that garlic cheese spread… Todd and Diane, I want that recipe! I also hear the cocktails were delicious, but neither Son nor I drink alcohol, so we stuck to water, soda, and Vietnamese coffee. (Vietnamese coffee, where have you been all my life? Oh my goodness SO GOOD.) Todd was kind enough to give us a tour of their amazing garden, which we later harvested herbs from for dinner. (Isn’t that awesome? When I grow up get a house, I want a garden like theirs.)

As great as the food was, the people at the party were even more awesome. Son and I got to meet all sorts of cool food bloggers that we hadn’t yet discovered (Yay! More food blogs to add to my feed reader!) and meet a few that we already looked up to. One of the first people we met, after Todd and Diane of course, was Brooke from Food Woolf. She is by far one of the kindest, most adorable women I have ever met. Leah from Spicy Salty Sweet was there, as was Wandering Chopsticks. We discovered that Marvin from Burnt Lumpia and his wife know of a great sushi place in an area Son and I frequent quite often (we’ll definitely be meeting you two for sushi one of these days!) Sarah of The Delicious Life and TasteSpotting joined us, as did Julie from Julie’s Kitchen. Matt from Matt Bites (one of the sweetest guys ever) was there with his husband (I hope you two like the sushi-making kit!), as was another Matt that I have looked up to for a long time – Matt from Wright Food with his wife, Danika. You know how sometimes people just aren’t what you thought they would be when you meet them in person? Not so with Matt and Danika. They are two of the most charming people you could ever meet.

Todd and Diane were the best hosts we could possibly imagine for a food blogger party, and we all went home full of good food, satisfied, and happy. Not to mention, we all made some great new friends! Thanks so much, Todd and Diane!

It’s the 24th of the month, and as always, Taste and Create beckons. This month our palates travel to India, the country of spicy foods and crazy curry. As much as I would have loved to try some curry (and as much as Son begged for curry), unfortunately that wasn’t happening. The Ralph’s near my new apartment has a pathetic International section, and we haven’t had the time to search for ethnic supermarkets in the area. So instead, Pain Au Chocolat.

I’ve been a fan of chocolate croissants (which is essentially what these were) for quite some time. When I was doing some physics research a couple of summers ago, I used to stop by the little coffee stand right outside the building and buy a warm, flaky chocolate croissant for the bus ride home.

These croissants were actually much easier to make than I expected them to be. At first it’s a little difficult to keep the filling inside when you are rolling them, but once you get the hang of it, the rolling goes quickly.

The croissants are delicious. The chocolate filling is sweet but not too messy, and even a little salty. The only thing about the croissants that I would change would be to switch the type of oil used in them. The olive oil made them taste a little bitter to me, but it wasn’t too much of a problem because when Son took them to work, they were all eaten up.

Overall, these are delicious chocolate croissants! Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea (or even hot chocolate) for breakfast or dessert.

Although I have forever loved inari sushi in it’s simplest form, I always look for delicious ideas to spruce up my old favorite.

Several weeks ago, I was at Whole Foods and I needed something quick for lunch, so I stopped by the sushi section. (Yes, I eat store bought sushi. It’s not all bad.) I bought a tray of inari sushi which had shrimp and spicy mayonnaise on top. Of course I was a little skeptical, but my skepticism was unfounded. The sushi was amazing.

Then and there, I vowed to replicate the sushi for Sushi Day. This combination is far too delicious to keep to myself. It is a simple, easy recipe that almost anyone will love. (yesterday I made a double batch in less than an hour, including the cooking time for the rice.) The spiciness of the sauce can be adjusted to suit your tastes, and the shrimp can be omitted for vegetarians. This inari sushi is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

This month, I am way late for Taste and Create. Not kidding. About a week late by now. You see, I was moving, so my entire kitchen is in boxes right now, which doesn’t make for much cooking. And then, I tried making my partner’s Fried Zucchini Parmesan Sticks with Chipotle Mayonnaise at my parents’ house, but I completely murdered the recipe, and had to start over. Which created another delay. Luckily, my partner for this month, More Than Burnt Toast, was very understanding (and she actually made something from my blog this month! For the last three months my partners have forgotten about me… so this is extra special!) as was Nicole, the amazing woman who puts together Taste and Create every month.

Although the loss of the zucchini was a sad one, I’m actually quite glad that I had to try another recipe. This Crater Banana Bread with chocolate chips is so rich and amazing… the only way to describe it is as an ooey gooey mess of chocolatey banana deliciousness. Perfect with a scoop of ice cream or a big ice cold glass of milk.

These are cute little tuna appetizers made to look like watermelons. Great for parties, they make perfect finger-food, and are much less work than making a whole bunch of sushi for a party! Not to mention, they are delicious!

This recipe has a lot of contrasting flavors. The cool of the cucumber versus the heat of the Siracha sauce. The soft, yielding texture of the tuna, as opposed to the snappy crunch of the cucumber slice. The creamy, salty flavors of the mayonnaise and tobiko, versus the clean, fresh flavor of the cucumber and tuna. So it’s not really sushi – no sushi rice in the recipe – but sushi lovers will love this dish!

Lately, I’ve really been wanting to participate in more food blogging events, but I’ve refrained because the don’t fit into the theme of Sushi Day, and I don’t want too much non-sushi randomness on here. I would love to cook and bake more but, well, I’ll save that for when I have a more general food blog. (Which is hopefully coming soon!) However, when I saw the theme for this month’s Sugar High Friday, hosted by Tartelette, I realized that this was something that I could relate to Sushi Day! Although my recipe isn’t sushi (sorry guys) it is a Japanese dessert!

I have been wanting to make mochi (sweet rice cakes) ever since I began cooking. I have had a life-long love affair with the dessert. Since I was young, my mother would take us to each get a piece of mochi whenever we went to the Japanese part of town. So you would think that now that I have discovered a love for cooking, that would be the first thing I make! Unfortunately, I was always so intimidated by it, so I never actually made it until now. What a mistake that was! This is the quickest, easiest recipe ever… and it turns out with the same taste and consistency as the mochi I bought as a child!