Category: Other Sushi Randomness

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season (and not stressing out too much!) I had a fantastic Christmas a couple of days ago. Son and I spent Christmas Eve with his family and had an absolutely wonderful dinner there (his father is an amazing cook!!!!) and then spent Christmas Day with my family. We ate waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much (of course) and pretty much spent the day eating and sleeping (hehe).

I was thinking it would be nice to do a Christmas Roll just like I did the Thanksgiving Rolls… the only problem is that my family’s Christmas dinner consists of pretty much exactly the same food as is in our Thanksgiving dinner! So maybe you all could help me out? Leave your suggestions for what I can do for a Christmas (or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or any other holiday you might celebrate – I don’t want to leave anybody out! 🙂 ) Roll, and I’ll try to use them for next year’s holidays. 🙂

In other news…. Son gave me 4 new sushi books for Christmas!!! I was very excited. 🙂 You can look for reviews on “The Complete Book of Sushi” by Hideo Dekura, Brigid Treloar, and Ryuichi Yoshii, “Sushi: Tastes and Techniques” by Kimiko Barber, Hiroki Takemura, and Ian O’Leary, “Sushi American Style” by Tracy Griffith, and “Encyclopedia of Sushi Rolls” by Ken Kawasumi coming to SushiDay soon! 🙂 I am very excited about these books… they will be a wonderful reference (I know I’ll be referring to them a lot to make sure my posts are as correct as I can make them!) 🙂

This is my free week, so I’ll be trying to make as many of your suggestions as I can! …and if you have a suggestion for me but haven’t told me yet, then let me know!! (It’s never too late… I’m always open to your suggestions! 🙂 )

Have a safe and happy rest of the holiday season!!

Believe it or not, today, November 1st, is actually Sushi Day! So go out and try some sushi, and then come back and let me know what you thought! I’ll be waiting to hear all about your sushi experiences… 🙂

The sushi rolling mat is a small mat made of bamboo which is used to roll and squeeze maki sushi into tight rolls. Preparing it will help keep the mat clean, so you don’t have to try to clean all of the rice off of it (which believe me, is quite a pain!)

Preparing the Sushi Rolling Mat

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap twice the length of the bamboo mat. The plastic wrap should be oriented so that the short side is near you. Lay the bamboo mat on the center of the plastic wrap, oriented the little bamboo sticks that make up the mat are parallel to the short end of the plastic wrap.

Fold the bottom end of the plastic wrap over the bamboo mat.

Fold the top end of the plastic wrap over the bamboo mat, pressing to make sure it sticks to the part that has already been folded over.

Fold the corners in little triangles, so they don’t stick out.

Fold the two sides in, making sure they stick to the plastic wrap that has already been folded in.

Turn over so the folded parts are down, and start rolling your sushi!

Sushi [soo-shee] – cold boiled rice moistened with rice vinegar, usually shaped into bite-size pieces and topped with raw seafood (nigiri-zushi) or formed into a long seaweed-wrapped roll, often around strips of vegetable or raw fish, and sliced into bite-size pieces (maki-zushi). (Dictionary.com)

When people think of the Japanese culture, sushi often automatically comes to mind, and for good reason. Sushi began as a method for preserving fish in Japan. Rice was used in the fermentation process, as both fish and rice are in abundant supply in Japan. Over the years, the preparation changed and evolved into the sushi we know today, which looks and tastes much better and uses many ingredients aside from fish. Now, sushi is a very popular dish which is often served as a quick, cheap meal at stands all over Japan.

In the United States, sushi can range from cheaper, typical types such as the California roll and Inari-zushi, to more expensive rolls seen at fusion restaurants and nicer restaurants all across America. Many people shy away from the thought of eating raw fish, but most come back for more when they find that not only is most sushi made from ingredients other than raw fish, but that it is actually delicious!

I personally think sushi is wonderful – a little bite of heaven. Many of the recipes I provide won’t be completely traditional, but hey… they’re still tasty!

So if you’ve never had sushi, go out and try some! I promise you can find a type of sushi you like. And when you do decide you love sushi, come back and try making some with me!

Sources:
“sushi.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ©Random House, Inc. 2006. 07 Sep. 2006.